Tend My Heart

by Marian H. Griffin

  * * *

  Cash could not believe it. Penny, the high-maintenance, fashion-conscious lady had mashed oatmeal in his face. Carefully, he opened one eye. She was wiping oatmeal off her hand. He debated his retaliation. He hadn’t had a good food fight in years. Since they were all teenagers. Even their parents had joined in. While mashed potatoes had been the artillery that day, oatmeal would have to do today. But he wasn’t going to throw it.

  He grabbed Penny by the elbows and pulled her in for an enthusiastic kiss. By the time he was done, the transfer of oatmeal was a small side benefit.

  “You’re even beautiful covered with oatmeal,” he said, panting.

  Dixie and Brand applauded. One of them whistled, too. Penny looked confused.

  “Sorry about the egg. I was feeling playful.”

  “That was playful?”

  “Best I could do with my clothes on,” he whispered.

  “You two can shut up any time now.”

  Releasing Penny, he stepped back and looked around. “There’s a hose over there.”

  Penny nodded and together they walked up to the resort. He was still blinking oatmeal out of his eyes when they reached the spigot. He turned it on and cleaned his hands then ran them over his face. When he was reasonably clean, he handed the hose to Penny. He shook his head back. Droplets flew through the air. He glanced over at Penny.

  “How are you doing?” he asked. Then looked down at himself and held his arms out. “I’m all wet.”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t say you’re all wet.”

  “No?” He looked again. Then he realized he’d seen the devil in her eyes. “No—”

  The stream of water hit him square in the chest. He hunched over and got blasted on the top of his head. He was laughing and grabbing for the hose but Penny was fast on her feet.

  “Think you can steal my egg, do you?” She aimed at his legs. “Drop oatmeal on my head?”

  Laughing and dodging, trying to get the hose away, he charged her. Unfortunately, he trapped the hose between them when he threw his arms around her and they both got drenched. It was several minutes before Dixie and Brand arrived at the scene of the ambush.

  “You are a warrior!” Dixie said and raised a hand to Penny for a high five.

  Out of breath, Penny gulped before she replied. “Self-defense.”

  “I didn’t attack you. I was trying to help you clean up and you turned on me.”

  “Hah. If you’d gotten the hose first—”

  “I did get the hose first.”

  “—I would be soaked from head to toe.”

  Grinning, he lifted his arms as if to say, And I’m not?

  Dixie gave Penny a few of the linen napkins that had been packed in the basket. “You might have met your match, brother.”

  Brand threw a napkin to Cash. He twisted the white fabric and looked down at its folds. He had met his match, in more ways than one, and now that he’d met, what was he going to do?

  You don’t know the half of it, Dix.

  He rubbed his face with the napkin and checked on Penny. She and Dixie were rehashing the water fight while Penny dried off.

  “You ready?”

  Penny looked up. “Not for another water fight.”

  He laughed and threw his arm around her. “Let’s go finish breakfast.” He steered down the beach to the picnic blanket.

  “It’s a good thing we started early,” Dixie said.

  “Why?”

  “Any later and we’d have had an audience to your play fighting.”

  Penny whipped around. “You call that play fighting? A minute ago I was a warrior.”

  Dixie grinned. “A play warrior.”

  “Don’t encourage her,” he told Penny. He kept his back to his sister. “She can keep this up all day.”

  He held Penny’s gaze. “She’s sticking her tongue out at me, isn’t she?”

  Penny, with amusement in her eyes, nodded.

  “She’s very predictable.”

  “I’m predictable?” Dixie scoffed. “Who was shocked to hear I was engaged? Who wants to be the first to marry?”

  Cash looked at Dixie over his shoulder. Penny was looking at Dixie, too. He shook his head slightly.

  Dixie opened her mouth then closed it like a fish out of its bowl.

  “Let’s eat,” Dixie finally said.

  Cash reached into the basket and turned to see Penny’s face. Was she shocked, dismayed, hopeful? She looked pretty neutral to him. He handed her a plate.

  She stared at it before she took it. “Thanks.”

  Sounds neutral, too.

  “You want some, um, eggs?”

  She gave him a deadpan look. “I think I’ve had enough eggs today. And oatmeal.”

  He grinned and handed her the bacon. “This might look a little better.”

  She glanced at the bacon and back at him. “Inside me, or on me?”

  Brand laughed. Dixie joined him. “Have a croissant,” she said holding one out to Penny.

  “Thanks.” Penny lowered herself and sat with her legs crossed.

  Cash watched as she carefully pulled the croissant open and piled on the bacon. She closed it and took a large bite.

  He still stared at her.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  Cash reached out for another croissant from Dixie. She obliged and sat down next to Brand.

  “Just looks good, is all.” He followed her example and took a big bite. “It is good.”

  “Who says I can’t cook?” Penny said lifting her nose in the air before smiling and giving him a quick, albeit greasy, kiss.

  Chapter Eight

  Cash was buttoning a shirt over his swim trunks when his room phone rang. He sauntered over and picked it up.

  “Hello?”

  “Mr. Wallace?” came the voice from the other end of the line. “This is the front desk. You received a telegram while you were out this morning.”

  “A telegram? I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a telegram.”

  “Would you like someone to bring it up?”

  “No, I’ll be down in few minutes on my way to the pool.”

  “Yes, sir. It will be at the front desk.”

  “Thanks.” He hung up. And wondered who would send him a telegram. Maybe it’s a singing telegram. Nah. I’m sure that would have been mentioned.

  He was still chuckling when he knocked on Penny’s door. She opened it after a moment.

  “Hi!” Cash leaned in the doorway and looked up and down the deliciousness that was Penny Sykes. “I hate to repeat myself, but you are one beautiful woman, Penny.”

  “Repeat yourself. Go on, you can do it.”

  They laughed.

  “Let me get my cover up.”

  “Now you’ve done it.”

  “What?”

  “Destroyed my world. Well, at least my view.”

  She grinned and turned away.

  The view was just as good from the back. He whistled. She laughed and swung a net-like kind of jacket around her shoulders. It was see-through. He patted a hand on his heart.

  “My trust in woman-kind has been restored.”

  She closed her door and they headed down to the lobby.

  He steered toward the lobby desk. “I forgot to mention I got a telegram. Have to pick it up.”

  She blinked. “They still send telegrams?”

  He scoffed. “Of course. I’ve received dozens.” Then he spoiled it by rubbing his hands together. “It’s my first!”

  “Why wouldn’t they just call your cell?”

  Cash glanced back at her. “Uh, my, uh, assistant doesn’t have a cell phone.”

  “Huh,” she said. “I thought everyone had a cell phone.”

  With a slightly sick grin, he approached the desk and, with a James Bond-ish voice he said, “Wallace. I believe you have a telegram for me.” He shifted his head and winked at Penny.

  “Yes, sir.” The young man pulled an envelope from beneath the de
sk and handed it over. Cash took it and walked back to where Penny waited. He ripped it open and read through it. Then he read it again. His heart came up into his throat and his stomach dropped to his knees. He ran a shaking hand over his face.

  “Cash? What is it?”

  “There’s been a fire.”

  She gasped.

  “My foreman says it’s not too bad. The barn’s okay and the cattle have been moved to safety.” His mind was working hard and fast. Change. Pack. Get the car. Call Dixie.

  “I’ve got to go.” He finally focused on Penny. She looked stunned. It warmed his heart to know she was concerned for him. “I’m sorry, honey.” He cupped her face and gave her a kiss. “But I have to go home and take care of things. You know, insurance, repairs…”

  “You have a barn?”

  “Yeah,” he said, his mind picturing the white boards and red roof covered with soot and burn marks.

  “You have cattle?”

  He looked back at her, confused. “Of course. Can’t have a dairy farm without…” The reality of his situation hit him like a hammer blow. “Um…”

  “You don’t sell commodities.” She made it a statement. A damning statement.

  “I do sell commodities,” he mumbled. “Like milk, sorghum…”

  He saw the hole he’d dug for himself yawning beneath his feet.

  “You own a dairy farm.”

  He simply nodded, not knowing what words he could use to fill in the hole.

  Penny turned and marched away from him. He stood in the lobby of the sun-and-sand resort wearing his swim trunks watching the love of his life walk right back out of it.

  “I’ll be back as soon as possible,” he called after her.

  She didn’t hesitate or acknowledge him. He shook his head.

  “One emergency at a time,” he told himself and went up to his room. He started packing, decided to change in the middle of it, then stopped to call Dixie.

  “Hey, big brother!”

  “Dix, there was a fire at the farm.”

  “Oh, no!”

  “Nothing too serious. The barn is scorched but the cattle all got out without getting hurt. But I have to go.”

  “Of course. What can I do? You want me to come with you?”

  “No, no. That’s not necessary.” He thought about the look on Penny’s face. “There is one thing you could do for me.”

  “What? Anything.”

  He hoped she meant that. “I was with Penny when I read the telegram.”

  “You got a telegram?”

  He closed his eyes. How many people aren’t aware that Western Union had survived the telephone, the cell phone and word-of-mouth. “I let it slip about me having a barn and a herd of dairy cattle.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah. Could you try to talk to Penny for me?”

  “Oh, no. That does not come under the heading of things to ask of your sister.”

  He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. “Just make sure she understands that I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  “You told her you’d be back, right?”

  “Yeah.” He took a deep breath. “I told her I had to take care of some things.”

  “What did she say?”

  “Nothing.” He remembered how she didn’t so much as hesitate a step.

  The silence on the other end of the line was deafening. He hoped Dixie didn’t ask any more questions, but he knew that wasn’t going to happen. He knew his nosy sister.

  “What did she say when you explained why you lied to her?”

  “I didn’t lie to her,” he said. “I just didn’t tell her the exact truth.”

  “Whatever. What did she say?”

  Now his silence was deafening.

  “You didn’t tell her, did you? Oh, you man you!”

  “Please, Dixie Rose,” he pleaded. “I have to go and I don’t have time for a cozy two-hour discussion of my shortcomings.”

  “It would take longer than two hours.”

  “Ha. Ha.” He shut up, hoping the sister connection would work without words.

  “Oh, all right. But you owe me!”

  “Yes. Thank you, thank you.” He shot a fist in the air, then ran his hand across his neck. “I’ll call as soon as I get there and find out the details.”

  Before he could hang up she added, “And you better call Mom.”

  Damn. “As soon as I can.” He hung up.

  Looking around the storm-tossed room, he zipped his pants and scooped up clothes to stuff them in his duffel. He threw toothpaste, deodorant and his razor into his shaving kit then tossed it on top of the jumble of clothes. Zipping it closed, he let some of his worries into his mind. Penny.

  “God! What a mess,” he said as he headed downstairs to check out.

  With his credit card smoking from overuse, he tossed the duffel into the back seat of his car and got in. Then he got out. He went back to the front desk.

  “Listen, I need to get back into my room for a minute.”

  The desk clerk looked askance at him. “But you checked out, sir.”

  He tapped his fist on the desk top. “I left my cell phone.”

  “Oh, yes, sir. Benjamin will escort you up.” He crooked a finger at Benjamin.

  Cash beat him to the room by several strides. Benjamin was short and had to work just to trail along behind him.

  Cell phone retrieved, Cash retraced his steps and was soon on the causeway to Ft. Myers. Then to I-75. He worked hard to keep it under 85 miles an hour.

  Dust flew behind him as he finally turned through the gates to the dairy farm. He pounced on the brakes while searching for signs of smoke, water and/or fire damage to any of the barns. He didn’t see anything but pristine white boards.

  His foreman, Joe Hendry, stepped into the sunlight in front of barn number two. Cash hurried over.

  “You made good time,” Hendry said by way of greeting.

  “Yeah. I don’t see any damage.”

  “It’s inside. Come on, I’ll show you.” Hendry led the way over to barn number one. Inside, on the right hand side, was an electrical panel. It was the original and Cash had plans to replace it. Eventually.

  “Eventually is now,” he said.

  “Huh?”

  “Nothing. It’s just that I was going to replace this thing but something else always came up.”

  “That’s the way things go.”

  Hendry leaned over and pointed out the scorch marks on one side of the metal box. Cash listened while his foreman explained what had happened according to the fire department and what repairs needed to be made. All in all, it wasn’t too bad.

  “Thanks, Joe. I appreciate your quick thinking. And getting the cattle out.”

  “No problem, boss. I can do most of the work. I got a list of supplies I need.”

  “Guess I’m even luckier than I thought, you being a retired electrician.”

  Hendry grinned. “Never let my certificate lapse.”

  “You deserve a reward.”

  “Nah.” The older man glanced around at the cows lumbering slowly across the nearest field. They were heading in for the milking. “That sight right there makes it all worthwhile.”

  Cash looked at the herd. “Yeah.”

  It was worth it, he knew. He loved the farm, the cattle and the work. The peacefulness of living in the country, the hard work and the love of the lifestyle made it the perfect life for him.

  He wondered how he could make Penny Sykes feel the same way.

  * * *

  Penny managed to find her way to her suite. She closed the door and sat carefully on the edge of one of the chairs. With her hands clasped in her lap, she drummed a heel on the floor.

  How could he? How could he lie to me like that? I wander around feeling awful for lying and he’s lying his head off. How could he not? All men must share the gene that makes it not just possible but imperative to do the one thing guaranteed to piss off and hurt the women in their lives.


  That was bitterness talking. Her raw feelings from her father’s betrayal colored everything in her life. Selling her farm—his farm—when he knew she wanted it like nothing else in the world. She never wanted to be the pretty little girl with the fancy clothes, salon hair and manicured fingers and toes. Her worries centered on a limping cow not a ragged cuticle or broken fingernail.

  The clutch in the middle of her chest surprised her. She thought the sharp edge of the hurt had dulled. But it had sharpened the exact moment Cash said “my barn.”

  He’s been lying all along. Why? Why didn’t he tell her he owned a dairy farm? She would have loved to hear about it if she’d known. So why didn’t he tell her?

  The memory of their second meeting, next to the pool, returned in a rush. She’d told him she’d spent summers on a farm and hated it. Hated dirt under her fingernails and gave him points because his nails were clean.

  I lied, too. But I was trying on a new life. A new way to look at my life and live it. I was never going to see him again and he gets all aren’t-you-beautiful and hints at more than a vacation fling. How dare he?

  How dare I?

  The choked back sob came out more like a whimper. She bit her bottom lip to hold in her emotions.

  Sadness because he was gone.

  Anger because he lied.

  Confusion because she didn’t know why he lied.

  Self-disgust because she finally remembered why he probably lied.

  Heartbreak because he was gone and hadn’t explained why he’d lied.

  “That about sums it up, Penny girl.”

  She let the dam burst. Between the tears and the crushing weight on her chest, she almost choked. Hearing people in the hall, and needing privacy for the crying jag she felt justified in having, she went into the bedroom and threw herself face down on the bed. Why did I think I could get mixed up with Cash without getting hurt? I should have the run the first time I saw him.

  She had walked away that first time, though. Cash had followed her to the resort. He came to her and started asking her out. It was all his fault. Besides, he was too good looking. Nobody that good looking is a good bet. They’re too focused on themselves.

  But he isn’t focused on himself. He’s kind and polite, fun and funny and loves his family.