by Vella, Wendy
“I think everyone is born with romantic tendencies, but depending on our circumstances that can change.”
“Maybe. But I don’t think I’ve ever been a romantic.” This was the second conversation Ted had shared with Mandy. He liked seeing another side to her. “Now, step through that door.”
She stopped just inside, so fast that he walked into her. Bracing his hands on her waist, he steadied her, then released her quickly.
“Wow.”
“Pretty cool, right?”
This was Ted’s domain. He’d had this built with the same glass as they used on the huge lodge windows. But up here he’d used it on the roof. Above them stretched endless miles of sky. When it was too hot, he flipped a switched and the cover came across.
“It really is. It’s like your part of the sky.” She walked looking up. “It’s wonderful.”
Ted thought so too. This was where he came when he needed to get away from it all.
He’d had a gym put on one side of the room, and a sofa and two chairs, large and comfortable, on the other. One wall held a big-screen TV, bar, and fridge.
“The ultimate man cave,” Mandy added.
“I’m the only one who comes up here, except for the cleaners.” Ted wasn’t sure why he’d told her that.
“Really? You don’t share this space with anyone?”
“Not yet. The chance just never came up.”
“Thank you, then, for allowing me in here. It’s a wonderful place to have,” she said, walking around. “A place just for you.”
Too late, Ted remembered the picture. He’d put it on the wall so that when he needed to feel close to his sister he could come here and look at her.
Mandy stood staring at it. He exhaled when she didn’t ask him any questions and moved on to look at the rest of the room.
“How come you don’t ask questions?”
Shut up, you idiot. Why had he said that? He didn’t want her to probe.
“I don’t want people asking me questions, so I don’t ask any.”
“Okay, so we don’t ask personal questions. That sound all right to you?”
She nodded.
“So, Mandy, do you want to get fitter and stronger?”
She nodded again.
“What else do you want?” Ted kept his words calm. She’d tensed up and was wary of him again. He made himself stay silent.
“What do you mean, what else?”
“You know exactly what I mean. Stop hiding behind words.”
He wondered if he’d pushed her too hard. Ted wasn’t sure why she was here today, or why she’d chosen him to help her with whatever was going on, but she had, and he wasn’t the type to sugarcoat things. He’d try and go easy on her, be gentle, but he wasn’t sure yet if that’s what she needed.
“I want to be strong. I don’t want to be afraid.”
He wanted to ask her again what she was afraid of, but he’d keep his promise. No personal questions; after all, he didn’t want her to ask him any.
“Right. Let’s get you moving then. What exercise have you done?”
“I walk.”
“Anything else?”
She shook her head.
“What, never? No exercise classes, gym workouts, or team sports?”
She shook her head.
Ted made himself walk to where he had a treadmill.
“Take off your jacket and come and stand on this, Mandy. It’s a treadmill.”
“I know that. I may not have been on one, but I know what it is.” She stripped off her jacket, and Ted was presented with her lovely body now in fitted spandex showing off every curve.
He’d known, of course, that she had serious curves, because he’d held her the night they’d kissed. But seeing them displayed like that was doing nothing for the impact she already had on him.
“On you get.”
Ted nodded, and Mandy stepped onto the belt. He then went through the instructions, and she watched him carefully. He made her repeat them and start the machine.
“Good girl,” he said when she got it working. “You’re obviously a quick study.”
“I have a photographic memory.”
“You’re shitting me?”
She shook her head.
“I bet your grades were awesome.”
“No.” Just the one word, no other explanation.
She reminded him of a few men he knew, but no women. The ladies in his life usually liked to talk.
“Just keep it slow for now, and we’ll do a fifteen-minute walk. That sound all right to you?”
She nodded.
“You okay if I work out?”
She nodded again.
Ted wasn’t big on talk himself; he’d grown up with a family who liked to discuss everything, and he’d been the opposite. But Mandy, hell, it was like she’d taken a vow of silence.
“I’ll put some music on. You have any preferences?”
She shook her head, eyes focused intently on the instrument panel in front of her.
Ted left her and turned on some music. Her eyes shot to him as it filled the room. He liked a mix, but when he worked out, he liked rock, some hard, some soft.
With one eye on her, he started with the rowing machine. Strangely he felt comfortable with her here in his space. Ted was a person who flew solo. He didn’t need people and hadn’t for years. Sure, here in Ryker people didn’t let you alone for long, and he’d made friends and liked them. But he still preferred his own company.
“You okay?”
She nodded.
When the fifteen was done, he told her to turn off the machine. She had a glisten of sweat on her forehead but wasn’t breathing too heavily.
“I need to work out a program for you, so we’ll stick with cardio today. You up for that?”
She nodded.
“Say, ‘yes, Ted.’”
“Yes, Ted.”
He smiled, and she responded with a small one that shouldn’t make him feel as good as it did.
He put her on the rowing machine and stepper for ten minutes each. Just a simple workout, nothing too taxing.
“Okay, that’s enough for today.”
“Oh, but I was enjoying this.” Her brows drew together.
“That’s good, but if you keep going you won’t be able to walk tomorrow. As it is, you’ll be sore.”
He got her a bottle of water and uncapped it. She drank deep, which told him she’d done enough.
“Can I come back here?” Her expression didn’t show him anything.
“Sure.”
“Tomorrow?”
Ted smiled. “No, you’ll be sore tomorrow. How about the next day?”
“I know you’re a private person, Ted. And having me here is not something you planned on—”
“Mandy—”
“No. Please let me say this.”
This time it was Ted who nodded.
“I am grateful to you for letting me come here today, but I’ll be all right if you change your mind.”
“I won’t.”
She gave him another one of those smiles that made his chest hurt.
“The thing is, I just don’t think I’m ready for a gym with all those people in it.”
“Me either.” That made her laugh.
“You’re a good man, Ted Hosking. Thank you for letting me into your man cave.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll get you a key. That door there”—he pointed to the right—“will bring you up the stairs outside.”
“Really?”
He nodded.
“I won’t tell anyone about this.”
“Me either.”
“I could pay—”
“Do I look like I need more money?”
“I can’t believe you said that.”
“Yes, you can. I’m the arrogant Ted Hosking, remember?”
“Oh, that’s right.” There was just a little bit of cheeky in the look she gave him. It rocked Ted back on his heels.
Sh
e walked to the door, and in seconds was gone. Ted exhaled a long, shaky breath.
What the hell had he just done?
Chapter 4
The heat settled around Mandy as she climbed into the front seat of her car. It would be a warm day. Summer temperatures rose pretty high here, but with them came the tourists.
Pulling out of the lodge, she headed toward town.
“Did I really just do that? Work out with Ted Hosking?”
It was hard to believe. Her, timid Mandy Robbins, spending time alone with the owner of Falls Lodge.
Running a finger over her forehead, she looked at the sweat.
“This has to be the start of it,” she vowed. She had to grow as a person and find her backbone or she’d be living in the shadows forever.
Driving past the entrance to Main Street, Mandy headed into the residential part of town, then turned into her aunts’ street. Pulling in the driveway, she parked in her spot in the garage. Mary Howard was waiting for Mandy when she got out.
“I wanted to ask you something, Mandy.”
“Hello, Mrs. Howard.”
This woman had been intimidating people for years. She was on the town council and thought she was better than almost everyone else. It seemed to Mandy the only people who stood up to her were Dylan and Piper, her son and daughter-in-law.
“I need some scones for my women’s league meeting. We’re discussing the color theme for this year’s summer parade.”
Big-boned and usually dressed in a suit or something equally intimidating, unless she was exercising, one would think she was the First Lady of the United States the way she carried on.
“How many people will it be for, Mrs. Howard?”
“Fifteen. We’d like sweet and savory, and you can drop them to my house next Wednesday at 10:25 a.m. I will expect you to be on time.”
You’re strong in here.
“I’ll send you a quote to make sure you’re happy before I book your job into my schedule, Mrs. Howard.”
The woman’s chins quivered as her shoulders shot back. She glared down at Mandy.
“I beg your pardon?”
“It will be a job, won’t it? I mean, I’m not part of the women’s league, therefore I won’t be in attendance, therefore I will expect you to p-pay for the scones.” Mandy squeezed her knees together tight to stop them shaking.
Mrs. Howard sniffed.
“Very well, but I will know if you overcharge me!” She stormed away, leaving Mandy feeling wrung out like a dishcloth.
Lord, being brave is hard work.
“That you, Mandy?” a voice called when she let herself into the house she shared with her aunts.
“Yes, Aunt Sarah. I’m going to take a shower, I’ll be down soon.”
She hurried to her room, grabbed clothes, then headed for the bathroom. Once she was under the hot, steamy water she let herself think about what she’d just done.
Ted Hosking was helping her get fit. The thought seemed almost unbelievable. He was the man who had given her her first kiss, and the man who made her feel strange.
Mandy could find no other words for how she felt about him. When he was near she felt both scared and elated. No one but him had ever made her feel that way. It was a revelation, because until he’d come into her life, she’d thought she was destined not to experience what others did. That urgency to be close to someone, to want them to kiss and touch her.
Of course, she’d never act on what she felt, but it was good to know that in this she was normal.
Scrubbing her body, she thought that Ted was right. Tomorrow she’d be sore, but she’d read that when you started exercising it took time to adjust.
She wanted this. Wanted to be strong in her body and her mind.
Drying, she dressed and hurried out to join her aunts.
“Morning, darling, I made your tea.”
“Thanks, Aunt Marla.”
Her aunts were sisters, both taller than her, and elegant. In their sixties, they always wore makeup and dressed immaculately. They were active in the community and had a social life many would envy.
The kitchen was painted in bright, sunny yellow, with plenty of herbs on the window ledge. Tea cups with large daisies hung on a rack, with rows of tea canisters beneath.
The house wasn’t big, and most of it crammed with her aunts’ knickknacks, but it was home, the first real one she’d had, and she loved it.
“You left the house early, Mandy.”
“I’ve decided to start exercising.” She wasn’t sure why she didn’t want her aunts to know where she’d been, but for now she decided to keep it a secret.
“Excellent, dear,” Aunt Sarah said.
The Robbins sisters had arrived to collect Mandy when her father had been murdered. She’d been nine years old, and never met them until that day.
They’d arrived in Detroit, walked into the facility she was in, and hugged her. From that day onward, she’d never left them. Mandy thought of them as her guardian angels.
“You’ll feel better for it, and perhaps you can come out with the Ryker Roadies soon?”
“Perhaps.” Mandy had no intention of going out with her aunts’ exercise group. They were ruthless.
They sat in the small bay window at the round table, as they had many times before. Homework, assignments, and knitting lessons. They’d shared so many meals and laughs at this table.
Her aunts understood her; others didn’t, and until lately Mandy was happy with that. Lately she’d felt the need for more. Until yesterday, she’d been unsure how to reach out and take it.
“You should bake your cinnamon and apple scones today, Mandy.”
“Yes, dear, they are a favorite.”
Aunt Sarah wore pink, and Aunt Marla, a blue sundress. Both had on wedged heels.
Aunt Sarah had married young and lost her husband in an accident; she had never fallen in love again. Aunt Marla had divorced her husband in her twenties after she’d found him cheating. They’d moved in together and decided to enjoy life; to their credit, both did exactly that.
“I told Mrs. Howard she was paying for the scones she asked me to make for the women’s league meeting this time.”
Her aunts clapped loudly.
“We’ve been telling you not to let her bully you for years, and now maybe she’ll understand.”
“Yes, well, we don’t want a repeat of last time you confronted her on my behalf, do we.”
“She didn’t speak to us for a month,” Aunt Marla crowed. “Was the most peaceful four weeks of our lives.”
“I need to stand up for myself now.”
“But we’re here if you need us,” Aunt Sarah said.
“You both know I love you. Know that without you in my life I would have been lost.”
Mandy knew by the surprise on their faces that she’d not said the words enough.
“Oh, our darling niece, it is no different for us. We were drifting through life until you entered it,” Aunt Sarah said, sniffing into her napkin.
“We love you too.” Aunt Marla got to her feet and hugged Mandy hard. “We think of you as our child, Mandy. You know that, don’t you?”
“Of course.” She hugged her back. “I just needed you to know how special you are to me.” Mandy inhaled her aunt’s scent. So familiar and dear.
“What brought this on?” Aunt Marla held her shoulders now.
“Nothing, I just needed you to know.”
“We do, and now we must get to the shop or the locals will get angry if they don’t have their scones and tea on time.”
“Oh look, dear, there’s Joe and Jack Trainer.” Aunt Sarah tooted and waved as they drove down Main Street slowly. Aunt Sarah always drove slow, and not because she wanted to follow the speed limit, no. It was because she was nosey and wanted to see what everyone was doing. “If only I was twenty years younger.”
Twenty would still put them out of range, but Mandy kept that thought to herself. The men were all ambling down Main Stre
et, and she had to admit they were pretty to look at.
“Those boys with them are from the bachelor party I heard Ted discussing, aren’t they, Mandy?”
“I believe so, Aunt Sarah.”
“Are you still catering for their trip up to the cabins?”
“I am, and a few other things. The lodge is too busy, so they asked me.”
“That’s good then,” Aunt Marla said.
Mandy was trying to get her own catering business off the ground. It was only small, and she’d not really leaped into it with both feet yet. She was just doing little jobs, all through word of mouth at this stage.
Just another thing she’d not embraced because was too scared to do so wholeheartedly.
“Hello, Joe, Jack!” Aunt Sarah had the window down now and let out a wolf whistle.
Her aunts had way more get up and go than her, and enough confidence to share with the entire town.
The group of men waved.
“They’ve all been whacked with the handsome stick,” Aunt Sara said.
“Mayor Gripper has had more color planted in the hanging baskets and flower beds, and I think it adds just the right touch,” Aunt Marla said as they pulled into the parking spaces behind the tea shop. Letting themselves in, Mandy stayed in the kitchen while the aunts went and set up the shop.
This place had been Mandy’s salvation for many years. She loved working with food. She’d spent many hours lost in baking, and was grateful that her aunts had bought Tea Total when they’d retired from teaching.
“Mandy, dear, the bachelor party are here to discuss the hampers you are making for their trip to the cabins.”
“Thanks, Aunt Sarah.”
Mandy plated up the scones she’d just pulled out of the oven. She tucked her notebook in her apron and carried the plates out to the counter.
She noticed Ted was here with Jack and Jake McBride, who she’d met yesterday.
“Hi, Mandy.” Joe came forward to kiss her cheek. “I like your hair.” He winked. “You met Jake McBride, I think, when he called in here?”
“I have. Hello, Mr. McBride.”
“Just Jake.” He had a charming smile like Joe and looked like one of those people Mandy had always envied who was comfortable in their own skin.
“Hi, Mandy.”
“Hello, Ted.”