“Babe, you’re talking to somebody who has been on the battlefield. You have no idea how many people speak to you when you’re in a foxhole. I’m not going to think you’re weird. Don’t worry about me judging you. That should be the furthest thing from your thoughts.”
“Okay, I’m going to try not to pass out here. Does that sound like a plan?” Heather answers in a shaky voice.
I walk over to her and gather her up in an embrace. It never ceases to amaze me how perfectly she fits in my arms. Usually, when I so much as touch women, I feel like I’m going to break them in half like a toothpick. Yet, holding Heather in my arms feels like she is the key to my lock. It’s fascinating. Ever since I was a little kid and I was too large for the desks in kindergarten, I’ve never felt like I was the right size for anything. The fact that we match together is simply amazing to me.
I hold her close for a moment and instruct softly, “Ready? I’m going to lift you up and place you on top of the horse. Just hook your feet in the stirrups and hang on to the straps that are wrapped around the horn of the saddle.”
“You mean this part that sticks up? Can I hang on to it?” she asks with panic in her voice.
“Yes,” I answer indulgently. “It should fit your hand just about perfectly, but you might find it’s in an awkward position to hang onto for very long. Most people hang onto the reins.”
It isn’t the most graceful mount in all the world, but it’ll do. Heather is up and on a horse, which is something she never thought would happen a few weeks ago. I attach an external lead rope to the reins so I have some control over the bit as well. But from all appearances, Velvet appears to have a very soft mouth and seems to respond to the smallest of corrections almost instantaneously. Velvet seems to sense she is dealing with a real beginner even though Heather is not a child, because Velvet is moving with extreme caution. It’s almost as if she’s moving in slow motion. As Velvet lopes around the corral, Heather gradually relaxes into the rhythm and her death grip on my shoulder lessens some. Soon, she lets go completely and she starts to control the reins by herself. I’m still walking beside her with the lead rope, but Heather has no direct contact with me.
As her confidence grows, so does her smile. Her back straightens with pride and her eyes light up with joy. She laughs as she exclaims, “Look! Look what I’m doing! No one would ever believe this. Heather Lydia LaBianca is actually riding a real live horse. I wish my grandparents could have seen this. They would have been totally shocked. What about Tara and Kiera? Their jaws would be on the ground too. I wish they could watch me.”
Heather’s excitement is contagious. I’m grinning from ear to ear like a kid who just discovered Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and the tooth fairy are all real. “Heather, I’m so proud of you. You look amazing up there. You look like you’ve done this your whole life,” I compliment as I tie Velvet’s reins off to my belt loop. I pull out my cell phone and start videotaping.
“Hey Gidget, what do you want to tell Mindy about horseback riding now?” I ask as I’m filming.
Heather chortles as she says, “Very funny Cowboy! Okay, so you were right. I should’ve done this a really long time ago. This is the most fun I’ve had in a really long time. Mindy, this is a blast. You’re going to have so much fun with your horseback riding lessons. I can’t wait to ride with you. Tyler is a great teacher. Velvet is a wonderful horse.” Heather turns to me and says, “Can you believe I said any horse is a great horse? That’s so amazing to me.”
“I had no doubt you were going to slay those dragons Heather. I’m so proud of you,” I gush as I snap one last picture of her. “Speaking of Dragons, you have a few more to conquer today. We should probably get going.”
Heather’s shoulders slump. “Is it evil of me to think I don’t even want to go?” she asks with a sad sigh. “I just don’t want to have another showdown.”
“It’s perfectly understandable. This one is for your grandma’s friends. The rest of ‘em can take a fly’n leap for all I care. This is your chance to say goodbye. Let’s not let them ruin that for you,” I answer as I lift her off of Velvet.
“Yeah, it’s gonna be a hell of a party, right?” Heather replies wiping a tear away.
“Of course it is because you’re going to be there and you cooked. In my book, that’s all any good party needs,” I assure her.
“Are you sure that Jeff doesn’t want us to tell her anything in advance?” Heather asks me from the passenger seat as she looks back at the horse trailer. “Velvet is an awfully huge surprise.”
“No, that’s the beauty of the whole situation. Jeff plans to keep it from both Kiera and Mindy. So, he’s going to get double mileage out of it for Christmas. Since I’m leasing to buy my place, I’m going to add a platform onto the barn so Kiera can get out here with her chair and watch Mindy ride.”
“That’ll be so much fun,” Heather comments. “I still can’t believe we managed to get out of there with my horse. As mad as my parents are at me, I never thought it was going to happen.”
“Well, it probably wouldn’t have if there weren’t specific instructions that you were supposed to inherit all of the pets and then a note specifying that your grandmother considered Velvet to be her favorite pet,” I explain. “It was a pretty clever move on her part. She knew your dad would consider all of the horses nothing more than property. What a way to brutally bring him to his knees! She took measures to specifically counter that notion in writing. It was a darn stroke of genius if you ask me. I only wish your dad had been completely sober so that the impact would have been more severe.”
“True, it was pretty intense when he threw up on Pastor Mike in the middle of the memorial service. It’s too bad he was so drunk he won’t even remember the embarrassment,” she replies.
“Somehow, I suspect your dad would believe it was someone else’s fault anyway. What did your sister give us?”
“I don’t know. She made me promise not to open it until I got here. The suspense is killing me. I just know it’s long and heavy and in a tube. You have no idea how much restraint I’m showing in respecting my sister’s wishes. This is very atypical for me because I’m usually very impulsive. You need to know that about me, by the way.”
I nod as I say, “Heather, I think I do. You once changed the entire menu on the food truck because you saw on TV it was national donut day.”
Heather laughs as she exclaims, “Hey now! That was brilliant marketing, if I do say so myself. Now, it may not have worked so well on National Liverwurst Day.”
I groan as I make retching noises. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”
“I am,” she responds with a grin, “but it would’ve been funny.”
“Probably,” I agree, “but not so much your bottom line and the neighbors surrounding your food truck probably wouldn’t have been so amused.”
“Well, there’s a party pooper in every crowd, I guess,” she mutters. “I had one lady call the police on my food truck because the smells coming from my food truck were interfering with her Weight Watchers diet. She thought it was unfair because she was spending good money to go to Weight Watchers and therefore it was sort of like assault and battery for my truck to be there. Fortunately, the police officer was a big fan of my food so he didn’t make me move my truck. In fact, he told her that by calling the police she was interfering with my right to practice my business and if she continued he might arrest her. I never heard from her again, but then again, I don’t think I went back to that neighborhood again either.”
“Some people have way too much free time,” I remark, shaking my head. “I’ll be glad when you have your own place.”
“Kiera, this is the craziest roller coaster ride ever,” I try to explain as the girls are helping me do laundry and clean up my house after my unscheduled trip to Texas. “One minute, I can’t stand him and he’s pushing buttons I never even knew I had and the next minute, it’s like he’s my greatest cheerleader. All I know is I would’ve never s
urvived this trip without him.”
“Heather, Tara and I have been trying to tell you that for years,” Kiera says with a shrug. “At one point, I think even my dad tried to talk some sense into you.”
“Yeah, but I thought maybe your opinions of him were skewed because you knew all about our long sordid history. But, Ty was just coming in to all of this as a virtual stranger and he came out of it with the same impression. So, it’s been a real eye-opener for me. Who knows, if I hang around Tyler long enough I might just become less tongue tied around my dad and tell them what I really think.”
“It would be a refreshing change of pace for you. I wonder what your family would think if they were ever introduced to the Heather that we all know and love?” Tara asks as she looks me over carefully. “Speaking of that, I like this new you. It’s less artificial and more real. It’s the Heather we all knew was in there under all the makeup and vintage clothes. You’re actually showing glimpses of your true self.”
As I process the implications of Tara’s statement, I blush a deep shade of red.
Kiera just laughs at me. “Oh, have I ever been there! But, unlike some people, I’m not going to demand you tell me every single detail— unless of course you want to tell us. On the other hand, it might be awkward for me to know since Tyler is Jeff’s best friend.”
Hmm, I could have some real fun with this. “So… I suppose that means you don’t want to hear how we had hot, monkey sex for hours on end while we were away?” I ask, working hard to keep my expression innocent.
Kiera chokes on her Nantucket Nectar— serves her right for drinking that stuff, why can’t she drink a good old-fashioned pop like the rest of us?
“Pardon me?” she asks when she stops wheezing. “I think I’ve listened to too much of Mindy’s One Direction and Justin Bieber and it’s beginning to affect my hearing. I don’t think I heard you correctly.”
I smirk at her as I reply, “Nope, you heard me just fine.”
Tara interrupts me and declares, “You talk big but unfortunately you’re not telling the truth. So, what were you really doing in Texas?”
I should have known Tara is more accurate than any polygraph machine and I wouldn’t be able to get away with it. I just laugh and say, “I’m just kidding—although we did have some epic make out sessions, there was no sex involved. He did help me draw up some plans for the new bakery. Do you want to see them?”
Kiera nods vigorously as she exclaims, “Of course we would, silly woman! This is more exciting than hearing about your alleged sex life.”
I pull out the drawings Tyler and I made. The simultaneous gasps from Kiera and Tara confirm my suspicions that we are on the right track.
“I give you Joy and Tiers,” I announce with pride. The emotion of saying it out loud is more powerful than I expect and I start to tear up.
“What’s that?” Tara asks pointing to the other tube.
“Oh, it’s just something that I got from Madison. I’m not sure what it is. I think it’s something from my grandmother’s estate but I’m not really sure,” I explain.
“Well, don’t keep us in suspense. Open it,” Tara directs.
“Okay, hold your horses, I will. But, I don’t want to break something. Whatever’s in here looks really fragile.”
As I open it, I’m stunned to see pictures very much like the ones Tyler and I developed. They are much older, of course, and done in pen and ink. Yet they are incredibly similar. Across the top written in my grandma’s neat penmanship, it says Heather’s Fine Bakery.
Unable to contain myself any longer, I collapse to the floor in a puddle of tears and begin to sob. Tara gets on her knees behind me and wraps her arms around me in a tight hug. She just clings to me. Obviously, being around Aidan has really helped her with her comfort level around people. Kiera brings me a glass of water and a warm, wet washrag. I wipe my face and begin to collect myself.
I go back over to the table to examine my grandmother’s plans. A date catches my eye. A chill travels up my spine when I realize that I was only nine years old when she had these drafted for me. I carefully lay hers side-by-side with the ones I drew up with Tyler. There are some stylistic differences, but the basic concept is strikingly similar.
“So, if these came from your grandma, where did you get these other drawings?” Kiera asks as she studies both sets.
“Would you believe Tyler drew these for me?” I explain with pride in my voice.
“He did?" Tara and Kiera exclaim simultaneously.
“Who knew a heart of an artist beats under all that muscle of your G.I. Joe?” teases Tara.
“I know it shocked me. I had no idea he was this talented. Talk about hiding your light under a bushel. He’d like you to believe all he does is issue tickets for underage drinking and pot smokers and break up a few bar fights now and then,” I remark.
A look of astonishment crosses Kiera’s face as she tentatively remarks, “You guys haven’t really honestly talked about what he does on the job, have you?”
“Not really. Every once in a while, he’ll make a cryptic remark here and there. But, he doesn’t really talk about his job all that much,” I confess.
“The confidentiality thing is hard on Jeff too, but don’t let Ty fool you. His job is extremely tough and complicated. He’s only sharing the tip of the iceberg,” Kiera advises. “So, when he does talk, you need to really listen. I’ve been friends with him a while and I didn’t even know he had this talent.”
“He said something about being an architecture major when he was in college,” I explain.
Tara is studying the drawings very carefully, she looks at me with a look of admiration on her face and says absentmindedly, “Huh, I wonder why he quit? Because this shows more than just technical skill. He could have been absolutely brilliant. So, what are you planning to do with these?” She says as she traces the graceful lines with her fingers.
“I don’t know really.” I answer honestly. “I wasn’t expecting to get any money for my grandma’s estate and now I have enough to make my wildest dreams come true. Unfortunately, I have to run a business plan through my family as a condition of getting the money. So, I have to find a specific location and develop a marketing plan. I guess I’ll probably need to find myself some staff as well. I’m hoping Piper will want to make the move to a physical location with me. I don’t know yet whether I’ll need to hire more staff or not because I don’t know how large my location will be.”
“Did you know the candy store next to Gwendolyn’s floral shop is planning to go out of business? They are going to go back to Ohio to take care of their aging parents. I don’t know if they would have the ovens that you would need for a bakery, but you could always ask Gwendolyn,” Kiera suggests.
“That’s cool, but how would Gwendolyn know about the ovens? Besides, there’s probably a waiting list for that place. The location is the perfect retail space for a little restaurant.”
Kiera and Tara look at each other in surprise and laugh as they say in unison, “You haven’t heard?”
“Heard what?” I ask, in confusion.
“Gwendolyn bought the whole building with her divorce settlement from Kevin ‘The-Jerk-Wad’. When she leased her place, she was smart enough to ask for first purchase rights if the landlord ever wanted to sell and the timing just happened to be absolutely perfect. So, she got it for a song because she’d been such a long term tenant,” Kiera explains.
“Do you think she would be interested in renting it to me even though the only experience I have is on a food truck?” I ask, almost afraid to get my hopes up.
“Probably,” Kiera answers, nodding her head. “Gwendolyn is an honorary member of the Girlfriend Posse now and one of your biggest fans. She would want to see you succeed. Why wouldn’t she rent to you? You’ve turned your food truck into an amazing success.”
“Should I call her, or would it be too presumptuous?” I press, barely able to contain my excitement.
Tara just
rolls her eyes at me, “Just call already. You know you’re not going to do any more laundry after the conversation we’ve just had. You might as well call your hunk of a boyfriend and let him know about your grandma’s plans and show Gwendolyn too. If I know anything about Gwendolyn, I suspect you all will be meeting with her favorite decorator before the end of the week. But, if it were me, I would just use Donda. That girl has some mad skill.”
“I know about a certain little girl’s bedroom that tells me you’ve got some pretty mad skill too,” I retort.
“So, they’re just planning to leave all this equipment behind?” I ask as I look around at the 20 quart mixers and industrial food processors.
“Yes, they said they have no use for them. They wanted me to try to sell all of it for them. I was going to try to go on eBay or Craigslist and see what I could get for all of this stuff,” Gwendolyn replies.
“Don’t you have a new tenant lined up?” I inquire carefully, not wanting to appear overly anxious.
“No, honestly I was hoping that they might change their mind. They’ve been here for so long that I didn’t want them to lose their family business,” Gwendolyn explains sheepishly. “I was hoping if I didn’t do anything, the situation might just resolve itself.”
“Well, I don’t know if you’re willing to take a risk on a new business but I have an idea for you. My grandmother just passed away and left me a pretty substantial pot of money with the caveat that I start a bakery with the proceeds. I think a bakery that specializes in special occasion cakes would complement a florist very well. I graduated in the top of my class at culinary school and I specialize in pastries and baked goods. My grandmother has had this dream of me opening a bakery since I was nine years old.”
Joy and Tiers Page 16