“The market is where a lot of farmers near here sell their wares.” Jack explains as he follows her, smiling as he watches her kick at the snow. “A-and yeah, most of them have always been there. Let’s see… Mrs. Lee has been baking bread with her husband forty years now…”
“Wow..40 years..” she mused, the thought of such a couple calming her childish actions a bit. “That’s a long time to be together. All the people I know get divorces after only a few years..” Like a friend she knew back in Washington who had married at age 20, after only a few months of being with her boyfriend. They had moved too fast it seemed and fought all the time after learning they just didn’t know each other as well as they thought.
“Makes me wonder if I’ll be as lucky as them..” she whispered to herself, hoping against all hope. She had never thought about marriage before but now she suddenly was and her stomach did flips at the idea. Married to Jack? Will it ever happen in the future? Down the road? If he still wants me by then maybe. But definitely not soon. We’re still learning about each other.
He didn’t over hear her. If he had he probably would have told her of course she would, and whoever it was she may end up with would be the luckiest man on the planet and no he was by no means hopefully talking about himself.
“Like I said, a lot of people here have been out here for a real, real long time. That house,” he gestures back to the one they just left, “has been in the Maple family name for over sixty years now.”
Jack Maple 