How Sweet It Is

18

Derek felt like he had a permanent smile on his face as he came into the house on Sunday afternoon. He had stayed at Meredith's over night again, had tried to teach her how to make his homemade pizza and they had ended up in bed. He was almost as relaxed as it was possible to be on his last day before work. He was home for a couple of hours before he had to go meet Meredith for dinner on their last night of freedom. He looked around the house for his Mom, to find her out in the yard, with her gardening gloves and sunhat on.

"Hey Mom." Derek smiled, kissing his Mom on the cheek before taking in seat in one of the garden chairs.

"Hey." Mrs. Shepherd smiled, wiping the dirt off of her arms.

"Garden's looking good." He sighed.

"Thanks Dear."

"You've been working hard on it."

"I've been out here all morning." His mother chuckled, with her hands on her hip as she looked out at the garden.

"Well it looks great."

"Thanks Dear." Mrs. Shepherd smiled, looking up at her son. "So where were you this morning?"

"I um...I had a meeting with a real estate agent." Derek lied.

"Oh." His mother sighed, reaching for her gardening clippers. "I didn't hear you come in last night."

"It was pretty late..."

"You were here?"

"Yeah...I came in late and left early for my appointment." He said.

"Oh....what did you do last night?" His mother asked, pruning her plants.

"Rearranged the guest room at Meredith's."

"You two seem to be getting along well."

"Yeah...We're...good friends."

"Well I could come help you two organize."

"I think we're good...We're almost done."

"Hmm...." His mother sighed, moving over a bit. "Does she know you like her?"

"We haven't really talked about." He said, leaning back in the lawn chair.

"She doesn't know you like her?"

"I mean...she knows but...We don't really talk about it."

"So what do you guys talk about?" His mother asked.

"Work...mostly work." He said quickly.

"Oh."

"Why all the questions?"

"It's just you two have been spending a lot of time together." His mother laughed. "You too wander off while you're here too."

"No we don't." Derek laughed.

"Yes you do."

"When have we wondered off?"

"Yesterday after lunch...you two went to the basement to put some stuff away and came back an hour later."

"We um...I was just showing her some stuff."

"Okay Dear."

"We're just friends."

"Okay." His mother nodded.

"I'm just going to...go get changed." He said, standing up.

"Where are you planning on going?" She asked, standing up to stretch her legs.