A boy, A Girl and a Drone

There was a whoosh clunk at our front door, so I turned off the water in the kitchen sink where I had been finishing up washing the breakfast dishes- dried my hands on Mom's lemon patterned kitchen towel, and went to see who was at our door.

Mom was friends with all of our neighbors, and so having visitors most days wasn't unheard of.

Poor Mom she was having one of her bad days again today, so I had brought her breakfast in bed this morning.

I had moved here from New York to take care of her when the doctors gave her the bad news about her health.

I really loved my job, but family always came first.

And it was either me or heavily assisted living, which Mom just wasn't ready for.

In truth no one was ever ready for it.

Mom's house was gorgeous, light blue siding with deep blue trim and huge bay windows-Which were showcasing Mom's odd taste in curtains and blinds -in front, but too much for her to take care of and more then I could take care of while taking care of her .

So when I had stopped at in at the local coffee shop to grab Mom & I's morning coffee (Mom had dropped the coffee pot at home so I was waiting for another one to be delivered, her hands would randomly go numb. I had felt so bad for her; she looked like she would cry until I told this would give me an excuse to try the coffeehouse that I wanted to. That had brightened her up.), I asked the harried young lady busing the tables if she would be interested in some side work helping around Moms house.

Tiff, that was her name, had smiled so brightly and said yes.

And she even had a boyfriend who could help with yard work.

They had two kids and needed the extra money.

And I had a little saved up until I could get part-time remote work job.

Between my savings, Mom's social security and Dad's pension we were ok....but I wanted to try to make a little extra in case it was needed and having more cash always helped for repairs.

I thought back to that morning, mmmmmmm the coffee had been worth the wait in line. And their lines were long; it was no wonder with how good their drinks were. And those long lines allowed me to chat with some of my neighbors, and one really cute guy.

He was tall, dark and handsome!! A little on the thin side but I was partial to cooking stick to your ribs food so it was good for him to have a little wiggle room. Oh dear, I better not start thinking like that.....I would need to actually talk to him again if I stood a chance of getting a date with him.

And besides I didn't even know if he felt that way about me. But it was nice to dream!

It had been 6 months since I had been back to that coffeehouse, Id just been so busy with mom and the house and everything.

Capt. Andrew Harris, He had talked with me for the 20 minutes that it had taken for us to get our coffees and we had covered a lot of information in that time. His parents were originally from Greece and he had gone into the military as a family tradition, he had four brothers and 2 sisters, he was stationed in our town by rotation and he had been overseas a few times and he took his coffee black.

After I mentioned that he was quite tall for being of Grecian ancestry, he had an almost Ichabod Crane-esque physique, he informed me good naturedly that he was also of Swedish descent on his mother’s side.

Oh, but he had such a sweet smile and really white teeth, I learned that they were all natural...no veneers for the Captain.

Another Ka-thunk sounded at the front door bringing me back to the present, my thoughts about Capt. Dreamy would just have to wait till later.

"Coming!" I called.

I padded swiftly to our front door

--

I watched from the camera across the street as Amanda came to the door of the house that she shared with her ailing older mother.

She had such a big heart; I had known it from the moment that I had seen her standing in line to get coffee that day 6 months ago, and not a day had gone by that I hadn’t thought about her since.

She was so beautiful. She was tiny enough that I could have put her in my pocket...and had I wanted to that day! I had wanted to take her home with me and keep her forever...but as my sisters like to tell me, I needed to not get ahead of myself.

And besides I had always been the shy one out of my brothers.

Those four had a lot of luck with the ladies...me not so much...shy and awkward Andy that was me!

I was almost always working double shifts in the vid room these days since we had lost Mitchell.

I had originally tried going back to the coffeehouse to meet Amanda again, because I hadn’t had the foresight to get her number while we were talking. I went every morning for 4 months, but no Amanda.

I had spoken to her friend Tiff who worked at the coffeehouse, and she had told me that Amanda's mother was getting worse so Amanda was staying closer to home more.

Lindell poked his head in to the vid room “Oh hey, is that the Amanda? Yes it is!” He looked at the screen I was watching “Hmmm I prefer red heads myself but for a blonde she’s alright. She’s curvy.” Lindell smiled. He knew how much I liked her and how much I was hoping that she was interested in me.

“She’s beautiful.” I watched her as she took the bouquet of wildflowers from the drone and then the package and waved the drone goodbye as it buzzed off.

“So today’s the day hunh? Good luck Cap’” Lindell nodded to me and left

I watched as she saw my name and her big blue green eyes lit up-that was hopefully a good sign. Then her mother came out and peered over her shoulder as she read the card attached to the bouquet and opened the package, I read her mother’s lips as she exclaimed “Captain Andrew Harris! That’s that boy you’re always daydreaming about!!! He sent you flowers and a present!!!!! Boy, He sure likes you honey!” The older woman smiled and I was able to see through the years to where Amanda got her beauty from.

I saw Amanda blush and then her smile lit up the camera as she pulled a bag of coffee out of the package.

Her mother’s eyes widened as she said “That’s your favorite kind of coffee honey, did you tell him?”

“I told him how much I loved the smell of the coffee shop and then we both found out it was from their special blend of coffee that they brew only during the spring. I can’t believe he remembered!” Amanda’s eye grew soft

Her mother leaned heavily on her cane and looked at her daughter ruefully “Sweetheart that card has this boy’s number on it. If you don’t call him right now, I will do it for you! Don’t you dare let him go!”

“You know mom, I think I will race you to the phone!” Amanda’s smile had turned mischievous as she darted in the house leaving her mother laughing in the doorway.

I was so caught up by the scene that I didn’t notice my cell phone light up at first, and then it gave a happy little jingley ring…. I hoped it was her!