Jamie finished peeling the shrimp, wiped his hands with a napkin, and asked her, "Are you planning to start a garden?"
Sara's heart skipped a beat when he first spoke, but she relaxed completely once he finished. She nodded, "Yes, I plan to use that big patch of land in the yard."
In Westbrook Hamlet, every house had a similar layout. You'd enter into a spacious yard surrounded by a picket fence. On the right side was the kitchen, the middle had a concrete path leading to the main house, and on the left was a large vegetable garden.
Sara remembered that when she was little, her grandmother had filled it with all kinds of vegetables and fruits that she loved. Yesterday, when she visited Grandma Lorelei's house, she saw it was still full of vegetables, but her own garden was overgrown with weeds. Feeling a bit unsettled, she immediately started thinking about planting her garden full again.
Today, she had Jamie buy all kinds of vegetable seeds, so it was no surprise that he guessed her plan.
Jamie glanced at the weed-covered half of the courtyard, then turned to her and said, "There are too many weeds. I'll be home tomorrow. I'll come over and help you clear them out."
Sara had originally planned to ask Aunt Diamond for help, but a young, strong man was undoubtedly more suitable for the job. She agreed without hesitation, figuring she could just treat him to more food whenever he got hungry.
After they finished eating, Sara walked Jamie to the door. Suddenly, he stopped inside the doorway and said, "Oh, there's something I forgot to tell you."
Sara thought he was going to talk about tomorrow's weeding, so she didn't have any reservations. "What's up?"
He looked at her with his long lashes half-lowered, his eyes in the moonlight seeming to carry a soft glow and a hint of a smile. "But when we were kids, you were so bossy and insisted I call you...So some of my feelings were permitted, even required by you."
He didn't say the last part out loud, so when he left, Sara was still confused.
Did she really not let Jamie call her ...when they were kids? Did she?
It seemed like she did, but she couldn't remember the details. After racking her brain for a few minutes, she gave up, closed the door, and went to the bathroom to wash up.
*
"Sari?" "Sari?" "Sar-iii!"
The childish voice of a boy woke Sara up. She opened her eyes to see a little boy standing in front of her, only reaching her chest.
The boy looked young, maybe seven or eight years old, a bit thin but with good features, and somewhat familiar.
Sara's gaze fell on his small but rosy lips, and she guessed in a daze, could this be Jamie as a child?
He did look a bit like Jamie, but seeing him now, it was hard to imagine him growing up to be so mature and steady.
"Sari, why aren't you saying anything?" Little Jamie asked cautiously.
Sara was about to bend down to tease him when she heard a spoiled girl's voice from behind, "I told you not to call me Sari!"
The sound of footsteps fading away left little Jamie looking a bit panicked. Before Sara could react, he rushed toward her. Instinctively, she reached out to catch him.
But oddly, he didn't run into her arms but went right through her body. Sara's eyes widened in horror. Before she could process what had happened, she heard someone speaking behind her. She turned around and saw little Jamie grabbing a girl who looked very familiar.
That was the Sara from our childhood.
Little Sara was pouting, poking little Jamie's forehead with a finger, angrily saying, "How many times do I have to tell you? You are my future husband. You will be my husband, so you have to call me wife or darling."
Sara's eyes widened in shock, her voice unconsciously rising to a scream, "No! This is inappropriate!"
