by Claire Adams
Being back home was bringing up so many things for me. Not only was I dealing with losing my father, but just spending so much time with my mother had me facing the reality that I would lose her someday too. At some point, I realized my parents wouldn’t live forever, but there was such a comfort in having them there that I didn’t let my mind drift to their loss very often.
Emotions weren’t my thing. I didn’t get sad or even happy all that much. I was the level-headed businessman, and I analyzed situations and prepared for the worst. But could you really analyze the feelings you might have when losing the people who gave birth to you and raised you? I was doing a really poor job of working with my emotions.
“Yeah, I’ll talk to her. It’s no big deal, it’s just a little shocking.”
“Why? Because she fell in love with someone besides you?” Maryanne teased.
“Yes, actually I think that’s it. I know it sounds stupid, but I can’t imagine anyone else having a connection like the two of us did back in high school.”
“You’ve never dated a girl who you’ve had as strong of a connection with? Tyler, it’s been 15 years,” my mother said kindly.
Her words were sweet, and I know she meant no harm by them, but it rubbed me the wrong way, like it was my fault that I’d never found a woman to bond with. It wasn’t my fault if there weren’t women around me who were decent. I dated plenty of women. I was putting myself out there. The women weren’t the level of woman I wanted.
“Guess there’s just not any good women in Alabama,” I said as I blew off her comment.
“Don’t lie. You’re just screwing women. You’re not even dating them. Don’t blame the women just because you want a one-night stand. If you put even a tiny bit of effort into your dating life, you’d probably find that there are a lot of fantastic women in the world,” Maryanne said.
“And you know so much about dating?”
“I know women, and I know you, so that’s enough information for me to say you’re not even trying.”
I wasn’t going to keep arguing with my sister about my dating life. We were all on edge after visiting with Dad, and I knew it was time to take a little bit of a break from each other. Running my business for so many years had taught me a few things about myself, despite what my sister thought.
“I’m going to head upstairs and make some calls. Mom, we should sit down soon and discuss what you want to do. If you want to sell the property, I can make that happen, but if you really would rather just rent it out for now, we can do that as well. Whatever you want to do, I will make it happen for you.”
“I’m sorry for being a jerk,” Maryanne said as I started to walk out of the room. “I’m just angry, and it’s not at you. I don’t want you to think I’m a jerk.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I already thought that,” I teased as I smiled at her. “I know we are all sad about Dad. Let’s just take a little break for the evening.”
It was exhausting being around my mother and sister during all this emotional stuff. I was used to dealing with business all day, not emotions. Being home wasn’t at all like I thought it was going to be, yet I was really happy to be there. I would have felt guilty forever if I hadn’t made it home to say my goodbyes to my father.
“Hey, what are you up to?” I said as Kelsi answered her phone.
I hadn’t planned on calling her, but the second I got to my room I dialed her number. I wasn’t going to ask her about her son or anything like that, but I just needed to hear her voice and talk to her.
“Nothing much, just ranch stuff. What are you up to?”
“Just got back from visiting my dad.”
“How’s he doing? I really do want to get out there and see him. I’m just afraid I’ll ball like a baby and embarrass myself.”
“He doesn’t look scary or anything like that. He’s just sleeping all the time. I think you’ll do fine. What are you up to tonight? I could bring you over?” I said, knowing that Kelsi had already agreed to our blind date over Dating the Rich.
“I’m busy tonight. How about tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I’m sure we can work it out sometime soon. What are you doing tonight?” I asked with a huge smile on my face.
Soon enough she’d know the blind date was with me, but it was fun to play with her a little. Kelsi was a funny girl, at least when I had known her. Back when we dated she was always playing tricks on me and trying to prank me. I really hoped my little blind date trick turned out to be something she would laugh at and not something she got angry at me about.
I wasn’t trying to be mean-spirited about the whole thing, I really just wanted to spend some time with her on a real date. The awkward small talk wouldn’t have to be our thing, but sitting and enjoying a meal where she sat across from me while we talked, that would be a nice opportunity for me and her.
“Oh, you know, nothing too exciting.”
“I need to run, there’s another call buzzing in. I’ll talk to you later, though. Enjoy your evening,” I said.
“You too.”
As I switched the call to Mike, it was all I could do not to laugh at what was going on with Kelsi and me. She wouldn’t even tell me she had a date that evening, probably because she had refused to go out with me and didn’t want me to push her for a date. But soon enough she’d realized she was stuck with me for the evening.
“What’s up?” I said to Mike.
“Just checking in. How’s is chasing Kelsi going?”
“I think we are over that bet right about now.” I laughed. “Why don’t you just say I lost and you can take my jet on vacation?”
“So, you’re not even going to try?”
“I’m trying. I just don’t think I need a bet to make it happen.”
“No, no, no, I’m not going to let you give up and take a mercy win. You tell me the details when this whole thing goes down or if it doesn’t. That’s the only way I’m agreeing to the jet.”
“Like I said, let’s just say I lost. It was a stupid bet anyways.”
“No way, man. A bet’s a bet!”
Sometimes I really hated dealing with Mike. He still had that high school mentality, and it drove me crazy.
“I’m going to get going now. Was there anything else you called for?”
“Yeah, I was going to come back for your dad’s funeral. Would you mind that?”
“Sure, I think that would be fine. You know you could come back out before that and say your goodbyes to him. I’m sure he’d like to see you,” I lied. I knew my father wouldn’t want to see Mike at all.
Growing up, Mike had always been the one I was with when I got into trouble. My father wouldn’t really care if Mike came to visit, but I was pretty positive my father wasn’t pining away wishing Mike would stop by.
“Yeah, man, I’ll check my schedule and see if I can get out there. I’ll check you later.”
“Talk to you later. Mike, take care of yourself.”
“You know I will, man,” he said as if I was supposed to believe him.
I had barely hung up the phone when Bryce called me. It was like everyone realized I was talking to someone else and then decided they wanted to talk to me, too.
“What’s up?” I asked Bryce.
“Did Mike call you yet? He seemed a little off when I talked to him.”
“Yep, just got off the phone with him. He’s seemed like his normal self to me.”
“I don’t know, dude. He was talking about coming out here and visiting me. Said he wanted to stay here with me and the family. I’d let him if I had to, but my wife would probably kill me.”
“Oh, yeah, she totally would.” We both laughed. “Maybe times are tough. I’m not sure. But I’ll make sure he has a ticket to come back out here if that’s what he wants. He’d probably be happier out here than he is in Cali.”
“Sure, except he does those television gigs every now and then. But he blows through his money so fast out there, it would be better for him to be away from the casinos
.”
“Hey, did you know that Kelsi has a son?” I asked.
“Yeah, I think he’s five or six. Cute kid. Why?”
“I don’t know. She didn’t tell me, and I heard it from Maryanne.”
“Oh, are you and Kelsi besties now? Was she supposed to tell you her entire life story while we were at the reunion?” Bryce laughed.
He had a point. I hadn’t told him about the horseback riding, but still. I shouldn’t have expected to know everything about Kelsi from a couple short conversations.
“I just thought it was odd.”
“Did you sleep with her yet?”
“No, geez. You’re not going to go on and on about that bet, too?” I said grumpily.
“That bet was stupid. No, I was just going to say if you slept with her, she should have told you by now. But maybe she’s ashamed. It was a pretty wild thing.”
“Her having a baby?”
“Yeah, she fell for some hot guy who worked at her ranch. She hardly knew him, though, and he left when he found out she was pregnant.”
“He was hot? So, you are rating guys now?” I laughed.
“No, you know what I mean. Relative to normal guys, he was good looking.”
“Yeah, now that I know you have a guy rating scale,” I continued to raz him.
“Oh, shut up, man. You know what I mean,” Bryce said, exasperated with me.
“I know. I’ll talk to her about the kid thing tonight. We are going out in Fort Worth. I was thinking of taking her to see that musical that’s in town.”
Bryce started to laugh and then stopped himself.
“You’re really going to start dating her? This seems like tricky waters to mess with. Maybe you should just sleep with her and move on?”
“It’s just dinner. We aren’t going to get married, and I might sleep with her.” I laughed. “I’ll talk to you later. Get that room cleaned out for Mike when he comes. He’s definitely not staying here with me.”
“I hate you.”
“You love me. I’m your only friend, and you know it,” I joked. “Let’s grab a drink soon.”
“Later.”
Chapter Ten
Kelsi
“God, I hope he’s not fat and ugly,” I moaned as Hannah and I tried to pick out a dress for my blind date.
“Was that Tyler who just called?” Hannah asked.
“Yeah, he was trying to ask me out again. Like I’d really go out with him after everything he put me through in high school. I just can’t do it.”
“You seemed pretty friendly with him the other day.”
“Okay, yes, he’s handsome, and I was nice to him. That doesn’t mean I’m going to date the guy. He doesn’t live here. He lives in Alabama.”
“I get it; I think we should concentrate on this new guy anyways. What do you want to wear?”
“Maybe this blue dress?” I asked. “You know Tyler is just one of those guys who is used to getting his own way. He probably doesn’t even like me and is only asking me out because he doesn’t like that I was the one to break up with him when we were younger.”
“Yeah, probably.”
“I mean, he couldn’t have changed all that much. Once a jerk, always a jerk.”
Even as the words came out of my mouth, I wasn’t sure I believed them. Tyler didn’t seem like he was as much of a jerk the more I got to know him. He was kind and polite and everything that I remembered him being when we dated. It dawned on me that the jerk he turned into after we almost had sex might have been the guy he was pretending to be, and maybe the real him had always been the man I dated.
It didn’t matter, though. I was living in Rainbow, Texas, and he wasn’t. We had two different lives, and although they collided for a short period of time, he really wasn’t going to be staying, and I wasn’t moving to Alabama, so there was nothing else to discuss.
“So, have you seen his father yet?” Hannah asked as she pillaged my closet looking for shoes.
“No, I’m afraid to.”
“It will be all right. You should go see him. I’ve been out there with Robert and Kendall; it was fine.”
“I will go.”
“Okay, so what are we going to do about your shoes? For such a sexy woman, it’s appalling the supply of dresses and shoes you own. Don’t you think you should buy yourself some clothes every now and then?”
“I hardly have enough money for Clyde’s clothes. My clothes are just fine; look at this fabulous wardrobe,” I said dramatically as I held up my work boots. “What woman wouldn’t love to have a pair of these in her closet?”
“Me.” Hannah giggled.
“Yeah, I guess I might not need them for much longer if they sell this place. What on earth would I even do with myself?”
“You’re a smart girl, I know you’ll find something else. Maybe you could go work at the Everett ranch?”
“No! Absolutely not! I heard they are genetically modifying all their horse food. Who does that? Only natural food is good for the horses. I wouldn’t last a day there.”
“Me neither. Maybe the two of us could go look for work together?”
“We might have to.”
“Have you considered buying the ranch at all? Or taking it over? I really think you’d do great at it. You could start implementing more of your ideas you are always talking about.”
“Ideas need money, Hannah. I don’t think I’d be able to keep this place up and running without taking out a loan and I don’t know if that would even work. It’s so overwhelming, and I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Let’s talk about what this hunky millionaire is going to look like.”
“I really do think you should give Tyler a chance,” Hannah added.
“Are we talking about the ranch or Tyler? I can’t keep this conversation straight.”
“Kelsi, he’s so unbelievably cute, and I saw how you were around him. He’s the one. I feel it in my bones. It doesn’t matter what happened in high school. Who cares about high school? No one had fun in high school; it was just a giant mess of hormones. I think you should go out with him for real and see if there is anything there.”
“No.”
“That’s it? Just like that, you’re going to blow off the chance of your lifetime?”
“He’s not a chance of my lifetime. I don’t care about his money. I know Tyler too well; it would never work.”
“Maybe that’s exactly why it will work out perfectly?”
Hannah was one of those girls who always thought life worked out exactly like it was supposed to. Her husband, Martin, was a decent guy, and they had married after only a few months dating. In her eyes, once you met the man of your dreams, you just automatically knew he was the right one. I wasn’t so sure about that.
Was it really possible to meet someone and know you were meant to be? I certainly hadn’t met anyone who I’d fallen for like that in a long time. I couldn’t really count Clyde’s father either; I knew I was in lust with him more than love. I wasn’t even all that heartbroken when he left, only sad because I was going to have to raise a child alone and anxious about what all that would entail.
“Can we please stop talking about Tyler? I’ve got a date tonight. Let’s worry about this for right now.”
“You’re great on dates. This will be easy; he’s going to fall in love with you,” Hannah said dramatically.
“Oh, my God. No. I don’t want anyone falling in love. That’s too much pressure.”
“Okay, he’ll like you a lot and be really handsome.” She laughed. “Oh, that sounds so romantic. Like right out of a fairytale. The okay prince and the sort of nice princess,” she teased.
“Maybe I should cancel? I’ve never gone on a blind date before. What on earth will we talk about? What if he’s ugly? Or not funny? Or rude?”
“Take a deep breath. I’m sure he’s a nice normal guy and you’ll have a great time.”
“I’m not sure. How can you be sure?” I asked as I felt myself starting to panic. �
�What if he’s a murderer? I shouldn’t go out with him. This is not right. Something feels off.”
“Kelsi, stop trying to make this into a big deal. People go on dates all the time. There’s nothing unusual about this, and it doesn’t have to be a big deal. You are just two people going to have a meal together. Sit down, eat your food, smile, and then say goodbye if the date doesn’t work out. You really need to stop worrying so much.”
My brain knew Hannah was right, but my body still felt like it was being pulled tighter and tighter as I tried to calm my nerves. As much as I logically knew this man was probably just like me, there was still this small part of me that couldn’t get over the fact that he was using the blind date feature. Why would a man do that? Just because he’s rich, he thinks a woman would just agree to go out with him? But then again, I did agree so what did that make me?
I could see that the blind date feature would be useful if a man didn’t want the entire world to know they were online dating. Although Tyler didn’t seem to mind being online, he wasn’t exactly looking for a love connection from what I’d heard. Maybe it was a good thing that this guy was a little more cautious; perhaps that meant he was taking the idea of dating more seriously?
“Should I wear my hair up or down?” I asked as I stood in the mirror. “Up looks too fancy, but down looks a little frumpy.”
“You’ll look beautiful either way, but I’d say we should curl it a little and pull it up.”
“Yes, up would be good,” I said confidently. “Or, maybe half up and half down?”
“Oh, stop, Kelsi! It’s just a date. You really have to get over this if you’re going to start dating on a regular basis.”
“Who said I was going to date on a regular basis? I’m fine being single. I don’t even know how I got wrapped up in this whole dating website thing. After this date, I’m done for a while. Clyde and I will be just fine without a man around.”
Hannah just laughed as she finished helping me get ready. She was a good friend and a great co-worker. It was weird how some people came into your life and fit so perfectly, as if they were meant to be there with you.