had enough reminding today that things weren’t as they’d always been.
Audrey backed her way toward the mill, Mr. Witt following. Once inside, she guided the crate onto the bench stretching along the length of one wall.
“I haven’t been in here in years,” Mr. Witt said as he scanned the interior. “I remember coming here with my daddy when I was a boy.”
“Really?”
“Oh, yeah. Even though you could get cornmeal in the stores, he always liked what came from the mill better. I remember sitting on the creek bank, just watching the wheel turn round and round.”
“That’s one of the things on my extensive to-do list,” Audrey said. “I want to get the wheel operational again. I think it’ll add to the atmosphere.”
Mr. Witt looked around at the mill’s silent gears and aging wood. “Hard to imagine this place as a restaurant.”
“I admit, it’s got a long way to go. But as it happens, you’re my first dining guest.” She extended her arm to point out the small table in the corner, covered with a white cloth and with a vase of daffodils. Her attempt to add a little cheer to the place. “I was about to have lunch, and I’ve got plenty to share.”
“I don’t want you to go to all that trouble.”
“It’s no trouble. I have to eat anyway, and it’s the least I can do for you bringing these frames all the way over here.” Plus, if Mrs. Witt had always done the grocery shopping, chances were she’d also done the cooking. That led Audrey to believe Mr. Witt might not have been eating properly since his family’s departure. Something about him brought out her protective instincts.
“It’s not too far,” he said as he took a seat. “I just live a couple miles down the road from your lane.”
Audrey slid onto the chair opposite him. “Oh, so we’re practically neighbors.”
Mr. Witt shared tales of his youth in Willow Glen as they ate their lunch, making Audrey laugh with the accounts of some of his mischievous antics.
“I think by the time I got out of school, the teachers were ready to throw a party.”
“I can’t imagine why. Doesn’t everyone bring snakes to show-and-tell and put scarecrows in their teachers’ cars?”
Mr. Witt chuckled at the remembered scenes. “But, Lordy, I got payback when I had my own son.”
“Wild one, huh?”
“Whoo-ee. Put me to shame. But he turned out all right, so I guess no harm came of his escapades.”
“You only have the one?”
“Yeah, just one son. Betty…” Sadness drifted across his face at the name. “Betty and I had two children. Brady’s the oldest. He runs the construction company now, even opened a new office where he lives down in Kingsport. Our daughter, Sophie, owns a bridal shop in Asheville, North Carolina. She’s got two little girls who I’ve been known to spoil from time to time.”
“I bet you do.” Audrey smiled, glad the topic of his grandchildren had pushed away the incredible ache it was painful to witness.
“Does your son have children?”
“Goodness, no. That boy doesn’t slow down long enough to date a gal for more than a month at a time. Say, maybe I should fix the two of you up. You’re a pretty girl, hardworking.”
Audrey wadded her napkin into a ball and tossed it onto her empty plate. She tried to push away an ache of her own by changing the subject. “I think my only dates are going to be with a broom and a paintbrush for the foreseeable future.”
“All work and no play…” he teased.
“Opens my café and adds to my dwindling bank account sooner.” She took a drink of her water.
“He’s a good-looking boy.” The hopeful tone in his voice nearly made Audrey chuckle.
“Must take after his father.” She patted his hand. “Let’s take a look at those frames.” And steer clear of the topic of dating. She didn’t have the time or the inclination.
Yes, she got lonely and missed being held. But Darren, the man she’d thought she’d marry, had shown her that might never be possible.
Not when any interesting, or interested, man found out who she was.
BRADY WITT HUNG UP the phone in his office, trying not to worry that he couldn’t reach his dad. He’d made attempts all day with no luck. Maybe his dad was out in his shop. Though with the way Nelson had been acting when Brady left, he couldn’t imagine it. With his wife’s death, the life had seemed to go out of Nelson Witt, too.
“You okay?”
Brady looked up to see his business partner and best friend, Craig Williams, standing in the doorway.
“Yeah, just can’t get in touch with Dad.”
“He could’ve gone into town.”
“Maybe, but I’ve been calling all day. If he hit every business in Willow Glen, it might take him a couple of hours. And that’s if he spent an hour hanging out with the other old coots at Cora’s Coffee Shop.”
Craig ambled in and sank into one of the chairs opposite Brady’s desk. “Why don’t you take some time off? Go spend it with your dad.”
“I just did that.”
Craig shook his head. “You were dealing with the funeral and the aftermath. I’m thinking you go up and keep him busy, take him fishing, get him in a new routine that won’t remind him of your mom so much.”
Brady leaned back in his chair and sighed. “I don’t think he’s interested in fishing or anything else for that matter.”
“Your parents were so close. That’s why you should go. Left to themselves, sometimes older people don’t last long if they lose their spouse. I saw it happen to my grandma.”
The thought of losing his father so soon after his mom sent a sharp pain through Brady’s chest. But how did you force someone to learn to live again?
“Just a couple of weeks,” Craig said. “We’ve got things under control here. And if you still feel like you can’t do anything after that, then you come back and let time do its thing.”
Brady glanced at the calendar. “I’ve got to finish the bid on the Lakeview project.”
“I can finish it up, get Kelly to help me. Be good experience for her. Plus, it’s not like you’re headed to the wilds of Tibet.”
Brady considered Craig’s words for a moment before nodding. “Okay.” It did make sense to give Kelly, their architecture intern, experience in all aspects of the business.
And honestly, Brady’s heart wasn’t in his work anyway. He couldn’t turn off the anger or pain about his mom’s death. Or the concern about how
