“Me, either.” Kayla sat down on the floor and removed the top of a box that once held reams of paper. An envelope with her name on it lay on the top of everything else. She recognized Miss Janie’s perfect penmanship and held what she hoped was a letter to her chest.
Teresa plopped down beside her and set her box on the floor. “What is that?”
“Don’t know. Open it up and see. I think I’ve got a letter,” Kayla answered.
Teresa flipped the lid off her box and set it on the floor in front of her. She grabbed the envelope and opened it carefully, exactly like Kayla had seen her opening her Christmas presents. Kayla ripped into hers like she had when she’d unwrapped the gifts Miss Janie had put under the tree for her. When she started to read, the first line brought on a fresh batch of tears:
My dear child, Kayla,
Everyone needs good memories from their past to overcome the bad ones. When you came to live with me, I started this little box of memories for you—pictures, recipes I cut out of magazines that I thought you might like someday, your report cards from school, and even your high school transcript, just in case you ever needed it. There’s a copy of your birth certificate and your shot records. I had so much fun putting together the album of pictures for both you girls. Christmas had a whole new meaning to me when you came to live with me. Oh, how I enjoyed buying presents for you two. The privilege of walking into church with two daughters all dressed up on Easter was such a blessing. You’ll find the Mother’s Day cards you made for me in this box, along with that last note you left on the table. I’m sorry I didn’t come to find you and drag you back home, but in those days, I was both sad and angry. I hope you will forgive me for that. I’ve been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, so I’m writing now and hoping and praying that the time will never come when I don’t know you girls if you should decide to come home. Remember that you are loved and enjoy the memories. I hope they make you happy.
Love,
Miss Janie
With tears leaving wet spots on her T-shirt, she looked over at Teresa, who was now holding her own letter close to her heart. “I expect,” Kayla sobbed, “that yours pretty much says the same as mine. She thought of everything. Even after we didn’t treat her right, she’s given us a past.”
“My biological mother didn’t keep anything for me. When I came here, it was with the clothes on my back and one picture of Angel in my purse.” Teresa scooted over and hugged Kayla. “Angel just flat-out didn’t have the ability to love me, but Miss Janie loved me enough to do this. I’m going to add everything in here to what I’ve kept through the years.”
“I know.” Kayla wept with her. “I can’t go through the rest of this stuff right now. My feelings are too raw. I’ll do it another day. Right now we’ve got to get her room cleaned out. I was worrying about doin’ this, and I heard her voice this morning. She told me that it was all just stuff and to move on.”
“You hear her voice, too?” Teresa asked.
“I did this morning.” Kayla moved away, laid the letter in her box, and put the lid back on it. “I take it that you do, too?”
“Not often, but sometimes.” Teresa returned her letter to her box and stood up. She extended a hand toward Kayla. “We should get back to our jobs. We don’t want to disappoint her after what she’s done for us.”
“Amen!” Kayla replied, and took the offered hand.
Chapter Nineteen
So many paint swatches in one place downright bewildered Teresa. Even when she narrowed it down to only the minty-green colors, the selection was huge. She had thought that they would walk into the store, choose between two or three hues, and leave with gallons of paint.
“This is way too much,” Kayla sighed. “How will we ever choose?”
“Each of you will pick out three colors and then compare notes without even looking at the rest of the swatches,” Sam suggested.
“That sounds like a solid plan.” Kayla pulled two swatches out and couldn’t decide between three others, so she took them all.
Teresa only liked two, so that at least narrowed the selection down to seven. When they laid them on the counter, they discovered that two of Kayla’s were the same as Teresa’s. They tossed the other five to the side and asked Sam for his opinion.
“You’ll be happier with the lighter one,” Sam suggested.
“Why?” Teresa questioned.
“Because you want the place to have a light, airy feel to it. Think about the smell of sugar cookies and homemade banana bread baking in the oven. That’s the kind of feel you want. That dark one will make people feel like they’re going into a cave, and us old people need lots of light. Our eyesight isn’t what it used to be,” he answered.
“Then we should consider white, and make sure we raise the blinds up every morning,” Kayla said.
“I believe you’re right,” Teresa agreed. “Keep everything as simple as possible.”
“With that in mind, me and Noah and Will were thinkin’ maybe we’d put a ramp on the end of the porch so folks in wheelchairs would be able to join us. What do you girls think of that?” Sam asked.
“I love it,” Teresa told him. “It would make it easier for those with canes, too.”
They left with plastic drop cloths, paint pans, rollers, brushes, and tape. Sam drove on to the feedstore to buy fertilizer for his fruit trees, and Teresa and Kayla headed to the house where they planned to put in the center. Teresa had parked Miss Janie’s car and had opened the trunk when Will’s shiny black SUV pulled in behind them.
“Hello. I was out this way delivering groceries to one of the ladies in our church. She’s not able to get out anymore, so she calls in her list. Saw y’all drive up. Need some help unloading that stuff?”
“We never turn down help.” Kayla waved Will over.
“Methinks you’ve got a boyfriend,” Teresa teased.
“That would be the pot calling the kettle black,” Kayla said out of the side of her mouth.
“What do you mean by that?” Teresa picked up the bag with the drop cloths in it.
“Exactly what I said. You can’t deny the electricity between you and Noah,” Kayla answered.
“Y’all leave that heavy paint for me to take,” Will said. “Guess what? Sam took my offer for the house on the other end of town. I’ll start getting it ready to move into in a couple of weeks, so I’m holdin’ y’all to that promise to help me paint. And, Kayla, do you reckon once I’m moved in that you’d be interested in helping me choose a rescue dog for a pet?”
“I’d love to,” Kayla told him. “I love dogs and cats both, but never was able to have a pet.”
Will flashed a big smile toward Kayla. “Then it’s a date.”
Teresa used the key Sam had given them on the day of the funeral and opened the door. A musty, unused smell greeted her. She made a mental note to bring some scented candles to the house once they’d finished painting.
“Good thing there’s wood floors and not carpet,” Will said. “That’ll make it easier for old folks to get around on.”
“I guess you see lots of elderly people in your grocery stores,” Kayla said.
“Yes, but . . .” He set the paint down. “My mama was past forty when she adopted me, and Daddy was fifty. I’ve lived with older folks my whole life.” He shrugged. “I kind of know them better than most people our age. My folks live in an assisted living place up in Paris these days. I drive up there, bring them down to our church in Sulphur Springs, and take them out to eat, and we go see a movie every Sunday afternoon. And everyone thought it was nerdy when I was a kid, but I always got a home-cooked meal.” He chuckled.
“If I’d known your mama cooked for you every day, I’d have begged you to take me home with you,” Kayla said.
“I’d have done it.” His grin got even bigger.
“I’ll see you Friday evening soon as I get off work.” He waved and closed the door behind him when he left.
Teresa nudged Kayla on the shoulder. “He
likes you.”
“How do you know?” Kayla asked.
“You know those sparks you said you saw between me and Noah? Well, I see them with you and Will. Quite the pair, aren’t we? Two good men have been flirting with us, but we’re hangin’ back because we don’t trust men,” Teresa said.
“Amen, sister.” Kayla nodded.
On Thursday morning, Kayla went to the grocery store, leaving Teresa and Noah alone in the house. Her foster sister wasn’t fooling Teresa one little bit. Her trip was twofold—she wanted to see Will, and she was playing matchmaker between Teresa and Noah.
As Teresa helped Noah move his desk and file cabinet downstairs into Miss Janie’s old bedroom, she thought about the first days when Kayla had come to live in Birthright. Lord, she’d hated that girl, and there was no doubt Kayla had felt the same. Looking back now, Teresa knew she’d only had those feelings because she’d seen herself in Kayla and didn’t like what she saw.
“What do you think?” Noah asked, breaking into her thoughts.
“About what?” she shot back.
“How does it feel?”
“Empty.” Teresa glanced around the room. “You need a couple of chairs and maybe some bookshelves.”
Noah hiked a hip on the edge of the desk. “I mean about us three being here together without Miss Janie.”
“If I take a deep breath, I can still catch a whiff of her rose-scented perfume and dusting powder. I feel like her spirit is still among us and always will be. I can’t speak for Kayla, but living here feels right. You are helping people who can’t pay high-dollar lawyer fees, and that is a good thing. This idea of making a place for senior citizens to go brings peace to my soul,” Teresa answered.
“I’ve been looking into that, and I need to know what services you are going to offer. We need to figure out if you’re going to offer housecleaning services, medical help of any kind, or taxi service,” he said.
She hopped up on the desk beside him. “No, no, and maybe.”
“Basically, what you and Kayla plan on doing here at the beginning is offer a hot meal at noon and a place for folks to gather and play games or do craft things. Is that right?” He turned to face her.
She didn’t want to talk about chicken and dumplings and dominoes. She would far rather lean in, moisten her lips, and kiss him.
“Right,” she said.
“Is this going to be a business or nonprofit?” he asked.
“Nonprofit,” Teresa answered. “If the folks around town want to bring in a sackful of green beans from their gardens in the spring, or if Sam wants to donate a pot roast every now and then, that’s fine, but we won’t be in it to make money.”
“Then we don’t need to do anything. You are just making free food for a crowd and opening up a property for the elderly to meet and visit. You will need to have each of them sign a form relieving you of liability in case of an accident.” Noah didn’t blink as he seemed to search her very soul.
“Can you draw one of those up?” She glanced down at his lips and then brought her eyes back up to his.
“Of course I can.” He lowered his voice to just above a whisper.
Then his lips barely touched hers, and that old familiar fire was kindled between them. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her eyelids, the tip of her nose, and then kissed her with so much passion that the smoldering embers turned into a hot blaze.
“Whew!” She wiped at her brow in a dramatic gesture when the kiss ended.
“Want to drive up to Sulphur Springs and get some ice cream?” He grinned.
“That’s a weird question right now.” She tried to keep from panting, but it was impossible after a kiss like that.
“Evidently that didn’t make you as hot as me. We either need to cool off with a ride and some ice cream or take this up to one of our rooms and set the bed on fire,” he teased.
“Are you asking me on a date?” Teresa fired back at him.
“I believe I am,” Noah drawled. “And maybe we can go on the second date after church. I could take you to Sunday dinner at this sweet little place I like in Paris.”
“Are you telling me that you have a private jet?”
“No, ma’am,” he chuckled. “Not Paris as in the Eiffel Tower, but Paris, Texas, as in Aunt Mamie’s Diner. Turkey and dressing is their specialty on Sunday.”
“Yes, to both, but you should know I don’t kiss on the first date,” she teased.
“Does that mean the third date might be the lucky one?” he asked.
“Oh, honey, that kind of thing doesn’t fly until the fifth or sixth date,” she told him.
“Look at us flirting,” he chuckled. “I like it.”
“Me too.” She wiggled out of his embrace. “But if we’re going to go on our first date, I should get cleaned up.”
“You look beautiful just like you are. Grab your purse and let’s go,” he said.
Never—not once—had Luis ever said something that nice to her. Looking back, she couldn’t remember him paying her compliments before they got married. After that day, everything seemed to go downhill. There were no compliments and very little communication, and mostly, when they talked at all, it was to argue about him spending more time with his friends than with her. Maybe it was cultural, but after the first year, she’d asked him why he’d wanted to marry her if he couldn’t even stay home with her a night or two a week. He’d told her it was because he didn’t like to cook or clean house. In his opinion that was the only reason a man needed a wife anyway. She had judged all men by Luis after that.
She shook off the memory, took the hand Noah offered, and hoped that she had been dead wrong.
Noah slowed his truck down as he passed the house where the new business would be going in. “Looks like Kayla stopped by here on her way to the grocery store. Want to go in and look at the place, maybe invite her to go with us?”
“Are you having second thoughts about our first date?” she joked.
He drove on past the place. “Not a bit, other than that we should have had our first date right after that first kiss when we were teenagers. Our lives might have been different if we had.”
“We are who we are today because of what we’ve been through,” she said. “If we’d had a first date then, we wouldn’t be who we are. Does that make a bit of sense?”
“More than you’ll ever know,” he replied. “Let’s play pretend. We’re teenagers. We’ve had our first kiss, and even though neither of us can drive, we take a picnic lunch out to the backyard and call it a date. We write notes to each other, call on our cell phones when we are apart, and eventually we wind up married. You go to college with me, and I’m drinking every day like my dad did.”
“I don’t like you passing out on the sofa every night, and you don’t like listening to me nag about it. Neither one of us is happy,” she added.
“Point proven. We weren’t right for each other then, like you said. We needed to go through what we have so we could be who we are and fall in love now, right?” he asked.
“L-love?” she stammered.
“If everything goes right, isn’t that the logical end to this first date?” he asked as he turned south toward Sulphur Springs. “It may not be in two weeks, or even in two months or a year, but that’s where we’d like for this to wind up, right?”
“Are you summarizing, like you do in court?” She smiled.
“I haven’t spent time in court in a couple of years,” he answered. “I’m not sure if I could even present ending arguments, but I’ll give it my best shot.” He cleared his throat, took her hand in his, and held it on the console between them. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, today’s question for you to ask yourselves is whether or not two people begin to date so that they will eventually find something in each other that makes them fall in love. I believe that any other reason is simply tagged booty call or friendship. What you must decide is whether Teresa Mendoza and Noah Jackson should or should not go on a second date. The de
cision is in your hands.”
Teresa’s laughter bounced around the inside of the truck. “You convinced me, but I’ll have to persuade the rest of the jury. I believe that Will won’t be difficult. I admit I’m a little worried about Kayla. She seems a little smitten with Will right now, but I’m afraid she’s still got a bad taste left over from living with Denver.”
“As the elected spokesperson for the jury, you will have to use your powers to convince any of the diehards.”
“They’ll be tough,” she sighed, but he could tell by her expression that she was enjoying this as much as he was. “They’ll throw up all kinds of obstacles, like us living in the same house. What if this doesn’t work out and then things get weird between us? What if one of us falls head over heels in love with the other one, and that one is kind of ho-hum after a couple or three dates? Would it be painful for the one in love to see the other one bringing someone home and sleeping with him or her?”
“Sounds like logical questions that might come up.” He nosed the truck into a parking space at the Dairy Queen. “What kind of arguments are you going to give them?”
“That love isn’t logical. It’s trust,” she said.
“Good answer.” He got out of the vehicle, rounded the front end, and opened the door for her. “Without trust, all relationships die. Do you trust me, Teresa?”
“With my life.” She squeezed his hand. “Maybe after a while I’ll even trust you with my heart.”
“I hope so,” he said. “You’ll let me know when the jury is ready to pass a verdict, won’t you?” Her hand in his felt small, but he had no doubts about Teresa’s strength. She’d endured a horrible childhood, and that had to have made her strong as steel.
“I can’t believe you never found someone to settle down with before now,” she said as they walked inside.
“Had to get my life in order first.” He looked up at the menu board and told the guy waiting for their order, “I want a hot fudge sundae.”
“Me too,” she said.
“Have them right out,” the fellow said when he’d taken payment from Noah and made change.
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