Georgia Sweethearts

by Missy Tippens

  “You two sound like you never see each other,” Blake said, confusion drawing his eyebrows downward. “I thought you shared the same building.”

  Awkward moment.

  Daniel busied himself buttering a biscuit. “We’re both busy and don’t run into each other except for Sundays.”

  “And then he’s always talking to church members,” Lilly added. “And I’m hurrying to...uh...leave.”

  Flee, more like it. He bit back a smile.

  Daniel’s dad studied the two of them.

  “Jenna,” Ann said, “is Will walking yet?”

  Nice move. Grandmother to the rescue.

  “No, he’s only eleven months old. But he’s sure trying, cruising around everywhere.”

  A knock sounded on the back door as it squeaked opened. “Anyone here?” Ned called.

  “Dada!” Will bounced in the high chair, reaching for his father.

  “Come in, come in!” Ann hopped up to introduce him to Blake and show him to his seat—conveniently located next to Jenna.

  Before he sat, he reached across Jenna and picked up Will. “Hey, big guy.” He didn’t put him back in his chair, but sat with Will in his lap and must’ve kissed his son’s head a dozen times.

  The affection between them was enough to put a lump in Daniel’s throat.

  He pulled away his attention from the happy father-son interaction and ended up looking at Lilly, whose face nearly glowed with joy as she watched the scene.

  “Ned, we’re glad you could make it,” Lilly said. “Jenna and I missed you at church.”

  “Y’all went?” Ned asked his wife.

  “Yes.” The hope on Jenna’s face made Daniel look away, a moment too private to witness.

  “Well, I’m sorry I missed it. I filled in for Porter. Now he’s got the flu.”

  As they passed the serving dishes to Ned, Jenna spooned baby food into Will’s mouth, right there in Ned’s lap, a perfect family scene.

  Daniel imagined how it might be Sunday after Sunday if you had extended family living nearby. Dinner together after church. Babies passed around, loved and cherished. Generations tied together by the bonds of blood and marriage.

  His gaze was drawn again to Lilly, hair pulled back at the top in some kind of clip. He’d missed her terribly. Missed talking with her, teasing her, watching her interact with the kids around the church.

  Her skin, smooth and golden, glowed as she smiled over quiet conversation with his grandmother.

  Peace washed over him. A peace he didn’t often feel unless he was praying. This felt right.

  He could get used to this. Sitting around a table and sharing a weekly meal with Lilly. With his family and her family.

  But God had called him elsewhere...hadn’t He?

  Yes, definitely. The move to Valdosta was falling into place. They were expecting him, counting on him.

  “I hear y’all had a big fire the other night,” Blake said to Ned. “Were you working?”

  “Yeah. Sad situation. The family lost their home. But at least they all got out.”

  Jenna gripped Ned’s arm. “I didn’t know you were working that night. Were you one of the ones they mentioned on the news who went in to rescue the grandmother?”

  Ned’s face reddened across his cheeks. “Yeah. But it was Bobby who got hurt the worst. I only had a few stitches.”

  “Stitches?” Jenna whispered, as if she could hardly utter the words.

  He glanced at his plate, obviously uncomfortable with the attention. “Just doin’ my job.”

  “If you would come home, I’d know your work schedule. I’d know when to check on you at the hospital.”

  Ned nodded toward GranAnn. “Jenna, hon, we can talk about this later after we finish this wonderful meal Ann cooked.”

  Tears fell down her cheeks, and Daniel knew she wasn’t going to drop the subject like her husband had asked.

  “Please come home.”

  Lilly jumped up. “Will, sweetie, how about going outside with Aunt Lilly?” She gave her nephew a reassuring smile and took him out of Ned’s lap. She hurried out the back door.

  “Jenna,” Daniel said, “I’d be happy to talk with you and Ned if you’d like to meet at my office later.”

  “Not when you and the church are the ones keeping him too busy to come back to his family.”

  Blake put his hands flat on the table. “My son would do no such thing. You should appreciate his offer.” He pushed up from his chair. “Ann, thank you for lunch, but I need to go.”

  Stunned, Daniel said, “It’s okay, Dad.”

  “Blake, please,” Ann said. “Ned and Jenna have had a tough time lately, so they need our support.”

  Tears streamed down Jenna’s face, and she swiped her hand across a running nose. “What I need is my husband to come home.”

  “I want to come home. Say the word, promise you’ll come to counseling with me, and I’ll pack up and move back home today.”

  Jenna stood up so quickly that the chair scooted backward and hit the kitchen cabinet. She appeared startled that she’d done it. “I’m sorry, everyone.” Sucking in a wobbly breath, she looked at her husband. “It’s your day with your son. Please bring him home by seven.” Then she hurried out.

  Ned looked miserable. Embarrassed. “I apologize for airing our dirty laundry at your table when you’ve been so nice.”

  “Don’t you worry,” Ann said. “We’ll keep praying for you.”

  “I’m going to go try to talk to her,” he said as he pushed his chair under the table, then carried his dishes to the sink. “Daniel, could you ask Lilly to watch Will this afternoon, and give them a ride home? I’ll leave Will’s car seat out front.”

  As soon as Daniel agreed, Ned headed out after his wife.

  Blake stood by the back door ready to escape the commotion. “Well, that was a stressful meal. What’d you do to get on that woman’s bad side?”

  Of course, his dad would assume he was to blame. But, he’d also stuck up for Daniel, a real shocker. “Nothing.” Except nearly kiss her sister. “She blames me for Ned’s involvement in the church, which she sees as a threat.”

  “I sure hope they’ll come meet with you, Daniel,” Gran said.

  “They’d be lucky to have his counseling.” Blake gave a firm nod.

  Had his dad just affirmed his new career? “Thanks.”

  “Oh, don’t look so flabbergasted. I’ve been watching you. You do good work at that church of yours.” His dad looked uncomfortable, as if it pained him to say it.

  Gran glowed.

  “Well, I guess I’ll go fill in Lilly on her job as babysitter for the day.”

  As he passed by his dad, Blake stopped him. “Do you think your feelings for Lilly are what set off Jenna?”

  Daniel’s heart thudded in his chest. “My feelings?”

  Blake shook his head. “Oh, come on. You can’t try to deny it. I see how you look at her. How she looks at you.”

  That last half of his statement, the part about Lilly looking at him, made the thudding speed up. “What do you mean?”

  “Don’t act ignorant. You and Lilly have feelings for each other. Is there a reason you’re not acting on them?”

  You bet there is. “I admit I’m attracted to her. Who wouldn’t be? She’s beautiful and kind and generous...”

  “Amen to that,” his grandmother said, inching her way into the conversation. “I thought you’d never notice.”

  Oh, he’d noticed all right. “But she’s leaving once the terms of her aunt’s will are fulfilled. And I’m leaving as soon as I’ve met my goals for the church and God is ready for me to move on.”

  He hated to crush his grandmother’s hope, but he had to be open about the impossibility of a
relationship with Lilly. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, GranAnn. But Lilly craves stability after the childhood she had. Marrying someone like me, who’ll always be moving around, would be impossible.”

  “I wasn’t talking marriage,” Blake said. “Just exploring how you feel about each other.” He waved his hand at Daniel. “Never mind. You go ahead and keep trying to fool yourself.”

  Fooling himself? Could he be?

  No. He and Lilly were both being realistic, responsible. They each had a plan and needed to stick with it.

  * * *

  Lilly sat on the picnic table bench facing outward, Will in her lap trying to reach for nearby tulips.

  Jenna and Ned had been doing better that week. He’d dropped by, they’d talked, had dinner together. But they’d just proved what Lilly had known all along—that life could go crazy at any time. And that in one minute, any progress you’d made could be wiped out by stubbornness or insecurity.

  Lilly didn’t want that to happen to her. She didn’t want to waste any more time wallowing in her past. God had given her a fresh start. She felt His presence more than ever as she spent time with Him each day.

  She glanced up when she heard the back door close. Daniel. Just the person she needed to talk to.

  “Hey,” he said. “You’ve got Will for the afternoon. Ned went chasing after Jenna.”

  She tuned out her sister’s marital problems and focused on what had been pounding through her head since she walked out the door.

  “God’s been working on me. Convicting me,” she said.

  He didn’t look surprised to hear her talking about God. He looked seriously interested. “About what?”

  “I want to make a difference. Especially after that debacle in there.” She rubbed her hand over Will’s sweet, soft head. “I want to help girls who’ve had unhappy childhoods or have made bad decisions. I want to help them heal before they grow up frightened, pushing people away. Like Jenna...like me.” She looked up at him, the sun momentarily blinding her.

  He sat down beside her on the wooden bench, his warm body a nice contrast to the cool air. “What would you like to do?”

  Now that he was beside her, she could see the blue of his eyes that matched the cloud-laced sky. Could see the tender look. Could see that he was pleased by her decision.

  “I want to host the girls’ support group at the shop. I want to teach Cricket and her friends to knit.”

  His teasing grin sent her stomach on a quick, wild ride.

  “Or maybe I should simply aim to learn alongside them and let Belinda do the teaching.”

  He reached out and gently brushed his knuckles across her cheek. “I’ve been an idiot. My own dad told me so.”

  She couldn’t respond. His touch left her breathless, and a little addled.

  “I can’t deny my feelings anymore, Lilly.”

  She sucked in air like a person drowning. “We’ve talked about this. A relationship is impossible.”

  “Impossible, yes.” He leaned closer, stopping just short of touching his lips to hers. “But undeniable.”

  When he looked from her lips to her eyes, she was lost. She grasped for a last line of defense, anything to keep her from closing the tiny space between them. “We don’t have to act on the feelings, though.”

  “I do.” He wrapped his arm around her waist, scooting her yet closer. He caressed her cheek with his rough, warm hand. Ran his thumb over her bottom lip. “I’m going to kiss you now, no matter who comes out that door or tries to stop me.”

  A nervous laugh slipped out of her, but the sound was deep and husky, strange to her ears. When he took her face between his hands and touched his lips to hers, the universe expanded behind her closed eyes. Joy blossomed and spread into all the empty places inside her, smoothing over the raw edges of hurt.

  Daniel cared about her.

  And no matter how much time they would end up having together before they parted ways, her life would be forever changed.

  Her nephew suddenly struggled to pull away, trying to get out of her lap. With all the willpower she could muster, she ended the kiss. She wanted to groan in frustration but instead, she stood and set Will on his feet, holding on to his hands. He stomped at the grass.

  Her eyes flicked to Daniel standing beside her. His satisfied expression sent a thrill through her. “At least you’re not going to apologize and say it shouldn’t have happened,” she said.

  “No way. That kiss has been a long time coming.”

  Will let go of one hand and took a step. She leaned forward and held on.

  Daniel walked beside them. “But it does complicates matters.”

  “Again, words a woman longs to hear. That she complicates some poor guy’s life.”

  Daniel chuckled as he took Will’s other hand. Her nephew took two steps between them and then let go of Lilly. He continued pulling Daniel along.

  Daniel looked back over his shoulder. “Complication or not, I needed to tell you how I feel.”

  Had he needed to kiss her, as well? Heat crept up her neck, betraying her. “So what now?” she asked, wishing that for once she wouldn’t actually voice the thoughts in her head.

  As Daniel slowed, Will pulled away his hand. He took one step. And a second step on his own. Then on the third attempt, he plunked downward onto his diapered backside, his mouth wide open.

  Lilly gasped and clapped her hands. “You did it, Will! You took your first steps!”

  Will looked pleased with himself, clapping his own hands.

  “Nice job, Will,” Daniel said, gazing at Lilly the whole time, warming her with his attention, making her feel special.

  “What next?” he repeated. “You saw the kid. You just take off and go, even if you’re in new territory and have no idea what you’re doing.”

  She laughed. “We may fall on our rear ends.”

  Daniel nodded at Will. “He’s still grinning.”

  She wasn’t sure she was ready for new territory. But the confidence on Daniel’s face made her want to dare to go there. To give it a try. “I guess we’ll learn as we go.”

  He pulled away his gaze and picked up her nephew. “Come on little man, we should probably take you home to your mom so she can see your new trick. We don’t want her mad at us.”

  Jenna. Lilly had to go home and face Jenna. To tell her she’d missed her son’s first steps. To tell her that Lilly had committed to hosting one of the church ministries.

  But she wouldn’t tell her that she’d just kissed a man whose calling would eventually lead him away from her.

  Chapter Nine

  The following week, Lilly stood shoulder to shoulder with Belinda and admired the class table they’d set up for Cricket, Zaria, Theresa and Evette, who’d be coming to the shop that afternoon for their support group meeting.

  Each place had a skein of yarn and pair of brand-new knitting needles. Belinda had been thoughtful enough to make tote bags for everyone, stitching a monogram on each—including one for Lilly.

  “I still can’t believe you made one for me,” she said to her friend.

  “You need one, too!”

  Yeah, her freebie canvas bag had seen better days. “So what are we going to discuss today?”

  “As you’ve seen from the meetings you’ve attended, I usually let them chat first. Then I try to draw them out, get them to talk about problems. We discuss solutions and choices. All very laid-back since I’m simply here to love and support them.”

  Lilly ran a finger over her embroidered initials, remembering how other girls in middle school had written their initials using their boyfriends’ last names. She’d never dared. “You’re a blessing. I wish I’d had someone like you around when I was a kid.”

  Lilly’s cell phone vibrated in her pocket. A
s a car crunched on gravel out front, she opened the text message from Jenna.

  Fed Will his lunch and put him down for a nap here at home. Won’t condone something that’ll end up hurting you. See you tonight.

  Lilly wanted to shake some sense into her sister, to shake her until her teeth rattled. On Sunday, Jenna had been upset as anticipated. But then she’d overreacted by associating Lilly’s

  support group involvement as involvement with Daniel.

  Apparently, she’d decided to boycott the class. Preventing Lilly from focusing on the girls. Forcing her to divide her time between the group and helping customers. “Come on, let’s go see if that’s the girls who arrived.”

  She and Belinda stepped outside to the front steps. A warm spring day greeted them, the sun shining high in the sky with not a cloud in sight.

  Her heart shot up into her throat when she noticed Daniel and the guys working. She hadn’t seen Daniel in two days, not since they’d kissed—and then had the run-in with Jenna.

  Daniel, Parker, Ian, Ricky along with Darren, from Ricky’s apartment complex, were at the sides of the steps digging with shovels, building plant beds to adorn the front of the shop. When Daniel looked up and smiled, her pulse rate shot into dangerous territory.

  “Hi, Darren,” she said. “I’m glad you came.”

  “It’s Dag, remember?” the boy said, his face bright red as he looked to the cool older guys to make sure they weren’t going to tease him.

  “Hey, Ricky,” Cricket called from the open door of the vehicle that had just pulled in, drawing everyone’s attention away from Dag.

  Ricky dropped his shovel as if he forgot it was in his hand and hurried over to help her from the car. He gave her a quick, awkward hug and a kiss on the cheek.

  The other doors burst open, and three girls climbed out.

  “Come on in, girls,” Belinda said as they approached the steps. “We’re ready for you.”

  Ian, who still hadn’t attended worship services and had apparently not yet seen Cricket, stared at her extended belly. He swallowed as if a baseball were stuck in his throat. Maybe the shock of seeing the girl pregnant would serve as a word of caution for him.