She couldn’t be a more perfect young lady. She did have to be held on a short leash at times due to her sneaky and opinionated ways, but she didn’t have to be scolded to get her homework completed and usually only needed to be asked once to do her chores. Of course she was twelve, so it was a given that she would rebel at times, but for the most part she was pretty easy going. It also helped that she wasn’t the only female in the house anymore so I knew about most of the things she was going through at her age, if you know what I mean. Watching Baylor give a talk about girls and their periods was a conversation that I would like to erase from my memory. Poor girl was scarred even worse afterwards, so naturally I had to step in and smooth things over, informing her that while her monthly visitors were a pain, she’d get used to them in due time and it wasn’t the end of the world.

I honestly thought there would be an adjustment period for Norah, but she was nothing if not amazing and I officially loved her as if she were my own.

However, all that changed to an entirely different story if she and Polly were together too long. They were such complete opposites from each other that they often clashed and butted heads. It was a wonder they were such good friends, but then again it reminded me of Julia and myself.

Dean bought a house that went up for sale…directly next door to us, and the majority of the time he was at our house bugging us. I just had to remind myself that he was lonely. And besides, Norah absolutely loved hanging out with her Uncle Dean, and Baylor enjoyed the fact that it evened up the male-to-female ratio within the household. I often tried to drill in the fact that they were still outnumbered when we included Petunia, which I always did.

We had a standing dinner at my parents’ house every Sunday, and even Petunia got to tag along. My mother was absolutely tickled to suddenly have a twelve year old granddaughter. Norah could probably take or leave my mom but humored her anyway. After every Sunday dinner, we made sure to drive down by the old covered bridge, often times just to walk down along the banks on the edge of the stream.

Julia, where to begin with her…She missed me, and I her, but she led me on a guilt trip almost daily and constantly threatened to move to Oregon. As if I would actually turn down the thought of her moving closer to me, especially since I was the one who had planted the idea in her head in the first place, but on the other hand, Cottage Grove wasn’t quite ready for the whirlwind known as Julia Caldwell.

Standing at the stove, I stirred the giant pot of boiling spaghetti noodles through the billowing steam and heard the same sounds as I did just about every day: the garage door starting to open up and let my man in. My heartbeat quickly picked up from its leisurely pace with the increased anticipation of seeing Baylor after a long day at his job.

The jiggling of the doorknob had Petunia rushing towards the back door, skidding to a sudden halt so she could be the first to receive attention. When Baylor came in for the day I couldn’t help but just to lean a hip against the counter and watch him perform his evening ritual. In a soothing voice, he said to Petunia as he quickly bent down to scratch her head, “Have you been a good girl today?” As I continued to keep the pot of noodles in my peripheral side view, my sight still lingered on him. He moved to secure his keys on the hanging hook just inside the laundry room and made his way into the kitchen, not yet even noticing that I was staring him down. I’ve said before that this man looked delectable in just about anything, including nothing at all, but there was just something about him being in a dress shirt and tie that made my inner sex goddess want to immediately make herself known and attack him right then and there.

One night after moving all of my things into his house we were lying in bed, just having a normal conversation, retelling each other the events of our day. He said that Bentley was really becoming an asset to Jenkins Plumbing and was proving his initial assessment of how he would work out to be incorrect. Bentley had proven to be a hard worker who was meeting Baylor’s high standards, and you could see Baylor’s pride in his brother shining through all the doubt that he had initially felt.

I mentioned to him that he should pursue his dream of being an architect and to give his brother Bentley a chance to prove himself that he was worthy of handling the family business. It took a little more coaxing and explanation and he agreed to give it a shot but would still help out from time to time, because he didn’t want to completely cut ties and disappoint his mom. He was a family man through and through and one that hadn’t hesitated to step up to the plate once his father passed away, which was one of the things that I found most attractive about him. His mother could never be disappointed in anything he did, least of all pursuing his own dream.

So he did it, had a few interviews with a few of the Architecture firms in Eugene and within no time at all was hired on. Just being in the field that he was meant to be in, one that he excelled at and enjoyed tremendously, reflected in his demeanor. He never hated working within the family business but you could tell that he was being held back from the true talent that was instilled in him.

With him having to dress in a tie most days it took quite a bit to keep my libido under control. He placed his lunchbox next to the sink and I knew that he was clearly aware of me watching him but had chosen to play a little game of cat and mouse. He was directly to my right so I backed up from the stove until I was leaning against the island in the middle of our kitchen, which had seemed to be our favorite place on more than one occasion.

His eyes finally adjusted to mine and he stalked towards me, casually rolling up the sleeves to his crisp white dress shirt to above his forearms. He had gone for just the classic look: white shirt tucked into his fitted black pants and rounded off with a thin black tie, utterly sinful. He boxed me in against the freestanding island and darted out a tongue to wet his lips and then looked deeply into my eyes, “Hi honey, I’m home,” he acknowledged through a grin. My heartbeat was still steadily accelerating as it often did when we found ourselves in that position. I brought my hands forward to loosen up his tie around his neck and opened the top two buttons of his shirt, exposing a smattering of chest hair that I loved so much. With one hand still connected to his tie, I pulled him towards me and just before our lips connected, I whispered into his mouth, “I’ve missed you today,” and then closed the distance between us, capturing each other’s mouths in an extraordinary welcome home kiss.

We continued on with our intimate embrace until we heard the garage door slam and Norah running into the kitchen yelling, “Ew! Oh my gosh, go get a room!”

“I agree, I didn’t come here to see that mushy shit!” Dean added.

Baylor was the first to break away but immediately leaned his forehead against mine, “I honestly don’t recall you being invited, Dean, so your opinion is moot,” he retorted, but then pushed off of me and flashed him a smile to assure him he was just joking.

“I think it’s cute actually, kinda romantic,” Norah added with a dreamy look in her eyes.

“Then why did you gross out when you came running in?” I asked, heading back to the noodles and giving them a quick stir.

“Hey, I’m twelve, speaking before thinking is a part of my everyday life. It happens…” She turned to look at me, “When will dinner be ready, Mom?”

My entire body froze, including my face, halting my smile in place. I was sure I hadn’t heard her correctly, did she call me Mom? I darted my eyes over to Baylor, who had almost the same expression on his face as I’m sure I had, confirming my suspicions. The onslaught of tears was mere seconds from spilling free. I looked back at Norah, who was none the wiser, as if her calling me Mom was a normal daily occurrence.