I Picked You

by J C Hartung

  He placed her gently back into her Mama’s arms, punched his brother in the arm just hard enough to rouse him, and he took his leave.

  Regular business hours were over by the time he left the hospital, but that hadn’t made a difference in the past. He punched a number on his phone, waited for an answer, exchanged a few brief words and pulled out of the parking lot.

  The task of supper was left in his hands and as it was his choice, he was in the mood for Thai food. It was impossible to find good Thai food in the corner of the country he’d chosen to inhabit.

  He swung by his favorite place, ordered a feast and headed the three remaining blocks over to his mother’s place.

  He grabbed the aromatic paper bag, his duffel from the backseat, unlocked the backdoor and disarmed the alarm system he’d insisted she install.

  The house had changed drastically since his childhood, even more so in more recent years. But with a family in the business of design and building, he imagined it was expected. Regardless of its changes; it was home, and he still loved it.

  He put on some music, a sultry, jazzy beat that could hammer at your soul and a voice that helped you to understand things you couldn’t ever quite put into words on your own, drifted through the speakers as he set the table and dabbled at singing along.

  He’d just laid the last set of chopsticks on a napkin when she breezed through the doors talking rapidly on a headset attached to her ear.

  He sat, turned the music down and tried to stay out of her way. She was a sight to behold when she was in work mode, which she clearly was. She flew past him, pausing just brief enough to squeeze his shoulder before she was through the kitchen. He could imagine her placing her purse on the corner of her desk, dropping her briefcase type bag on the chair, while she opened it up and shuffled through papers. He could hear the muffled conversation, laughter, and finally a short and to the point instruction before she rung off, pulled the earpiece to leave next to her purse before she rolled right back into the kitchen. She got stuff done, which reminded him of another question he needed to add to that list of his.

  “Hello, handsome!” she said, leaning into him and kissing his cheek. “Sorry about that. We got the keys to a new reno today and already it was a frenzy of activity. I gave the lead to Julius.”

  She sat opposite him and as he poured wine into a glass he glanced up at her with a questioning eyebrow.

  “Is he ready for that?”

  “I guess we’ll find out soon enough! Cheers,” she said, grinning over at him and holding her arm out to touch her glass with his.

  “Trace said you were there just in time this morning! She’s a beauty, Grandma!”

  She grinned even brighter at him. “She is that!”

  “Starting the day with a new beautiful princess and ending it with my handsome and ever charming son.” She drank again but couldn’t keep the smile from her eyes. “I’ve seen you more in the past month than I ever would have while you lived in the city! Not that I’m complaining.”

  He laughed, because as much as he hated to admit it, it was true. They opened up the cartons and filled their plates.

  “So, Julius must be coming along if he’s carrying the keys,” he said, though it was more a question.

  “He’s come a long way over the summer, and the job is small and should be very straight forward. It’s just cosmetic changes, nothing structural.”

  “Well good for him, how’s everything else?”

  “Busy, but that’s never a bad thing. I’ll take a day here and there to help out Tracy. That way I can savor these all too short infant days. How about you? Have you got any new paying jobs or have you been greedy with your time, only working on your own house?”

  He scooped a mouthful of green curry and grinned over at her.

  “You and I both know if I spend every moment I have in the shop I’ll be busy until Christmas even without the scraps you throw my way!”

  “You could always say no!” she laughed back.

  He picked up his wine and leaned back for a moment. “When you start bringing me work I find boring, I’ll start saying no! Until then, I hate to say, you’re stuck with me!”

  She watched him, then nodded and contemplated adding more food to her plate. “And how is that house coming along?”

  He pushed the food around while he pictured it. “I rented a floor sander last week and I stripped the floors upstairs and down. The electrician should be done by the time I get back. All the wiring in the old house is good, just as we expected.”

  She nodded and pictured it all in her head. The pictures she saw weren’t so unlike those in Linc’s own head. He had after all drawn out the design himself and had her go over the plans and the design just to get a second opinion. A woman’s opinion always varied from a man’s, both in practicality and frivolity.

  She found no fault in his design, though to her own taste she would have liked a few sweeps of bold color to match what she saw in his personality.

  “It’s a bit premature to have stripped the floors, wouldn’t you say, Linc?” she quizzed, and for the first time was alerted.

  “I got ambitious one day and thought it might be nice to not have to do it during the first snowfall. I’ll have to touch it up after, I know it, but I needed a big job to keep busy. I have the flooring for the addition just sitting on the slab waiting.”

  She cocked an eyebrow in interest, he had been busy. She pushed her plate away, kicked off her shoes and set her feet on the chair next to her.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah! I’ve had a lot of time on my hands. After you left, I sort of threw myself into it.”

  “It sounds that way.”

  “Mom, I’m sleeping in a barn. I have no kitchen, not anything functional anyway, the bathrooms are torn to the studs, and bottom line; I’m hungry! I missed almost all of baseball season already, and I have no furniture to sit on. I want it done, sooner than later.”

  That had her smiling fast. “Okay, so you’ve been working night and day. What about that other thing?”

  “How about I clean up supper while you throw on some of that flashy workout gear, I’ll take you for a walk and we’ll talk about it.”

  “That bad, is it?” She felt a small seed of worry creeping in.

  He didn’t answer, but he rose and carried dishes to the sink. When she’d returned he’d changed his own clothes, laced up his runners and as they walked out the door he could hear the low, subtle swish of the dishwasher.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  She chattered about work and filled him in on the projects she’d picked up in the past few weeks. They spoke of work because she knew if his brain was calculating angles, species of wood and architectural style, he would relax. He was enough like her that she knew in contrast to many, the creativity involved in their work relaxed them both.

  As predicted it didn’t take long for his first question to fall on her ears.

  “How did you do it? After Dad, how did you get everything done?”

  She looked at him uncertain what he was asking. He saw the confusion and he stopped. He admired the woman in front of him, but he didn’t remember much from those years, nor would a child really truly have been aware.

  “I don’t really know what you’re asking, darling.”

  “How did you keep us together, run a company that was in its infancy, and be a woman who’d just lost her husband?”

  She looked down the sidewalk that was washed in twilight’s shadows where the trees blocked the streetlights and the sun’s setting light.

  “I kept us together because we are a family. I ran a company because I had a stack of bills, a mortgage and three hungry mouths that depended on me to do just that. I also wouldn’t really say that I lost my husband. Honey, where is this coming from?” She had to understand what he was really asking before she could with any amount of clarity answer his questions. She felt the parent in her kick in to protect the details of her relationship with his father. Some things, she though
t, were never meant for a child to hear, regardless of their age.

  “I’m not fishing for details about that time. What I’m wondering is as a woman, how did you keep it all running?”

  She smiled and they turned and continued to walk towards a park trail.

  “It was hard. I won’t sugar coat that part of it. There were some really dark and difficult days.”

  He heard what she said and knew it was likely a lot worse than she would share. He could respect that too.

  “What is this about, Linc?”

  “Cookies!” he said, as he grinned down at her and saw an annoyed flare flash into her eyes.

  “I know you get a kick out of puzzles, but just as you do, you know I do not. Spill it, buster.”

  “Your girl from The Bakery, it’s Raina.”

  She stopped, slapped her leg and laughed loud enough to startle another pair of walkers as they passed.

  “Isn’t it funny the way the universe works! So what’s the problem?” she asked, as she quickened her step to catch up when he didn’t slow for her.

  “What’s the problem? I think that’s the puzzle.” She wasn’t sure what he was digging for here.

  “So you’ve seen her then?”

  “Yeah, I’ve seen her.”

  “You like her. If you didn’t you wouldn’t be here, talking all cryptic and looking all broody and uncertain. Uncertain doesn’t suit you, it never has. What’s the problem?”

  “She’s got a bit of baggage,” he cringed when he put it that way.

  “Everyone has baggage. You only have to look at yourself for perspective on that.” As she said it, she saw the look in his eye and she knew he was seriously to his core torn up about this. So soon, she thought, it surprised her.

  “There was an accident a few years ago, probably close to the time Sophie and I blew up. She was hurt pretty badly and her husband died.”

  He heard her gasp in horror.

  “Yeah, it kind of blasts perspective out of the park. Anyway, her now five year old son wasn’t with them when they crashed.”

  “That’s tough, and a lot to deal with. Oh, that poor, sweet girl, Linc.”

  “Yeah.” It was the only thing he could think to say. He could hear the sympathy in his mother’s voice and the tug at his heart even as he shared the summarized details.

  “I ran into her at the beginning of summer. We shared a moment and I’ve been thinking about her ever since. I took her out last week, and then unexpectedly stumbled into her at a family thing, which led to me hearing her story.” When Diane, who was rarely short on words didn’t interject, they walked silently for a hundred meters.

  “You were right about her eyes. They’re not something I’m ever likely to forget. Plus, even though she’s vulnerable, she’s brave and tough; I guess she’s had to be.”

  “Tough women, I wonder why that would appeal to you?” she teased, and he could see the parallels between the women on more levels than one, which likely factored into his feelings as well.

  “So, what answers were you really hoping I could provide for you?”

  He laughed more out of frustration than humor. “I guess I want to know if it’s even possible to find love a second time after you’ve been hurt so terribly the first time. She has a kid, and a business. She’s trying to sort herself out and she’s lost her husband. Can another man factor into that?”

  “Her situation isn’t the same as mine, Linc. And only she will be able to tell you that.”

  “I know that too.”

  They were wandering back up the drive and once they reached the back step, feeling he just might benefit from a piece of encouragement, she turned to him and offered it openly, freely, and filled with love.

  “Linc. You are a sensitive man. Sometimes too sensitive, but in this instance I think it may lean heavily in your favor. Your heart is so big, you are generous, and you sense the emotions around you, you have since you were a child. You’ll find your way through this, and if I had to wager, I’d say if you want to, you’ll find your way into her heart. You’re the sort of man we ladies with a sensitive side have a hard time refusing.

  “Oh, and if you have a hard time with something, ask her. When there’s hurt and loss involved, most people are too afraid to ask the questions that matter, and all too eager to ask those that don’t. Never be afraid to ask her, she’ll never tell you what’s going on if you don’t ask.”

  He saw two clients, visited the showroom that hosts a few of his pieces, managed to swing by a couple of showrooms to pick up some samples for his own project, and he swung by Chris and Tracy’s before he hit the road. He’d filled two and a half days without much effort and he couldn’t wait to get back to the serene peace of his place.

  The faintest trace of daylight remained when he lost the battle to call. If she was as habitual as he suspected, she would be in her kitchen getting a head start on tomorrow’s work.

  “Hello,” she answered, and he would have sworn he heard the trace of a smile in her voice.

  “Hi there! You busy?” he asked, as he maneuvered his way into the passing lane.

  “I wouldn’t call it busy as much as distracting myself.”

  “Distracting yourself? That sounds like a game I might be good at! What do you need distracting from?” He thought he heard her laugh and he tasted success.

  “School.”

  “It’s too early to have been called into the principal’s office. Are you thinking about a do-over, or are you one of those crazy nervous parents?”

  “Crazy, nervous parent, yep, that’s me!” she exhaled heavily. “Tomorrow’s the first day. Sorry, Linc. You don’t want to hear about it.”

  “Actually, I think it’s sweet. If you didn’t care I’d be worried. When my sister sent the first of her herd, she cried like a baby. By the time she could send the next two in line, she practically pushed them out the door. I think that just has to be the way it works.”

  “Well, I guess it’s something. Anyway, what are you doing?”

  “I’m about five minutes from home.”

  “Where are you coming from?”

  “My sister-in-law had a baby Monday morning, so I’ve been in the city since Monday afternoon visiting and working.”

  “Oh, well isn’t that nice. Girl or boy?”

  “Girl; and she's beautiful, perfect and healthy. So, I’m wondering when I can see you?”

  He could hear a clatter of noise and a few words muttered under her breath. He was about to let her off the hook before she had the chance to blow him off completely, but then thought better of it.

  “Or how about this. Why don’t you think about it, take a look at your schedule and I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  She laughed; maybe she wasn’t going to blow him off after all. “I’ll call you tomorrow, when’s a good time?”

  “Whenever you call is a good time. Hey, Raina? Try to relax, most kids love the first day of school.”

  “That’s easier said than done, but thanks for the distraction. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, goodnight, Linc!”

  “Goodnight.”

  He hopped out of the truck, took a deep breath and instead of hauling his stuff in, he closed the door and went to see how much work was done while he was away.

  As he’d hoped, the electrical work was done, or at least all the wiring. He stood in the middle of the big, empty room and spun a whole 360 degrees slowly. It was coming along, but there was still so much work to be done, and most of it he’d dumped on his own shoulders. He took the two steps up into the old section of the house and began a slow walk through. It felt like home, even if he hadn’t fully made it so yet.

  He could survive a few more weeks on the inflatable, in the bigger picture it was a small trade.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “Ollie, finish your oatmeal and go brush your teeth,” she pleaded one last time.

  She judged he’d finished as much as he was likely going to as he was so excited he could hardly sit st
ill. He’d been up extra early which she had thankfully anticipated and worked around. She had scheduled this as her day off so her number one and most important task of the day was packing enough food in his lunch box and getting this boy on the bus.

  She was nervous for him, though he didn’t have a stitch of nervousness in him. It amazed her and forced her to be even stronger in the face of his absurd lack of fear and sheer excitement.

  She couldn’t show him her heart was hurting because he was growing so fast. She couldn’t show him that she would miss him and truly didn’t know what to do when he wasn’t around, and she couldn’t show him the tears that she kept pushing back.

  What she could do was take far too many pictures, send the best lunch any kid had ever had, and wait patiently for him to return home at the end of the day.

  They walked through the trees and down the drive where she took more pictures while they waited.

  “Mom, that’s enough pictures.” She watched the quick roll of his eyes, and she knew she had become that embarrassing parent, but she didn’t care.

  “Ollie, it’s your first day, I’m allowed! Are you still excited?” she asked, almost hoping she could somehow encourage him to be brave.

  “I can’t wait, Mom. Brady is on a different bus but he’ll be there when I get there. And Cailey and Jace will be too,” he beamed, and somehow being reminded of that calmed a small piece of her.

  She grinned down at him and scooped him up under the arms for a swirl. “You’re right; you are going to have the best day ever. Look! Here it comes!”

  She put him down and Oliver raced to the side of the driveway where he’d thrown his pack. She helped him reset it on his shoulders, and she took his hand as they waited. When it was almost there she bent down next to him.

  “I love you, Oliver! Have a fantastic day!” she said, as she pulled him tight for one more hug.

  “Love you too, Mama!” He squeezed her back.

  The brakes of the bus screeched as it came to a full stop. The doors swung open and he looked so small as he hoisted himself up the tall steps. When he reached the top, the bus driver said something to him. He nodded his head at the driver, then turned and smiled real big back at her as he waved.