to have some quilts ready?”
“I found three tops already done in the closet. I have one finished, and I’m working on a second one. As soon as we finish with the one in the shed, I’ll start quilting what I’ve got. I might not get five finished, but is three or four enough for a start?” she asked.
“That’s a pretty good start, but you’ll sell as many kits as you do quilts. Miz Lucy always had a picture of a finished quilt on the top of the kit. I’ve often wondered how many folks really got one of those intricate ones sewn up,” he said.
Tilly brought out their food, smiled at Nessa when she saw the number was gone, and set down their burger baskets. “Y’all enjoy, and tell Flynn if he doesn’t call me soon, I might just bring my kids out to the waterfall to swim.”
“You can’t do that,” Jackson said. “The waterfall is on the Devereaux property, and we’ve got ‘No Trespassing’ signs posted everywhere. If we let one person come out there to swim, then we’d be constantly overrun with partying kids.”
“Party pooper!” Tilly gave him a gentle squeeze on the shoulder before she left.
“See what I’m talking about?” Jackson squirted ketchup on his fries and handed the bottle to Nessa.
“Oh, yeah.” She nodded as she covered her fries with ketchup and picked up a fork. “Does she flirt like that with every guy?”
“I have no idea,” Jackson answered. “But I’m sure glad Flynn is taking some of the pressure off me.”
Jackson had always liked tall blondes with brown eyes and delicate features. Nessa had curly red hair and steely blue eyes that looked like they could see right into his soul, and she barely came up to his shoulder. But he’d thought all week about that kiss they’d shared, and he kept sneaking peeks at her full lips as they ate their burgers. He had told himself that the sparks between them when they had kissed had only been the result of his not having dated or been with a woman in months, but now he was ready to admit that he was attracted to her.
Nessa’s knee bumped against his as she slid forward in the seat to reach for the salt, and there was the same electricity between them that he’d felt every time he was in her presence. He couldn’t blame the chemistry on abstinence when just the touch of her knee caused a stirring in his body and soul alike.
The lawyer in him weighed the pros and cons of having a relationship with a neighbor who might not even stay in Blossom. The pros were that she was close by, he could see her often, and she was so easy to talk to. The cons were that if things got serious and she moved back to the Panhandle, his heart might be broken, and if there was a bad breakup, things could get really awkward between them as neighbors.
“Penny for your thoughts,” Nessa said.
“Do you live in the moment or think about the future?” he asked.
“That’s what you were thinking about?” she asked.
He took a drink of his tea. A good lawyer never played all his cards on the first day of a trial. “In a roundabout way. I was thinking about you, but you don’t have to find a penny to pay me.”
“I spend way too much time thinking about the future. Living in a religious household with a father that looked forward to heaven meant that I’d better be asking for forgiveness for my past, be thankful for the present, and hope for heaven.” She finished off the last bite of her burger. “How about you?”
“Living with lawyers all around me, I was trained to always look forward to the future, too,” he answered. “Get an education. Become a lawyer and work for the firm. Start a retirement fund. But I’ve been working on trying to live a little in the moment. We only get today. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow is always a day away.”
“Is that a closing statement?” Nessa asked.
“If I was defending a person, it would be.” Jackson grinned. “I’d ask the jury to give my client one more chance to enjoy the day and to take time to smell the roses.” He thought of all the rosebushes around Miz Lucy’s house and how she had taken such good care of them.
Nessa almost giggled. “I’m sorry. You were being philosophical, and it’s not funny, but something Nanny