That was an even easier query.
“Kyle has that respect, too. Maybe not to the extent that I do, collecting and selling things, but it’s there. He loves black and white movies, and vinyl, and history, and everything that fascinates me. He’s about the future, that’s true, but he has a healthy respect for the past.”
It was one of the reasons I’d so easily fallen in love with him.
“So what about your grandmother?”
That wasn’t so clear cut.
“She’s my grandmother.” I threw up my hands in frustration. What did people expect me to do? “She took me in when my mom died and she raised me. She made sacrifices for me.”
“And she’ll never let you forget that.”
The silence between Shelby and I stretched out painfully. She was trying to help. I got that. But she simply didn’t understand everything.
“That’s not fair,” I said quietly. “She’d already raised her daughter and she thought she was finally free to pursue her career. Then I came along. It wasn’t easy for her.”
“It wasn’t easy for you, either,” Shelby shot back. “You were a child. A little kid, Ash. You didn’t ask to lose your mother.”
“You’re twisting it all. Gran never acted like she resented me. She was great. She took me everywhere and taught me so much. She’s an amazing person, too. She’s accomplished great things.”
“I just want you to be happy.”
“Gran will stay for a few days and then she’ll go back to Washington. Everything will go back to normal like it always does. This is how it always is. A little chaos and then peace. You’ve seen it yourself.”
We all simply had to hold on for a few more days. Gran never stayed longer than that and it would be months before she’d return.
“I have seen that,” Shelby conceded. “You have to admit, however, that there’s a little more chaos this time.”
“It will all be fine.”
I was an optimist at heart, and I’d found that things did usually work out.
“What about the next time she comes?”
“That’s a long way down the road and by then she’ll realize how happy Kyle and I are. She was simply taken by surprise this time. Once she gets used to the idea, she’ll love him as much as I do.” Okay, that might be an exaggeration, but I was sure they could get along. “They might even find they have a lot in common.”
Shelby nodded and loaded the last glass into the dishwasher. “I applaud your positive thinking. A few of my patients could take some lessons from you. In the meantime, though, we should probably get back out there. Someone has to play referee.”
Lucky me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Ashlyn
With a sigh of relief, I closed the front door. The last of the guests had left, including Kyle whom I’d barely had a chance to say goodnight to. We’d never had a chance to be alone all evening and since he’d given George a ride to dinner, I didn’t get more than a quick peck of a kiss before he left. I’d make it up to him tomorrow. Right now, I had to talk to the woman who was currently pouring herself a glass of wine in the kitchen.
I marched in as Gran was re-corking the bottle. “You were very rude to Kyle.”
We’d always had a strict honesty policy since I’d come to live with her all those years ago, so I didn’t see any reason to hold back tonight.
“He was rude to me.”
“He defended himself. He was trying to be nice but you kept going after him, Gran. What was he supposed to do?”
“I was simply seeing what the boy is made of. Looks like he has a thin skin, if you ask me.”
Anger simmered in my gut, making dinner churn. “No one asked you.”
Gran walked passed me into the living room and sat down on the couch, reaching for the remote.
“You used to value my opinion.”
“Is that what this is about, Gran? I don’t ask for your advice enough anymore? I’m a grown woman and I would think that would be expected.”
Gran took a sip of her wine. “I’m trying to help you.”
“The houses–”
“This is not about the houses,” Gran cut in. “It was never about the houses. I can stand losing that fight, but I can’t stand watching you run headlong into heartbreak. I want to save you from that. This is about so much more than whether those homes should be spared. It’s about your compatibility with this man, Ashlyn. It’s about understanding when love isn’t enough.”
I fell down into a nearby easy chair, not sure what my grandmother was talking about. “I don’t know what you mean. Kyle and I are very compatible. I’ve never been happier or more comfortable with any other man.”
“I felt the same way about your grandfather, Ashlyn Rose. I was in love and I was blind to our differences. I rushed into marriage with him and before I knew it had a child. Unfortunately, we weren’t blessed with wedded bliss. We fought like cats and dogs. We were so different, he and I. I swear we couldn’t agree on the color of the sky. In the end, I couldn’t take it anymore. Then it started all over again with her. Dana married a man that was different as well. She was a morning person and he liked to sleep in. She wanted quiet evenings and he liked to party. They were complete opposites. And just like Jim and I, they fought all the time. If your father hadn’t been sick, I’m sure they would have ended up divorcing, too. But the cycle in this family doesn’t have to continue. I want to keep you from repeating our mistakes.”
My grandmother should have been exhausted from the leap in logic she’d just taken.
“We just started dating and you have us married and divorced already.”
“Start as you mean to go on.”
Gran had said that to me since I was a child.
“You never told me this about my parents.”
I didn’t remember my father; he’d died when I was only two and then my mother had been killed in a car accident when I was ten. I did remember her. She laughed a lot and liked to dance around the kitchen. She liked to watch old movie musicals and she’d had a huge collection of dusty books that I used to page through long before I could read.
“You weren’t old enough to hear about it and then it didn’t seem important. It was so long ago.”
From the look on my grandmother’s face, however, it might have been yesterday. Her gaze was unfocused and far away, in another time and place. She was thinking about my mother. She always had that pained and lost expression when she did. My own heart squeezed hard in my chest at the feeling of loss we both felt so keenly. I’d lost a mother, but Gran had lost a child. I wasn’t sure which was worse.
They both sucked, and our losses had molded us into the people we were now. For better or worse.
“I warned you when you were younger, but it seems I have to do it again,” Gran went on. “I told you that you needed to find a man that had the same values and beliefs that you did. Otherwise, you’re setting yourself up for disaster, Ashlyn.”
“Kyle is a good person,” I pressed. “I really love him, and I want you to give him a chance.”
Gran took another sip of her wine and then set it on the side table. “I don’t doubt that he’s a fine person. I only question whether you two can make a good match. Lord knows that your mother and I were blinded by love.”
“I’m not you or Mom. I’m me.”
Smiling, she shook her head. “Young people always think that their situation is completely different and unique to any that came before it. This story, Ashlyn, is as old as time. Love is wonderful and fun, but it isn’t always enough to keep a couple together for the long haul. All that I ask is that you slow down a little. Think about what you’re doing and really take a look at what your future with Kyle Lewis would be like. Because tonight at dinner was just a taste of what you have to look forward to.”
“Is that a threat?”
“No, it’s a prediction. I was playing devil’s advocate with your young man tonight but there are people all over this wide world
that think that way. Do you think that you and he will somehow be insulated from those that will question him, his work? And you? You’ll be pulled into it, too. Whether you believe in what he’s doing, people will think you support it because you’re with him. You’ll be tarred with the same brush and it will affect you from business dealings to friendships to who your kids can play with at school. If you pursue this relationship, you might as well give up having any life or business of your own. He’ll take it over. It’s not his fault, he can’t help it. He’s bigger than life now.”
Wow, Gran had put a hell of a lot of thought into this and come up with a bleak as hell future for me. Was Washington full of cynics?
Slaps forehead. Figuratively. Of course, it is. Duh.
“I understand where you’re coming from on this.” I did. I think. “But I think you’re only focusing on the negative, not the positive.”
She leaned forward, our gazes clashing. “Let me remind you of a moment in your life less than a week ago. Remember all the press when you walked with him before his speech? All the cameras and reporters? They were all trained on him. You were merely an accessory. A pretty girl on the arm of a rich and famous man. No one will ever ask your opinion or what you believe. That’s how it will be. Is that what you want? I didn’t raise you to be a cipher.”
We both knew the answer to that question, but I wasn’t as sure that the grim depiction was the actual truth. Kyle had never made me feel less than. As for the press, neither he nor I could control them. Gran ought to know that. She’d been dealing with them for years.
Gran stood and leaned down to kiss my forehead. “Don’t answer me now. I just want you to think about it. That’s all I ask. Will you do that for me?”
How could I say no?
“I will,” I said, already feeling crappy about this entire crappy situation. “But I won’t make any other promises.”
“I’m not asking for anything else. You’re a smart young woman. You’ll know what to do when the time comes.”
I hoped to hell she was right because right now I didn’t have a fucking clue. I only knew that I loved Kyle more than anyone I’d ever known.
Was it true? Was love not enough?
* * *
Kyle
“That woman is a meat grinder,” George growled as we drove away from Ashlyn’s home. “No, wait. That’s not right. She’s one of those wood chippers. They take in a perfectly good and sturdy limb and reduce it to wood chips within seconds. How on earth did Ashlyn turn out so normal with a grandmother like that?”
That was an excellent question and I’d been asking it in my head all evening. From the first moment I’d walked in Ashlyn’s front door tonight, her grandmother had been gunning for me. I kept checking myself in the mirror thinking I might have a bullseye drawn on the back of my sweater.
“I’ve had more challenging evenings, but I can’t remember any lately,” I replied with a grimace. “She’s a tough old bird. I bet she gives them hell in Congress.”
“I’m not worried about the other senators, the president, or even the press. I’m worried about you. She doesn’t want you anywhere near her granddaughter. This wasn’t about the houses. This was fucking personal.”
At some point during dinner that same idea had popped into my brain as well. This was far more than a few historic homes on a street. This was about…something. I wasn’t even sure it was truly about me. Roslyn Caldwell had a chip on her shoulder the size of a redwood. Maybe she hated inventors, maybe she hated coding and software, maybe she just didn’t like guys with dark blond hair. I didn’t know and I’m not sure it would have mattered anyway. She’d dug in her heels and she wasn’t going to budge. Not anytime soon.
“According to Ashlyn, she only comes around for a few days a year. I’m not going to worry about what one woman thinks about me. It would be great if we got along but if we don’t…”
I shrugged carelessly as if I didn’t give a shit. I mostly didn’t. As a lightning rod for controversy, I was used to people hating me for what I did for a living or what they thought I might do at some unspecified time in the future. I’d learned not to take too much to heart and let it go. Everyone simply wasn’t going to like me. Full stop.
“Sure will make Thanksgiving awkward as hell,” George said. “Come on, be honest. You don’t want her to like you…just a little bit?”
The trouble with having a good friend like George is that he knew me so well. Dammit.
“Maybe a little,” I conceded. “It would make life easier, especially for Ashlyn. I felt so sorry for her tonight, stuck in the middle.”
George gave me a sideways look. “She means to make Ashlyn choose between the two of you.”
No. Just…no.
“She wouldn’t do that. She loves Ashlyn.”
“I’m telling you that’s what all this is about,” George persisted. “I wish I was wrong, but I’m not. I saw the gleam in her eyes. I don’t know what her motivation is but she’s going to throw down the gauntlet, dude, and you better be ready for it. She absolutely meant to put Ashlyn in the middle and she’s going to keep her there until she chooses one of you.”
I was a tech guy and didn’t always read people as well as George did. That’s why we made such a good team. He could often see what was going on with others better than I could. I didn’t want to believe what he was saying, though.
Because, frankly, it would be a shitty thing to do to someone you love. Making them choose. Who the fuck would do that?
“I don’t think it’s going to come to that,” I finally said, realizing that I hadn’t answered. I was too in my head tonight. “At least, let’s hope it doesn’t.”
Ashlyn and I hadn’t known each other long enough for me to be confident that in the end she’d choose me. I didn’t want her to have to make a choice. As far as I was concerned, Roslyn and I needed to adult-up and try and get along. If only for Ashlyn’s sake. If we couldn’t we could just avoid each other. Families had been doing it for generations on holidays and other special occasions. I’m sure I could do it.
“Damn, you’re an optimist. I’m telling you that woman isn’t going to give up.”
“Neither am I.”
I’d stand by Ashlyn as long as she needed me to.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Kyle
Determined to have some time with the woman I loved, I showed up at the retro store the next day around lunchtime. I had a plan and it entailed sweeping this beautiful female off of her feet. Neither of us had enjoyed the dinner party last night and we both deserved a meal that didn’t need to be taken with massive amounts of antacid.
“Hey Katie, please tell me that Ashlyn is here.”
The pretty assistant smiled and nodded toward the back room. “She is and buried in paperwork. Are you here to save her from being crushed by a mountain of dead trees?”
“I am. Can you watch the store while I whisk her away for a little while?”
“Absolutely.”
Convincing Ashlyn, however, wasn’t as easy.
“I can’t just leave,” she argued, her gaze sweeping across her desk. It wasn’t as bad as I’d pictured, actually. “This is my store and my responsibility.”
“I’m asking you to lunch, not on a two-week vacation. Katie said she could handle things while you were gone.”
Heaving a loud sigh, Ashlyn stood from her chair. “Fine. I am hungry.”
This was strange. Weird. Not like the woman I knew. We were in the early stages of love, shouldn’t we be wanting to spend all of our time together?
A frisson of awareness ran up my spine and an uneasy feeling took up residence in my gut. Something had changed in the last twelve hours and it wasn’t me.
By the time we arrived at the barbecue joint we both loved, she’d barely looked me in the eye.
Although I wasn’t always intuitive when it came to people and interpersonal relationships, I wasn’t stupid, either. Ashlyn wasn’t my first girlfriend and she sure
as hell wasn’t the first to sit stiffly across from me at the dinner table barely responding when I tried to start a conversation. She wasn’t the first to stare off into space as if contemplating the universe, and she wasn’t the first to dump me.
Because that’s where this was headed. Ashlyn was going to kick me to the curb. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon.
George was right. The senator must have worked faster than I’d ever imagined.
It fucking hurt.
The waitress delivered our drinks and took our lunch order before disappearing back into the kitchen. We’d be on our own until she brought our meals. Time to get her attention.
“So I was thinking that I’d sell the company, my house, my car, and all my possessions and just head to Fiji. Give up wearing clothes. Work on my tan and my novel. Maybe develop a drinking problem.”
Ashlyn frowned as if trying to make sense of my words and then shook her head. “What? I don’t understand.”
Of course not. I’d never been to Fiji and I was sure they made people wear clothes there.
“Are you with me now? Because you’ve been far away since I picked you up.”
Her cheeks turned pink and she took a sip of her soda. “I have a lot on my mind. I told you that I’m very busy at work.”
“You did,” I conceded. “But you do have to eat. Is everything okay?”
She blinked once. Then twice. “Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Because you’re answering every question with a question.”
That pink in her cheeks turned to a deeper red. “I didn’t sleep well last night.”
Now we were getting somewhere.
“Neither did I. It was an uncomfortable dinner. That was why I was determined for you and I to have some time together today. We didn’t get it last night.”
“No, we didn’t.” She fiddled with her fork, her gaze skittering away and then back. “I want to apologize for my grandmother last night. She should never have spoken to you that way. I talked to her about it after you left.”
Tease Him (ManTrap Book 2) Page 16