Once Upon A Rodeo

14: Gratitude

My head shot up. "Nana!"

Before she could respond there was a knock at the door. She sighed, "that must be Jim."

"What's he here for?" I asked.

"He's supposed to be fixin' my kitchen sink again, but I have a feelin' he's gonna do more gossipin' than fixin'."

"But didn't he just fix that very same sink less than two months ago?" I asked remembering him being here the last time I visited.

"Uh huh. He's not a very good handy man. If your daddy weren't so busy all the damn time with work, I'd as him. And we both know that my eldest ain't gonna help his poor old mama none. So I'm stuck with Jim Harper." She stood up and smoothed her clothes out, taking her sweet time to answer the door.

"Howdy, Rose. Just you wait until you hear what I have ta tell ya."

She let out a loud sigh. "Just try ta fix the sink first this time, Jim."

They walked into the kitchen where I was still sitting, drinking my sweet tea. "Oh! Annie! You're here." He said surprised and looked at me with prying eyes.

"Yes." Nana wrapped her arm around my shoulder and pulled me into her protectively. "Now don't just stand there. I've hired you to fix my sink, not to speculate why my granddaughter is in my house. So get ta work." He huffed but did as he was told.

"How is your parents, Dear?" She asked sitting down besides me.

"Fine. Daddy's been workin' extra hours at the hospital lately. They're really understaffed."

"Poor, Andrew. What's your Mama been up to these days? Still scrapbookin' like a mad woman?"

"Mm hmm. She's goin' on her annual scrapbookin' trip next weekend with a few ladies from work."

"Oh how nice. Where are they goin' this time?"

"Oklahoma City I think."

She smirked. I knew all this small talk was just to annoy Jim. He wanted to hear gossip and we weren't gonna feed him any.

"I want to get some goldenrod flowers for my garden but I'm gonna need some help plantin' 'cause of my back."

"I'll plant them for you if you go to the store and pick them up. I might even recruit some of the Bradshaws. Especially Sloan, you know how he loves diggin' in the dirt."

She laughed. "Oh, I'm sure Emily will be very pleased when you bring home her son covered in mud."

"Well then she'll just have to deal with it." I chuckled.

"How was homecomin' last night, Annabelle?" Jim blurted unable to contain himself any longer. "I heard you left the dance early."

"Yes." I said slowly. "Well I wasn't feelin' too good. But I had fun while I was there."

"I'm sure you did." He said, glee filling his obnoxious voice. "How was the dancin' with Travis Hillwood?" I wanted him to lift his head and smack his face on the pipes.

"Annabelle!" My nana cut in, saving me from answering his question. "What dress did you wear?"

"I bought a short light blue strapless dress. It was really pretty, it had a sparkles going up the entire dress and some bling at the top." I said still blushing from Jim's question.