Mike wondered if Ryan had his head on straight because his comment made it sound like he was in danger.
“Why do you say it like that?”
“Because you need to court her properly; not under the same roof as you.”
Mike understood what his friend was getting it. Temptation to let things get ahead of him would come easy for as long as she lived here. The apartment above the studio came to mind.
“Right, I get your point.” Mike recalled something Jill said. “Jill said she has a half finished apartment above the studio. Think we can get some guys together to finish it up quick? Also, she and Katie lost everything. Think Emma and Tiffany can pitch in and make sure that is remedied?”
Mike heard Ryan repeat the question on the other line, while his heart hammered in his chest. Get Jill in her own place and then ask her out. No more lonely hearts. “Emma is nodding her head yes.”
Once Ryan turned his phone on to speaker so Emma could get in on the conversation, they hashed out plans to start fixing up the apartment. Everything from who was doing what to who they could call for help was discussed. Emma knew who would handle the decor and color scheme. This would put his office back another week, but that was almost done. Just a coat of paint was needed. Maybe they’ll help me with that when we’re done. First of May was his target date to open the new office.
Mrs. Thomas’ call for supper met his ears and he thanked the Daniels for their help and hung up. There would be a lot to talk about over the meal. He’d omit the reason to get her out of his house so quickly.
Trotting down the stairs at a speed that would have gotten him in trouble with his own mother back in the day, his socked feet slip down the last two steps. His excitement was hard to contain. “Slow down Emerson,” he chided himself. A broken neck will not get him the girl, unless he was in one of those daytime programs. Then the patient always got the girl.
He had a game plan now on moving things forward; now if Jill could get on board.
Walking into the dining area, he found the ladies all seated at the table. Lasagna, garlic toast, and salad spread down the center of the glistening plates and ice water-filled glasses. Jill sat at the opposite end of the table while the girls flanked each side and Mrs. Thomas was seated between he and Katie. Holding hands to pray for the meal, an overwhelming feeling of wholeness and family hit him. His spoken prayer did not reflect the prayer in his heart. He wanted this. He wanted a wife, kids, even a mother-in-law. It all made him feel complete. His “amen” resounded adding an exclamation to more than just a meal blessing. If this is Your will, Lord, then let it be so.
“Okay, spill it. What has you smiling so funny, Uncle Mike?”
“A man has his secrets, Em.”
Emily didn’t say another word to him and female chatter filled the room as they consumed the meal. Shopping trips, what so and so wore today at school, and the latest cutie on TV were the topics of conversation. He remained transfixed on the red-haired beauty at the other end of the table that set his heart aflame and made this two left footed boy want to dance like Fred Astaire.
He searched his memory for a time that he had ever danced with Jill besides at Christmas. They never went to prom or homecoming dance together for fear of her dad. He sat back in his chair at the head of the table and tried his best to look interested in what the ladies were saying, but his mind raced for that memory, that time that he held her in his arms as they danced across the floor. But he had nothing. Then a new thought came to the forefront, “Stop looking to your past and look at your future.” His eyes caught Jill as he heard this in his heart. It didn’t matter if they danced in the past or what it held; they were different people now and he still couldn’t stand the thought of not having her in his life. He was looking at his future, and she was stunning.
“Girls, how about you help Gram clean up and then we’ll play some cards in the living room?”
Mrs. Thomas and the two young girls cleared the table. The sounds of clattering plates and silverware came from the kitchen as he and Jill sat in silence. He waited for the interruptions to stop before he told her the game plan to get her into the apartment.
He began to relay the conversation to Jill, watching he body language, which was proving dangerous, and her facial expressions. She seemed excited to be back on her own. He understood her need for independence and not wanting charity. It had put a big dip in his pride to count on so many in recent months.
“So, how long do you think it will take?” she asked. He didn’t pick up eagerness in her voice. He was glad of it.
“A week, ten days max. It depends on how much work needs to be done.” This was a sight-unseen project. “Have you been up there lately to see if there are any roof leaks and what not? Anything we should know about?”
She told him all she knew about the space since she was up there last; he took notes to give to Ryan, all the while watching her heart-shaped lips move. The candle flickering between them made her eyes twinkle. He hadn’t noticed the candle before, but he didn’t mind now. He began to put two and two together and surmised that Gram and the girls were playing matchmakers. He smiled at the thought; he could handle having people in his corner.
Chapter 14
Today was the day. After two weeks of hobbling around Mike’s beautiful home, she and Katie would be spending tonight in their own space again; just not the house. That was a lost cause. It was time to move forward and stop looking back or stay stagnant in this nothingness she had been in.
“Mom, what will it be like living in an apartment?” Katie had been worried that she would have no room for friends to come for sleepovers.
Jill turned from the kitchen island she was standing at while pouring her morning coffee. Taking her daughter’s shoulders in her hands, she bent her head down to look Katie in the eyes.
“Sweetie, this place is bigger in square footage than that house was. You will have plenty of room.” She straightened up again, noticing her back muscles still ached from the cave in. “Emma tells me they even did up a guest room so Gram can come stay with us, or anyone else for that matter.” She was not about to tell her that her new bedroom was as big as their living room used to be. Room sizes was the only bit of information she was given. No matter how hard she tried to get more details out of Mike or Emma, both stonewalled her and changed the subject.
“I’m gonna miss Emily and Gram. It was nice having Dr. Mike around too.” A sheepish look crossed her face. Jill waited for Katie to finish her thought, but she didn’t.
“You liked having him around, huh? Want to tell me why?”
Katie stepped into Jill’s arms and they wrapped their arms around each other. Katie was a cuddler when she was unsure about something. Jill picked up on that a year ago. It was hard at first for Jill to be so affectionate, but now it was as natural as breathing.
To ease Katie, Jill began to run her fingers through her daughter’s red locks. “You know you can tell me. It won’t hurt my feelings any.” She had an idea as to why her daughter liked having Mike around. Most likely her thoughts reflected her own.
“For the first time, I felt like I had a dad. He read to Emily and me at night and took us out on the four wheelers. It was nice having him around. Why can’t we just stay?”
It had been nice having him there to spend time with Katie. It had also been nice having him to talk to, but all good things must come to an end, right?
“Sweetie, do you know why we can’t live here?” It was time for a talk with her girl about doing the right thing.
Katie looked up at her and shook her head.
“We’re not married. It isn’t a good idea for two people of the opposite gender to live together. It just opens the door for things that neither of us wants.” Jill hoped that Katie understood without having to go into too much detail about what goes on between a husband and wife. They had talks about that sort of thing, but there were details that Jill had left out for now.
“So, why don’t you two
just get married? That way I have a daddy and you have a husband and Emily has a sister. Everyone wins.”
Oh the simplicity a young mind puts on life. Maybe you just over complicate things.
“Katie, we aren’t even dating. I can’t marry someone I don’t know that well?”
“But you dated before.”
“And we grew up and changed.”
Katie heaved a big sigh, hugged Jill and turned to walk away. “Adults make things difficult.”
Her daughter had a point, but so did she.
Jill watched Mike interact with the girls over the last two weeks and his care of them was so sweet and attentive. It made her heart fill with endearing tenderness. He loved his niece and showed Katie the same affections. He had come a long way from the frantic new guardian. He had taken on this fatherhood role and was doing a great job.
A smile crept across Jill’s face remembering the scene four nights ago.
The two of them were downstairs watching some TV show about crab fishing. Jill half watched. She pretended to be reading but having Mike sitting so close to her on the love seat, cozy and maybe a bit intimate, brought a longing for more. She wasn’t sure more of what, but just more. He must have read her mind because at one point he shifted his weight so that they sat a bit closer; close enough that their shoulders would touch if she followed his lead. It wasn’t a good idea in Jill’s mind. The girls and her mom were all in bed, so it was just the two of them. She knew that he was feeling the tenseness in the air around them like she was, but she couldn’t let things go anywhere. Not yet.
About an hour after the girls were supposed to be asleep, laughter radiated through the house. Mike had been nice for the last few nights with his warnings about going to sleep. “This is not a sleepover, ladies,” he would tell them. This night he’d had enough. He quietly got up from the couch and firmly told the girls to stop talking and go to sleep or they were doing dishes for the rest of the stay. Jill laughed because Mike had a dishwasher. The girls knew too and they didn’t take him seriously. They continued to talk after he came back and sat down.
“They are relentless, aren’t they?” he asked her.
“Going to enforce your threat?”
“You bet I am.”
Sure enough, when supper was completed and it was time to do the dishes, he marched the girls to the sink. He showed them how to properly wash a dish and dry it and then walked away. Oh the grumbling they heard from the kitchen. Jill was proud of him for sticking to his word.
So proud that when he walked by her in the living room heading for the home office, she took hold of his wrist and pulled his arm to get his attention. His questioning look didn’t stop her from her impulsive act. She wiggled her finger for him to lean closer to her. His eyes grew wide with surprise as he did so and she kissed his cheek. “I’m proud of you. You stuck to your promise.” She let go of him and walked up the stairs to her room. Heat rose up her neck at her forwardness. He never brought it up and she was glad.
A few boxes packed with their meager possessions, Jill went looking for Mike to take them down to the truck. Walking through the house, memories of their time here played in her mind. The tender talks, laughter over games, and times where more was said without saying a word were special memories she held dear. She looked forward to having her own space again, but not to being alone with a nine-year-old girl.
Jill stepped through the door that led into the garage. Both doors hung open, letting in the April sunshine. All the snow that fell and brought her to this place had melted away in days. Now all that was left was greening grass, hints of late winter flowers, and lots of mud filling the nature around Mike’s home. Hope of a new life washed over her. Like the coming spring, she felt like she was coming out of the winter season of her own and finding her own spring. The farmer agreed to buy the little bit of land her house once stood on. It gave her a nice savings to live on for a while. The building had been paid off when Doug passed. He had made arrangements to make sure that she would be taken care of in a will.
Closing cabinet doors told her she wasn’t alone.
Looking over the roof of the “Black Beauty”, Mike’s taut shoulders and grown-out locks came into view. Her heart softened at the thought of all he had done for her. He had gone above and beyond what was expected. He gathered people to finish the apartment, carted the girls to school while her mom picked them up, and if she recalled, he never once mentioned her paying the workers. She had no clue what was going on above her dance studio, but she felt nothing but gratitude for his generosity.
Mike seemed wrapped up in whatever he was doing, so she walked to the other side of the garage. She treaded carefully not wanting to startle him. She had startled her dad once while he was working in the garage and almost lost a finger.
Coming alongside the work bench, she watched him labor on some sort of engine part with a screwdriver. His hands were a bit greasy and she noted a little blood on a knuckle while his arms were arms taut against his t-shirt as he dug away at something on the part. When he stopped to brush something out of his face, she saw her chance to let him know she was ready.
“You look busy,” she said as she took a step closer.
“I wondered when you would finally come over.”
“You knew I was out here?”
He turned his attention to her; the corner of his mouth was turned up. “Jill, I knew you were there before you even shut the door.”
Piercing blue eyes studied her causing her heart to race and shivers course through her. Her mom told her to watch him and she would see the signs of how he felt about her. After all he had done and the looks he gave her told her all she needed to know. And she had no doubt she was beginning to feel the same.
All the more reason to hurry out of here and get back to normal. Then I can get my focus back.
“You ready then? Everything packed?”
Her heart screamed, “Tell him how you feel.” Her head told her now was not the time.
“Yeah, everything is ready, as little as it is.”
Longing passed between them; a longing for something more than just friendship. Something deeper and maybe even binding.
He didn’t need to say a word to confirm what she was thinking. It was written on his face.
Mike took a step toward her, raising his hand to touch her. She knew where this was headed, but she wasn’t ready. Jill took a step back, willing her heart to slow.
“Um, you have grease on your hands.” It was the only cover available.
“Right,” he responded as he looked down at his hands. His eyes looking back at her he began to say, “Jill, I want you. . .”
“Shall we get going?” she interrupted. “I'm really eager to get in the new place." Jill had too much on her mind to face these raging emotions within her. She hated to put him on the back burner for now but she needed time and space to think.
Standing at the back entrance to the studio, Jill was greeted with the daunting task of climbing two flights of stairs to the landing of her apartment. Mike assured her that her ankle should be fine, but there were many times that it still felt weak. Looking up to her personal little landing, she observed the challenge ahead to climb the steps to that beautifully painted red door. She didn't know whose bright idea it was but she thought it was perfect.
Mike instructed her to stay on the ground while he took the boxes up to the apartment. "I want it to be a surprise," he told her. So she stood in the alley, watching him carry the boxes from her truck and into the apartment. Honestly she was gawking at the ease and athleticism of this man who would clearly do anything for her and her daughter to make sure they were comfortable and safe.
A smile firmly planted on his face as he jogged down the stairs toward her. His excitement and eagerness was intoxicating. She had never seen him look so calm and so unrestrained at the same time. As mom would say he was about to burst at the seams. It only made her heart swell more for him.
Before his feet could
even touch the ground, he swept her in his arms and carried her to the door. The excitement of this moment mixed with the growing fondness between the two of them had Jill's emotions on overdrive.
"Your palace awaits m’lady," Mike proclaimed with an over exaggerated bowing gesture once he put her down.
"Wait, you're supposed to blindfold her first," Katie exclaimed from the other side of the door. There was so much to take in on the landing but she wasn't sure she was ready to go inside yet.
A small iron table and chair set was perfectly placed next to the door. Jill had never thought to use this tiny space on the landing as a seating area. The view wasn't the most spectacular, but having a place to sit and enjoy her coffee outside was worth looking over the backyards of her neighbors.
"How about I just cover your eyes with my hands and guide you in?"
The thought of having him so close to her and touching her the same time titillated her senses to the point of rendering her mute so she nodded her answer. She could sense his hesitance as he slowly moved behind her and placed his hands over her eyes. Moving in tandem with precision, he guided her. Understanding pricked within her as she crossed over the threshold. The old was gone. From this moment on her life was brand-new; new home, renewed faith in both God and humankind, and maybe even a new love.
"Are you ready to see your new home?" Mike's breath brushed across to her ear, sending prickles down her spine.
"Yes."
When he removed his hands, she was rendered speechless yet again. It was like Emma had crawled inside her mind, or her Pinterest board, and put everything into the space that Jill loved. Distressed woods, sheer, white curtains, and bare brick walls with shades of turquoise, soft yellow, and cherry red were the decor of choice for the great room. The main room was larger than the entire house she had lived in for the last eight years. Why didn’t I think to move in here before? A large butcher block like island was perfectly situated between the kitchen and dining areas with brand new pots and pans hanging overhead. The tall ceilings with exposed beams gave it a rustic, barn-like feel.
Dance and Be Glad Page 15