Chapter 22
Dark clouds covered the sun, so instead of sitting on the balcony and watching a brilliant Texas sunset like Tertia often did at the end of a day, she kept an eye on the swirling clouds and a few streaks of lightning that zigzagged through the sky.
“Looks like we might get rain,” Ophelia said as she came out of her bedroom and joined her sister.
“The weatherman agrees with you, but he says it’ll just be rain. No hail or tornadoes.” Tertia nodded. “What happened when you and Jake left the church this afternoon?”
“We cleared the air, settled things, and we have a date for next Saturday. Right now, he’s over at Remy’s at the Sunday night poker game, and you and I are supposed to be downstairs talking about Luna’s wedding,” Ophelia answered. “Mama sent me up here to get you.”
“I guess this is where we paddle our own canoes and your river or creek goes in a different direction than mine does,” Tertia said with a long sigh.
“What are you talking about?” Ophelia asked.
“Remember when you said we were paddling canoes on parallel creeks? We got kissed the same day, had arguments the same day…”
“Oh, that,” Ophelia butted in before her sister could finish. “What will be, will be…”
Tertia stood up and finished Ophelia’s sentence. “And what won’t be, might be anyway.”
“That’s right,” Ophelia told her. “Let’s go talk weddings, and both be glad that wedding cakes and flowers are not in our immediate future.”
Tertia followed her sister into her room. “Luna gets to keep all the thunder to herself, and you can be next in line. Are you going to do it up big, or just have something simple?”
“Jake and I just survived our first disagreement. We’re not ready to think about marriage.” Ophelia made it to the middle of the room when a streak of lightning seemed to land on the balcony and thunder rolled so close by that it rattled the windows. She stopped so fast that Tertia ran into her back and both of them had to grab a corner of the dresser to keep from falling.
“What happened?” Tertia asked. “Did a mouse run across your foot, or is there a spider hanging from the ceiling?”
“I always imagine that the sound of…” Ophelia stopped in the middle of the sentence. “You know that I flew drones. It’s classified what I did, but I always imagined that when I pushed the red button, the sound was something like thunder. I couldn’t hear it, of course. The whole thing was just images on a computer screen.”
Tertia flipped the switch to turn on the light. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Ophelia shook her head. “I stopped because I expected a panic attack when I heard the noise, but it didn’t happen. I don’t feel like my chest is caving in, and I don’t want to hide under the bed until the attack passes.”
“Just exactly what happened when you and Jake made up this afternoon?” Tertia asked.
“We didn’t have sex if that’s what you are asking, but I would be more than willing to fall into bed with him if that would make the nightmares and panic attacks disappear.” She took another step toward the hallway.
Tertia air slapped her on the arm. “That would be using Jake, and so very wrong. You can have sex with him for many reasons, but not to stop your bad dreams.”
A hard knock on the door took their attention from the subject. Tertia expected one of her sisters or her mother to have answered it before they reached the foyer, but no one was there. Evidently, they were making a playlist for the wedding reception because music came from the living room. Tertia recognized the Aaron Watson song, “When I See You,” and hoped that someday, someone would play and sing that song for her—maybe even draw her into his arms and dance with her.
Ophelia threw open the door to find Noah standing on the other side of the old-fashioned screen door. “Looks like we might still be running parallel,” she whispered to Tertia. “I’ll give you the same advice you gave me—go with him.” Then with a wave she disappeared into the living room.
“Noah?” Tertia greeted him, but didn’t invite him in.
“Tertia, we need to talk,” he said.
“I don’t think we have anything to say to each other.” Her heart went out to him for the misfortune, whatever it was, but that was business, and she had to protect her own feelings.
“You might not, but I do,” Noah said. “Will you just come sit with me on the porch and let me say my piece? After I do, I’ll leave and never bother you again.”
“I can do that,” she agreed and stepped outside, “but there’s a storm brewing so we might do better to sit in your truck.”
“I agree,” he said and hurried off the porch to open the passenger door for her.
She slid into the passenger’s seat and kept her eyes glued on the clouds rolling in like burnt marshmallows over the roof of the Paradise. When he took his place behind the wheel, he just sat there for several minutes.
“Well?” she asked when the first big drops of rain splatted against the windshield.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “For every stupid mistake I made the other day, and for being so ugly when we were kids. My mama told me that I should walk across the road and apologize to you back then, and she told me the same thing when she and my dad came to see me yesterday. So, here I am, apologizing for taking my frustrations out on you. It was wrong, and I promise to never do it again. I’ve never been so lonely—not even when Wanette left me for another man—as I’ve been since Wednesday. I’ve probably ruined anything that we might have had, but I want you to know that I’m sincere in what I’m saying.”
“What frustrated you so bad?” Tertia asked. “If I’m going to forgive you, I should hear the whole story.”
“I can’t build the café.”
Tertia could feel the pain in his voice. “Why?”
“I thought I was okay financially, even with the application for a bank loan. I’d need to borrow about a third of the cost, and I could use the land for collateral, but the bank sent out an appraiser and…” He shrugged in defeat.
She pressured. “And what?”
“My debt-to-income ratio is only borderline strong enough for a loan that big, and too many oil wells were drilled around that ten acres of land. The water well I would have to have drilled would be salty. No good water. No café,” he answered. “I had just gotten the news that afternoon and was trying to figure out a way around it. I didn’t want to tell you because that meant I probably wouldn’t see you again.”
“And there we were making a recipe for a café that wasn’t ever going to be,” she said. “And me rattling on and on about making a cookbook.”
Another shrug. “I asked my dad why he even built a house in Spanish Fort if there were problems with salty wells. He said that he had everything tested before he built on the land that Grandpa deeded over to him. He found out that there’s an underground stream of good water flowing about twenty feet down not far from the back of my house, so we’re good on that land, but the place where we were going to build the café is good for grazing, just not building anything on that requires water.”
“Is there another place that you could build?” She wondered how much of the town that the stream took care of, and if that would be a reason why Spanish Fort was almost a ghost town.
“What if…?” she started and then stopped.
“Go on,” Noah said. “I can see the wheels turning in your head like they did when you were looking at the plans for the new café.”
“Can we drive over to your house?” she asked. “I’ve been in it, but I didn’t get the grand tour, and you might not even agree with my what-if.”
“Why now?” Noah asked. “Does this mean you are going to give me a second chance? I’m just a coach, but we can always enjoy spending time together.”
“I’ve got an idea, but before I voice it, I’d like to really look at the place. You do have a tape measure over there, don’t you?”
“Of course, and a hammer and a screwdriver,” Noah answered as he started the engine and drove from the Paradise to his place.
Tertia didn’t give him time to be the Texas gentleman and open the door for her. As soon as the truck stopped, she hopped out in the pouring rain and ran to the porch. Noah was right behind her, and he unlocked the door. “Am I forgiven for being a jackass or not?”
She pushed inside and nodded. “You are forgiven, but don’t you ever talk to me in that tone of voice again.”
“I promise I won’t,” he agreed. “Now tell me what you have in mind.”
She walked through the whole three-bedroom, three-bath home, measuring each room as she went and writing the sizes down on a notepad that she picked up from the dining room table. “Okay,” she said, “here’s what you could do. The kitchen and dining room could be closed off, maybe with swinging doors. The dining room could be the food prep area. The safe room could be a storage room, and you could put a commercial freezer in there as well.”
“You are talking about making this house into a café?” His eyes widened out, and he slapped his palm against his forehead. “The living room could be the dining area. The foyer could be where the hostess could set up shop. But what about the bedrooms?”
“Houses in other countries are often turned into cafés,” she said. “The bedrooms could be opened up for extra tables and guests when the dining room is full. One bathroom can be for men. One for women. The third one would be for employees. We could build a wall in front of the bathtubs in each room, and put a door on the other end, and use that area for storage. This could work if it would pass inspection to be remodeled into…”
“We could knock out the walls to two of the bedrooms and make the living room bigger to seat more people, and then use the smallest one for a break room for the employees.” His tone said that he was really getting excited. “The remodel would take less time and money than building a new place. But where would I live? I’ve given up my apartment in Saint Jo, but I could ask if they would let me keep it, and then I could commute.”
“Or you could have one of those prefab homes brought in and park it out back, maybe along that tree line way back there so it would be private,” she suggested. “It shouldn’t take long to drill another well for the house and get electricity brought out to it from the road. You might not even have to ask the bank for a loan if you could locate a repossessed one, and that could be less than what it was going to take for Henry to put up the new café.”
Noah grabbed Tertia around the waist and spun her around several times. “You are a genius.”
She was panting and dizzy when he set her back on her feet. “I don’t know about that, but it seems like a plausible plan.”
“I would have never thought about making the house into the café or of buying a prefab home, either one. Please say you’ll help me cook, hire a staff, and pick out a house. You are my good-luck charm, Tertia.”
“Let’s don’t get in a big rushing hurry about everything. First, we have to be sure we can trust each other again, and if we can get through a week or two without arguing.” The walls had finally stopped spinning, but her words came out one or two at a time in between pants.
“We are both passionate people,” Noah said. “We will argue.”
“Then we’ll see how we each react to disagreements for a couple of weeks. We’ve got a lot of actual planning to do, and you have to talk to Henry about knocking out walls and remodeling, and making sure there are no zoning laws in Spanish Fort.”
“Fair enough,” Noah agreed. “Is it too soon to kiss you? Maybe as a thank-you.”
She took a step closer to him and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you for knocking on my door and apologizing.”
“I’ll take what I can get and be satisfied tonight with baby steps.” He grinned. “I’m going to call Henry tonight and tell him to put me back on the list. Will you go with me tomorrow to look at one of those prefab homes?”
“Of course, I will,” Tertia answered. “Jake might even tell us where to start. He lives in a trailer back behind his winery.”
“Would it be totally rude of me to take you home and go over to Remy’s poker game?” he asked. “I could talk to Jake tonight. I’m too excited to wait until morning.”
“It would not be rude at all,” she answered. “I’m supposed to be helping make the wedding playlist for the music tonight anyway.”
“Damned old rain. I hate storms,” Rocky screeched from the living room.
Noah draped an arm around her shoulders and started for the door. “Don’t mind him. Dad used to say that every time it thundered. Oh, and look at that!”
“What?” Tertia asked.
“The bull is already in the right place and won’t have to be moved.”
“But your front yard is going to probably have to be graveled for a parking lot.”
Noah kissed her on the forehead. “I’ve heard that there is a silver lining in every storm cloud. You are my silver lining, Tertia. And the gravel parking lot just means we have less to mow.”