Change Up

by Lacy Hart

  ”It was fantastic, thank you,” I told her. Wyatt passed his plate over to Rita.

  “I’m done Rita,” he said, patting his stomach.

  “No room for dessert?” Rita said to him.

  “Of course there’s room,” Wyatt said defiantly. “That’s why I left most of those green beans on the plate. You have room for dessert, Kristin?” Wyatt asked me.

  “Sure,” I said with a smile.

  “Rita, two slices of cherry pie, and don’t skimp on the whipped cream,” Wyatt stated.

  Rita laughed and went off to get the pie.

  “Mary Harding makes the best pies,” Wyatt assured me.

  Rita quickly came back with two big slices of pie with generous sides of whipped cream on the plate.

  “I don’t want to hear from Jenny when your blood pressure is through the roof Wyatt,” Rita scolded.

  “She won’t even know about it,” Wyatt said as he dove into the pie.

  I picked at the flaky crust of the pie and tasted it. It had been a while since I had a homemade pie, and this brought back great memories of the fresh pies my Mom would make back in Georgia. As I picked at the pie, I tried to change the conversation.

  “Wyatt, how is your wife?” I asked casually as I took a bite of pie.

  Wyatt looked over at me, seeming surprised I would ask about her.

  “I don’t mean to pry,” I said, feeling embarrassed about asking now.

  “No, no it’s fine,” Wyatt said as he kept eating. “I get people around town asking me all the time. Jenny was always a people person and has a lot of friends around here that worry about her. She’s doing okay. The new treatments take their toll, but so far, she’s responding well. I think she’s hoping for the day when the treatments are done, and she has more energy to get out and about and do things again. She hates having to coop herself up in the house like that. But she does love to read, always has. Nowadays she goes through a book a day, so it’s hard to keep up with her and get things new.”

  “Well I’d be happy to recommend some books for her if you want,” I told him.

  “That would be nice,” Wyatt answered. Wyatt scooped up what was left of his crust with his fingers and popped it into his mouth. “You know, you could always bring some books out to her, as part of your delivery service.” He smiled over at me.

  “I don’t know Wyatt,” I told him. “I don’t want anyone to feel uncomfortable.”

  “Izzy’s in school until two, sometimes later when she has track practice. You could come by any time before then. Shit, it’s my house; even if she’s there, you can still come by.” Wyatt realized he had sworn and blushed a little. “Pardon my language.”

  I laughed out loud, a strong laugh that felt good and made people turn around and look at me again.

  Rita came over with the check, and I reached for it. She pulled it back away from me.

  “No way honey,” Rita said to me and handed the check to Wyatt. “Mr. Moneybags here can pay the check. Don’t skimp on the tip either, Wyatt. You have a nice night, dear,” she said to me with a smile before walking away.

  Wyatt laughed and looked at the check.

  “I can get it, Wyatt,” I said to him, reaching for it before he pulled it away.

  “No ma’am,” he said in his courteous cowboy voice. “I can’t let a young lady treat me to dinner. Besides, if word got around that I let you pay I would never be able to show my face in here again.”

  Wyatt left money on the table for the check, and we walked out of the diner. Darkness was starting to settle in over Chandler, and most of the stores had closed for the night. Wyatt put his cowboy hat back on and looked at me.

  “Thank you for dinner, Wyatt,” I said to him.

  “My pleasure,” he said to me, tipping his hat. “Think you can find your way home from here?” He asked with a smile.

  “I think I can manage,” I said to him with a laugh. “But now I see where your son gets his manners and suave demeanor from.”

  “Hmph,” Wyatt grunted. “Wes is about as smooth as a gravel driveway. He was never very good at the dating thing. Now his manners, well Jenny mashed that into his head years ago. He better know how to treat a woman right. If she ever found out otherwise, he wouldn’t see a baseball straight again.”

  “Well, he was nothing but kind to me,” I said honestly.

  “It’s always nice to hear that about your child, even if when they are older,” Wyatt told me. “I better get going. The girls will be finishing up their dessert about now and wondering where I am. Have a nice night, Kristin.”

  “You too, Wyatt,” I told him as I watched him walk over to his pickup truck. I turned and walked off towards my apartment. I had a full belly and was feeling good about myself again. I got into my apartment, flipped the lights on and dropped my purse on the table, taking out my phone. I glanced at it and saw I didn’t have any messages from Wes today. I read the last message from him again, where he said he was thinking about me. I typed out a message on my phone:

  I was reminded today of what a kind person you are and where it comes from. Thinking about you too. Good luck tomorrow.

  I quickly hit send before I lost my nerve to send the message, then shut off my phone so I wouldn’t sit around all night obsessing about whether I got a reply.

  28

  Kristin

  Each day seemed to get a little better. At first, I thought the dinner with Wyatt last night would be bad for me, stressing me out and having me think about Wes all night long, and getting depressed in the process. Quite the opposite came of it for me, though. I felt better about myself after dinner with him, and I think it changed my outlook about Wes as well. I realized that there didn’t have to be this whirlwind romance there for me to be happy with him. I thought there was still a possibility there for us, and maybe we both just had to give it time and work at it slowly to make it happen.

  I went to the library that Wednesday morning ready to take on the day, and anxious to see how Karen made out with her date with Brain, the waiter. I was a little surprised when Karen wasn’t there to greet me as I opened and turned the lights on, but within minutes she was running through the door, out of breath. She looked up at me smiled as she walked by me behind the counter and placed her sweater on the back of the chair there. She sat down at her desk, humming to herself, fixing her lipstick.

  “Well?” I said to her, waiting to hear something from her. “How was the date?”

  “Oh, the date?” she said casually. “I forgot that was last night, wasn’t it?” She looked at herself in her compact, put in back in her purse, then picked up her phone and started scrolling through it like no one had asked her anything.

  “Karen!” I shouted at her, putting my hand on the screen of her phone. “Are you going to tell me anything about it?”

  She looked at me and laughed, and then took my hand. “It was awesome,” she said to me in a whisper. “He was so nice. I met him at the mall, outside the restaurant. He came out all dressed nicely and met me, and we went in his car to a little place not far from the mall. He had flowers for me at the table, and we had a nice dinner. He is very shy, so I thought the conversation might be tough, but eventually, I think I wore him down. We had a great time. He drove me back to the mall to my car, and I think he was too bashful to try to kiss me goodnight, so I grabbed him and planted one on him. He got all red and flustered and said he’d call me so we could go out again this weekend.”

  “That sounds so sweet,” I said to Karen. I could see that she was happy about it, even if she was making a bit of fun of the date along the way. “I’m glad you had such a good time.”

  “What did you do last night?” Karen asked me as she organized the front desk.

  “I went to the diner for dinner,” I told her. “It was nice. Wyatt Martin came in and joined me.”

  Karen looked up at me, surprised. “Really? And how was that?”

  “We had a nice dinner and talked about different things. I think it
opened my eyes to some things that I needed to see.”

  “And just what does that mean?” Karen asked, taking a greater interest now.

  “Well, Wyatt made me realize that I had to do what was best for me, no matter what other people say or think. And I saw that Wes has a lot of the same great qualities that his father has, and that I like being around someone that is like that. So, I sent Wes a text message last night.”

  “What did you tell him?” Karen said, spinning around to face me as I walked towards my office.

  “I just told him that I saw what a kind person he was and that I was thinking of him. I didn’t want to get into more than that. I think if we just take things slow, maybe we can work things out.”

  “And what did he say?”

  “Nothing,” I said, looking dejected. “I haven’t gotten a call or message from him since Monday. I’m not sure what to make of that. Maybe he got tired of not hearing from me. Maybe he’s busy and doesn’t have time. I don’t know. Wyatt says he calls them every day, so I’m sure he’s using the phone. He’s just not using it to get in touch with me.”

  “It could be he’s just not sure what he wants to do, Kris,” Karen reassured me. “I mean he is far away, and who knows when he’s coming back this way. If he’s trying to give you space, like you wanted, that’s what he’s doing.”

  “I know. It’s just all very confusing, and I’m sure Wes sees it that way too. Or he just thinks I’m a crazy person and he’s better off not getting involved. I’m hoping I hear from him before the game tonight.”

  I walked into my office and sat at my desk. Karen followed me in.

  “So now you know the game schedule?” Karen said with a smirk.

  “I’m taking a passing interest, yes,” I replied with a smile. “I don’t know if I’ll hear from Wes today or not. If the game starts at seven, it might not end until 11 so it will be late by the time he gets out of there. Who knows when he looks at his phone. Who knows.”

  I turned on my computer and went to work, hoping that the day would go by quickly and that I wouldn’t get obsessed with checking my phone to see if Wes got back to me. I had to concentrate on my work and let the rest of life take care of itself in its own time. If Wes Martin wanted to get in touch with me, the ball was in his court now. Or in his baseball glove. Or some other sports metaphor.

  I was determined not to let the day drag on, look at my phone constantly, or look at the clock. I took my phone and put it in my desk drawer and left it there.

  Out of sight, out of mind, I told myself as I closed the desk drawer. If Wes did send me a message or call, he would have to wait for an answer. Better he didn’t think I was just waiting to hear from him. I really did have a life to lead outside of him.

  We had a senior program at the library that morning, with a guest coming in to talk about exercising as you got older. I was happy with the attendance, and it was enough of a turnout that all the chairs were taken. Even Clyde Stuart came down, making sure to give me a smile and hold my hand as he talked to me about how he walks back and forth to the diner every day for his exercise. The program broke up just around noon and Karen decided to go to lunch, leaving me to man the front desk until she got back. I decided I would rather hang out in the library than sit by my computer, so I went around, straightening up, putting books back where they belong and checking items back in.

  I glanced out the window and could see it was getting overcast outside. Soon, there were a few drops that I could hear hitting the windows and the roof as the rain picked up. I went over to the far corner of the library, where there was a notorious small leak in the ceiling whenever it rained and checked to see how it was doing. Sure enough, it was starting to drip, so I grabbed a bucket from the back room and placed it to catch the water.

  Sitting in the front, the only sounds I could hear were the rain pattering against the windows, and the steady drum of the drops hitting the bottom of the pail. I heard the door to the library opened and looked over to see who it was. Dave Dryer, the owner of the flower shop, came walking in, shaking off the raindrops on the floor mat before he walked carefully on the slick flooring in the library. He was gingerly carrying a nice arrangement of flowers in a vase.

  “Hi Kristin,” Dave said to me. Dave had been generous enough to help us with getting some flowers planted outside the library to spruce the place up, and he had even given a few instructional classes for us at the library about flowers and flower arrangement. He walked up to the front desk and put the flowers down as my eyes widen.

  “Hi Dave,” I said, excited to see the arrangement of roses.

  “I’ve got some flowers for Karen,” Dave told me as he smiled. I felt some disappointment when I heard they weren’t for me. “Who’s Brian?” he asked me.

  “Someone she just started seeing,” I told him, handing out gossip that I was sure would spread around town by the end of the day. “She’s at lunch, but she’ll be back in a bit. I’m sure she will be thrilled to see them.”

  “Well I guess he likes her,” Dave said, “Based on what he spent for the arrangement. Not many guys around here going all out for the roses.”

  I gazed at the arrangement and thought back to the flowers Wes had given me the afternoon of the picnic, right before we were together for the first time. Even though it was less than a week ago, it seemed like the distant past, and it made me long to go back to that moment when everything seemed so perfect.

  “Kristin, you okay?” Dave said as he could see I was daydreaming.

  “I’m fine, Dave,” I said to him as I got my focus back. “Yeah, Karen seems taken with him, so I’m glad he’s a nice guy.”

  “Okay,” Dave said as he pulled up the hood of his jacket. “I’ve got other deliveries in the truck. Have a good one,” he told me as he waved goodbye.

  “Thanks, Dave,” I shouted to him.

  I spun the vase around to get a good look at the red roses with baby’s breath sprinkled in the arrangement. I then moved the vase off to the side of the counter so Karen could enjoy it without anyone knocking it over.

  Looking for something to do, I went back into my office and sat at my desk. I avoided the temptation of checking my phone, and instead read my email. I saw a message there that had the subject of ‘Book Request’. I opened the message and read it:

  Kristin,

  I was wondering if you had any copies of Little Women available? It was always one of Jenny’s favorite books, and I think she might enjoy revisiting it when she’s looking for something to read. Let me know if you have it and I could swing down and get it from you, or you could always bring it by if you happen to be out this way. Thanks for your help.

  Sincerely,

  Wyatt Martin

  “Even in his emails, he sounds like a gentleman cowboy,” I said with a laugh.

  I knew we had Little Women and probably had several copies of it. I doubted any of them were out as it did not seem like something that people were clamoring for right now, but I remember enjoying the book thoroughly when I was a young girl and could see why Jenny would like it.

  I walked out to the fiction section and found the book on the shelf. I picked it up and brought it over to scan it and check it out myself and placed it down next to me as I heard the door open again. In walked Karen this time, a little drenched from the rain.

  “Yikes, it’s crazy rain out there right now,” Karen said to me as she tried to shake some of the rain off. She glanced up and noticed the roses on the counter. “Ooh, we got flowers! Who are they from? Did Wes send them to you?”

  “Nope,” I said to her. “They came for you.”

  “Get out,” she said as she walked over and looked for the card in the flowers. She read the message and smiled, tucking it into her pocket. “That boy is so sweet,” she said to me, bending over to smell the flowers. Karen looked back over to me and did her best to make her smile go away.

  “I’m sorry,” Karen said, feeling bad about the flowers.

  “Stop
with the sorry stuff, Karen,” I told her. “I’m glad you got flowers from Brian, and it’s okay that I didn’t get any from Wes. I wasn’t expecting to get any.”

  “I know, it just seems like bad timing for everything is all,” Karen replied.

  “Enjoy your flowers,” I told her, going into my office and grabbing my windbreaker off the back of the door. “I am going to go grab some lunch.” I started to walk towards the door when Karen called to me.

  “Hey, who’s Little Women for?” Karen asked as she held up the book.

  I walked back over and took it out of her hands. “I almost forgot about it,” I said to her as I took it, the plastic covering crinkling in my hands. “Special delivery,” I told her and walked out the door.