by Emma Woods
I sipped my bottle of iced tea and gave that some thought. “It’ll take some time, Ty, but your scroungy bachelor ways will win over in the end. I have faith in you.”
He laughed, his usual carefree spirit returning. “What’s really too bad is that I let Jenna convince me to throw out my super cool collection of video game posters when she made me buy the sports photos. If I bring some girl over to my place, she’s going to see those photos and think I’m into sports.”
“And that you have good taste. I can see why you’d be worried,” I teased. “Video game posters really send the right message to a girl.”
“Well, they worked on Jenna, so go figure,” he said darkly.
We ate in silence for a few moments, and I scrambled to think of something to say to cheer him up. Eventually we found a safe topic of conversation, but neither of us could shake off the shadow that the topic of Jenna had brought.
On the way home from work, I stopped at our local thrift store, hoping to find the perfect ugly knickknack to give him as a welcome-home present. I wandered along, considering every dusty item on the shelves in the “home decor” section. A ceramic pit bull almost won out over a hideous chartreuse velour pillow. But then I found the perfect thing. I couldn’t resist doing a happy jig in the aisle before I headed over to make my purchase.
I stopped at the grocery store and bought two bottles of soda, hoping that Ty’s tastes in sugary beverages hadn’t changed. Then I went home to change into my most attractive clothes that I didn’t mind getting messy.
“Hey, Jill, do you have a gift bag I can use?” I called across the hall.
“What kind do you need?” came the answer.
I grabbed my present and walked down the hall. “I really don’t care. It just has to fit this.”
Jill’s expressive blue eyes froze wide open as she took in all the ugliness that was my present. “Um, are you sure you don’t want to put that right into the trash, Rosie?”
“Don’t worry. It’s just a gag gift. Do you think you have a bag that will fit?”
Jill’s method of organization involved many piles on every available surface. It seemed unorganized to the untrained eye, but she could usually find things in a matter of minutes. This time, though, she had an entire basket of gift wrap, ribbon, tissue paper, and bags. She rifled through them and finally held up a Christmas bag and a pink, flowered bag.
“Your choice.”
I debated only a moment before selecting the flowered bag. After popping in my gift and adding a few pieces of tissue paper topping, I waved good-bye and headed off toward Ty’s apartment.
Birch Springs was not a large town. In fact, there was only one place that could even generously be called apartments, and most of its inhabitants had lived there for years, so there were rarely openings. Ty was renting a two-story, one-bedroom converted garage that sat behind the owner’s house. He had his own little back alley driveway that offered a small peek at the well-landscaped backyard, I noted as I pulled my battered car in behind his sleek one.
I ducked my head around and enjoyed a quick look at the owner’s famous rose bushes before heading to Ty’s front door. The screen door was closed but unlocked. I called a greeting, and he hollered to come in.
If it had been anyone else, I would have hovered awkwardly in the foyer, waiting to be instructed to take off my shoes or come into the living room. But this was Ty. I kicked off my shoes and wove my way through the stacks of boxes in search of the kitchen, where I inserted my soda bottles into his near-empty fridge.
It was a small place. The bottom floor seemed to be made up primarily of a living and dining room combo, with the kitchen along the back wall. The fixtures were about ten years out of date, and the floor had a few chips and stains. A narrow staircase led upstairs along one side, and I could hear Ty moving around up there.
I was just getting a good look at his very trendy furnishings poking out from under the boxes when a clatter of feet on the stairs announced his descent.
“Hey, Rosemarie! You made it!” He sounded delighted.
I grinned at him. Of course, I made it. I would have made it if it had been hailing or if my car had broken down. But all I said was, “No problem.”
Ty’s attention was drawn to the flowered gift bag. “Is that for me?” he asked with barely suppressed excitement.
“It certainly is. It’s a ‘welcome back to bachelorhood’ gift.” I pushed it toward him.
“Wow. Great choice on the manly wrapping,” he teased.
Tossing the tissue paper aside with much enthusiasm, Ty got down to business. When he could finally see what was at the bottom of the bag, he looked up at me and said, “No way.”
“Oh, yeah,” I replied, thrilled with his response.
And then Ty pulled out of the bag a ten-inch tall statue of an anatomically impossible, muscled man bearing a crystal sword aloft. What could only be loosely described as a dragon curled around the figure’s feet, possibly recently slain.
“This is amazing.” Ty looked up at me and shook his head, as though at a loss for words. “Seriously, Rosemarie, this is exactly what my new place needs. It will inspire me to new heights of greatness when I play video games.” He tipped the statue upward and saw the $.99 sticker on the bottom. With a raised eyebrow, he quipped, “I don’t know if I can accept such a pricey gift, though.”
I shrugged and answered loftily, “I think you’re worth it. Okay, let’s get to work.”
Ty looked around at his boxes, suddenly at a loss. “Um, well…”
I laughed. “Men are so helpless.” Then I moved to the nearest box and opened it up. Inside was a waffle maker, a bathroom towel, and a bucket of random tools. So, this was going to be harder than I expected.
It took us awhile, but we found a system that worked. We sorted most of Ty’s stuff into the room where it belonged, stacking things wherever we could find space. Once most of the boxes were empty, we attacked each room as a team. I handled organizing drawers and closets while Ty hung pictures, hooked up electronics, and kept me entertained with funny stories.
We were pretty tired by the time we got to the living room. We’d finished his bedroom and bathroom, the upstairs linen closet, and the kitchen. I cleared a space on the modern sofa with clean lines and groaned.
“I can’t do any more work until you provide me with pizza. I was promised pizza, and I am now on strike until I get said pizza.” I propped my feet up on a handy box and crossed my arms.
Ty put up his hands in mock surrender. “Okay, okay. I’m no welcher. Is Gino’s okay? Meat lovers, right?”
“You’ve been gone too long. Gino’s is the only option, and of course meat lovers is okay.”
“Ah, small town living.” He pulled his cell phone from his back pocket and dialed.
Once the order was put in, Ty came and sat on the floor, leaning against the wall.
I pointed to the wooden-framed Finnish armchair and said, “You are allowed to sit on the furniture.”
He shook his head. “I hate that chair. It’s probably the most uncomfortable chair in the entire world.”
“If it’s that bad, why did you buy it in the first place, and why did you bring it with you when you moved in the second place?” I let out a disbelieving guffaw.
Ty’s face grew rueful. “I let Jenna talk me into it. And I wasn’t really thinking when I moved. I just wanted to get out of St. Paul. I packed up everything as fast as I could and left town.”
“I see,” I said into the silence that ensued. Jenna again. Okay, maybe he needed to talk. “What happened with her, anyway?”
He took a deep breath and plunged into the story. Apparently, when he’d first arrived in St. Paul, he’d been the dorky new kid from Wyoming who hadn’t fit in with all the trendy city people. When he’d met Jenna at a work party, he’d been all too glad to let her give him advice on how to dress and how to cut his hair. The friends he’d first made weren’t cool enough, and so they started hanging out with h
er group more and more, though, in true Ty fashion, he’d stayed in touch with them over the years.
“All of Jenna’s group drove these expensive foreign sports cars,” he said with a shrug. “Jenna suggested I test drive one, so I did. Then she kept talking about how great they were, and I finally gave in and bought one. Then she’d talk about going to look at furniture. So I did. And she’d go on and on about how great everything would look in my apartment and finally I gave in.”
“Eventually you proposed,” I prompted.
Ty leaned his head back against the wall. “Yup. It just seemed like the right thing to do. I had a new car, new friends, and a new life that she had built. She fit perfectly into it. So, I bought the twenty-thousand-dollar ring and asked her to marry me.”
I choked. “Twenty thousand dollars?!”
He threw me a self-deprecating smile. “Nothing less than the best for Jenna. Of course, as time went by, it became more and more clear to me that I was less than the best. I had to get pretty miserable before I was able to step back and realize I didn’t want to be the guy she’d made me into. So I broke off our engagement, accepted Luke’s offer, and moved back here.”
A knock on the door interrupted. Ty pushed to his feet and went in search of his wallet. I watched him and wondered why I felt so hopeful after hearing his breakup story.
7
The next day, both Ty and I were dragging. I’d stayed and helped until almost ten o’clock. When I left, his apartment had been completely unpacked. It had been fun, but I’d had the weirdest feeling that the ghost of Jenna was haunting us all evening. Even though the collection of artistic sports photos hadn’t been hung and the worst of the chrome knickknacks had been added to the donation box, her touch was still prevalent in all the furnishings and almost every item of Ty’s clothing.
I didn’t see much of him that Thursday. Luke pulled him into a meeting that lasted through lunch, so I ate at our table alone. We waved at each other that afternoon, but there was a conference call with an investor that tied him up for most of the afternoon. When I finally shut the computer down and headed out to my car, I felt oddly deflated.
It was my turn to help make supper at Bumblebee House. Mae had laid out everything for a chicken casserole, and I went to work on a salad and brownies. I liked Mae a lot. She was funny and quick on the draw. But I didn’t want to unburden myself to her again. I had never been the person who was free and easy with my private feelings. So, she told me about her dreamy boss, Aiden, on whom she had a huge crush, and kept me laughing without having to open up about my own crush.
Jill and Rosa came in for supper just as we were laying out the silverware. Without asking, they got to work filling glasses with ice and putting together a pitcher of iced tea. Emily, who had lived briefly in Bumblebee House when she’d first moved to Birch Springs, and her new husband, Nate, came in as we carried out the food. They lived in a converted cottage on the property and ate supper at the big house with us most nights.
So many people around the table meant that I didn’t have to say much. I could neatly set aside my thoughts about Ty and focus instead on what everyone else had to say. When asked how my day was, I smiled and said, “Fine. Nothing special.” Everyone seemed satisfied by this, and the conversation moved on to more interesting things.
However, as Nate and Jill moved on to kitchen clean-up, the front door opened and my brother, Matt, called a greeting from the hallway. Unconsciously, a twisted-up, anxious part of me sighed and calmed down as he entered the house.
Matt was probably the person who knew me best in the whole world. While Luke had seen me as a nuisance, he’d decided that Matt was the perfect shadow who could admire and copy him. Unfortunately for Luke, Matt had a calm way of politely carving his own path. So, when Luke had gotten into soccer in middle school and wanted Matt to follow in his footsteps, Matt had refused and taken up weightlifting and joined the football team. When Luke had become more clean-cut and family oriented, Matt had gotten to work collecting a full sleeve of tattoos and not dated any girl seriously throughout his entire college career.
No one except Luke had been surprised when Matt had decided not to join the family business and had opened a coffee shop in downtown Birch Springs. Personally, I loved this about him. I loved that Matt was not going to let anyone make up his mind for him. I loved that he knew himself well enough to stand on his own feet and go where he felt God was leading him. In fact, much of the time I wished I could be more like Matt.
“I come bringing gifts,” he announced.
“It better be coffee!” Mae’s voice rang out from the family room.
Matt and I exchanged a grin. “Yes, it’s coffee,” he called back.
“I love you, Matt!” Mae hollered.
After she’d first moved in, I’d had hopes that Mae might develop into girlfriend material for Matt, but neither of them seemed especially interested in the other. Now that they regularly carried on friendly banter, I had to admit that I liked things the way they were.
“Come on in. Did you eat already?” I waved him toward the kitchen.
He held up a plastic bag in his big fist. “I brought it with me. Want to sit with me on the back porch while I eat?”
“Sure.”
It was growing dark earlier and getting cold faster. However, Rosa had picked up an outdoor heater at a restaurant closing, so it was possible to sit outside for extended periods of time almost year-round. I snapped it on, then curled up on a wide swing near the table and wooden chair my brother selected.
“So, how’s it going working with Ty?” he asked after he’d blessed his food.
I sighed. Matt was the only person in the world who knew how I felt about Ty. And it wasn’t because we’d sat down and talked about my crush. He was just observant and a good listener.
“He’s as nice as always. Really. He’s like the same guy, but with better clothes.”
Matt’s eyebrows lifted, and he took a sip of his drink. “Does that make it easier or harder to work with him?”
“Both,” I admitted, impressed by his sensitivity. “I always like talking with him, so that part is really fun. And it’s nice to have someone who appreciates what I do there instead of just barking orders at me.”
Again, Matt was my one confidante about the frustrations I had at work. Even though he had no qualms about leaving the ranch, I did. The truth was, I hadn’t found any job I cared enough about to leave Luke and Heather in the lurch. I liked working at the ranch, even though they often acted as if I was still just an annoying tagalong kid.
“Yeah, Ty always had a way of seeing people clearly. When we were kids, Luke liked to be the best at everything. If I even got close to passing him up, he’d want to move on to something else.” Matt said it with a fond twinkle in his eye, but no recriminations. “If we were playing with Ty, he would cheer me on and make a big deal out of it when I did better than he did.”
I picked at a loose thread on one of the swing’s pillows. “I still really like him, Matt. And I don’t just mean that romantically. I like Ty as a person. He is one of the best people I know. I’m not sure if I can ever get over having a crush on him. What am I supposed to do if he never gets interested in me?”
Matt chewed thoughtfully, picked a few crumbs out of his beard, and then said, “That’s a tough one, Rosie. It would be easy to let your feelings for Ty ruin your friendship with him, especially if he starts dating someone else. Who knows, though? Maybe he’ll fall madly in love with you. After all, you have a pretty amazing family. Who wouldn’t want to marry into all this?” He held out his arms and gave me his most winning smile.
I threw the pillow at him, laughing, which he dodged easily. “I have wondered if maybe he was feeling something for me. He asked about my relationship with Nick and acted relieved when he found out we weren’t serious. But I’m probably just making that up,” I hurried to add. I shouldn’t get my hopes up where Ty was concerned.
“All kidding aside, you
are a catch, Rosemarie. If he isn’t smart enough to realize that, someone else will. And if Ty doesn’t treat you right, I will refuse to sell him coffee.”
“Wow, Matt, that’s a serious threat,” I said dryly. “We don’t want to make him desperate.”
At that moment, the back door opened and Rosa stuck her head out. “Do you mind if I join you? Or do you need some more time together?”
“No, come on out,” I called quickly.
Rosa strolled out, barefoot now, but still sporting her bright green vintage dress with a pattern of cats reading books. Her dark hair was twisted up into an elegant roll, and she sported full makeup. If I worked all my waking hours, I would never be half as classy as Rosa was. She sank onto a wicker chair near Matt and groaned.
“I shelved all the books that I’ve been ignoring in the return bin today. My feet are killing me,” she said as she rested those very feet on the matching wicker coffee table. “How’s the coffee business, Matt?”
He crumpled up his food wrappers and nodded. “It’s going well. Emily has been a huge help. We’re looking at changing to a different company for our pastries. There’s a lady in town who could use the income, and she makes killer cinnamon rolls.”
“Mrs. Tack?” Rosa asked. As a fellow native of Birch Springs, she also knew the community and its members very well.
“Yeah. We’re thinking of starting with just the cinnamon rolls, but then adding more of her other baked goods if she can handle the orders. Both Emily and I like the idea of being able to support a local rather than a corporation.”
Rosa was nodding. “I think that’s so biblical. It’s always tempting to put the bottom line in front of people, but there’s a real blessing when we care for the people around us instead. Oh, I’ve been trying to remember to ask you two: are you still looking for a receptionist at the ranch?”
“Yes, we are. Luke interviewed someone, but it wasn’t a good fit. Do you have someone in mind?”