Page 20 of Autumn Wishes and Pumpkin Kisses

My phone goes off and I jump. I must have fallen asleep on the couch after putting the kids down for a nap. Since, I’m awake before them I decide to change into something more comfortable. Clothes have always been my comfort zone. I’ve loved them for as long as I can remember. My eyes scan the bars of the closet. Eventually, I decide on simple, but cute with black leggings, eggplant colored lace camisole and black cocoon sweater with a pair of black and white Converse. I pull half my hair up to keep it out of my face and head to wake up and dress the kids.

As we head to Keefer’s, butterflies dance in my stomach. Today has been a different day for us. I don't know what happened during lunch, but we definitely had a moment and now I’m nervous about tonight. I can’t even begin to explain how much I appreciate him taking the time to work with Silas. It’s something his own father hasn’t even done, but that’s a whole other story.

Keefer lives on the outskirts of town. As I take the road down to his place, I’m really not all that shocked. This area feels like Keefer. All the trees and quiet. I notice the mailbox on the side of the road and pull into the drive. I’m getting Silas and Seraphina out of the SUV when Keefer appears from around the back of the house. “I was beginning to worry that maybe y’all got lost.”

I laugh. “No, I went to put the kids down for a nap and ended up taking one myself. It put us slightly behind.”

“Did you bring my football mama?” Silas asks.

His raven hair is sticking up in every direction and I try to smooth it down, but it pops right back up. “Yes, baby I did. It’s in the front seat with the dessert for tonight.”

“Oh good!” Silas exclaims. “Hi, Keefer!”

Keefer laughs and bends down to pick Silas up. “Are you ready to toss that football around?”

“Yeah! Oh, I forgot my hat.”

“Nope, it’s also in the front seat,” I call from the other side of the SUV, where I’m gathering Seraphina.

I hear Keefer say, “Why don’t we help your mom with some of this stuff?”

“Yeah!” Silas is overly excited tonight. We head around Keefer’s house and to the back of his property.

The kids run for the swing hanging from the tree. I wasn’t expecting Keefer to have a swing back here. “I hope they won’t mind hamburgers or hot dogs.”

“They’ll love it. Thank you for doing all of this. It means so much to Silas and I.” I stare at him and he smiles.

After the food is finished, we sit down on Keefer’s back porch where he has a picnic table and eat. Once we’re done, I help clean up as Keefer builds a fire in his fire pit to help fight off the autumn chill in the night air. Seraphina and I sit down around the fire. I let her have her dessert while Silas and Keefer throw the football back and forth. I watch them and my heart melts. I hate that Keefer and I ended the way we did.

By the time Silas takes a seat around the fire, he’s worn out. Seraphina goes and sits with him while he eats his pumpkin muffin. Keefer takes a seat by me. I hand him his dessert. When he pulls the paper back his eyes widen. “Apple?”

“Yeah, it’s your favorite.”

He clears his throat. “I didn’t think anyone knew that. Warbee is known for her pumpkin treats so I always get them to try them.”

I nod my head. “I know but apple flavor is your favorite. I remember a few things, too.” We sit in silence and listen as the fire crackles and pops. Keefer eats his apple muffin. The kids are fast asleep and for the first time in a long time my life feels like it might be on course.

SEVENTEEN

Keefer

The moonlight creates a glow around this little bubble. Teaganne relaxes in the chair next to me. Silas and Seraphina are asleep in the one next to her. The fire burns, keeping the chill away and my heart feels overwhelmed in the confines of my chest. “Can I ask you something?”

Teaganne looks over at me. The light from the fire makes her eyes look like copper instead of honey. “Sure.”

“Why did you come back to Blue Ridge?” It’s the first thing that crossed my mind when I found out she was moving back. As many times as I’ve tried to come up with the answer, I haven’t found one yet.

She sighs. “It’s home.”

“I thought New York City was your dream.”

When her eyes meet mine, they look so sad that I want to pull her into my lap and hold her against my chest. “It was and when I first got there it was everything I had ever wanted, but then it changed.” She looks away. My hand wants to slip under her chin and force her to look back at me. I hate when Teaganne tries to hide. “New York City was my dream. It was my naive and foolish dream. When I pictured my future, it was always in that city surrounded by beautiful clothes that I had designed. I knew there would be hard work, but I never imagined how tiresome it would be. I never considered how it would feel to have your creativity publicly criticized. Sometimes, it’s really rough on who you are. Then New York wasn’t what I had dreamed. Yes, I was surrounded by fashion on every corner, but there were so many people and it never stopped moving. It’s overwhelming and loud and chaotic. You can’t even hear yourself think most of the time. When you pass people on the street, you don’t smile or greet them. When you need a break, you don’t get to go get in a car and go for a drive. There are so many people in that city, but I felt completely alone. Joe was all I had and things were great. Then again, all things are great when they're new. I was his new arm candy to show off around town. He introduced me to his connections and things started to happen. In a blink of an eye, I had a fashion line with models and a fashion show and suddenly people were wearing my designs. It was all a dream come true. I fooled myself into believing that long enough anyways.”

Teaganne goes silent. I’m speechless. I had no idea her dream had fell apart the way it did. Yes, she got her fashion line, but the dream she had was shattered to a certain extent. “What made you change your mind?”

She glances in my direction, her eyes sad but she gives me a small smile. “Warbee got sick. I came back to be here with her and help out the best I could. I was so thankful that my career allowed me to just pack up and leave whenever I needed. Coming back to Georgia made me realize how miserable I was in New York. Once I got back after Warbee had been cleared, I had planned to tell Joe I wanted to come back to live, but he was always busy and the next thing I knew, I was pregnant with Silas. So, my plans changed again.”

“And Seraphina?” I ask.

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