Derek didn’t know exactly when it happened, but he was in the middle before he even realized he had begun. It was unfortunate. He probably wouldn’t have allowed Isa to form the habit if he hadn’t realized she did it all the time.
“Catch me!” she had taken to crying out from where she was walking on top of the decorative brick walls lining the flower beds, sidewalks, and other places along campus.
Then she’d jump down, expecting Derek to catch her.
It was a pain in his knee. Literally. Sometimes he could feel his bad knee wanting to buckle when she landed just a tad too heavily into his arms.
“Louisa!” Anne snapped once after witnessing him nearly falling after she had made a particularly high jump off of the wall that most students only sat on to eat lunch outside of the humanities building. “Don’t forget about his knee injury.”
“That was years ago,” Isa dismissed Anne, ignoring the use of her first name. “He’s all better now. Right, Derek?” she asked, grinning at him winningly as she waited for his confirmation.
“Actually, it does still hurt sometimes when the weather is about to turn…” he trailed off as he realized that Isa wasn’t listening to him. Glancing at Anne, he added for her benefit, “Arthritis build up.”
“And it’s supposed to storm tomorrow,” Anne added, also aware that Isa wasn’t listening to them.
“Yeah,” Derek sighed. “I never realized it would rain so much in October.” He resisted the urge to rub his knee. He didn’t want to admit that Isa’s leap had jarred him more than he expected.
“That’s the Tennessee fall for you,” Anne quipped. “Unpredictable. One day it’s summer and the next it’s winter and fall has decided to take a break for a few days.”
“Derek!” Isa called after them, realizing that Derek and Anne had fallen behind her. “Hurry up! You said you would walk me to class.” Even though he hadn’t.
Looking back at Anne, Derek shrugged a shoulder and walked off towards Isa.
Closing her eyes, Anne sat back down on the brick wall Isa had been jumping off. “Figures,” she whispered to herself.
He glanced back long enough to see her normally guarded expression fall and her mouth move with the word, her head shaking slightly as she stared at the sandwich in her hands.
“Derek,” Isa called again.
He’d fix this somehow.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Anne was more than happy to admit that Fall Break was a welcome sight. There would be no Derek coming by for tutoring sessions. She would get a break from the panicked texts that came from Amanda, and the increase in tutoring sessions that the overachiever requested.
Not that Anne was disappointed in the increase in pay. Being able to add those sessions to her bank account helped Anne create a better financial buffer for her daily expenses. She liked feeling comfortable about getting food on campus instead of making sandwiches using the Musgraves money and food.
It was part of the reason she still found herself cooking every day to earn her keep. It didn’t matter that Charles and Mary dismissed Anne’s attempts at being a productive member of their little household.
But for the next couple of days, Anne could enjoy herself in peace.
No Derek being confusingly polite and talkative.
No Isa bouncing around trying to get Derek’s attention.
No Etta being smiley and happy in her ‘new’ and official relationship with Charlie.
No Mary being bitter about Etta giving up her chances with Derek and dating Charlie instead.
No Charles letting Mary have her way because it’s easier.
No nephews puking and pooping and crying and climbing and doing all of those other things that her nephews did.
Every single one of the Musgraves was going on a trip with the head of the family and they would be far away at a beach in Alabama for a nicely-timed family reunion.
Anne had been invited, but she pleaded monthly issues that weren’t as bad as she claimed. Instead, she would enjoy long baths with hot tea and candles, maybe the occasional glass of wine. She would catch up on her reading and do laundry that was not her own. She would watch whatever she wanted to on T.V. or on Netflix.
If she wanted to binge-watch The Great British Baking Show and collect baking ideas, she could.
For once, as soon as she entered the house, she could hear silence. No chattering children or females. No snoring. Just the sound of the air conditioning kicking on as the afternoon warmed up.
The introvert inside Anne rejoiced as she celebrated the opportunity to recharge her batteries.
Until there was a knock on the door.
Opening it wide, Anne started shaking her head. “They aren’t here.”
“I know,” Derek grinned. “Want to go to that Mac and Cheese place? The wait has been ridiculous and I thought that now would be the perfect time to go, but I don’t really want to go alone.”
Pursing her lips, Anne thought about it for a moment before telling Derek to wait a moment while she went and grabbed her purse. She wouldn’t think about why he was asking her. He had been trying to spend more and more time with her after their conversation on the retaining wall, and she wasn’t about to question it.
“Won’t Isa get jealous?” she asked instead of what she really wanted to ask: if this was a date.
“Anne,” Derek said in that tone that told her to not push the matter.
“Just keep in mind,” she pointed out. “I’m not about to rock the boat when it comes to you.”
“There’s nothing wrong with being friends, is there?” Derek cautiously asked. He, himself, wasn’t ready to rock the boat and accidentally shove Anne away by pushing her too soon. He didn’t know if she trusted him or not.
Pressing her lips together, Anne turned away, trying to hide her actual thoughts. “No,” she shook her head. “Nothing wrong with being friends.” Hopefully, he didn’t detect the disappointment she felt.
The rest of the semester went by quickly. Nobody really noticed the change in Anne and Derek’s dynamic, but nobody else had really been paying attention to how Anne and Derek had been acting around each other to begin with.
Chapter Forty
It should not be this icy during January, Anne fumed to herself. “They really should have canceled student teaching orientation,” she grumbled to her classmate. There were still slick spots coating parts of the sidewalks and she was just waiting for somebody to trip, fall, and break something.
That was why she and a classmate were cutting across the Quad in their boots. They could always kick off the ice and snow before entering the dorms. Or, as in Anne’s case, the house.
“I can’t believe that Professor Jones refused to cancel orientation,” the classmate complained. “Everybody else did. I’m glad I was within walking distance. I hope she doesn’t penalize those students who couldn’t leave their driveways.”
“She did say she was going to put everything up online. We probably could have gotten away with not going to the auditorium today.”
“She already knows I’m in the dorms,” the classmate sighed. Shaking her head, she watched one of the campus employees on a golf cart zoom across the sidewalks. “Cutting through the Quad was a good idea, Anne,” she admitted. “I’d hate to end up head to head with one of those things.”
“I think that was somebody from Maintenance. The heat could have gone out in one of the dorms or something.”
“He still needs to be careful.”
“Or maybe he’s having to put salt on the icy patches.”
“Then he really needs to slow down.”
Across the Quad, Anne saw Derek leaving the Business Administration building where his last Accounting class was being held. She hadn’t seen him since Winter Break when he’d come over to help celebrate Charles passing his American History class.
Noticing Anne’s distraction, the classmate – Anne really needed to learn her name – nudged her. “Do you know him?”
Shaking her he
ad, she looked at the girl walking next to her. “Kinda. He tutored my brother-in-law in history last semester.” Yes, she mentally reasoned. It would be better to keep her explanations simple.
“Anne!” Derek called out, startling her a little at the unexpected greeting from more than fifty feet away.
Waving her hand in response, she waved at her friend and changed her direction.
Waiting until she was closer to him, Anne asked what he was doing on campus.
“I had a meeting with my advisor,” he answered her. “Why are you walking in the grass?”
“The ice crunches beneath my boots to the ground beneath. It’s easier than attempting the sidewalks. I’m still waiting to watch somebody fall down on their butt.”
“Makes sense,” he nodded his head, still waiting on the sidewalk for Anne to join him. “I guess your professors didn’t cancel the student teaching orientation either.”
Shaking her head, she started to take a step onto the sidewalk as a golf cart loaded down with bags of salt darted out from between two buildings. Taking an incautious step backward, Anne stumbled on an icy patch before falling backward and landing on her butt.
“Anne!”
“I’m okay!” she insisted, managing to get up on her elbows. “This is why I was avoiding the sidewalks.”
The campus employee stopped as quickly as he could, cursing as the cart slid a bit. “I told them we shouldn’t be driving these things today!”
Crowding around her, Anne felt the urge to pull back, but she had nowhere to go. “I’m fine!” she snapped. Rotating her ankle, she showed them that it wasn’t broken, thankfully.
She wasn’t able to hide the twinge of pain that crossed her face from Derek however. “Anne.”
“I just need to get home and get off my foot,” she assured them.
But Derek had been around her enough at Charles and Mary’s house to know that she would have to climb two flights of stairs just to be able to get any peace. The moment she stepped a single foot over that threshold, she would be overwhelmed by requests from Mary, her nephews, and possibly Isa and Etta if they had skipped any non-canceled classes, and possibly Charles himself.
It wouldn’t matter if she was limping. It wouldn’t matter that they each had two legs and two arms and would be more than capable of taking care of themselves without Anne’s help. They all manipulated her in their attempts to persuade her into helping them.
The two men helped pull Anne up with Derek careful to help on the side of her now injured ankle. He said nothing as she leaned into him a little, watching the slight smile she plastered on her face as she waved the campus employee off.
“My sister is waiting for me at the parking lot over there,” he pointed to the lot that was about fifteen feet away through the icy grass. “You can see her illegally parked there.”
“Why didn’t Bob get her a parking pass?”
“He might have,” Derek shrugged. “I still only have a commuter pass. Took a little adjusting to get using to parking in different lots.”
“I opted against it,” Anne confided. “We’re close enough to campus and I can handle making the trek through the rain as long as Mary didn’t remove my umbrella from my backpack’s water bottle pocket.”
“Has she done that before?”
“Once or twice,” Anne admitted. “I packed a mini one at the bottom where she isn’t likely to find it, but it can be a pain when I have to dig it out.”
Nodding his head, he realized he had distracted her enough to sweep her up in his arms, her injured ankle closest to his body. He wasn’t going to risk her falling again.
“Derek!” Anne protested. “I am fully capable of walking. I just twisted my ankle!”
“And I would prefer if you took care of yourself for once and let my sister drive you to the house.”
“It’ll take longer for her to drive me than it would for me to walk! She’ll have to drive around the campus.”
“Either way, you’ll be off of your foot,” he insisted, putting her in the backseat instead of the front seat with his sister. “Now, put that foot on that seat and be rational for a moment.”
“I am being rational,” she hissed back.
“Not rational enough. Think about yourself for once in your life.” With that, he shut the door, nearly slammed it, before Anne could say another word.
Eyes wide, Sophy looked in the rearview mirror at Anne. “I’ve never seen him like this.”
“I was being stupid,” Anne admitted. “I knew better than to try to walk on the sidewalks. Then a golf cart came out of nowhere. One of the maintenance departments or something. I jumped out of the way, off the sidewalk, and landed wrong. Derek just happened to see it happen.” Because she had been walking towards him. She could easily, jokingly, blame him for her current situation.
A moment later, after throwing their backpacks into the trunk of the car, Derek joined his sister in the front of the car. “You do know how to get to Anne’s house from her, right?” he teased his sister.
Sophy eyed Derek carefully before asking, “Which place?” She caught his double speak.
“Kellynch,” he answered as Anne said, “My brother-in-law’s house.”
Turning to look at her, “Does anybody in that house know anything about first aide except you?”
Hesitating, she stalled, “Well…”
“Anne?”
“Fine! No! I don’t even know if they know where the first aid kit is in the kitchen or in any of the bathrooms let alone would be able to follow my instructions on how to wrap it,” Anne admitted.
“Then you are coming home with us,” he insisted. “Where’s Bob?”
“The head of the department wanted to talk to him. He drove his truck anyway, so he’ll be fine.”
“Why did you even come on campus?” Anne asked Derek and Sophy. “It’s not exactly an easy drive from Kellynch in this weather.”
“My advisor insisted on seeing me, and he teaches my class. I couldn’t come to one only to miss the other.”
“Nothing bad, I hope,” Sophy asked him. Waiting until he confirmed that it was good news, she turned to Anne. “I don’t trust my brother driving in this weather. He’s not used to it, surprisingly.”
“I was in the dorms,” he protested. “I never had to drive when the weather was like this.”
“How are you managing?” Anne asked from the backseat.
Sophy laughed. “Bob put snow chains on my tires,” she grinned into the rearview mirror before refocusing on the road. “He told me that he didn’t care if they were only on the car for two days or if they did any damage to the roads or driveway. We can always fix the driveway,” she added as an afterthought.
“Father would never even notice,” Anne admitted.
Changing the subject, Derek asked how her Christmas had gone.
Over an hour later, Anne had to admit to herself that Derek had been right. As soon as she would have stepped foot in Mary’s house, somebody would have asked her to do something. She wouldn’t even have had any help getting that ACE bandage on her foot.
“Thank you,” she acknowledged. “You were right.”
“It looks fine,” Derek told her, taking his time to not wrap her foot too tightly. “It would still be better to keep off it for the next hour or so. I’ll bring you an ice pack in a bit.” After making certain she was comfortable on the sofa, he handed over the T.V. remote and left the room.
“How is she?” Sophy whispered from the kitchen where she was placing tearaway cookies on a tray.
Ask her to make cookies from scratch and she would screw them up royally, but give her pre-made, pre-formed cookies and Sophy could make magic. She frequently manipulated the cookie dough, sometimes combining two types of dough together or dipping the baked cookies into melted chocolate and nuts or crushed pretzels.
“I think she’ll be fine as soon as her ankle rests for a little while. It wasn’t swelling, but it seemed to be a bit tender. I already text
ed Charles and let him know.” Derek reaching into the freezer and pulled out the ice pack he occasionally used on his knee. “Do you know where the heating pad is? She’ll need to alternate ice and heat for at least an hour or two.”
“I’ll go get it after I get these in the oven.”
Groaning, Derek closed his eyes. “Not more cookies.” She’d gone overboard at Christmas.
“I barely got to enjoy the ones that Ed’s brood devoured. Let me have my cookies,” Sophy nudged her brother.
Rejoining Anne in the den with the good T.V., he lifted her legs over his, resting her ankles on his thighs before settling the ice pack into place. “Find anything good?” he asked from the middle of the sofa.
“Not really,” she admitted. “Have you figured out how to queue up Netflix yet?”
Glancing over at Anne, he asked, “The T.V. is connected to the internet?”
“With my sisters, did you really think it wouldn’t? The one at Mary’s does the same, but only the ones in the living room and their bedroom.”
“Not yours?”
“I don’t have a T.V. in my room.” Holding up her hand, she prevented him from saying anything else. “I actually don’t want a T.V. in my room. I’d rather spend my time with the peace and quiet. I can’t do that if somebody decides to barge into my room because somebody else is watching something they don’t want to watch in one of the other rooms.” Then, grinning, she added, “Of course only Mr. Musgraves is aware that my room has internet.”
“But you always go to the library for your research,” he pointed out.
Shrugging a shoulder, Anne grinned. “You’ve helped Charles study in that house.”
Thinking back on the noise and the number of people that kept coming in and out of the house while he was trying to help tutor Charles, Derek nodded his head. He had offered to resume tutoring in the library, but Charles had insisted that they could get more comfortable at his place.
“Fair enough.”
After a long pause, he realized, “That’s why you are in the attic instead of the guest room.”
Persuaded Page 17