“Thank you for letting me think everything was perfect in your life when I was growing up.” She blinked back more tears. “I needed that back then, but I’m sorry you had to carry that burden alone so many years. I feel a little silly talking to a chunk of granite, but it makes me feel better. There’s something else I need to tell you, Nanny Lucy. Something I’m very excited about. Something that you instilled a love in me for. I’m considering getting into the quilting business and staying in Blossom. Jackson says he’ll show me the ropes when it comes to the craft fairs.” A soft breeze kicked up, rustling the leaves on the oak tree that shaded Nanny Lucy’s grave. If Nessa had been a superstitious person, she would have sworn it was a sign that her grandmother was giving her an endorsement of sorts.

Nessa didn’t know what else to say, so she just sat there in the quiet of the cemetery and listened to the birds flitting about in the trees until Jackson drove up in front of the grave. She got to her feet at the same time that he got out of the truck, jogged around the back side of it, and opened the door for her. Maybe it was a date after all, she thought as she stepped up on the running board and got inside.

“Feel better?” Jackson asked.

“Yes, I do,” she answered. “But talking to a tombstone feels kind of silly, doesn’t it?”

She watched him as he walked around the front of the truck. He would probably have looked exceptionally good in a three-piece suit, but she liked him even better in those tight-fitting jeans and that chambray shirt. She couldn’t take her eyes off the muscles that bulged the seams at the sleeves.

He slid in behind the wheel and put the truck in gear. “I felt like that, too, the first time I talked to my uncle. I know he’s not there, but it makes me feel good to talk to him. I told him about you three cousins tonight and even let him know that you and I are on our second date.”

Nessa raised an eyebrow. “This is a date?”

“I pick you up. We go somewhere. We have ice cream at Weezy’s. Everyone sees us out together. I believe that’s the definition of a date,” he answered as he drove back toward town.

“What if I’d rather have a hamburger at Weezy’s?” she asked. “I haven’t had supper.”

“Me either, and that makes it officially a date. And I’d also love a burger,” he answered. “What do you usually do on a second date?”

“Been too long since I had a second one . . .” She stopped. “How is this a second date?”