“That’s beautiful,” Emily pointed. She glanced over at Grant. “It’s safe to breathe now,” she laughed.
“That used to be our swimming hole during the summer,” Nora announced.
“Have you ever been cow tipping?” Emily asked curiously.
“Maybe,” Nora offered, and she and Emily both laughed. Nora slanted her eyes to look at Grant. “Are you okay, Grant? You’re mighty quiet back there!”
Grant nodded. “The questions, comments and rude remarks are just coming so fast and furious that if I stop to utter one, my brain may actually short circuit.”
“Yep, he’s fine,” Emily grinned.
The car briefly passed by Hope Hull’s Town Square. There was only one stoplight in town, but it didn’t work, and, from the looks of it, it hadn’t worked in years.
Hope Hull Baptist Church was on the right, across from the livestock auction and the feed store.
Another small cluster of rundown buildings housed a tiny doctor’s office, town hall, and a greasy spoon called MAUDE’S, where at least twenty of the eighty-seven locals were gathered for lunch. A heavy, white-haired man stood outside wearing overalls with no undershirt. A woman, presumably his wife, with curlers in her hair and bare feet motioned for him to hurry inside. Apparently, she didn’t want to chance missing out on today’s special of meatloaf and mashed potatoes and gravy, as announced by a handwritten sign taped in the front window.
The Country Stop was a small market and gas station in one, with only two, semi-operational pumps. In the small parking lot there was a boy standing next to his pickup truck, and, much to Grant’s horror, his mother honked the horn and waved. The tall, strapping boy tipped his black, cowboy hat to say hello.
“Did you know him?” Emily asked.
“That was Joe John Jordan,” Nora nodded. “I had not seen his parents in years, but I ran into them last week. They were friends of mine and Jack’s back in the day. Jackie, Mrs. Jordan, will be one of your teachers…English I believe.”
“No surprise, given her obvious affinity for alliteration,” Grant grumbled. “I didn’t know if you were telling us his name or couldn’t remember it. Joe? John? Jordan, maybe?”
“John is his daddy’s name,” Nora said. “He is the pastor at church and the principal at all three schools. A real sweetheart from what I remember; he was just elected sheriff, if I’m not mistaken.”
“Let’s hope you are, lest this town is dealing with a gross lack of separation of power,” Grant rolled his eyes.
“Why do you have to be so negative about everything?” Nora scolded.
“I’m not being negative,” Grant grinned. “Indeed, a clergyman packing heat inside an elementary school is something I must see.”
“Oh, good heavens,” Nora scoffed. “He doesn’t carry a gun. What in the world would he need that for?”
“Is that the school?” Emily asked, rolling down the window, praying there was more to it than she saw.
“That small brick house is the elementary school. Those three portable buildings behind it are the middle school,” Nora explained.
The high school sat right next door. It was small, though considerably larger than the lower schools, and it appeared to be better maintained than any other building in town.
Behind the schools was an asphalt basketball court and a playground with one slightly rusted slide, a swing set with two swings, one of which was tangled and broken, a set of pale yellow, monkey bars and three big tractor tires painted green, blue and red.
Grant slouched down in his seat. “Hope Hull, Tennessee…everything I thought it would be and so much more.”
“Guys, this is it,” Nora announced as she pulled into the driveway of a modest, wooden house.
“Jessica! Hailey! Nora and the kids are here!” Jack called simultaneously as he watched from the living room window.
Jack hustled to the door, eager to see Nora and meet her kids. He had missed her so much in the little time she had been gone that he had no idea how he had managed to drift through the previous thirty-some-odd years.
“Jack!” Nora exclaimed as he hurried outside to help her with her bags.
“How was your trip?” Jack inquired as they embraced.
“It was great,” Nora smiled. “We had lots of time to talk.”
“Well,” Jack whispered, “I’m afraid Hailey has refused to hear anything I wanted to tell her. I can only hope she will be on her best behavior.” He smiled slyly. “I can’t guarantee it, however! She’s a good kid, but she doesn’t lack attitude. I would say it’s just a phase, but it’s lasted eighteen years!”
Grant pulled his hat on and, as he stepped out of the backseat, he eyed Jack, sizing him up and determining that he looked the part of a well-conditioned, former, standout athlete and an all-around nice guy.
Emily walked up beside Nora, eager for an introduction to her mom’s high school sweetheart. “Jack, this is Emily,” Nora beamed.
“Hi, Emily,” Jack smiled, revealing a genuineness that put Emily at ease. “It is good to finally meet you. Your mother has told me so much about you.”
Emily grinned, a hopeless romantic imagining Nora and Jack as teenagers. “I hope she didn’t bore you,” she laughed.
“I enjoyed every word of it,” Jack shook his head. “Let me know if there is anything I can do to make you feel more at home. I’ve already stocked the freezer with ice cream. I hear that chocolate chip is your favorite.”
Emily smiled, obviously impressed by Jack’s effort.
Grant stuck his hand out to Jack, and Nora nearly pinched herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.
“Well, you must be the answer to my prayers,” Jack said as he shook Grant’s hand. “Your mother tells me you’re one heck of a basketball player, Grant.” When Grant smiled, Nora fell in love with Jack Nelson all over again.
Jack hadn’t dated anyone seriously in college, and, though Nora hoped that had nothing to do with the broken heart she left him with, she now found herself secretly pretending that it was his lingering love for her that kept him from falling in love for years. What she didn’t know was that she was exactly right. Every woman Jack met in the years following their split was compared to Nora, and, in his mind, none of them matched up. She was kind, caring, and compassionate. She was everything he had wanted in a wife and the mother of his children. She longed to be a mother; she was nurturing and beautiful in a way that was plain and effortless; she went out of her way to make others happy. She was the sort of woman who would help a complete stranger even if it meant putting herself out; she was the kind of woman who would butt into a conversation she overheard at the grocery store if she knew the answer to the question some unsuspecting soul was asking. She did this because she simply couldn’t stand to see someone miss a bargain, or she couldn’t stand idly by and watch a mother, who was diligently shopping for a diabetic child, leave the store without spotting the new line of sugar free items a certain brand had come out with. A little neurotic at times, Nora always had the best of intentions. Jack loved everything about her, and it was his love for her that kept him uninterested in and unimpressed by other women for a very long time.
