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kitchen dressed for work in a lightweight
gray pantsuit and a patterned blouse in shades of blue and lavender.
    “Need more
sleep,” Gramps said.
    “I am a little
worried about how much you’re taking on, Annie,” her mom said. “I don’t want
you getting sick.”
    Annie smiled
at her mother’s familiar refrain. She tended to blame any and all illnesses on
a lack of sleep, although Annie had been robustly healthy since having
chickenpox in the fourth grade.
    “What can I
get you ladies for breakfast?” Gramps asked.
    “Just toast
and tea for me, Dwight,” her mother said.
    “And maybe a
boiled egg?” he suggested.
    Since Gramps
had moved in with them after giving up the parsonage, he’d been a mother hen to
both his daughter-in-law and granddaughter. The arrangement had been
surprisingly successful, especially since they’d remodeled the rear of the
house so he had a small apartment of his own.
    “Not this
morning, thank you,” Mom said. “I need to lose a few pounds.”
    Her mother’s
one obsession was her weight. Annie and Gramps never seemed to gain, but Laura
Williams was always on a diet. She was taller than her daughter, who suspected
her weight gain was mostly imaginary, and she walked the mile or so to and from
her job at the bank unless the weather was bitterly cold.
    “Well, at
least have some orange juice. I just squeezed it,” Gramps said.
    “About your
job….” her mother said.
    “It’s fine,
Mom. All I do is provide some companionship for Mr. Sawyer’s aunt.” She
explained about the tornado and Mattie’s sprained ankle while she ate a bowl of
corn flakes.
    “I wish I
could do more to help you buy the flower shop,” her mom said. “Your father’s
insurance money is pretty much gone.”
    “It’s
something I want to do on my own,” Annie assured her for perhaps the hundredth
time. “Aunt Mattie is a little sharp-tongued, but I’ll only be there for the
summer. The Sawyers will be home from their trip after Labor Day.”
    “Wouldn’t it
be nice to travel in Europe all summer?” Mom asked wistfully.
    “Maybe your
turn will come someday,” Annie said with an optimism her mother rarely shared.
If her flower shop, as she now thought of it, was successful, she badly wanted
to give her mother a chance to enjoy life more. Raising a daughter alone had
been a constant struggle, although life was easier now that Gramps contributed
to their household budget.
    “There’s only
one thing I really want.” 
    “Yes, I know.”
Annie didn’t want to hear about her mother’s hope for a married daughter and a
grandbaby. She could see herself sometime in the future with a family of her
own, but she hadn’t had a serious boyfriend in a couple of years. After living
in Westover her whole life, she couldn’t think of a single man she wanted to
date, let alone marry. Not many men like Nathan Sawyer lived in the small Ohio
town.
    The last
spoonful of cereal went down wrong, making her choke and alarming her mother.
    Nathan was her
temporary employer. What on earth had made her think of him as an eligible
male? The Sawyers were the closest thing Westover had to royalty, and his
mother was just plain scary in her haute couture outfits. Everyone knew the
family donated scads of money to the church, but she couldn’t imagine Mrs.
Sawyer in the kitchen helping with a funeral luncheon or a potluck—or
even folding bulletins, which was one of Annie’s jobs.
    “I have to
go,” she said after assuring her mother she wasn’t choking to death.
    “Now that you
have another job, will you still have time to go to Carbonville with me
tomorrow?” her mother asked.
    “Of course,
I’m looking forward to it,” Annie assured her, knowing it was a big deal to her
mom.
    Westover had
one super store and a dollar store, but the closest mall was fifteen miles
away. She knew her mom enjoyed having lunch in the food court and shopping the
stores with her, even if neither of them intended to buy much. A