Total pages in book: 22
Estimated words: 21010 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 105(@200wpm)___ 84(@250wpm)___ 70(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 21010 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 105(@200wpm)___ 84(@250wpm)___ 70(@300wpm)
Like any red-blooded four-year-old child, she’s absolutely all about that.
I’m so blessed to have her. I didn’t think I could love Nelson any more than I did, but then he gave me the cutest child in the whole universe. The man just keeps outdoing himself.
I guide Nelly toward more properly sized pumpkins and put them in my basket. I pay the clerk overseeing the pumpkin patch and bring my daughter back to my car.
We then head back to the Burly Garden Supplies store. Business is going well, and as its owner, I’m especially glad to see that.
Behind the counter right now is the love of my life. He’s helping people get the tools they need for their gardens, and explaining how to get their fall harvests going.
I don’t make my husband act as my store clerk full-time, but he’s more than happy to fill in now and then to give me time to do my thing. His actual job is being in charge of the books at the Rowdy Ranch, on top of still helping his brothers and father maintain the herd. But he assures me that a little bit of moonlighting to help me out is a joy to him too.
“She wasn’t too much of a handful at the pumpkin patch, I hope?” he says as I come behind the counter to relieve him.
“She wanted to get a pumpkin big enough for all of us to live in. I had to talk her down to something I could actually carry.”
“You know how Nelly is. Big eyes, big dreams.”
He pulls me close in an embrace, and we watch our child go and be a kid. She’s running up and down the aisles, and since the store is mostly empty right now, I don’t feel a whole lot of drive to stop her. Besides, the more she tuckers herself out now, the easier she’ll be to put to bed later.
It’s something you learn quite early as a parent — how to balance your kid’s energy with your own sanity.
“How the hell did we get so damn lucky?” Nelson whispers to me as he holds me tight.
“I have no fucking clue, and I’m hoping God doesn’t notice and remember to balance things out. We really should be playing the lottery with the luck we have.”
It was all so unlikely. On top of being in the right place at the right time, we both needed costumes ridiculous enough to cover our faces or we never would have gotten together. If we had known we were a Rowdy and a McCormick from the start? We would have stayed the hell away from one another, no matter how cute we thought each other was.
It took something that absurd for us to give one another a chance. To talk, and want to keep trying once we learned the truth.
“You know, they just reopened the corn maze for the year,” I say to Nelson.
“Had some memories pop into your head, I see.”
“Lovely memories. You never forget your first… time in a corn maze.”
He steals a kiss from me. It’s still as exotic and wonderful as it was the very first time. “How about this, then? After we take Nelly home and put her to bed, why don’t we get one of my brothers to come over and babysit for a little while, and we can go out for an exploration of the corn maze? You know, just for old time’s sake.”
“We should get Windy to do it,” I suggested Williams’ wife. “She loves Nelly and would look after her at a moment’s notice.”
“Sounds good. Even if the last time Nelly came home smelling vaguely of motor oil. I think Windy tried to teach her how to change a car’s oil.”
“It’s a useful skill to have.”
“She’s four, Nelson.”
“She’s a very advanced learner then.”
We laugh at our stupid joke. Laughter is always with us, our joy unable to be contained.
“Anyway, once we get all that settled, you and me? We’ll take a stroll through the corn maze again. We’ll get lost on purpose. Make sure the coast is clear. Then... uh... we take our sweet time getting on the right path again, if you know what I mean.”
I run my finger through his hair. “Sounds like the perfect night, Nelson. I’m on board.”
I love him. I love Nelly. I love my family, both Rowdys and McCormicks.
All of this just because of a stupid avocado costume.
Life’s pretty amazing sometimes.