The Tick-Tock Between You and Me

by Kristy Tate

  Still the clock kept the time, with a soft and muffled chime,

  As we silently stood by his side;

  But it stopped short — never to go again —

  When the old man died

  #

  Chad worked like a robot cleaning up after the wedding. He helped the Peterson Party People staff fold and stack the tables and chairs. When Darby’s brothers started pulling the twinkling lights out of the trees, he climbed the ladder. He hefted the Rabid Rabbits’ sound equipment and loaded it into the back of their van.

  Darby was also part of the cleanup crew, but she wouldn’t look at him. He could tell she’d been crying and he longed to reach out to her, but every time he made an overture, she turned away.

  He told himself that maybe she’d feel differently in a few days, but before the night ended, a horrible thought occurred to him. The more he considered it, the more it niggled at him.

  She’d used him.

  She had needed someplace to host her sister’s wedding and once the wedding was over, she didn’t need him anymore.

  Was it so very different from Jessica who was more interested in the money from the ranch than she was in him? Were all women money-driven? Or was it just the ones he fell for? When the last of the wedding guests, caterers, and band members were gone, he went to his bunkhouse, stripped off his clothes, and stepped into the shower. The warm water did little to ease his tense shoulders.

  He stepped out of his bathroom to find his dad standing over his desk and looking at the pile of papers Chad needed to grade before class on Monday. As a P.E. teacher and coach, he didn’t do a lot of grading except his health class.

  “Dad?” Chad toweled off his hair. “I didn’t know you were interested in health.”

  “I’m not.” Bernie took a seat behind Chad’s desk. “I’m here on assignment. Your stepmother is really upset about this whole misunderstanding with Jessica.”

  “It’s not a misunderstanding.” Chad tossed his towel into the laundry hamper and settled on the edge of his bed. “Didn’t you hear she ran off with the lead singer of the Rabid Rabbits?”

  “That never would have happened if you had paid her the attention she deserved.”

  “The attention she deserved? What makes you think she deserves any of my attention?”

  “She’s a lovely girl, perfectly suited to your station.”

  “My station?” He had to stop echoing his dad. “I don’t have a station. I’m a P.E. teacher at the local school.”

  His dad snorted. “Correction. You’re a landowner, some could even call you a land baron.” He amended his statement. “Or at least the heir of one.”

  Chad braced his hands on his knees. “But here’s the reality—the only person in this family who owns a hundred acres is Grandpa.”

  “For now, yes, that’s true.” Bernie cleared his throat and pushed away from the desk. “But we need to think of the future. Our future.” He stood and folded his hands behind his back. “As you know, Jessica’s uncle is a successful hotelier.”

  “I don’t want to have this discussion right now, Dad.”

  “You never want to have this discussion!” Bernie’s face flushed an ugly shade of red.

  “Because it’s premature!” He pointed at the light shining through his grandfather’s bedroom window. “Grandpa wants to die in this house while it’s still a ranch. And it’s his!”

  “But for how long? Are we really going to wait twiddle our thumbs waiting for the bank to foreclose?”

  “We’re not…Look, Darby—”

  “There’s that name again. Why do we trust her?”

  Chad sighed. “Good question, Dad. Right now, I’m not entirely sure who to trust, but the one person I really don’t trust is Jessica. And if that’s who you want to talk about, go and find someone else to talk to. She wasn’t interested in me, she was interested in what we could do with the ranch.” Chad looked his dad in the eye. “Sound familiar?”

  His dad cocked his eyebrow. “We’re not done with this conversation.”

  Chad lay back against his pillow. “Until Grandpa dies or the bank forecloses, we are.”

  “I could have him ruled mentally incompetent.”

  Chad sat up. “You wouldn’t.”

  Bernie tapped his toe. “Not yet, maybe…”

  He swung his legs off the side of the bed and stood. “If you try to do this, I will fight you.”

  “Calm down. Be reasonable and try to see things from my point of view.”

  “Your point of view?” He was doing it again. Echoing his dad. This had to stop.

  “Yes. My dad is getting old. He’s not as capable as he once was.” Bernie pointed his finger at Chad’s chest. “You can’t deny this.”

  “But the same can be said of you, right?”

  His dad puffed out his chest. “What do you mean?”

  Chad rolled off the bed and climbed to his feet. “Well, when you were in college you placed fifth in state on the tennis team. How’s your game today? Not quite the same, is it? But does that mean someone should confiscate your racquet? And sell your tennis court?”

  “It’s not the same thing!”

  “Oh yeah? How’s it different?”

  “Taking care of this property is going to kill him!”

  “And then he’ll die a happy man.” Chad steered his dad to the door, pulled it open, and pushed him out. “I can’t think of a better way to go.”

  #

  Weeks passed.

  And to Darby’s amazement, she really did give up on men. She found it easy to back out of invitations and overtures. As the holiday season approached, she threw herself into her work. Because many of her clients had year-end goals to meet, this wasn’t hard to do. In fact, as one workday melded into another, she was surprised that she’d ever found the time or energy to date or party.

  One evening as she slipped into her bedroom after a long day at work, she was surprised to find Henley sitting on her bed.

  “I have something I need to tell you.” Henley looked uncharacteristically nervous. “Actually, it’s a couple of some things.”

  “Yeah?” Darby sat down on her slipper chair, pulled off her shoes and wiggled her toes.

  Henley didn’t say anything but picked at her fingernails.

  “Well, what is it?”

  Henley cleared her throat. “I thought I should warn you that I’m bringing a guest to Thanksgiving.”

  Darby almost laughed. Thanksgiving at her Aunt Joanie’s was always a giant get-together. The 1950’s rambling ranch could barely house all the cousins, aunts, and uncles. Her Aunt Joanie and Uncle Harris always set up plastic folding tables in the living room for the food, but no one ate there. Typically, they all ate outside—the adults on camp chairs, the kiddos on blankets spread out on the lawn, and the dogs quarantined in the side yard until everyone was done eating. Who would care if Henley brought a friend? He’d be a novelty at first but would soon be lost in the shuffle.

  Henley swallowed. “I’ve invited Benjamin.”

  Darby pressed her hand to her chest. “My Benjamin?”

  “He’s not your Benjamin,” Henley said, with a spark in her eye.

  “Yeah, because he used me.”

  “He tried to apologize.”

  Darby stood, unzipped her skirt, pulled it off, and marched over to her closet where she stripped off the rest of her clothes and deposited them in her hamper. “I can’t believe this. I thought you were firmly entrenched in Meg’s camp. What about the equality and full humanity of women and men?”

  “I was wrong. When I read your diary—”

  “Wait! What? You read my diary?”

  “Well, it was lying open on your bed. What was I supposed to do? I…wanted to protect you!”

  “Protect me?” Darby pulled a nightgown over her head. “Unbelievable.”

  “I get why you’re confused. I was, too, at first. But then once I started really listening to Benjamin…” Her voice softened. “He has
the dreamiest accent, doesn’t he? Does he remind you of Mr. Darcy?”

  Darby stared at her sister, openmouthed. “Are you listening to yourself? Because this doesn’t sound like you. What about a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle?

  Henley scratched her head. “Yes, but what about pheromones?”

  “The Henley I know doesn’t have pheromones, or if she does, she doesn’t listen to them.” Darby crossed the room and settled on the bed beside her sister. “You are so much smarter than you’re sounding right now.”

  “Okay, I get where you’re coming from,” Henley said, pulling up her knees and wrapping her arms around them. “You think Benjamin used you. And maybe he did. But he’s sorry. He said he’s going to pay you back. He always intended to pay you back.”

  “Right.” She studied her sister. “Have you lent him money?”

  Henley rocked back. “No, and I’m not going to.”

  “Really?”

  Henley nodded.

  Darby held out her hand with her fingers spread. “Pinky-swear?”

  “Yep,” Henley said, wrapping her baby finger around Darby’s. “Pinky-swear. How about you?”

  “How about me what?” Darby asked, fighting back the tight feeling she got in her chest whenever her family tried to pry into her life.

  “Is there a special someone you’d like to see at the Thanksgiving table?”

  Darby forced out a laugh and hoped she sounded casual. “You know we don’t actually sit at a table for Thanksgiving. It’s more of a balance your food on your lap sort of thing.”

  “Even better, is there someone’s lap you’d like to sit on?”

  “While I’m eating turkey or pie? No thank you. Sounds messy.”

  Henley threw a pillow at Darby’s head.

  Darby laughed for real, but quickly sobered when Henley asked, “What about that hottie at the ranch? Sloane said there was something between you two.”

  “There was briefly, but it was short-lived.” Given what Henley had told her about the diary, she realized with a queasy stomach that she owed Chad an apology.

  Ninety years without slumbering

  (tick, tock, tick, tock),

  CHAPTER 13

  “I have to apologize to Chad,” Darby whispered into her phone to Nora as she hurried through the maze of cubicles at her office. “What do you think I should do? Send him a note?”

  Nora hesitated, then said, “This is brilliant!”

  “I’m not feeling brilliant. At all,” Darby whispered, as she stepped outside into the sunlight. A sense of freedom swept through her as scanned the parking lot for her car. She glanced at her watch. She had less than thirty minutes for lunch. “I should have listened to you. Of course, he wouldn’t have told Meg. I mean, why would he?”

  “Don’t beat yourself up about this,” Nora said.

  “Do you think I was looking for an excuse to sabotage things between us?” Darby asked. Where was her car? She had thought she’d left it in the shade of the maple tree, but a red Audi was right where her car should be.

  “No! Stop over-thinking things!”

  Darby pressed the fob on her keychain. Nothing happened. She scratched her head and wandered through the parking lot, repeatedly pressing her key fob. “But it makes sense, right? I was so mad at myself for being suckered by Benjamin, who, by the way, is coming for Thanksgiving dinner.”

  “What?” Nora squealed into the phone.

  “Hmm, Henley invited him. They have a secret little fling going on. Well, I guess it won’t be secret after Thanksgiving.”

  “Henley and Benji?” Nora asked. “No, that’s just too silly. Besides, how can she possibly be interested him? She knows how he treated you!”

  “Don’t worry about Henley, she can take care of herself…and probably Benny.” Darby laughed as she finally located her car. She didn’t remember parking it here at the back of the lot, but she must have. “I gotta go. I only have thirty minutes for lunch.”

  Just then, her cubicle neighbor Gavin pulled his black BMW into the empty space beside her Camry. He waved, shut off his engine, and climbed out of his car.

  “You’re calling Chad from work?” Nora asked. “I thought your boss doesn’t allow personal phone calls.”

  “Chad is a client.” She said this as much for Gavin’s benefit as she did for Nora’s.

  “In that case, shut up and listen to my idea,” Nora said. “The event planner for the Canterbury annual fundraiser just ditched us. You were so brilliant organizing Sloane’s wedding, I immediately thought of you!”

  “A fundraiser? I don’t know anything about putting together a fundraiser!”

  Gavin raised his eyebrows, clearly curious.

  Darby climbed into her car and shut the door so that Gavin couldn’t overhear her.

  “I’ll send you the details,” Nora said. “I know you can do this! And it will give you a chance to talk to Chad face to face. Plus, it’s a good chunk of money.”

  “I think I should apologize to Chad now. Don’t you?”

  “Absolutely. Why don’t you call him?”

  Darby glanced at her watch. “I will right now.”

  And she did, but no one answered.

  #

  As soon as he got off work, Chad went to the corral to exercise Tyron. Watching the young horse always brought him pleasure. The stallion’s muscles rippled beneath his shiny coat, he pranced more than walked, and he shook his mane as if to say, look at me, I’m beautiful.

  Chad murmured to Tyron, held out the lead rope, and waited for the creature to join him. Tyron capered for a few steps, whinnied, then came as called. Chad held out his hand and Tyron placed his snout against it and breathed out a contented sigh.

  “Chad, there you are.” Elaine’s voice destroyed the moment and Tyron bolted for the opposite side of the corral.

  Chad pocketed his hands and slowly faced to his stepmother. “Elaine, I’m surprised to see you here. Is Dad with you?”

  “No, I’ve come alone.” She glanced at the ground with a frown before stepping off the concrete and into the dirt. With a resigned groan, she picked her way across the uneven ground until she reached Chad’s side. “There’s something I need to talk to you about. Something that your father and I don’t see eye to eye on.”

  Chad raised an eyebrow, waiting. Elaine, in her high heeled shoes, almost matched his height. He wondered if she’d intentionally chosen the shoes for this purpose.

  “But, seeing as how you spend so much time with your grandfather, I thought you might have more insight.”

  “On what?”

  “The state of your grandfather’s mental health.”

  “He’s fine,” Chad said in a hard voice.

  Elaine flung her hand in Tyron’s direction. “Don’t you agree that buying that horse was imprudent?”

  “Probably, but that doesn’t mean—”

  “Your grandfather is trying to cling to his glory days.”

  “That doesn’t make him mentally incompetent.”

  Elaine’s shoulders slumped for a moment, then she changed tactics. “Chad, do you really want to live here, babysitting your grandfather? You’re young. You deserve to have your own life, your own pad.”

  Pad? Now, she was trying to sound hip.

  She blew out a frustrated breath. “I never understood what happened between you and Jessica. You two were together so long.”

  “Too long,” Chad said.

  “Why do you say that?” Elaine asked. “If you moved to Santa Barbara, got your own place, took a real job, maybe you could win her back.”

  “I don’t want her back,” Chad said. “And I have a real job!”

  “Really? This is how you want to spend your life?” Elaine waved her arms at the ranch. “I thought you had more ambition,” she added over her shoulder as she stomped across the yard.

  Chad spent a few more minutes with Tyron, but his stepmother had effectively drained the day of any joy. He went into the mudr
oom and pulled off his boots before heading into the kitchen where he found his sister stirring what smelled like a pot of chili.

  “Hey,” Cecelia greeted him. She nodded at his phone lying beside his wallet and keys on the counter. “You’ve missed some calls.”

  Chad picked up the phone and touched the screen. “Doesn’t look like I’ve missed anything.”

  “Are you sure?” Cecelia asked. “I could swear I heard it chirping.”

  “No, nothing,” Chad said and he pocketed his phone.

  #

  It really stung that Chad wasn’t responding to Darby’s calls and texts. It even occurred to her that he might have blocked her calls. How had she misread him? But she’d misread Benjamin as well.

  Darby set her phone down and went to find her sister. She knocked on Henley’s bedroom door and found her sitting on the floor painting her toenails a fire engine red. She didn’t even look up when Darby announced, “I’m going to ask Benjamin to help me at a fundraiser for Chad’s school.”

  “Why?”

  “It’ll give him a chance to redeem himself. Do you think he’ll do it?”

  Henley shrugged. “You’ll have to ask him.”

  “I don’t want to give him the wrong impression.”

  “Like what?” Henley lifted her head and paused her nail polish brush in the air.

  “I don’t want him to think that I…huh…want his company for anything other than free labor.”

  “So, just tell him that.”

  “You’re right.” Darby smiled. “Thank you.” Honesty was really the best policy, she decided. She needed to be upfront not only with Benjamin, but also Chad. So, he wasn’t answering her calls. He was ignoring her texts. She could still tell him she was sorry. She owed him that. And if he never wanted to see her again, she could live with that. She, at least, would do her part.

  #

  Darby to Benjamin: Want to redeem yourself?

  Benjamin to Darby: Sure.

  Darby to Benjamin: You can help at the Canterbury School fundraiser. It’s an all-day event: