“Are you coming? I need to stop by Flora’s and pick up some collards, green beans, and tomatoes first.”

Sighing, Gabriel walked around to the passenger side and got in. “Do you have enough time? Maybe we should go after your appointment.” He buckled his seat belt.

She started the engine, backed down the driveway, and hit the button to close the garage. “It’ll only take fifteen minutes to do both. She doesn’t live that far.”

She pulled off in a burst of speed that had him clutching the armrest. “Aren’t you driving a little fast, Nana?”

“This is how I always drive, and I’m not going that fast. Relax.” Nana started humming along to the song on the radio. She blew her horn and waved at an older couple walking down the street. “It’s good to see them out and about. They’ve both been sick. I’m going to have to take them some dinner.”

Gabriel didn’t utter a word. He couldn’t. She whipped around a corner so fast, it pressed him against the car door. He hadn’t prayed in a long while, but today he offered up a steady litany, in hopes that they would arrive at their destination in one piece. Less than five minutes later, she slowed and turned onto the gravel driveway of a farm-style house with a wraparound porch, and his heart rate started to slow. He spotted a huge colorful garden off to one side with a light-brown-skinned woman wearing a calf-length lounging dress and a colorful wrap on her head pulling weeds.

Nana got out. “Hey, Flora.”

“Hey, Della. I’ve got your box on the porch. We have so much growing this year, I can’t get rid of it fast enough.”

Gabriel finally felt steady enough to get out of the car and approach the women.

Nana beckoned him forward. “Flora, this is my grandson, Gabriel. He’s taking Andrea’s place in watching over me like a mother hen. Gabriel, this is Flora King. We go all the way back to primary school.”

A smile creased the woman’s weathered face, and she waved a hand. “Nice to meet you, Gabriel. And don’t mind your grandma. We old ladies think we can still do everything we did when we were young and don’t like to admit we need help, but it’s nice to see grandchildren who care.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too, ma’am.”

“Handsome and polite. I might need to introduce you to my two grandsons. Neither of them can spell ‘manners.’ Hmph.” She rolled her eyes. “Let me get this box.”

He chuckled. “If you show me where the box is, I’ll get it.” He followed her up the steps and lifted the large box overflowing with vegetables she indicated. Two others sat next to it, and he assumed they were being given away as well.