Granted by Angela Correll

Author:Angela Correll
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781633935501
Publisher: Koehler Books
Published: 2015-01-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

THERE WAS A bouquet of yellow roses on her desk. No card, once again, but Annie knew it had to be Brett. He had admitted to keeping tabs on her. It was flattering, but the gesture made her realize his intentions needed to be addressed. She was engaged to Jake, and Brett should know whatever they had at one time was over.

Annie picked up the roses and carried them to Lonnie Caldwell’s room.

“Lonnie, I brought you some flowers that you can distribute to all your lady friends.”

“They’re beautiful,” Lonnie said. “Are you sure?”

Annie nodded. “I brought some green floral paper we had left over in the craft room. Pick out one or two and wrap the stems in this. Here’s some ribbon as well. Your ladies will love them.”

“Well, now, don’t you think of everything,” he said, amused with her creativity.

“You better take one of these,” he said, and pulled out a rose. “You are my most special girl, after all,” he said, and winked again.

“Lonnie, whoever you’re with at the moment is your most special girl and we both know it. But thank you just the same.”

“Thanks to you, my dear, and thanks for thinking of me.”

***

Jake was herding goats that had ventured into a neighbor’s orchard. After that, he had to repair fences where the goats had escaped. At least Joe Gibson was around to help and happy to have an excuse to be outside the house.

Annie had dinner with her grandmother and then went upstairs to read before going to bed. She kept reading the same sentence over and over, finally putting the book aside. She thought about the flowers, which led her to think about both Brett and Jake. As a teenager, she desperately wanted to leave Somerville, to live the life her mother had not, and dating Jake meant staying put. So, she picked Brett, the football jock who she knew she could never marry and easily leave after graduation.

Marriage and a baby had kept her mother stuck in the tiny town, and she had died before ever seeing a single thing outside of Kentucky. Annie had vowed after her mother’s death to see everything she could for as long as she could.

Annie fulfilled her self-promise, traveling the world as a flight attendant. Then, through a providential twist, she lost her job, took stock of her life, and landed home in the arms of the man who had loved her all along.

***

Jake was bringing her lunch, but before it was time to meet him, Annie went by Vesta’s room to check on her friend. She found her with several of her AME church family, eating lunch in the dining room and getting updates on all the members. While she waited on Jake, Annie scrolled down her email and clicked on one from Vincenzo, writing for his mother Angelina, which he did sometimes when she had more than she could say in English herself:

Dear cousin Annie,

Please see mamma’s reply to you. I will be at your service on your response.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.