My gaze went back to my feet.
“I’ve met a man.”
Mom said nothing.
“We’ve known each other awhile. He’s…he’s a good man, Mom,” I told her. “He’s, well, no other way to put it, he’s incredibly handsome. Very tall. A big guy. I…we, well, we’ve moved it to the next level.”
“And that would be?” Mom asked when I said no more.
“He’s staying with me,” I shared. “He travels for a living but he has some downtime and he’s staying with me.”
That received no response.
“He cleaned my gutters,” I said softly. She didn’t reply so I kept going. “He noticed the rain running over them and he cleaned them. He found they were in a bad state so then he replaced them. After that, he took care of the ones on the cabins. I helped, and he let me, but he did most of the work.”
Mom said not a word.
“Doing that, he saw the state of my roof so he fixed that too. His downtime, not working, he spent days working on the house and cabins for me.”
She still didn’t speak.
“I…I,” I stammered then whispered, “Mom, he thinks I’m beautiful.”
She said something to that.
“You are beautiful, Cassidy.”
“He’s the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen, Mom, and he told me he feels the same about me. He told me I could be in magazines. He told me I’m the finest woman he’s ever known. That means a lot since, outside Dad, he’s the finest man I’ve ever met.”
“That isn’t a surprise either, angelface, because you’re you. He’d have to be very thick to miss that.”
I felt my face soften, my lips tip up, and I moved to lean a hip to the counter. “I really hope things keep going this well, Mom, because I really want you and Dad to meet him. Dad would love him. He takes care of me like Dad does, letting me be me but being there to support me in being it.”
“So you see a future with this man?”
“Yes,” I said quietly.
“Does this man have a name?”
I closed my eyes tight as the only darkness on a horizon that included Deacon blackened my mood. “John Priest.”
“Strong name,” she remarked.
She wasn’t wrong.
I liked Deacon better.
“I’m happy for you,” Mom continued, now her voice was quiet. “I’m happy because you sound happy. And I hope this works out for you, too, honey, so I’ll get to meet him, but so you’ll have someone to share your time with amongst the glory of Glacier Lily.”
I grinned in the phone. “Love you, Mom.”
“Love you a whole lot more, angelface.”
“That’s debatable.”
“Let’s not debate it, because knowing my daughter, that could take ten years and I don’t have that time. Dinner’s nearly done and I need to feed your father.”
“Right, I’ll let you go.”