Chapter 5 #2
“Shyanna,” Roger interrupted, “I’ve known Jensen’s parents since we were kids. I know they’d love to have you as a house guest. If you insist on staying here, it’s perfectly all right for you to stay in your trailer, but trust me, the Straders will make you feel welcome.”
This is probably a very, very bad idea, she thought, but embarrassing Jensen wasn’t something she wanted to do. “Well, okay, I guess.”
That got a big smile from Jensen. “Great. Let’s get the horses out into the pasture, get your stuff out of your truck and put it in mine, and go. I haven’t even called my mom yet, so she’ll be surprised to see us.”
Oh, shit! We’re showing up unexpected at his parents’ house!
I’m sure they’ll be very pleased about that, her brain groused.
What was the worst they could do? Tell them that he could stay but she couldn’t?
Tell them neither of them could stay? Yeah.
And that didn’t sound like a bad thing, honestly.
It could work out great. “Okay then. Let’s do it,” she replied and reached for Rhubarb’s lead.
She wanted to get the mare out there, get her personal stuff gathered up, and get on their way before she completely chickened out.
White clapboard houses and graying barns lined the road as they drove.
Looking at the postcard-perfect farms and subdivisions, Shyanna envied the people who lived those charmed lives.
They had pretty houses and pretty cars. Pretty clothes.
Pretty furniture. Pretty children. Pretty wives and handsome husbands.
Parents who loved them. Good educations.
No doubt about it―she was going to a place where she’d stick out like a sore thumb.
A beat-up mailbox on a slightly-leaning post sat at the end of a gravel drive, and that was where Jensen turned.
He drove nonchalantly, kind of on autopilot, but he said nothing, and she guessed that he was afraid to talk for fear she’d tell him to take her somewhere else.
They went around a little curve and through a stand of trees, and the drive spit them out into a clearing.
Shyanna was shocked. It was just a house.
She wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but that wasn’t it.
It was no McMansion. It wasn’t even a brick ranch from a subdivision.
It looked like a small farmhouse that had been added onto and added onto to make a bigger house.
A buzz had set up in her ears and she was feeling kind of numb when she heard Jensen say, “Well, here we are.” She tried to open the truck door, but her hands wouldn’t work.
To her dismay, Jensen came around, opened the door, and took her hand.
“Come on. Oh, my mama’s gonna be so surprised! ”
They stepped up onto the porch and Jensen knocked on the door. “I don’t usually knock,” he whispered, “but I want to surprise her.”
The door opened a crack and an eye peered out.
“May I help you, honey?” Shyanna didn’t know what to say, so she just looked back at Jensen.
When she turned back to the door, it had opened wider and an attractive woman who looked to be in her early sixties stood there, staring.
It took several seconds before she gasped out, “Jensen? Oh, my, Jensen! Oh, honey!”
“Hey, Mama!” he called out and before Shyanna could move, the woman had thrown open the door, blown past her, and grabbed Jensen to wrap him in a bear hug.
“Jensen, oh lord, honey, it’s so good to see you!” the woman wailed, and Shyanna could tell she was crying. “Oh, sweetheart, welcome home!”
“Thanks, Mama,” he said and managed to unwrap her arms from around him.
When he did, he reached for Shyanna and took her hand.
“Mama, this is Shyanna Owens, the lady I was telling you about.” He was telling his mother about me?
Shyanna thought and almost fainted. “She’s a friend of mine from the rodeo circuit. Shyanna, this is my mom, Dora Strader.”
“Oh, honey, welcome!” Mrs. Strader cried out and grabbed Shyanna, hugging her tight.
The younger woman didn’t quite know what to do.
Hug her back? Push her away? Tolerate it and hope she stopped?
She finally brought her arms up and patted Mrs. Strader’s back.
“Oh, my, you probably don’t know what to make of me!
I’m so sorry! But I’m so excited to see my boy. Y’all come on in! Are you staying?”
Before Shyanna could turn around and run away, Jensen answered, “If that’s okay with you.”
“Okay? It’s wonderful! I was just getting ready to start dinner, so now I can fix enough for all of us!” Mrs. Strader sang out, and Shyanna wanted to curl up and die. “But I need to fix up a room for you. And for you too, Shyanna.”
“Mama, I think we’d like to share a room,” Jensen said and Shyanna held her breath, terrified of what was about to be said.
The frown on the older woman’s face only lasted for a few seconds before it dissolved and she said with a roll of her eyes, “Oh, what the heck? You two are grownups. It’s none of my business, I suppose.”
“Thanks. Where’s Pop?”
“He went out to check on the cattle. Leo’s out there too,” she said, and Shyanna wondered who that was.
“I’ll catch up with them in a bit. Can we bring our things in?” he asked.
“Yes. Oh, my! You’re still on the porch! Come in, come in! Goodness, where did y’all come from?” Mrs. Strader asked as she led the way into the house, and Jensen’s voice droned behind her as he told her about their travels. It gave Shyanna time to look around.
Average. That was the first word that came to her mind.
The furniture was nice, but it wasn’t new, and it was a neutral shade of brown.
Everything matched in its brownness, and there were contrasting throw pillows on the furniture and a big, fluffy throw on one end of the three-cushion sofa.
The most colorful thing in the room was the area rug, and even it was kind of nondescript, a checkerboard of brown, black, mossy green, dark robin’s egg blue, and tan.
Not one thing in the room screamed, Hey! Look at me! It was just … average.
With Mrs. Strader still in the lead, they ascended the narrow staircase and turned on the landing, then turned again before coming out at the top. “I guess you two can have this room down here,” she said as she threw open a door.
In contrast with the plainness of the rest of the house, the pale yellow walls made the room look sunny and inviting, and the sheer ivory drapes helped it along.
On the full-size bed was a chenille bedspread, the kind that Shyanna hadn’t seen since she was a child, and on it were tiny pink rosebuds here and there.
Every piece of furniture in the room was Early American and maple, and it reminded Shyanna of her Aunt Jessi’s house where she’d visited when she was very small.
She was shocked out of her thoughts when Mrs. Strader asked, “Will this do?”
“It’s great, Mama. I mean, come on―we’ve been sleeping in horse trailers!” Jensen said, laughing, and Shyanna turned to smile at Mrs. Strader.
“It’s beautiful. Thank you so much.” And she meant it too. Except for the occasional hotel room when she could afford it, it had been years since Shyanna had slept anywhere that nice.
The smile Mrs. Strader gave her in return seemed genuine. “You’re so welcome, dear.” A noise sounded from down the stairs and the woman said, “Oh, Leo and your dad are back! They’re gonna be so surprised!” With that, she ran out of the room and Shyanna could hear her feet pounding down the stairs.
“I think she likes you,” Jensen said with a grin.
“She doesn’t know me well enough to like or dislike me yet,” Shyanna reminded him.
“For my mama to not like you, you have to give her a reason. Don’t give her one and she’ll love you in a couple of days.”
Shyanna sighed. “Okay then. I’ll take your word for it.” But deep down, she knew better.
As soon as he’d reached for her hand and caught it, Jensen pulled her along with him and sat down on the edge of the bed. “You okay?” he asked, his other hand sweeping a strand of hair from her face.
She sat down beside him and shrugged. “I guess.” When his brow dropped, she added, “I’m just not used to family stuff, that’s all.”
“It’ll be okay. You’ll get used to it. Maybe eventually you’ll grow to like it,” he told her with a gentle smile. “Guess I’d better get downstairs. By now she’s told them we’re here and they’ll be looking for me.”
“Can I stay up here for a little while?” Shyanna asked. There was something about a happy family laughing and hugging and slapping each other on the backs that she didn’t think she could face at that moment.
He gave her a knowing nod. “Sure. Take all the time you want. I’ll be downstairs and if things get too rowdy, I’ll get our stuff from the truck and bring it upstairs. Sound okay?” Shyanna nodded, so Jensen stood. “Come down when you want.”
She knew her smile was weak, but she just wasn’t feeling it all. “Thanks.”
Leaning down, he dropped a soft, feather-light kiss on her forehead. “You’re welcome. Lie down if you like and I’ll wake you for dinner.” She watched as he strode out of the room, listened to his boots on the stairs, and heard the loud chorus of voices when he landed downstairs.
Those voices, the joy in them and the warmth she could feel coming up those stairs as they rose, was the last straw.
Shyanna lay down on the bed, rolled with her back to the door, and let a tear roll from her eye onto the pillow.
She’d never had that―any of it. No one had ever been glad to see her show up, and no one had ever noticed when she left.
The idea that those people would ever accept her was just wishful thinking.
They were a family. They were kind, nice, well-educated people who had a place in the world and knew where it was.
They knew where they belonged. Who was she to think they’d ever want her around?