Mending the Line

by Christy Hayes

  Ella shrugged at Ty. As the oldest of the three, she felt a kinship with her half-brother. “They’d deserve it.”

  Ty decided distraction was the best medicine. “Who wants to help me in the kitchen?”

  “I do!” they all yelled at once. Jesse slipped up the stairs in search of his wife.

  Ty let Ella stir the noodles on the stove under his watchful eye, gave Brooke the pitcher and a wooden spoon after setting up the step stool so she could reach the sink, and asked Gabby to hold the bread he’d just removed from the oven so he could cut it. He leaned down and sniffed Gabby’s hair after marveling at the smallness of her hands. He could hardly believe the beautiful girls who chattered around him were his sisters, growing up in his house with everything he’d ever wanted as a child: two parents madly in love and siblings to hang out and fight with on a daily basis. He didn’t begrudge his dad his wife and kids, but he sure did feel an empty pang of regret that he hadn’t had the same experience growing up.

  The doorbell rang out like a warning bell, for before Ty could turn off the fire under the noodles, move the knives from within the grasp of little fingers, and help Brooke off the stool, his half-brothers Brody and Quinn barreled into the kitchen holding out their motorized robot dinosaurs and making roaring noises. Their exasperated parents followed closely behind.

  “Sorry,” his stepfather said with a case of beer on his shoulder. Ty figured Bryce Jenson said those words rather frequently in the wake of his twin sons. “No need to announce our presence.” He slapped Ty on the back before opening the fridge. “Where should I put this beer?” he asked.

  “Try the garage fridge,” Ty suggested. He turned and offered his mom a quick, but hearty hug. She smelled like she always had: Italian sauce from her restaurant and peaches from her soap. He could pick his mother out blindfolded.

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t visit when you came by the restaurant today, honey,” Kerri Ann said. “Frank had to get a filling and we were swamped.”

  “I should have known better than to show up at lunchtime,” he said. “I figured I got out just before you put me to work.”

  “You only get a few days off before you leave. I wouldn’t make you work at the restaurant.”

  “You had no problem putting me to work when I was younger,” Ty said.

  “That’s when you were eating me out of house and home. Now,” she said, blowing her blond bangs out of her eyes, “I have double the trouble to look forward to.”

  Someone who didn’t know his mother better would have missed the twinkle in her eye as she watched her sons chase the screaming girls through the house and out into the backyard when Bryce opened the back door. Kerri Ann was happier than ever since she married Bryce Jenson and gave birth to his twin partners in crime. He intended to teach the boys everything he knew about causing trouble in Sequoyah Falls.

  Lita and Jesse came down the steps moments later, and Lita and Kerri Ann took charge of the kitchen. Jesse opened wine for the ladies and grabbed three beers for the men, who were ordered to watch the kids outside. When Ty’s grandfather, Cal Bloodworth, came whistling around the corner of the house, all five kids circled his legs. Although Brody and Quinn weren’t his official grandkids, he treated them like they were. He reached down and cradled Brooke in his arms while the twins resumed chasing Ella and Gabby.

  “There’s my boy.” Cal gave Ty the best hug he could offer with Brooke snuggled against his chest. Jesse and Lita’s youngest daughter had a soft spot for her granddad. “I heard I missed you today.”

  Ty took a swig of his beer. “I came by the cabins to see if you needed any help and the renters said you’d gone to Asheville with the Garden Club.”

  The tips of Cal’s ears turned pink. “They tricked me into helping them load some plants up from the big nursery they’ve got up there. I swear I’ve never heard so much gossip in all my life.” Cal set Brooke down when she began to squirm. “Those are my last renters of the season. They’re staying until the end of July and that’ll give me plenty of time to get the place cleaned up for you.”

  “You sure you don’t mind me staying there in the fall until I find a place of my own?” Ty asked.

  “I’ve told you to stay as long as you want. I’m thinking of hanging up my hat and retiring for good.”

  Ty would have been shocked if he hadn’t heard his grandfather make that claim for years. He’d never retire.

  Before long, they were all situated in the dining room while the kids happily giggled in the kitchen at their own table. Lita’s shrimp stew had just been ladled over steaming bowls of rice when Jesse lifted his glass in the air.

  “A toast. To Ty, for the few days we have him before he heads out west. To my beautiful wife for preparing such a lovely dinner, to good friends,” he nodded at Bryce and Kerri Ann, “and to family.”

  Ty felt the tug, right in the center of his chest, for what he had and what still felt like a missing piece. His parents were both in love and had beautiful families of their own. His grandfather was content with his life, flirting with the ladies, knowing full well he’d someday be reunited with his true love, Ty’s grandmother Ellie. Ty thought of Jill, as he had so many times over the last nine months. He could see her at this table, surrounded by the people he loved the most in the world. He was anxious to return to Colorado and begin the task of winning her over, but he had to win over someone else first.

  Chapter 5

  Jill felt herself relax for the first time in months the moment she crossed the threshold of The Golden Tap. As someone who loved being outdoors, Jill never expected to enjoy working in the dimly lit tavern. The brick wall behind the mahogany bar held shelves of liquor between the neon beer signs that were the main sources of light. High top tables featured votive candles in antique lanterns. The red vinyl bar stools were faded from age and use. The small raised area in the back corner of the one room establishment welcomed anyone with a guitar, a voice, and the moxie to try and entertain a crowd. The Golden Tap wasn’t the only bar in the Lower Fork, but it certainly was the favorite among locals.

  Tommy Golden came out of the back room and smiled when he spotted Jill just inside the door. His dark hair and ever-present five o’clock shadow were a sight for sore eyes. No one from out of town would have guessed he owned the dive bar. He wore the uniform of the valley—jeans and t-shirts—but something about the way he moved, the way he interacted with people led Jill to believe he’d come from money. The fact that he never talked about his life before his dad moved them to the Lower Fork provided ample fodder for theories. “Are you going to stand there all day or get to work?” he asked.

  “Work,” she said and strapped on the half apron he tossed her way. “I can’t thank you enough for letting me come back.”

  “I didn’t let you, Jill. You earned it. The regulars haven’t stopped complaining about the service since you left.”

  “By regulars you mean Eddie, Shane, and Cody?”

  Tommy gave his trademark crooked smile. “The three stooges will be overjoyed you’ve returned.” He straightened the menus on the corner of the bar. “Olivia’s thrilled you’re moving back in.”

  “She can’t be more excited than me. I’ve missed your sister.”

  “I’ll sleep a lot easier knowing she’s not alone in that apartment anymore.”

  Jill had to slap her lips closed so as not to mutter that Olivia probably hadn’t been alone. What he chose to overlook about his half-sister was his own business.

  He tossed her a wet rag from the sink before disappearing out the side door. Jill started by wiping down the tables and refilling the salt and pepper shakers. When she wandered into the back, she got a big hug from Stevie, the lunchtime line cook.

  “Look at you,” Stevie said. He wore his long black hair in a braided ponytail and an apron covered a concert t-shirt from the year Jill was born. “No more crutches?”

  “Nope.” She tapped her jeans. “I’m almost as good as new.” She picked up a ladle and sn
iffed at the soup. “Ummm. Your white bean chili is still the best I’ve ever had.”

  “And always will be, sweetheart.”

  “Any changes to the menu I should know about?” Jill asked.

  Stevie tapped his finger to his thin lips as he walked through the swinging door to the front of the bar. “Tommy got rid of the pasta salad and replaced it with coleslaw. We’ve got sweet potato fries as a side and a couple of new dressings.” He scanned a laminated menu before clucking his tongue. “That’s about it. Most of the changes were in the dinner menu, but you never hang around that long.”

  “I’m on my second round of training by dinnertime, Stevie.”

  “All that running seems like chasing your tail if you ask me. All those miles you log and where do you end up?”

  Right back where she started, she thought, but didn’t say. She’d hoped to end up in the Olympics, but that dream was all but dead. If she’d missed the finish line on her most important race, where did all the miles she ran get her? Right now, standing in the bar where she served lunch and drinks to regulars, she wondered if she was simply marking time until something better came along. If only she knew what that was.

  ***

  “I thought you wanted an authentic, fishing-only experience on your last summer out west?” Jessie asked after Ty broke the news. Everyone at the table stopped eating and stared in his direction. When he said nothing, only stared at his father, Jesse asked, “What changed? You said I’d love the Lower Fork because they’re known as much for their rafting as they are for fishing.”

  “You would love it. I liked it last year and I want to go back.”

  “You liked it. I can’t believe you’d go back just because you liked it.”

  “I want to go back, Dad. Just leave it at that.”

  “Oh,” Jesse said with knowing frown and that damn annoying head tip that meant he thought he’d figured everything out. “I get it. There’s a girl.”

  Ty didn’t want to blush in front of his entire family, but he felt his neck heat anyway. “I wouldn’t call her a girl.”

  His dad looked first to Lita with his brows raised, and then to Ty’s mom before landing those hazel lasers on him. It was like having a conversation with a three-headed monster. “How old is she?”

  “It’s not about her age. She’s a distance runner and right before I left, she fell and broke her leg.” At Jesse’s pointed stare, he said, “She’s twenty-two.”

  “Is she why you broke up with Dana?” his mom asked.

  Ty cocked his shoulder and tucked his chin down to hide from his family’s prying eyes before stuffing a spoonful of stew in his mouth. Truth was, he’d known the minute he laid eyes on Jill that he couldn’t be with Dana anymore. But Ty wasn’t a cheater, and breaking up with someone he cared about and had dated for over a year didn’t happen over the phone. “Probably.”

  “Why are you being so cagey about this?” Jesse asked. “You’ve never been shy about girls.”

  “I’m not being shy. I just…” Ty stood up and excused himself from the table. He walked out onto the front porch expecting his dad to follow. When he heard footsteps on the landing and the screen door slap shut, he turned around and stared at his dad. Ty didn’t need to hem and haw with Jesse. He’d understand; Ty remembered how fast he and Lita got serious. His granddad would understand, too, if the stories of his whirlwind courtship with his grandmother were true.

  “She’s different,” Ty explained. “One look at her and I was half gone. Watching her train last summer and then struggle with an injury…she just got to me in a way no one else ever has.”

  “Are you sure she’s still there?”

  “Yeah, I’m sure.”

  “So, you’ve talked to her? She knows you’re coming back?”

  Ty sighed. This was the sticky part. “No, I’ve talked to Tommy. He owns the fish and raft shop. She’s still there.”

  “Could she be involved with someone else?”

  Ty met Jesse’s stare with one of his own. The hazel eyes he’d seen every morning in the mirror stared back at him from his dad’s suntanned face. “I don’t care.”

  Jesse let out a long breath. “Okay. If this is what you want, I support you. I just don’t want you to have any regrets.”

  ‘No regrets’ was his dad’s mantra. “The only thing I’d regret is if I didn’t go back and see this through.”

  “You could get hurt,” Jesse pointed out.

  “Yeah, but I could get lucky.” Ty’s quick smirk was automatic and the instinct to do it helped to level his ground. “I’m feeling pretty lucky.”

  “You just make sure you wrap that luck in a condom.”

  Ty’s grin disappeared with his dad’s fruitless warning. “I’m not careless, Dad, and I’m not seventeen.”

  Jesse rubbed the back of his neck and let out a sigh that sounded like a concession. “No, I know you’re not. But an unexpected baby can change everything.” He grabbed Ty around the neck and rubbed his knuckles over his scalp. Hard. “Sometimes for the better.”

  “What are you going to worry about when you realize I’ve sowed all my oats and end up in a committed relationship?”

  “I’ve got three daughters bringing up the rear. I have a feeling you’re just the warm up act.” Jesse let go and gave Ty a thoughtful stare. “I thought you were in a committed relationship with Dana. I liked her.”

  “I liked her, too.” Ty thought of his bubbly ex and the way she never quite fit into his life. “I just didn’t love her. I’m not going to settle when it comes to the important stuff.”

  “Good. At least I’ve gotten through to you on that one.”

  “Don’t worry. You and mom are like a tag team with the condoms. I swear, whenever I roll one on, I can hear you both clapping with approval.”

  Jesse laughed. “That’s probably the last image you want at that moment.”

  “Exactly, but I get your point. No regrets, no excuses. I want this, Dad. I won’t regret going back even if I don’t end up with the prize.”

  “Hell, son, you’re a catch and release fisherman. You know the hunt is more than half the fun.”

  “Yeah,” Ty sighed. “But I really want this prize.”

  Jesse wrapped his arm around Ty’s shoulder and led him back inside. “Then go get her.”

  Chapter 6

  Jill winced as the suitcase thumped against her injured leg, but she didn’t let the pain break her stride. One wince and her mother would whisk her back to their split level in Westmoreland faster than Jill could unpack.

  The move would have gone a lot smoother if her dad had bothered to help, but Jill knew he wouldn’t assist her in doing something he’d vetoed. He offered some lame excuse of a meeting and left the bulk of Jill’s things in the hands of the Jennings women.

  “One more run and I think we’ve got it all,” Bobbie Jennings said as she wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand. All the packing, loading, and unloading hadn’t wrecked her manicure or messed up her perfectly coiffed bob. Jill was convinced her mother could wrestle cows on horseback and never look worse for the wear.

  “I’ve got it, Mom. Why don’t you sit down and take a breather while I bring up the rest of my stuff? Olivia’s probably got some soda in the refrigerator.”

  “Olivia’s got better than soda.” Olivia Golden pranced up the stairs carrying a six-pack of beer and an orange patchwork purse. She gave Bobbie a hug, hip bumped Jill, and disappeared around the corner to put her beer in the fridge. “I’ve got soda, Mrs. Jennings, if you’d prefer that over the beer.”

  “Considering I’m driving home, I’d better just have the soda. Or on second thought, I’d love a bottle of water.”

  When Jill made it back with the last box in her hands and a bag slung over each shoulder, her mother and Olivia were chatting on the couch like old girlfriends. Olivia was better suited to be Bobbie Jennings’s daughter. While Bobbie’s shiny, dark brown hair and fair skin were a contrast to Olivia’
s sun bleached blond hair and golden tan, their interests and energy level were almost identical. Both loved to shop, gossip, and look their best at all times.

  “So it’s a done deal?” Bobbie asked as Olivia nodded and sipped a beer.

  “Yep. Rumor has it they’re going to start building the resort by next spring.”

  “How do you know this?” Bobbie demanded.

  “I have my sources.”

  “Her source is her brother,” Jill filled in the blanks for her mother. “Tommy’s leading the charge against the development.”

  “What on earth for?” Bobbie asked. “Seems like a fancy resort would draw all sorts of people and money into the valley.”

  “That’s exactly what I keep telling Tommy,” Olivia said. “He’s dead set against it. He says it’ll ruin the area and force the farmers and ranchers out of business.”

  “Hummm.” Bobbie took a contemplative sip. “I’ll have to ask Gary about this. I wonder if the college has an opinion.”

  Jill set the box down and let the bags slip from her aching shoulders. Her afternoon workout was going to be a killer after all the stair climbing and box lifting. “It’s been all over the papers, Mom.”

  Bobbie waved a hand in the air. “You know I don’t read anything but the living section and the ads.”

  “Just think about the shopping a big development would bring,” Olivia said with a dreamy look on her face.

  “Don’t forget the restaurants,” her mom added.

  “And the traffic,” Jill pointed out and began tapping reasons they shouldn’t get ahead of themselves off on her fingers. “And even more tourists, and the taxes.”

  “You sound just like my brother,” Olivia pouted. “I get enough of that from him.”

  “I’m just pointing out that there are two sides to every story.”

  “Yes,” Olivia said and stood up to poke around the box Jill had opened. She pulled out a bold chartreuse blouse and held it up to her shoulders. “As long as you’re on mine, you can stay.”