Chapter 11 #2
On his back deck, Ryder sat in his rocker, ice on his knee, the light of day evanescing. He sipped a cold can of soda and listened to the song in the breeze.
Pop Dorsey let the conversation about Elizabeth drop during lunch at Ella’s. He asked a lot of questions about work as a wildlife officer and how things were going at his place. Was he still remodeling? Adding on? Then he regaled Ryder with stories from building his place with Granny D.
“Almost got divorced over it.” He shook his head, laughing. “Once we got through that, we knew we could handle anything.”
“So love isn’t enough?” Ryder said.
“It’s enough. The right kind. The kind that chooses love no matter the circumstance. No matter what the other person says or does.”
Now, considering Pops’s words, Ryder reached for his phone and texted his parents.
Ryder
Just saying hi. Hope you’re well.
Mom responded right away.
Mom
We’re good. Dad’s in New York, and I’m in Austin, but we’re coming home for August. I was going to text you, but I know you’re busy. We want to see your place.
Ryder
Sounds good. I’ll grill steaks.
Mom
See you soon. XO.
XO. Mom’s version of “I love you.”
Ryder
Love you, Mom.
Pops’s talk had tweaked his heart a bit. Love chooses…
Fred nudged him for an ear scratch. Then Ginger. Ryder took a picture of the sunset through the trees. Then he stared at his phone, picturing Elizabeth with all her curls, bright eyes, and wide, even smile.
Dude, just call her. Pops D. was right. She’d be a hard one to catch. If he even wanted to catch her.
“What do you think, Fred? Ginger? Call her? Just to say hello? She’s coming home tomorrow.
” Ginger raised her eyebrows. “I agree. Too desperate-looking, which I’m not.
Sure, I can’t stop thinking about her, but that doesn’t mean I love her.
Fred, what? Your tongue is hanging out. Are you saying I’m lying?
” On cue, the large German shepherd barked.
“Okay, what do I say? Can I pick you up from the airport? Pops didn’t say she needed a ride.
I’m sure he’s got it. Oh, stop looking at me like that. I’ll call her.”
He dialed before he changed his mind. When she answered, he nearly hung up.
“Hey, Ryder,” she said, rather loudly over the clink of glasses and cacophony of voices and laughter.
“Just a second. Liam, move.” Her laugh was buoyant.
“I can’t hear with all your big mouths.” Ryder heard a male voice, shuffling, then quiet.
“Sorry, it’s so loud in the restaurant. I had to step outside. What’s up?”
Yeah, what. Is. Up. Ryder? “I think I’m taking the job in Colorado.” Did you just lie to her?
“What?”
“The job, in Colorado. I’ve been thinking and—”
“Really. Wow, okay.” Her voice faded. “Are you all leaving? Okay, night, it was great to see you guys.” Then back to Ryder. “Sorry, some of the gang had to go.”
“Your Pops said you were coming home tomorrow.”
“I am. A couple of my friends from MIT surprised me with dinner. They stuck with me during my illness. I miss them.”
“Good friends are hard to find.” Ryder pictured her, smiling, flushed with excitement. She was with her people. “Wharton won’t be too far away for a weekend visit.”
“I’ll be too busy. Are you really going to Colorado?”
“It’s a good opportunity. Good pay. Better advancement than here.” He had to commit to the lie. He’d put it out there. He should’ve said I was calling to see if you needed a ride from the airport, but it sounded so lame in his head, so he dropped this whopper of a tale.
“I get it. Our careers are important to us.”
“Absolutely. Hey, I’ll let you go.”
“Is that it? You just called about the job?”
“And to, well, see if you needed someone to pick you up from the airport.”
“Will is picking me up.”
“Then I’ll see you when I see you. Glad you’re okay too. No antibodies.”
When he hung up he looked at Fred, then Ginger. “Not a word. Not one word.”
In the Dorsey family, one didn’t need a reason to throw a party. So when Elizabeth came downstairs for work on Wednesday morning, Granny announced a Friday Night Guitar Pull.
“Will ran into Buck Mathews on a break from his tour.” Granny handed Elizabeth her lunch, packed with grilled salmon, garden salad, and fruit.
She made it her job to bolster Elizabeth’s diet.
She harped on her about getting enough sleep too.
“They got to reminiscing about the old days when your Pops used to host guitar pulls and serve the best smoked ribs known to man. Next thing I know, Pops comes home with ten tons of meat, telling me we’re throwing a party. ”
“With Buck Mathews? Playing in your backyard for free?”
Granny grinned. “Who do you think taught the boy to play?”
“Pops?” She grew up hearing about her grandparents’ influence in this small southern town sitting in the shadow of Nashville, but apparently it stretched farther and wider than she knew.
“One and the same. Then Bill Hobbs took over with lessons, but Pops handed Buck his first guitar.”
“That’s exciting but I have to work at the diner, Granny. Tina covered for me when I went to Boston, and she has plans with her grandkids.” Elizabeth reached for her bag and headed for the door. “Save me some ribs.”
“I called Tina. You have the night off.”
“Granny, you can’t just call my boss and ask—” The look. Granny’s Are you talking back to me? face, and nothing, nothing terrified her grandkids more. “Let me know what I can do to help.”
Granny took her up on that offer. As soon as Elizabeth walked in the door Friday after work, she assigned her a few chores.
After changing into shorts, a T-shirt, and sneakers, she started hauling things from the kitchen out to the back deck, where Pops had created a stage under a thousand lights swinging from the house, around the trees, and back again.
The scent from the smoker punched the air with the aroma of smoked meat, and the food table was already loaded with sides like potato salad, coleslaw, hushpuppies, salads, greens, cornbread that melted in your mouth, jams and jellies, chips, and fruit concoctions with Cool Whip and Jell-O.
“Granny outdid herself.” Julie, Ethan’s wife, set a hot casserole on the table, then turned to Elizabeth. “You’ve never been to a Dorsey guitar pull, have you?”
“First one.”
“You’re in for a treat. Some of the unknowns are better than the knowns. I saw Buck here when he was still a struggling songwriter.” She made a funny face. “One of his songs made me fall in love with Ethan.”
“Made you?” Elizabeth laughed. “Buck Mathews’s songs cannot cast a spell over me.”
“I don’t know, he’s got some powerful melodies. That being said, you ready for your first term at Wharton? When are you leaving?”
“First of August.”
Julie leaned close. “Piece of advice? Study the course curriculum, clubs, the campus layout. Reach out to alumni. It’ll help you feel more at home when you step foot on campus.”
“I did a lot of that when I visited in the spring, but you’re right, I should review.”
From Pops’s stage, players tuned their guitars. More and more folks arrived, filling the table with good eats. Elizabeth felt like she was standing in a scene from an old Hollywood movie.
Then someone grabbed her from behind. JoJo, Buck’s wife, who Elizabeth’s younger self had wanted to be like back in the day. They talked in the shade of the large elm, catching up, celebrating JoJo’s pregnancy with twins, and making sure they had each other’s phone numbers.
Tina arrived with her son Cole, his wife Haley, and their kids. “I left Lucy and D’Angelo in charge of Ella’s,” she said, holding on to her grandson with her right hand, her granddaughter with her left. “If the place burns down, I guess it’s time to retire.”
Pops banged on a giant pot from the deck. “Dinner’s on. Let’s thank the good Lord for the food and friends, then get this party started.”
There was a lot of whooping and cheering as Pops started his prayer. Tina’s grandson took hold of Elizabeth’s right hand just as a warm, firm masculine hand slid into her left.
Ryder.
“I’m glad you’re back,” he said after Pops shouted “Amen!”
“Yeah, me too.” Oddly enough, she meant it.
She’d not seen him all week, but he’d crossed her mind every day while reconciling accounts.
“About when you called that night,” she said as they entered the long food line. “Are you really going to Colorado?”
“To be honest, no. Well, the offer is still on the table, but when I called, you sounded so happy, with your people, in your world, I wanted to seem like I had something going on too. How lame is that?”
“Not very.” Elizabeth stepped forward as the food line moved.
“I didn’t plan on saying it. It just came out. I realized you were off to grad school. That’s where you belong. Suddenly, I needed to have something on the front burner too.”
“Why do you need something on the front burner?”
He made a wry face. “Why do you think? I want to impress you.”
“What makes you think I’m not already impressed?” She looked back, willing him to see in her eyes how much she admired him.
“You’re beautiful, Elizabeth Dorsey. Smart, ambitious, and all the things…I’m just a country boy with a degree in wildlife management.”
At the food table, Elizabeth took up a plate and a napkin ring, grateful this personal conversation was covered by the dozens and dozens of conversations around them.
“Well, I’m just a city girl with a degree in management science.”
“And the two shall never meet,” Ryder said, reaching for his own plate and napkin roll.
Elizabeth glanced away. “No, I guess not.”