Nature announced the start of my favorite season with glimpses of orange washing over the summit of the Sweet Grass Hills. The sun’s warming rays cast a golden hue over the barley stubble. And I wanted to shout out in joy.
We are far, far north. So despite the beauty, everyone knows this could be a false start to the season. So, I held my tongue.
Shortly afterward though, a yearning for lemon bars hit the palate. I wanted that buttery shortbread crust, the gooey lemony center, and a drizzle of powdered sugar.
These were signs that spring was on the horizon. However, there is a school of thought I couldn't ignore. As much as we love spring up here, misbelief in her arrival is strong. The older among us say with the voice of someone who has been burned. “Remember, that time it snowed over Memorial Day weekend Mrs. Cooke lost her entire garden to the freeze.”
However, I wasn’t the only one chomping at the bit for the new season. In the back aisles of the grocery store, you could find us. We were the ones glancing over our shoulders like we were telling classified information. “Have you noticed how nice the weather has been lately?”
Then the one sign all of us were waiting for arrived. On Monday, the Canadian geese’s squawking on their route north woke us.
The chatter in the coffee shop line changed. Instead of complaining about the residual snow, or masks, or husbands who ate the last of the lemon bars, we mentioned findings in perusals through Better Homes and Garden. The conversations segued to the tomato plant that almost made it stories. Or, in the case of my 2020 garden, it’s the seventy-two seedlings I killed. The conversations are brief because we are still trying to be safe.
Even then, there’s a glint of hope in our voices. We're embracing the sunrises, holding our faces to the sun, and inhaling the soft breezes.
What I love best about all of these moments; Spring has taught us a lesson we all want to embrace: After every season of being dormant, the time to rise and shine has come again.
I know it's a couple of days early, but I want to wish you a happy start to the spring season.
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Donovan has been in love with Becca since they were teenagers. It began when she bought him a get-well-soon card. But he doesn’t know how she feels about him. When they agree to marry if both are single when they’re forty, he decides to bide his time. This includes chasing off any men that may interfere with his plan.
Everything changes when Donovan‘s grandfather leaves him an inheritance with one stipulation: He must be married, or he’ll lose the estate.
A lot more is at stake when Donovan proposes. He has to convince Becca his feelings for her are real without telling her he’s the reason all the other guys bolted.
This finding love after friendship story is the prequel of the Three Creeks sagas where friends find the happily ever after they were looking for was right in front of them.
For a limited time, Get Well Soon is available for 99¢
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Merri Maywether lives with her husband in rural Montana. You can find her in the town's only coffee house listening to three generations of Montanans share their stories. Otherwise, she's in the classroom or the school library, inspiring the next generation's writers.
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