by Vella, Wendy
“Yeah? You got her number?”
Her cackling laughter followed him out of the shop.
Ted knew people found him hard to understand. Hard to get to know. Emily’s death had done that to him. Made him guarded. He knew it, but he wasn’t ready to do anything about it.
He thought about Mandy then. She’d got beneath that guard a few times.
“Ted, just the man,” Bas said as he walked behind Tea Total and found a large truck there. “Need your muscle, bud.”
Jack was inside the back of the truck, and Rory was standing on the stairs, waving her hands about.
“You get this end, Ted.” Jack was nudging a sofa out.
“Why is Rory waving?”
“It’s called helping, I believe.” Jack grunted, lifting his end. “Go figure.”
Together, the three of them managed to maneuver it up the stairs.
“Watch that corner!”
“Rory, honey, shut up,” Jack gritted out.
“I’m trying to help here.”
“You’re failing terribly,” Jack added. “Be a good girl and go inside with the women.”
She shrieked an obscenity at him, which made Jack laugh.
“You’re skating on thin ice there,” Ted said.
“Adds spice, Teddy Bear. Can’t let her have everything her own way all the time.”
“My wife is the boss in our household,” Bas said. “Works for me.” He shrugged.
They managed to get it through the doorway—just.
“Mandy, where do you want this?” Jack said.
She came out of the bedroom and saw him. The smile fell off her face.
“Hi.” She looked a mess. Old baggy sweats, hair on top of her head, and a T-shirt that was Bas’s size. Not a scrap of makeup on her face. She looked about fifteen years old, definitely not old enough to be having lustful thoughts about.
“Oh, hi. Um, what are you doing here?”
“Lenny couldn’t come, so I did.”
“Not wanting to break up the chitchat, but this is getting heavy, sweet cheeks,” Jack grunted.
“Sorry.” Mandy pointed to a wall. “There would be perfect, don’t you think?”
“What do you think?” Ted grunted out the sentence as they lowered it.
“There.” She pointed to the spot again.
“Perfect.”
Rory and Miss Sarah came out of the bedroom too. He guessed the stairs would be too much this soon for Miss Marla with her crutches.
“We’ll have lots of nights sitting on that, gossiping and running down the men in our lives. Won’t we, ladies?” Miss Sarah said.
They all agreed.
Mandy shot him a look that Ted interpreted as “Not me. I don’t have a man, and if I did, it wouldn’t be you.” Possibly he was overreacting, and in fact she could be wondering if she had enough milk to make tea for everyone, but still…, Ted thought he was right.
“Hi.” Bailey wandered in with Benjamin and Gracie. The little boy squealed when he saw his aunt and uncle. Rory took him from his mother and proceeded to make silly noises.
Ted wasn’t sure what made a person do that, but he had to say he’d found himself making a few occasionally when he came across a child.
“You got any sweets, Ted?”
“Not today, Gracie.” He moved to the window seat. “Besides, your mom told me I wasn’t allowed to give them to you.”
She pulled a face.
“Apparently they’re bad for you. Hard to believe when they taste so good, right?”
She turned around, doing a full three-sixty-degree turn in her cute little shoes that had blue sparkles on the sides.
“I like this, Mandy.” She sounded about twenty.
Ted watched Mandy reluctantly leave Bas and come over. She didn’t want to be close to him, and that wasn’t a happy thought for him. He’d hurt her last night and somehow had to make things right between them so they could at least be friends.
The problem was, she was different from other women he’d wanted. In fact, if he was being honest, he felt different about her. Ted pushed that thought to the back of his head, because it sounded ominous.
“Thanks, Gracie. You can come and visit me. We could do some baking.”
The little girl clapped her hands and did a little dance.
“My mom bakes but says she doesn’t like doing it because she does it at work. Besides, we have Blake now, and she’s always yawning. He drinks, spits up milk, and poops most of the time.”
“And you love him, right?” Ted tweaked one of her curls.
“He’s okay, I guess. Daddy said he’ll be handy to have around in a few years.”
“There you go, then,” Mandy said.
“You sit there next to Ted, Mandy.” Grace waved a hand to the space beside him. “Aunty Bailey has brought us morning tea, and I’m going to help her serve it.”
“I have, and I’d love your help, sweetie,” Bailey said, going to the kitchen with a box of food.
“I’ll help.” Mandy went to follow, but Ted grabbed her wrist as she started to rise.
“I’m sorry about last night. I handled it wrong. I want us to be friends.”
She looked at him, and he couldn’t read anything in her expression.
“Okay.”
“Why are you holding Mandy’s wrist? Do you like her, Ted?”
“I was helping her up, Gracie.”
The little girl’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t add anything. She ran off to greet Buzz, who’d just arrived.
“Really, I want us to be able to spend time in each other’s company without the awkwardness. I’m sorry if I’ve handled stuff wrong—”
“It’s okay. I understood what you were saying last night.” She was whispering like him, both of them appearing to look out the window down to the street below.
“What did you understand?”
“Everything. Friends,” she added with a forced smile. “That sounds good.”
“You need some plants in here, Mandy,” Rory said, wandering over. “Color too, but we can get onto that tomorrow when we go shopping.”
“Sure, that sounds like a good idea.” She got to her feet and walked away from him then, and Ted should have felt a great deal better about the entire situation now that she understood. He hadn’t ruined their relationship completely last night, after all.
For some reason, he didn’t feel better at all.
Chapter 18
Mandy woke in her new bed in her new apartment and thought that it was possibly one of the best mornings of her life. After Ted had left, she’d relaxed. He was a large man to have in this small space, especially when she was so aware of him.
He’d apologized to her and said he wanted to be her friend. Mandy could do that. She wouldn’t get too close to him again, but she could be polite.
Rory and Jack had stayed behind to help her unpack. Well, Rory had. Jack sat on her sofa directing them.
Her aunts had cried when they went home, but assured her they were tears of joy. They’d then told her to call them if she needed them.
They’d eaten takeout at her little table, her first meal in her new home. After they’d gone, she’d fussed around cleaning and moving stuff.
She’d been nervous going to sleep, but that hadn’t lasted long, and soon she drifted off, tired after her busy day.
Getting out of bed, she made herself a coffee and sat in the window seat watching the town of Ryker Falls—well the bits of it she could see—come to life.
Hers, she thought. This was her place.
Today she needed to buy some colorful pillows, and yes, some plants. But her aunts had given her everything she’d need for the kitchen.
Her phone buzzed, and she read the text from Rory. They would be picking her up in an hour to go shopping. Piper, Rory added, was not happy to be excluded, but she’d given them strict instructions as to what Mandy would be buying.
Opening the front door when she was ready to go out, she nea
rly stepped on the large, leafy fern on her doorstep. Picking it up, she carried it inside and lowered it to the table, then opened the card that had been tucked among the fronds.
“Enjoy the next step in the journey to self-discovery, Mandy.” She read the words slowly, and stared at the black, scrawled signature at the bottom. Ted must have dropped it off early this morning, or last night.
She needed to call and thank him, but as she had to leave now or risk being late, she’d do it later. A gift from one friend to another.
Maggs pulled up in a sedan just as she arrived in front of the bookstore.
“Morning.” Mandy got in beside Bailey.
“Let’s go, I don’t want any of the menfolk to call and stop us,” Rory said. “Put your foot down, Maggs.”
They chatted and laughed, and Mandy was relaxed as they drove to Leland, a town ninety minutes from Ryker.
“Right. This is the shop Pip said had an excellent selection,” Maggs said, leading the way after they’d parked.
It was a boutique with caramel walls, pop music, and racks of clothes. One of those places that yelled style. Somewhere Mandy had never frequented.
“I’m not sure this is the place for me,” she said, thinking of her dwindling savings.
“Your aunts couldn’t come today, but they gave us some money to spend on you,” Rory said.
“They did not!” Mandy was horrified.
“They did. So shut up and do as you’re told.” Rory was already poking about in the racks.
“I don’t wear red, Maggs,” Mandy said as her friend pulled out a shirt in that color.
“You’ll be trying on different colors and fashions today, girl. That sack look you’re rocking has never been in fashion, so we’re changing it as of right now.”
Mandy looked at the red leather skirt her friend now held in one hand, and then to the fitted top that Bailey held next to her.
“I’m not sure I want to change that much.”
“But it will look great on you,” Rory coaxed. “Be courageous, Mandy.”
“I have accepted some aspects of my closet need changing. But I am not making a radical move to a leather miniskirt or anything like that. I just couldn’t carry it off.”
“Have some faith in us,” Rory said.
As Rory was dressed in a sundress that came to midthigh and leather ankle boots, Mandy was doubtful, but she kept her mouth shut.
“Okay, you need to go into the dressing room and strip now. We have clothes.”
Rory pushed her toward the cubicle with an armload, dumped them onto the chair, then whisked the curtain shut.
“Okay, but I’m not promising to like all of them,” Mandy muttered.
“She’ll like them because you’ve softened her up with that leather mini, Rory. Nice work.”
Mandy heard the sound of hands meeting in a high five.
“I can hear you.” The laughing stopped.
“I’m glad I got back from my buying trip in time for this,” she heard Maggs say.
Maggs was one of those women Mandy instinctively thought of as beautiful. It was in her bones. She had a curvy figure and a flair for fashion. Her red hair was always shiny and styled perfectly.
Mandy often sighed when she saw Maggie Winters.
“This is probably as good a time as any to tell you I’m going away for a while.”
Mandy listened to Maggs talk as she stripped off her dress.
“Where?” Bailey asked.
“London. I’m going to study art.”
“What!” Rory shrieked. “For how long?”
“I’ve always wanted to, and I’ve talked with Jean, and she’s happy to take over all the aspects of running the gallery.”
“Oh, Maggs, we’ll miss you,” Bailey said.
“And I’ll miss you, but this is something I need to do. I’ll be back in a few years. Ryker will always be home, but I need to do this before I settle down.”
Mandy heard the determination in Maggs’s voice. She’d never had the courage to leave her aunts before… in fact, she wasn’t sure she’d ever leave Ryker or want to. Moving into the apartment had been a huge step for her.
Pulling on the jeans, which had looked like they’d be tight and far too small, she reminded herself that she was being positive now. Surprisingly, they were comfortable. The top was off-the-shoulder in baby blue and white stripes. It made her breasts stand out. Mandy didn’t think she liked that.
“Come on, Mandy, I know snails that change quicker than you,” Rory said from outside the curtain. “Open up and let us look.”
“It’s too tight, I think.” Mandy pulled back the curtain to three eager faces.
“OMG!” Maggs cupped her cheeks.
Mandy reached for the curtain. “I told you it was no good.”
“Stop.” Bailey gabbed her hand. “Have you even looked at yourself, Mandy? You look amazing.”
Turning, she looked in the mirror. Her legs seemed longer in the black jeans, like she’d grown several inches in the last few minutes.
“Man, you have a nice butt. And who knew your boobs were like that?”
“Rory,” Mandy sighed. But she couldn’t take her eyes off the mirror. She looked like a different person.
Bailey unclipped her hair, and suddenly she saw the person she could possibly be. The one who had been hiding for so long.
“I know they’re only clothes, Mandy, and that it takes more than that to make a person, but damn, girl.” Bailey whistled.
“You look hot,” Maggs added.
After that, she let them do what they wanted. She tried on dresses, skirts, shorts, and tops. It was fun, and she felt giggly with excitement when finally they walked out of the shop.
“I hope I didn’t spend over budget?”
“You didn’t,” Rory said, swinging one of the bags she held. “Shoes now, and makeup.”
They dragged her from shop to shop. She even got new underwear.
“You package those girls right from now on, Mandy.”
“I wear bras.”
“They were not bras.”
She had a makeup lesson in a store and ended up buying far too many cosmetics. Dazed, she called a halt to it after that.
“I don’t think I can take much more.”
“Excellent. Now let’s have lunch,” Rory said, dragging them into a cafe. “I’m starving.”
Another layer had been stripped off today. Her transformation was slowly happening.
You’re strong in here.
“How was it last night in your new apartment?” Rory asked as they sat down to eat.
“Amazing, liberating. Incredible,” she finished with. “Ted bought me a fern. I found it on my doorstep this morning.”
Looking at the faces of her friends, she thought that maybe she should have kept that to herself.
“What’s the deal with you and Teddy Bear?” Maggs asked as she crunched on a fry.
“No deal. We’re friends. He’s been helping me.”
“Helping you how, exactly?” Rory asked. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I like the guy, in a be nice and don’t poke the bear kind of way. But he seems different with you.”
“Ted’s a nice guy.” Mandy found herself defending him. “He’s no different with me than he is with others.”
“Jack says that, but he’s not exactly approachable.”
“He’s not good at expressing how he feels,” Mandy said, still defending him. She really needed to shut up.
“How would you know that?” Bailey asked.
Cornered, she wasn’t sure how to reply. She went for honesty.
“He found me once in his gardens stealing herbs, and we talked. It was just one of those moments that you sometimes have where you actually want to say something.”
“Right. I’ve had a few of those, but unfortunately I’m usually a glass of wine down and it doesn’t come out quite how I plan,” Maggs added.
“He asked me if I wanted to use his gym to build up my
strength. I said yes, so I have been. Going to his gym, I mean.”
Mandy wasn’t sure she liked the look on Rory’s face.
“So, let me get this straight. You and the bear are working out together?”
She nodded.
Rory whistled.
Bailey smiled.
Maggs said, “Good for you, and for Ted. I think it’s a great move on his part, and very kind of him.”
“Jack thinks he gets a look about him when you’re around. I told him he was an idiot, but maybe he’s onto something,” Rory said.
“Friends, Rory. Nothing more than that. How’s Benjamin, Bailey?” Mandy asked, happy to move the subject from her to someone else. It worked; Bailey talked for the next ten minutes about her baby boy.
They laughed and talked some more, and on the way home and Mandy could quite honestly say she couldn’t remember a day she’d enjoyed more. She’d had a few of those lately. She hadn’t been unhappy with her life, in fact there’d been lots of love from her aunts, and her time with them had been awesome, but now she wanted more.
“So now what?” Maggs asked from the driver’s seat. “What’s next in the metamorphosis of Mandy Robbins?”
“Ah, well I have a few things in mind.”
“Let’s hear it,” Rory said from beside Mandy.
“Well, I told you I’m working out a bit.”
“Yup, with Ted. We got that. What else?”
“I’m thinking about taking on the lease of Mr. Timms’s bookstore and extending Tea Total.”
“Another great idea,” Rory said.
She talked with them, explaining her plans. They all said they’d offer any help they could, and Mandy arrived back in Ryker Falls feeling positive. It was a great feeling.
Saying goodbye to her friends, she took all her new purchases up to her apartment, then changed into a denim skirt that came to a few inches above her knees and a white fitted top in cotton that had no sleeves. She teamed them with slip-on sandals that had a small heel.
Leaving the apartment, she headed for Tea Total. She was working after closing today as she had baking to do for a catering job tomorrow.
Wandering in the back door, she heard the hum of voices.
“Mandy, you’re back.” Aunt Marla was now in a moon boot, and stomped in. “Oh my, look at you!”