Page 25 of Cole's Joy
“I understand, and I would love to help you. As I said earlier, I had just about given up on life, but once I went to stay with Pru and Ryan, I got a new lease on life. Now, both Cole and Clem live with me, they look out for me, and I feel like I’m getting younger.”
Lois smiled, then laughed, “We’ll have to find you a woman.”
“I’m not that young.”
Lois only shrugged and laughed as she gathered up their glasses, and led him into her spare room that she had set up with all her seeds and starting plants. She looked at him as they entered. “I have some herbs starting from seed under the grow lights. I’ll move them to a section of the greenhouse for the winter. Don’t worry, they won’t freeze, I’ll make sure of that. Then I have my seeds.” She went to the other side of the room and withdrew a small box from several stacks, and looked at him with a grin. “I would purchase them at the end of the growing season when they went on sale. Each one of these boxes is one letter of the alphabet.” She brought the box over to him, opened it, and showed him the sections she’d made with the different names of the ‘c’ vegetables, withdrawing several different varieties of carrots.
“Damn, I thought a carrot was a carrot, I didn’t think there were so many different kinds.”
“Yeah, I haven’t had the colored ones yet, but I imagine they might be better for cooking, or roasting than for the horses. I’ll have to grow a few first and test them out. I don’t know whether they’d be too sweet or not.”
Ducky shrugged. “If they’re sweeter, we could always use them as a special treat.”
“I can see that happening.” She withdrew at least ten packages of regular carrots and looked at him. “Do you think these will do for now?”
“I think so. Will you be spreading them thin as you drop the seeds?”
“Yes, and I don’t know if you get to town much, but I’d like to put it out there that if anyone goes, if they see any packages of vegetable seeds to pick them up. I don’t care what kind, type, or who sells them.”
“I can get the word out.”
“Thank you. Now, we best get back over to your place so we can get these in the ground. How close is the water supply to the garden we just worked.”
“Close.” Ducky laughed as they climbed in her vehicle and drove back to his house. They spent the rest of the afternoon planting the carrots, then watering them and Lois looked up to the sky and said a silent prayer that they took and she could get a good crop of carrots before the first snow fall.
CHAPTER 10
Three weeks later,Cole looked at himself in the mirror after his nightly shower, and talked to himself. “You can do this,” he repeated several times as he looked at his shirt and jeans. “I can do this,” he said with finality, and turned to walk out of his room. Down stairs, he ignored the looks from Clem and Ducky as he grabbed his good cowboy hat and headed out the back door. Thirty minutes later, he pulled into the driveway that led to Lois’ trailer and after shutting his truck off, he sat there for several minutes getting his nerves under control before he got out.
He winced when he realized he’d slammed his fist against her door instead of knocking like a normal human being. He turned to look out and braced himself to be yelled at when the door was opened.
“Cole? Is everything okay?” Lois asked in concern as she spotted him on her doorstep.
“Yes, sorry for slamming my fist on your door. My nerves got the better of me.”
“Come in, and tell me why you’re nervous to be around me.”
They went inside and before she could reach the kitchen, she turned to him with a worried expression. “Would you like something to drink?”
“Not right now,” Cole said, and she saw that when he removed his hat, his hand was shaking.
Instead of going into the kitchen, she led him into the living room and pointed to one of the chairs there. “Sit,” she said in a tone that brooked no arguments. She didn’t take her own seat, or talk until he had settled in. Only then did she sit on the edge of the couch closest to him. “Now, please tell me why you are so nervous.”
Cole studied the hat in his hand for several long moments before he looked up and Lois sucked in her breath at the anguish she saw there. “What is it?”
“Nothing bad, at least I don’t think it is. It’s just the nature of what I want to talk to you about that is getting me all twisted inside.”
Lois reached out and laid her hand gently on his and smiled when he gripped it like it was a life line. “Talk to me.”
Cole drew in a deep breath, closed his eyes, and held the breath for the beat of fifteen, she counted. Then he let it out in a whoosh, opened his eyes, and talked. “Remember when I told you I was in that foster home and they made me stay home and take care of their grandfather?”
“Yes, he’s the one that homeschooled you. He told you about the rodeo, and I’m assuming his life. While the family galivanted around and spent his money, they neglected you and forced you to take care of him.”
“Correct. Well, this might sound crazy, but my last birthday I ever celebrated with anyone, or even acknowledged that it was my birthday, was my sixteenth that I celebrated with Thomas. It was shortly before his dementia worsened.” He paused, drew in another deep breath, held it, and let it out slowly. He looked her directly in the eyes as he spoke. “Next Saturday is my birthday. I will be sixty-nine. It would give me great joy if you would agree to be my date. I would like to go into Colorado Springs toa steakhouse restaurant they have there.” He stopped suddenly and looked at her with wide eyes.
Lois loved his expression, and as much as she wanted to tease him, she saw how much this meant to him, so she didn’t beat around the bush.
“It would be my pleasure to go to dinner with you.” She smiled when he let out a whoosh of breath and his entire body relaxed. It wasn’t until that moment that she realized how tense he had been while he waited for her answer.
