The McCallans

by Hadley Quinn

  “Oh. Okay.” Sarah picked it up cautiously and held it in her hands. “May I ask what it is or who it’s from?”

  A smile slowly spread on Jay’s face, and it was kind of that classic blend of facetiousness and arrogance. “I was only asked to deliver it, nothing else. If you want me to guess, since it’s from Tyse, it’s probably Anthrax.”

  Despite how indecisive she was about Jay’s personality, she did actually smile. But the mention of Tyse’s name made her heart skip a beat. “Anthrax, huh? Well gee, I better hurry up and open it.”

  “Definitely,” he smiled, this time with amusement. “I’m having a particularly slow day, so maybe this will add some excitement to it.”

  Sarah laughed as she carefully opened the envelope. It was barely sealed, so it came open easily. Before she pulled out the matching card, Jay leaned forward on the counter and said, “Hey, while I’m here… Do you think I could get some flowers to take home to Melanie?”

  Sarah smiled with surprise. “Of course you can. What would you like?” She set the envelope aside and waited for his answer.

  “Oh, you go ahead and, uh, you know,” he pointed to the envelope. “Take care of your Anthrax, okay? I have to run down to the studio and pick up the portable crib for Cade and I can come back. We’re gonna be painting the baby room so guess who’ll be bunking in our bedroom and interfering in the sex life, you know?”

  At first Sarah thought he was being completely serious, but he had that same smug look on his face that maybe she was just starting to understand. Sometimes she wished she really did have guy friends in her life like Rayne insisted she needed. Maybe she would be used to their humor more than she was.

  “Well just take it as a challenge,” Sarah suggested playfully.

  Jay laughed and said, “That’s what I told Mel. She hinted it would be difficult and I said ‘Challenge accepted.’”

  “Well there you go,” Sarah nodded. She set a vase on the counter and asked, “What would you like to take home to her?”

  “Hmm, I have no idea,” he shrugged, glancing around the shop at all the flowers in the coolers and in various buckets.

  “Well I could easily do something she would love, but I’d rather you have a decisive role in the matter.”

  He cocked an eyebrow at her, almost like he was measuring her up for another challenge. Finally he said, “Fine. I want purple, white, and orange. A few roses, a few lilies, and some of those,” he pointed to a bucket.

  “Dahlias?”

  “Sure. They just look cool. The orange ones.”

  “Okay,” Sarah smiled. She began selecting a few white roses from the cooler and added, “I’ll have it ready by the time you come back.”

  “Cool deal,” he agreed. “Thanks.”

  “No problem.”

  He headed for the door, but over his shoulder Jay said, “Now I feel like listening to Anthrax.”

  Sarah shook her head with a smile and just stood there for a moment. Several thoughts were going through her head but she didn’t attempt to pin one down. Her overall feeling was enough to go on, and she was glad that Jay had come in to the shop that day.

  But Rayne brought her back to the present. “Open the Anthrax, damn it.”

  Sarah’s attention shifted to the yellow envelope in front of her and she became nervous again. If it was from Tyse, what was she supposed to expect?

  She had no idea.

  “Fine, I’ll open it,” Rayne announced.

  She took it so quickly that Sarah had no chance of stopping her. She didn’t think she would have tried, either. It was probably better that she let someone else see whatever was on the card first. That way, whether it was good or bad, Sarah wouldn’t have to go through the embarrassment of saying it out loud.

  Rayne’s smile went from tiny to huge as she scanned the card in her hand. After several seconds, she finally said, “Oh my God,” with a light laugh, and handed it over.

  Sarah took it slowly, waiting for her friend to say more, but when Rayne silently encouraged her to read it, she lowered her eyes to the yellow card with Tyse’s handwriting on it.

  I’ll pick you up Sunday at 11 a.m.?

  Taped below it was a ticket for an NFL game in San Diego verses the Broncos.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Dude, do you know how bad I wanted to ruin it for you?” Jay asked as he dipped his roller into the paint tray. “I was seriously going to keep the ticket and meet you there myself.”

  “That’s because you’re a dick,” Tyse told him.

  Jay laughed out loud and then shrugged indifferently. “Well that’s still to be decided.”

  “No, it was decided on the day you were born.”

  “Maybe so,” Jay agreed good-naturedly. “But I’d like to think I have some randomly nice moments thrown in there once in a while.”

  Tyse only smiled as he glanced down the hall to see the bouquet of flowers on the coffee table for Melanie, but his thoughts drifted back to Sarah almost immediately. He didn’t want to admit that he was nervous about the invitation he sent her. What if she didn’t want to go with him?

  He needed to stop second-guessing himself. He’d made actual progress with her the night before and hoped it was a decent start. But he didn’t want to regress accidentally so he decided to take initiative right away to keep the success rolling. He didn’t even have her cell phone number. If he wanted to get a hold of her, he’d call the floral shop. For some reason, he’d been afraid to even ask her for her number. She didn’t have his, either.

  “Hey, since you’re doing absolutely nothing to help, how ‘bout you get your ass out of my house,” Jay said, breaking his thoughts.

  “Oh, so you’re gonna pay for the pizza when it comes?” Tyse countered.

  With a smile, Jay covered the last strip of wall with paint and blended it in. “Okay, you can stay.”

  “I’m so glad you’re negotiable.”

  “Well that’s what brothers are for,” Jay smirked.

  Tyse really had been helping—he’d painted half of the room—but he hauled all the supplies out back to rinse them off with the hose. He’d worked at the clinic for the day but didn’t have any clients scheduled for the recording studio, so while Melanie was out with Cade, he and Jay had painted the baby room.

  “Hey, did you grab the guitar while you were there?” Tyse asked when Jay joined him out back.

  “Yeah, it’s in my room. Thanks, man. You sure you don’t want it?”

  Jay pulled up a chair on the deck and sat down, so Tyse did the same.

  “No, I don’t need that one,” Tyse shook his head. “I’ve got four acoustics there and I never use that one.”

  “It’s got a pretty sweet sound.”

  “It does for sure, I just don’t need it. No, I want you to have it. You could use the practice and a good guitar might help you sound better.”

  “Ah-ha,” Jay smiled. “It’s true I’m not as good as you but I’m not terrible.”

  “Nah, you’re okay,” Tyse agreed playfully.

  The doorbell rang, so when Jay got up to answer it, Tyse pulled out his wallet.

  “No, I got it,” Jay waved him off, and he entered the house to answer the door.

  Tyse spent another hour at his brother’s house, even until Melanie came home. He left after listening to them discuss the paint fumes possibly hurting the baby. Jay told her everything was fine, especially with Cade in their room for the night, but Melanie was still worried.

  His thoughts returned to Sarah as he jumped on his motorcycle to head for home. He had a lot of nerves to get through before the morning came.

  ***

  “You have one more ticket, right?” Alison said the second she opened the door for him. “I mean…I’m sure you’re just waiting to surprise me, right?”

  Tyse smiled, and even though he knew she was messing with him, he still kind of felt bad. He supposed he didn’t know too much about Sarah’s relationship with this girl, but at the bowling a
lley it didn’t seem like she was too happy with her at the time.

  “I’m sorry,” Tyse told her. “Maybe next time.”

  “Ugh,” Ali groaned, motioning him inside. “Men and how inconsiderate they are.”

  Tyse appreciated her humor as he entered Sarah’s home. He remained near the doorway until Ali dropped on the couch and invited him to sit.

  “Sarah’s in the bathroom still getting ready,” she informed him, just as Sarah appeared from the bathroom door and said, “Oh, hey. Uh, I’ll just be a minute. Sorry. And good grief, Ali, how did you get in here?”

  Ali only smiled at her as she put her feet up on the coffee table.

  “Take your time,” Tyse answered. “We have plenty to spare because I thought we could eat when we got down there.”

  “Okay,” she smiled, and then she disappeared behind the bathroom door again.

  She looked beautiful just from that brief glance at her. Whatever she was doing in there most likely wasn’t necessary. She barely wore any makeup, and that’s one of the things he liked so much about her.

  Ali had been staring at him the entire time he stood next to the couch. Granted, it was only a minute before Sarah came out and said she was ready. She booted Ali out the door, and then Tyse walked Sarah to his car.

  “Oh, no motorcycle?” she asked with a partial smile.

  He wasn’t sure if she was relieved or disappointed, but he answered, “No, not today. I didn’t think you’d want to spend a couple hours on it to head to San Diego. And we’ll be coming back pretty late.

  She nodded slowly, seeming to take it all in. Then she glanced at the ’71 Challenger. “Gorgeous car. One of Jay’s?”

  Tyse opened the door for her and smiled. “No, ma’am. This one’s mine. But we did work on it together.”

  “Oh, I didn’t know you did the whole car thingy, too.”

  She sat in the passenger’s seat and he smiled at her again. “Well there are a lot of things about me that you don’t know.”

  The look on her face was hard to read, but eventually she nodded. “Likewise.”

  He carefully shut the door for her and walked around the car to consider that. No, he didn’t know her that well. But how do you meet someone and feel like you would love anything about them no matter what it was? What is it that makes you accept someone instantly, even when you didn’t know their name the first time you met?

  He meant what he said the other night, about looking with your heart and not your eyes. Damn straight Sarah was gorgeous, and that’s what instantly drew him in. But it was her expressive eyes and sincere smile that hooked his heart. Those gave him the great big push that was needed to make a step forward. He had no idea it would be met with so much resistance, but if life was supposed to be easy, what would there be to learn?

  When Tyse sat behind the steering wheel he looked at Sarah and smiled optimistically. “Well? You ready for an adventure with me?”

  She gave him a side-glance and shrugged. “Hopefully that’s a rhetorical question because I really don’t want to disappoint you with an honest answer.”

  She was trying to hide a smile as he backed out of the driveway, but Tyse enjoyed the light moment. “Nope, it’s not a rhetorical question. Are you ready for an adventure with me? Honest answers required.”

  “I really have to be honest?”

  “Yep, you really do.”

  She sighed, pretending to be annoyed, and shook her head. “Fine. Then I’ll be honest. Yes, I’m ready for an adventure with you. And… I’m looking forward to it.”

  He smiled again as he pulled to a stop sign at the end of the street. “Wow, you’re not just honest but totally honest,” he looked at her.

  She was smiling for real by then, but when she looked at him, it faded just slightly. “No, if I were to be totally honest, I’d tell you that I’m a little nervous. But I’ll spare you my total honesty and keep it to myself.”

  Tyse considered that for a second as he pulled ahead to make a turn. “Yeah, no need for me to be totally honest and admit that I’m a little nervous too.”

  “Yeah, that’s reaching into super duper honest territory,” she smiled. “But break the ice for me. Since I spilled my guts to you the other day…name something shitty that’s happened to you before. Anything. Can we even the playing field a little?”

  Tyse couldn’t help but laugh, but he was quick to agree. “Definitely. Hmm, well… If I were to tell you I left Arizona because my best friend was sleeping with my fiancée, does that even it up a little?”

  “Oh, good grief. How long was that going on?”

  “I guess two months of them sneaking around behind my back. I used to work late evenings at the therapy clinic I was at. That’s when he would come over to our apartment. I got off work early one night and caught ‘em in the act.”

  Silence followed. Granted, they were getting on the freeway at that point and Tyse was paying attention to the other cars, but Sarah didn’t respond. When he pulled safely into the middle lane, he chanced a glance at her.

  She barely smiled and said, “I’m sorry.”

  With a shrug he eased into a comfortable driving position. “Long story short, I was pretty livid and ended up beating the shit out of him. I never said a word to her, just took it out on him. Not my best moment.”

  “Well…that’s understandable. You were probably too hurt by what she did to have a conversation with her at that point.”

  “Maybe so, but it was more about him lying to me, not her. Yeah I was upset with her, and hurt, but Marcus and I grew up together. I would have never thought he would do something like that, and I think his betrayal hurt me more than hers.”

  “Wow, yeah, I’m sure that’s impossible to forgive,” Sarah exhaled, shaking her head.

  “Nah, I forgave them both pretty easily.”

  Sarah looked at him with wide eyes. “Really? Wow, that’s generous of you. Are you one of those types of people that just let everything roll off your back and move on because there’s nothing you can do about the past?”

  He shrugged a shoulder. “I think it’s the best choice to make. There really was nothing I could do about it because they’d been in love with each other for six months and no one knew how to let me in on the little secret. So if that’s how the universe wants to be, then so be it. If she didn’t want to be with me, then there’s no way I’m going to fight it.”

  “Wow, you really are a nice guy.”

  “It’s not about being a nice guy. I’m just not willing to let other people decide my happiness. People will hurt you in life, that’s a fact. We can’t control their actions, but we can control how we react.”

  “And what kind of therapist are you again?” Sarah chuckled.

  Tyse smiled and answered, “I’m not being shrink-like, am I? I’m just telling you how I get through disappointments in life. Jay is kind of the same way, but he’s more likely to say ‘go fuck yourself’ to someone affecting his life in a negative way. I forgive easily because hey, we all make mistakes. Sometimes big and sometimes small, but eventually we all make big ones. And no one is exempt from hurting other people. We all do it, whether we mean to or not. And just because some people don’t make obvious huge, mammoth mistakes…doesn’t mean they don’t screw up enough to equal some of those huge, mammoth mistakes they feel only other people make.”

  Sarah glanced at him again, seeming to think. “So…you’re saying that your ex and best friend betrayed you in the worst way, but at some point in your life you’ve messed up enough or will mess up enough to equal something like what they did?”

  Tyse slowly nodded his head. “Yeah, I’m saying just that. We just don’t always realize it, which is why we shouldn’t be judging other people. Forgive quickly. It’s better to just check yourself and fix your own mistakes than to dwell on someone else’s. Yes other people’s mistakes affect us, but life is about balance. No part of it is perfect, particularly relationships and any other human aspect of it. People’s in
tellect, compassion, forgiveness…those qualities all develop at different levels in our life. When people complain about something, what they don’t realize is that if they didn’t have that particular grievance in life, it would just be replaced with something else. So I believe it’s better to just learn from what is placed before us and focus on enjoying what we can.”

  When Tyse glanced at Sarah again, her mouth was hanging open slightly as she stared at him. “Wow,” she said, shaking her head. “I’ve never actually thought about things that way.”

  “Yeah, it’s a lot to think about,” he grinned at her.

  “It really is. Sometimes it’s too much to think about.”

  “Well, it may feel that way, but I think finding your ‘inner peace’ is a real thing. If you can learn to be happy with yourself and feel good at the end of the day—feel like you’ve done your best with what you’ve got—then that is a milestone completed.”

  “Well what about when you feel like you’ve done your best, or feel like you’ve been kind and compassionate to everyone, made all the correct adult decisions, put other people first…and still feel like you’ve failed.”

  Tyse thought about that for a few seconds. His beliefs were his own, and he in no way had every answer, but even though he had learned a lot in the past year or so, he feared he would sound too preachy or arrogant. All he strived for was to be happy and to feel like he was doing enough in the world to affect the people around him positively. He wasn’t overly religious or philosophical, but he did tend to focus on reaching his potential. Sometimes those inner methods that used mind and spirit were a challenge.

  “I don’t have all the answers,” he smiled at her with forewarning, “but I feel as long as our intentions are good, we’ve done things the right way. Doesn’t matter if we ultimately went with a decision and it backfired. As long as we were aiming for a positive outcome, then we’ve done all that we can. You do get brownie points for trying.”

  Sarah smiled and then seemed to consider it. “Brownie points from whom? Who or what is the greater force you seem to believe in?”