by Lisa Harris
“I’m sorry.” Ty tossed the rest of his sandwich into the picnic basket.
She reached out and squeezed his hand. “It’s not you.”
“You’re not thinking of breaking things off, are you?”
She shook her head and ignored the warnings that continued to surface.
“Kayla, if I’m going too fast I’ll slow down.” Ty picked a piece of grass at the edge of the blanket and rolled it between his fingers. “You don’t trust me yet, do you?”
“I trust you.” She wiped a tear that slid down her cheek, wishing she didn’t feel so emotional. “But I can’t forget how hurt I was when I found out the truth. I don’t ever want to go through that again.”
Kayla sat silent for a moment, searching for the right words.
“And I talked to my mother this morning.” She handed Brandon his sippy cup. “Or shall I say my mother talked to me.”
“I can just imagine how that conversation went. It’s not a secret she can’t stand me.”
“She says it’s impossible for someone to change as you claim you have. It would take a miracle, were her exact words, I believe.”
“It did take a miracle.”
She looked up and caught his gaze. “I know, Ty, but religious transformations don’t impress my mother.”
“What do you believe? Because that’s all I care about. I told you from the very beginning that if you told me to walk out of your life and never come back I would respect your wishes. But that’s not what I want to happen.”
She blinked back the tears. “I don’t want you to walk out of my life.”
Ty laced his fingers with hers, the two little ones forgotten for the moment. “As long as we’re honest with each other, Kayla, we’ll make this relationship work.”
“How were the boys today?” Chloe plopped herself down on Kayla’s couch with a bowl of potato chips, ready for their monthly Friday night girls’ time. Pizza and junk food were the standard fare along with heart-to-heart chats that often lasted into the early hours of the morning.
“Your kids were adorable.” Kayla tossed Chloe an extra pillow then checked her watch. Jenny was predictably late. “You can imagine how excited they were when they got to feed the giraffe.”
“I understand that finally beat out feeding the goat on the excitement scale.” Chloe picked up the rolled newspaper Kayla had left on the lounge chair earlier and popped off the rubber band. “Is this today’s paper?”
“Yes. I haven’t even had a chance to look at it.”
Kayla ducked back into the kitchen to grab the rest of the snacks she’d whipped together this afternoon. Seven-layer dip with corn chips for Chloe. Chocolate chip cookies for Jenny. When Kayla returned, Chloe was busy scouring the entertainment section.
“Nick’s sister is writing a sort of ‘Dear Abby’ column for the Farrington Chronicle now.” Chloe flipped back to the front page. “By the way. What company did Ty work for in Boston?”
“Abbott Financial Services.”
“There’s an article in here about them.”
“They’ve been in the paper a lot lately. The government is investigating the company.” Kayla set the food on the coffee table. “What does that article say?”
“Police brought a man here in Farrington in for questioning last night regarding an estimated $175 million believed to be missing.”
“Someone here in Farrington?”
“They’re trying to prove the books have been altered for the past few years. Ty worked with finances?”
Kayla shot a piece of popcorn at Chloe, hitting her target. She didn’t like the obvious conclusion. “Don’t start with this again. I know for a fact that Ty wasn’t at the police department last night.”
“Had a hot date?”
Kayla’s stomach knotted. “Actually, no. He cancelled. Some emergency came up at work, and he had to stay late.”
Chloe didn’t have to say anything for Kayla to know what her friend was thinking. Kayla stared out the window overlooking the apartment’s manicured lawns. She still believed he may have lied to her in the past, but even the old Ty wouldn’t have done anything illegal like embezzle a fortune.
Chloe folded up the paper and set it down. “Don’t worry. I may not completely trust Ty, but even I can’t see him involved in a fraud case.”
“Of course he wouldn’t be.” Kayla pushed aside any doubts that were rising to the surface. The whole thought of Ty being a thief was … ridiculous. “If Ty said he was at work, then that’s where he was.”
As long as we’re honest with each other.
Kayla shook her head. “The article doesn’t matter. I have chosen to trust Ty. If he needs to tell me something, then he will.”
The doorbell rang, and Kayla jumped up from the couch to get the pizza she’d ordered.
As long as we’re honest with each other. As long as we’re honest.
seven
Three weeks later Kayla hurried up the stairs to her apartment, wondering how Ty could have forgotten his wallet in her apartment. She’d cleaned up the living room last night and didn’t remember seeing it anywhere. Normally he was the organized one in contrast to her typically chaotic routine. Something she knew annoyed Ty no end. She could pull off a five-course dinner for twelve in her sleep, but forget trying to keep a balanced checkbook or her tax information up-to-date. She was every accountant’s nightmare. And the reason she’d had to hire one herself.
She fumbled to find her keys in her purse.
Ty moved in beside her, casting a shadow over her purse. “Can I help?”
Kayla laughed and scooted him aside with her hip. “Your wallet’s not going anywhere, and trust me, you don’t want to stick your hand in here.”
Ty leaned against the doorframe, waiting until she finally was able to swing open the door.
“Happy Birthday!”
The handle of the door hit the wall with a thud. Kayla jumped. A dozen of her friends stood beneath a long banner in her living room, announcing in bold letters that today she turned thirty.
Ty entered the room behind her, ducking to avoid a tangle of balloons and streamers that skimmed the ceiling. “Are you surprised?”
“Surprised? I had no idea!” Kayla smiled at Chloe, Jenny, and some of her other friends from church. “And Ty’s wallet?”
“All a ruse.” Chloe stepped forward to give her friend a hug. “We just wanted to remind you that your twenty-something years are over. It’s a new decade for you, sister.”
“She’s right.” Jenny stepped up and wrapped an arm around Kayla’s shoulder. “And you know what happens when you hit thirty.”
Kayla placed her hands on her hips and quirked an eyebrow at her friend. “Since you’re already there, I am sure you’ll have lots of advice.”
“Very funny.” Jenny laughed then waved her hands at the guests.
Kayla greeted everyone as she made her way to her dining room table. “Mom. The cake is beautiful.” Kayla hugged her mother who stood beside the table, thankful they’d chosen simple pink roses rather than a black, over-the-hill theme. “And you actually kept this from me.”
Her mom’s grin widened. “Trust me—it wasn’t easy.”
“It never has been, has it? I still remember two or three surprise parties you tried to throw me as a child. Somehow I always found out.”
Ty scooted up beside Kayla and laughed. “I knew there had to be a devious streak running through you.”
The smile on her mother’s lips vanished as she excused herself to pour a glass of punch on the other side of the table.
Ty nudged Kayla with his elbow. “I wasn’t trying to offend her.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Kayla frowned, wishing she could take her own advice. Why couldn’t the two people she loved most in the world get along?
Chloe cut the cake while Jenny served the punch and passed it out to the guests. Once everyone was served, Chloe motioned toward the others in the room. “Since everyo
ne has cake now, why don’t you all sit down? Kayla, we chipped in and got you a little something.”
Jenny handed her the gift.
“You guys are too sweet.” Kayla set her cake plate down and ripped open the foil wrapping paper to reveal a brand new food processor.
“You needed a new one,” Chloe said, collecting the used paper. “It seemed like the perfect gift.”
“This is great. All except the fact that I’m thirty now. I was hoping to forget that tiny detail.”
Ty slid in between Kayla and Jenny on the couch, and she caught her mom’s disapproving frown across the room. Somehow Kayla was going to have to find a way for a truce.
“To Kayla.” Ty held up his cup of punch. “To the best girl a guy could ever find.”
“Then let’s just hope she finds the right guy.” Her mother’s cold words seemed to hover in the room before she stood and stalked toward the kitchen.
No one spoke. The tension in the air squeezed at Kayla’s chest. She glanced at Ty, wishing she could erase the hurt in his eyes … and the disappointment in her mother’s.
“I’m sorry. I’ll …” Kayla stood, not knowing what to do. Talking to her mother would do little to change the situation. “Please, everyone. There’s plenty of cake. Eat up.”
Kayla made a hasty exit into the kitchen to find her mom. The chocolate cake she’d just finished soured in her stomach. Somehow she would have to find a way to bring out the white flag and form a truce between Ty and her mom—before Ty decided Boston wasn’t so bad after all.
Her mother leaned against the counter with her hands gripping her temples. She’d aged the past few years, and while she still had the energy of someone a decade or so younger, life had left its mark in the creases of her face.
“You had no right to say that, Mom.” Kayla folded her arms across her chest and bit back the sharp words she wanted to spout out. “No matter what you think about Ty, he doesn’t deserve to be humiliated in front of all my friends.”
“Really?” Her mother shook her head. “Well, someone in this family needs to hold on to a little bit of common sense because you don’t have any left.”
“Because I love Ty?” Kayla squelched the urge to scream. “You don’t get it, do you?”
“Get what?”
“The fact that I’m old enough to make my own decisions on who I let into my life.”
Her mom fell back against the counter and continued to press her fingertips against her forehead.
A wave of concern took precedence over her frustration. “Are you having another one of your headaches, Mom?”
“Yes, but it’s nothing.”
Kayla started digging through one of the upper cabinets for a bottle of painkillers before handing her mom two of the pills. “I need you to accept him as part of my life.”
The older woman turned to face her daughter. “Maybe when you have your own children someday you’ll understand what I’m going through. Kayla, I watched that man lie to you and hurt you, and I don’t want it to happen again.”
Kayla winced at her mother’s pointed words. “It’s not going to. If you would take the time to get to know Ty, you would see he’s not the same person he was a year ago.”
“He’s a charmer, Kayla. He knows how to get what he wants. How is that any different from a year ago?”
Kayla bit her lip. It was useless trying to get her mother to understand. “You’re just going to have to trust me.”
“I trust you. That’s not the problem. The problem is that I don’t trust him. What about the government’s investigation into the company he used to work for? Have you stopped to consider he could be part of it? I don’t want you to go through the pain you went through all over again.”
“Ty’s not involved.” Kayla braced her arms against the counter and shook her head. “I don’t know what to say, except that I’m a grown woman. If I’m wrong about Ty, which I know I’m not, I’m the one who will have to live with the consequences.”
Her mother caught her gaze and frowned. “And that’s exactly what I’m afraid of.”
Two hours later Ty poured himself a cup of water from the sink, certain he’d somehow misunderstood Kayla’s last comment. “You want me to go to dinner with you and your mother?”
Kayla folded her arms across her chest and frowned. “You sound as if I’m asking you to steal England’s crown jewels for me.”
He rubbed the back of his neck and tried to put a check on his frustration. A showdown with Mrs. Marceilo was one of the inevitable factors in his relationship with Kayla, but he hadn’t expected to end today with having to eat dinner with the woman. That would simply push them into round two. And the possibility of winning the affections of Rosa Marceilo was about as likely as his being called by NASA to oversee their next mission to Mars. Impossible.
Besides, he’d been looking forward to a quiet dinner at the Blue Moon to celebrate Kayla’s birthday—with reservations for two. There had to be a way out of this one. “You know your mother hates me, and—”
“She doesn’t hate you.” Kayla patted his arm and offered him a smile. “She just doesn’t … like you.”
He dumped the rest of his water into the sink, his appetite for tonight’s dinner suddenly diminished. “What’s the difference?”
“Come on, Ty.” She grabbed her purse and car keys off the kitchen’s laminated countertop. “The two of you need to get to know each other.”
“And you really think this is a good idea?”
“If you see our relationship heading forward, then yes.” Her eyes flashed an angry warning. “She’s my mother, and you can’t blame her for not trusting you. She loves me.”
Ty took a step backward and bumped against the counter. What was this? Accept my mother or you’re history? Now it was his turn to feel the anger swell in his chest. This ultimatum sat about as well as the proposed dinner with her mom. Why did her mom have to be part of the package anyway? His parents were perfectly content to let Ty live his own life and rarely, if ever, butted in on his relationships. While he could understand the woman’s hesitations over his past, he was tired of having to prove himself.
“I told her we would pick her up after everyone left.” Kayla slung her purse strap onto her shoulder and softened her expression. “Please, Ty. For me?”
It wasn’t fair. He’d rather she had asked him to steal the crown jewels. Going to dinner with the woman who’d just cut him down in front of Kayla’s friends was asking too much.
He shoved his hands into his pockets, realizing he had little choice in the matter. “I’ll go, but know that I’m doing this under protest.”
With a nod, Kayla grabbed her purse and followed him out the door before locking it behind her. He took a deep breath as they hurried down the sidewalk and worked to crush his growing frustration. Proving to Kayla he’d changed had been tough enough, albeit necessary. Having to do the same with her mom and friends was enough to make him doubt he’d ever find true acceptance in her life again.
Still, if he was honest with himself, it wasn’t Kayla’s fault her mother felt the way she did. And besides, what was one lousy dinner in the scope of things? At least Kayla would be happy. Maybe it wasn’t asking too much for him to make a concerted effort.
“I have a birthday present for you.” He opened the passenger door to let her into the car, determined to shake the dark mood that had come between them.
She hesitated before getting in. “Does that mean you’ve forgiven me for asking—”
“Insisting.”
“Okay. For insisting you have dinner with my mom?”
“Not necessarily.” He shot her a grin, then hurried around to the driver’s seat. “Just remember—they say good things come in small packages.”
Reaching into the glove compartment, he pulled out a red envelope and handed it to her.
Kayla ripped into the envelope and took out a pair of tickets. “We’re going to the symphony?”
“In Boston.”<
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Her face broke into a smile. “Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve gone to a concert? This is wonderful!”
“I thought you might like a nice evening to dress up. Dinner’s included.”
“Thank you.” Kayla turned to him, her face hovering inches from his.
Ty swallowed hard as he breathed in the sweetness of her perfume. As hard as it had been, he’d respected her wishes to take things slow, but starting over had proven far more difficult than he’d imagined. His heart had never let go. Unable to stop himself, he cupped her chin in his hand and reached over to kiss her. His heart pounded as he responded to her nearness, but the promise to let her set the pace convicted him.
He pulled back. “I’m sorry—”
“No. I’m sorry.”
His heart sank at her declaration. He tried to read her expression, but all he could see were the tears welling in her eyes. “For kissing me?”
“No. I shouldn’t have put you in such an awkward position tonight.” She ran her thumb down his cheek and smiled. “Maybe I’m the one who doesn’t deserve you.”
“No. That’s definitely my role.” He breathed out a sigh of relief, reminded of all the reasons he’d decided that winning her back was worth it. He needed Kayla in his life, and if that meant including her mother, then so be it. “Then I’m not sorry for kissing you, but I am sorry for hassling you over dinner with your mom.”
“You’re forgiven, but that doesn’t change the fact that I need you to make an effort with my mother.”
“Make an effort?” Whose side was she on? “I’m not the one who stood in front of a roomful of people this afternoon and tried to humiliate your mother. If I remember correctly she’s the one who keeps pulling all the punches.”
“Ty.”
“What? I’m willing to make peace, but she’s got to be open to the idea as well.”
“You can’t make an effort by behaving as if she doesn’t exist.” Kayla shoved the tickets into her purse, then snapped it shut. “I’ll call her and tell her we’re on our way.”