Fall Flip

by Denise Weimer

  “Man,” Scott whispered before silence descended in the kitchen.

  Watching a muscle in David’s throat work, Shelby pictured the abandoned little boy—about to be abandoned again—and checked a misting of tears in her eyes. “I’m so sorry, David.”

  “Yeah.” He blinked, cleared his throat. “Matt said Mom has always expressed remorse and guilt over leaving me. So much so that she was afraid to contact me. Afraid I’d hate her. This afternoon, I got to talk to her myself. She explained a few things about the past and asked my forgiveness.”

  “That’s wonderful, David. Were you able to?”

  David nodded again, wordless for a moment. “She apologized for her selfishness, said it was almost like she lost her mind over Jeff. He was everything she thought Dad was not, charming, successful, handsome, and willing to empower her freedom. He fed her disgust with Dad by agreeing how controlling he was. But she didn’t see the bondage forming with Jeff. Their relationship was … obsessive. Nothing else seemed important but him.

  “By the time she realized she’d bought a lie, she already had another child, one she didn’t want to abandon like she’d abandoned the first one. She decided to stay in the area and start making her own way. She said my contacting Matt was an answer to prayer. When she got sick, she found a church, a good pastor, and a support group. Most important, she found God, and took the first steps toward forgiving herself for her past. She said … knowing I could forgive her lifted a crushing weight off her that she’d carried for years.”

  Scott folded his hands on the table and bowed his head. When he said, “praise God,” moisture glistened in his eyes too.

  “We’re flying up to see her at Thanksgiving.”

  Unashamed, Shelby wiped a tear off her cheek. “That’s wonderful.” When her voice caught, she covered her nose with her napkin. Amazement at God’s handiwork and joy for David pried the lid off her emotions about her own father and stepmother, birthing a sense of bittersweet longing she didn’t want to feel.

  She sensed Scott studying her with an expression of concern. But David laughed and reached out to clap her on the shoulder. “Don’t cry. You see, your meddling brought about a good result after all.”

  “No, God brought about a good result.” Shelby smiled at David, while Scott nodded his approval.

  “That’s true enough.” David grinned back. “Well, guys, I’ve got to get going. The kids are having some friends over for a party tonight, and if I’m not there to keep all the teenagers in check, Leah will kill me.” He stuffed the last couple bites of pizza in his mouth and shifted in a way that let Shelby know she needed to let him out of the booth.

  “We’re so glad you came by. Best Halloween ever—”

  “Knock, knock.” A feminine voice sang from the foyer. “We saw the front light on.”

  —Or not. Caitlyn Curtis approached with a coy smile, holding a plastic, hot-pink jack-o-lantern bucket in one hand and the hand of a tiny girl in the other. Both females sported pink-and-white bunny costumes with stand-up ears and tiny skirts that had the effect of being adorable on the toddler but eye-popping on the mother. In fact, Shelby saw the gaze of the man who must have turned on that front porch light slide to that curvy expanse of black tights-clad legs. He quickly redirected his eyes, but Shelby still felt indignant heat build in her chest.

  “Uh, hi, and I better get home to my wife.” Like Scott’s, David’s exaggerated efforts to focus far above the slinky hose and cotton-tailed bunny bottom were almost comical.

  Before he could run out the door, Shelby snagged him for a real hug. David patted her back with genuine affection. She forced her attention away from Scott bending down to Caitlyn’s brunette little girl with the bowl of candy. “Tell her hello for us. And please, feel free to bring her by after the reveal.”

  After the child made her selection, Scott stood up and shook David’s hand. “I’m so happy for you, man. God bless.”

  After David left, Shelby had no choice but to greet Caitlyn. Bunny mom approached with the barest hint of a smile, her eyes sweeping Shelby from top to toe. Imagining dirt left over from planting oak leaf hydrangea, Shelby brushed a hand over her cheek.

  “Hello again, Shelby.”

  “Hello, Caitlyn.”

  “Meet my sweet little Ashlyn.”

  Caitlyn and Ashlyn, how clever. Shelby smiled at the smaller bunny. “Hi there. You getting a lot of candy tonight?”

  Poking out a lower lip, Ashlyn tilted her almost-empty bucket for Shelby to see. As Shelby broke into laughter, Scott dropped in a Jolly Rancher.

  “We’re just starting.” Caitlyn grinned. “I have the prints in the car, but first, I’d love to look around.” She turned an expectant expression on Scott.

  “Oh, sure!” He jumped up, shoving the candy bowl into Shelby’s arms. Frowning, Shelby took a step back.

  “I’d be happy to give you a tour, although we need to stay down here for now since the guys are refinishing the floors upstairs. They’ll come down for pizza when Shelby gets it ready, but it will still be a mess.” He glanced pointedly at the laced, high-heeled black boots on Caitlyn’s tiny feet.

  Caitlyn nodded. “Of course. We’re standing in the dining room?”

  Shelby moved in front of Scott. “Yes. I selected one of Scott’s beautiful tables from Culpepper’s the day you saw us in town—to go right here. The island he’s making will separate this room from the kitchen, and we found the best chairs that day, too, didn’t we, Scott?”

  “Um, yes.”

  Shelby swept an arm to indicate the ceiling. “Above the plate rail, we’ll do a stencil. I’ll start that next week.”

  “Oh? What kind of stencil?”

  “The Craftsman aesthetic calls for something either geometric or natural.” Shelby added a polite smile to the professional vibe she tried to emit. “I was planning on a print that will tie in that beautiful view of the trees from the window seat.”

  Caitlyn squinted her eyes and twisted her lips to one side in thought. “I have a great pinecone template at the store I could bring by.”

  “Well … I’m not sure if pinecones would be elegant enough.”

  “Free form is no problem. I can do whatever you want.”

  “I think pine cones would go great with my table.” Scott glanced up from unwrapping a wad of bubble gum for Ashlyn, who stuffed it in her mouth and handed him back the paper. Caitlyn looked on with an approving smirk.

  Shelby said, “I’ve got it covered, and besides, I prefer to avoid last minute budget adjustments.”

  Caitlyn’s long, mascara-encrusted lashes gave a slow blink. “Oh, no charge. I love to give back to the community. Consider it my mark on the Wentworth project.” Sidling over to Scott, she snaked a bare arm through his and gave a squeeze.

  At least he had the grace to look a little embarrassed. “That would be super generous, Caitlyn, but we can decide for sure later. Uh, Shelby, do I smell a pizza burning?”

  Shelby raced into the kitchen to rescue the crew’s supper. As she picked off seared sections, Scott and Caitlyn trailed her. Caitlyn admired the cabinet fronts and ran her hand over the beadboard, then they wandered into the master bedroom. While Shelby cut the pizza and got drinks out of the fridge, she noticed them out the window, inspecting the pergola in the fading orange evening light. Caitlyn’s silky laughter drifted to Shelby’s ears. When they returned, Scott carried Ashlyn.

  “Scott, can you please go upstairs and tell the guys to come down?” Shelby asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Wait, you’ve got …” Caitlyn edged close and swiped a smear of chocolate from Scott’s cheek. “Ash, baby, let me see your hands.” When the child extended all ten splayed fingers toward her mother, Caitlyn chuckled and licked the incriminating evidence off her daughter’s thumb.

  Shelby gave the salad another unnecessary toss, muttering in a flat voice. “I had a napkin right here.” Didn’t Scott see through such antics?

  “Oh, it’s okay. We mom
s can hardly be squeamish. I probably have the germ tolerance of a preschool teacher. But you!” Caitlyn growled at Ashlyn and pretended like she’d gobble up her hand. “Stay out of the candy.”

  The child tucked her head against Scott’s chest the same way his niece had in church, earning his indulgent smile.

  Shelby stifled a laugh a minute later when Scott exclaimed over the chocolate Ashlyn’s mouth had transferred to his clean shirt. She handed him a wet dish cloth. Caitlyn plucked it from his hand and started wiping the splotch with giggles and apologies.

  Finally, Scott pulled free, and Caitlyn put the cloth back on the sink. Scott shifted the mini-bunny on his hip as he faced Shelby. “We can’t leave Caitlyn’s prints here yet. Do you want to come out with us and put them in your CRV?”

  She wanted to tell Scott to put them in his truck, but that would give him and Caitlyn more time alone. “Sure. Let me get the crew to come down for supper.”

  After calling up the stairs to the workers, Shelby followed the trio down the front walk. Framed against the golden leaves of the gingko Todd had just planted, the neighborhood looked enchanting in the October dusk. Candles and jack-o-lanterns lit historic homes as children in costumes scurried along the sidewalks, trailed by protective adults. At Caitlyn’s red Civic, Scott buckled Ashlyn into her car seat.

  “I want trick-or-treat,” Ashlyn whined to her mother. “Scott come too!”

  Caitlyn laughed. She pressed against her car—and Scott—as a cluster of black-caped, preteen vampires traipsed past her, dribbling fake blood and swinging bulging plastic bags and Halloween-printed pillow cases. “Do you want to? That would be fun.”

  Scott straightened. “I haven’t gone trick-or-treating in fifteen years.”

  “Well, I would hope not.”

  “You don’t have a costume,” Shelby said.

  “I could put on my sanding bags and mask.” Covering his mouth, he waggled his eyebrows, causing Ashlyn to giggle.

  “Clever.” Caitlyn winked at Scott.

  Shelby cleared her throat. “Could we get the prints? I need to put a third pizza in the oven.”

  Caitlyn twisted her wide, bow lips, painted a deep red, and clicked the remote for her trunk. “Sure.”

  Scott followed her to the back of her car. “I appreciate the invitation, but I shouldn’t leave until the guys have all cleared out.”

  “Call you for a rain check? Builders’ Expo next weekend and dinner?”

  Scott bit his lip. “Ooh, you drive a hard bargain.” He tilted his head to one side. “Okay, yeah.”

  Yeah? Wait, had they just set up a date right in front of her? Shelby remained rooted to the sidewalk as her co-worker and the bunny mom leaned over the trunk. Caitlyn’s white bob tail wobbled as she shifted items around.

  “Shelby, you’ve got to see these! Get over here!”

  Scott’s enthusiasm drew her. Shelby didn’t know whether to be dismayed or overjoyed that the framing of Angelina’s whimsical neighborhood prints and the photos of Lester and his restaurant employees turned out better than expected. Against a backdrop of soft red velvet, Caitlyn had even shadow-boxed an old, leather-covered menu.

  “And here’s the piece de resistance.” Caitlyn lifted a foursome of recipes mounted in a single rectangular frame. “Copied from Lester’s mother’s beloved cookbook. Will this not warm his heart every time he goes into the kitchen?”

  Shelby swallowed a lump in her throat. “Yes, it will.” More importantly, it warmed her heart. Because, ironic as it was, the four recipes displayed were the very four Scott had cooked for her. She couldn’t stop her eyes from raising to seek his. And he was looking at her.

  Caitlyn nudged Scott. “Don’t you like it?”

  He turned his head. “Yeah, I love it. Let’s get these transferred.”

  “She’s something else.” Scott grinned and shook his head after the artist drove away, waving.

  He’d given Shelby the perfect opening. “That’s for sure. Not only did she practically force her services upon us, she asked you out right in front of me.”

  Scott looked at her. “Is there a reason she shouldn’t?”

  “Well, it was … awful bold, considering you’ve only had a business acquaintance since college.”

  “I never said we only had a business acquaintance.”

  A pit formed in Shelby’s stomach. “Well, how close were you in college?”

  He crossed his arms. “Very close. Caitlyn’s the one I told you about that got away.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Whe kitchen subway tile was taking longer than Scott had estimated. Trowel in one hand, he glanced at his watch. He knew Shelby would take over if he asked her to, but he didn’t want to make her aware of his plans. Why it mattered, he didn’t know. He had to stop needing Shelby Dodson’s approval.

  When he reached the final stretch below the fancy wooden oven vent hood, Shelby slid a hip off the nearby counter where she screwed new handles onto the upper cabinets and came to stand beside him. Assuming she assessed his progress, and not wanting to notice again how cute she looked in her plaid flannel shirt and jeans, he kept working. She’d finally traded dresses, or silk blouses with designer pants, for more sensible clothing while on the job. She probably had no idea the transformation made him want to sling her up in his truck and blow through the last stoplight leading out of town. But she insisted on claiming his attention by placing a decorative gray mosaic tile cluster in front of him.

  “Why did you buy that? We talked about plain subway tile.”

  “When I went back in there, and I thought of how big this expanse of white is under the hood, I couldn’t resist. Just try it. Hold it up.”

  Scott sighed and let his arm drop to the counter. Stared back at her pleading expression with his mouth flattened into a thin line.

  “Hold it up.” Hector echoed Shelby from his ladder over the island where he installed the third pendant light shaped like a downward white tulip on a rod of black metal.

  Scott glowered at him. “Fine.” He took the section of tile and did as Shelby asked. He didn’t want to get into another disagreement with her. In fact, he wanted to talk to her as little as possible. Avoiding her made it a little more bearable that after two weeks he would never see her again.

  Shelby obliged his unspoken wishes by stepping back as she assessed the effect of the tile. “Picks up the color from the island beautifully.”

  “I do like the color.” He could agree to that much.

  “But it’s too fancy. Too modern.” Shelby shook her head and held out her hand for the sample. “Ruby will hate it.”

  “Wow.” Scott blinked in surprise as he handed it back and Shelby laid it on the counter. She no longer needed him to interpret the rustic charm of the bungalow.

  Shelby returned to her cabinets. “It’s a shame. It’s not like they can hang anything there.”

  “I have no doubt you’ll find the perfect solution, Shelby.” The electrician grinned down from his perch with an obsequious amount of enthusiasm.

  “Thanks for your support, Hector.”

  “You’re welcome. I believe in you. Now, I need your help with the chandelier in the dining room.”

  Scott laughed. “Brownie points don’t count when you want something, man. But for the record, Shelby, you made a good call. I know you’ll figure out something even better.” Even though he needed to stay off personal ground, professional encouragement could help them all finish this job well.

  Shelby glanced over her shoulder at him. Several times during the day, he’d felt like she wanted to tell him something, but she’d reverted to talking shop. At that moment, her cell phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket, looked at it, then headed for the back door. The tentative tone of Shelby’s response caused Scott to pause. He’d never heard her that quiet, that nervous.

  “You’re sure?” He could hear her speaking from outside. “Okay, if you’re sure and Aubrey is, too, we’ll drive down the day before. Yeah,
Angelina’s eager for a break. We’ll stay through Sunday. That would be great. Is there anything I can bring? … Thanks.” In the light of the new side lantern Hector had mounted by the back door, Shelby bit her lip. “Love you too.”

  Shelby stood there clutching her phone. An urging in Scott’s spirit told him to go to her. He didn’t want to open up his emotions to this woman again, but this sounded huge. Spiritual stuff trumped his own trampled feelings.

  Scott cracked open the door. “Sorry, but … was that just your dad?”

  Shelby nodded, and a tear ran down her cheek. “After the courage and forgiveness David showed his mom, I couldn’t let things go on. My mother’s visiting her sister for Thanksgiving, so I left a message this morning asking my dad if I could come with Angelina for the holiday.”

  Scott felt a grin crack his face. “And he said ‘yes.’”

  She gave a soft laugh and covered her eyes. “Yeah, I can’t believe it. God’s going to have to give me grace for Aubrey, but we’re going.”

  “He will.”

  Shelby laughed again and stood up straight, lifting her chin as she tucked her hair behind her ears. “Sorry, I don’t know why I’m so emotional.”

  “Don’t apologize. It’s a big deal. I’m happy for you.” Apparently triggered by his supportive words, another renegade drop of moisture hurtled down Shelby’s face. Before he could stop himself, Scott reached out to wipe it away. To his surprise, Shelby caught hold of his hand.

  “I do need to apologize.”

  He pulled away, refusing to allow her to arouse his hope again only to short-circuit it. “No need. I understand now where you were coming from. And for the record, that was comfort just now, not coming onto you.”

  “I know that. Scott …”

  He turned toward the kitchen, answering over his shoulder in what he hoped was a light manner. “Gotta get this finished. I’m running late.”