Page 132 of As They Are
“You have this all thought out, don’t you?”
“I do. You haven’t talked about your mom much, but what youhavesaid tells me this might be a hard weekend. Let me help.”
Henry stared at me for a long time, and I was preparing myself to have to keep arguing with him to do this.
Instead, he walked over to the passenger side and opened the door.
“Help would be nice. Get in.”
“Yay!” I ran to get into his car before he could change his mind, throwing my bag in the back seat.
“So, tell me about your mom,” I said as he got in the driver’s side. “I barely know anything about her other than she doesn’t get you. And that she’s loud.”
“She can’t help it. She’s partially deaf in both ears.”
I blinked. “Oh, does she know sign or anything?”
“No, she’s determined that she doesn’t need it. She has hearing aids, but she doesn’t realize how loud she can be at times. And when I tell her to quiet down, then she can’t hear anything herself. I mostly deal with it.”
“Not this weekend.” I reached into my pocket. “Earplugs. Just for you.”
“That’s sweet, but I’ll survive.”
“Why survive when you can live? And these are blue! Like the hydrangeas you gave me.”
He glanced over at them. “I’ll try them,” he said. “But it might not work.”
“Then I’ll figure something else out.”
Henry let out a chuckle before putting a hand on the back of my seat to reverse out of the driveway. I watched him, eyes trailing over his face before I tore them away.
“So, where are we heading?” I asked.
“Knoxville,” he replied. “It’s where I’m from.”
“I haven’t been there in a while. There are a few suppliers based out of there, though.”
“It’s a nice town. Just ... a lot over time.”
“Is that why you’re here?”
“Yeah. I could have made it work, but small-town life is for me.”
“I can see why.” We drove through the square. How many hours had I looked out the windows of the library and admired the town for how cute it was? “I really can.”
“But you love Nashville?” he asked.
A few months ago, my answer would have been yes. In a way, it still was. But I hadn’t missed it since coming here. When I thought about it, life there seemedfine.
Life here was ... warmer, somehow.
“Wren?” Henry asked.
“S-sorry.” I shook myself out of my thoughts. “I do love Nashville. And I have a huge renovation coming up. It’s an old house. I’m going back to my roots.”
“Are you excited?”
“Very. The owners seemed to want a complete gut job when I did the consultation on the phone, and that’ll keep me busy.”
