Chapter 22 #2
“It was my pleasure to help you. I appreciate having a place to come to when I needed it. You gave me just enough time for God to work His way in my life. And whatever is going on over there, whether it’s just Gilbert doing what Mrs. Tucker asked or something more, I know that the Lord has a plan, I just need to…
accept it.” It was hard, since she did want to go and demand that he tell her whether he was sincerely enjoying himself or just acting like it. Couldn’t he act like he was suffering?
She almost rolled her eyes at herself. If she were being forced to lead someone around town, introduce them to all the sights, and help them fall in love with the town so they bought a house nearby and spent their money in Mistletoe Meadows, to help all of her neighbors continue to make a living, she certainly would put her best effort into it and do everything she could to hide the fact that she hated what she was doing.
So, she could hardly blame him for appearing, for all intents and purposes, like he was enjoying himself.
The bell jingled, but she didn’t turn around, throwing her apron in the basket and rearranging a few containers that had been knocked off the pile.
“Hello, Gilbert. Looks like you have a friend with you today.”
“Hi, Sunny. This is Darla Zoubak. She’s from DC and is looking to buy a weekend place here. I told her she could find the best muffins in town right here.”
Summer continued to face the shelf, also realizing that the entire stack of containers was completely crooked and needed to be entirely restacked.
She didn’t want to turn around and face Gilbert.
Even though he was right there. It was one thing to know in her head that he was doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing, it was another thing to be able to smile and pretend to be okay with it. She wasn’t a very good actress.
“Well, thank you very much. Would you like to purchase a muffin so you can see that for yourself?” Sunny asked, and Summer could only imagine that Sunny was looking directly at Darla.
“Oh,” Darla said, sounding flirtatious, “I think Gilbert was going to buy me one. He’s been so charming and so knowledgeable about this sweet little town. He’s just got my heart all aflutter with all of the amazing things that go on here.”
Summer rolled her eyes as she stacked one more box on top of the other. Darla sounded like a simpleton. Maybe she was sounding that way on purpose, or maybe that was the way she talked when she was in a small town, condescending to the intelligence level she assigned to people who lived here.
That was not nice. She needed to be kind. God wanted her to be kind to everyone and not have these nasty thoughts in her head.
She took a breath and put another box up, stacking it as evenly and carefully as she could as Gilbert placed an order for two muffins.
Sunny moved along behind the counter, fulfilling their order, getting the coffees that he had requested as well, and she felt more than saw Gilbert shift.
“Summer?” he asked, and his voice sounded much closer. It seemed like he had moved down the counter and was leaning over directly behind where she knelt, putting the boxes away.
Now what was she going to do? She wasn’t expecting him to call her out. She could hardly act like she didn’t know he was there, but obviously she was being rude by ignoring him.
She turned but didn’t straighten, looking up at him.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey. I just wanted to say hi. I…miss you.”
“Gilbert, is this the girl you were talking about?” Darla came over and latched her arm around Gilbert’s.
Summer’s eyes dropped to her hand on his arm before she looked back up into Gilbert’s face, which seemed to be pinched.
“The one who gave your children horseback riding lessons and worked in the bakery or something?”
So was he calling them lessons rather than therapy? Playing down the fact that she did have a degree, even though it might not be as spectacular as whatever Darla had. And she had just gone to a state school, nothing Ivy League or prestigious. Was Gilbert ashamed of her?
“Yes. She’s the one that did the therapy with my children when my wife died. I credit her for their ability to bounce back so quickly and process everything in a healthy way.”
“Oh, children are so resilient,” Darla said, waving her hand.
“Sometimes they can be,” Gilbert said, looking at Summer with his eyes narrowed as though he knew that there was obviously something wrong and was trying to figure out what it was.
Was he really that clueless?
She didn’t think he probably was, but it didn’t matter. Anyone who had a brain could figure out what her problem was and why, but anyone who called themselves a Christian should also not be acting the way she was.
“Darla, it’s so nice to meet you,” she said, rising and holding out her hand so she could shake Darla’s.
Darla looked at it almost the way someone might look at a rat that all of a sudden appeared on the counter. But then, she slipped her long white fingers into Summer’s work-roughened hand and shook it gingerly.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Darla said. “Gilbert didn’t tell me that you were so short.”
Summer thought about the four-inch heels that Darla wore. Probably the only set of four-inch heels in town, but Summer didn’t say anything. Heels did not necessarily make a person bad. It was the attitude and the condescending manner that ruffled her feathers.
“I guess there’s less of me to sit on the horse. I believe it’s universal that horses typically like a light rider.”
That wasn’t the best comeback she’d ever had, but at least she was being kind.
Darla’s laugh rang out. Although Summer didn’t think that she had said anything funny.
“So I think Darla’s going to get a muffin, and then my mother volunteered to show her anything else in town that she wanted to see. I was hoping that you’d be free to grab a Christmas tree. It’ll be nice to be able to have it up so we can decorate it the day after Thanksgiving.”
“Sure,” she said before she could think about it and decline.
She appreciated the fact that he must have called his mom to rescue him, and maybe she couldn’t make it until just now, or maybe he felt like he needed to do a little bit of his duty before he had his mom take over.
Still, whatever it was, it was obvious he was trying, and despite the little pain in her heart, she needed to meet him halfway.
Or maybe more. It felt like more, but regardless, she wasn’t going to be unkind just because she hurt.
“You’re going to decorate a tree together? Do you…live together?” Darla said. The question held surprise. Or maybe it was Darla’s way of acting like she wasn’t prying.
“I bought Summer’s farm, and I asked Summer to move back in. She does her horse therapy business from the stables, and my children love her, and…so do I.”
He had hesitated, but then he had admitted, in front of Darla, that he loved her. Maybe he just meant as a friend. It could definitely be construed that way, but at least he was defending her.
“Interesting. Well, small-town values are the same as values in DC.” She lifted her shoulder, as though there was something wrong with them, and then walked back over to the cash register.
“Our muffins are ready.” Her words were short and clipped where they weren’t before.
“Sorry,” she mouthed softly, knowing that Gilbert being nice to her had made Darla upset.
He shook his head. “You are the most important.”
She gave a wan smile, because she appreciated the sentiment, and he had been kind to her, allowing Darla to be offended, but…it still hurt a little.
He walked away, and she turned back to the bunch of containers she was only half done stacking.
She acted like a junior high girl who didn’t yet know how to get around in society. She wished she could go back and do it better.
I’m sorry, Lord. I flunked that test.
She felt like maybe God was not upset with her. That sometimes people just had to do things a couple of times before they got it right, and she could have done a lot worse.
Gilbert and Darla left the store, with Gilbert looking behind him once at her. She could see his reflection in the glass behind the counter that separated the counter area from the office.
She didn’t turn around, but she liked the fact that he was looking anyway.
Not too long after that, his mom pulled up to the bench where they had sat back down, eating their muffins and drinking their coffee, and the three of them talked for a bit before Darla got in his mom’s car and rode away.
By that time, Summer was finished stacking the containers, and she was just killing time until Darla left.
She needed to apologize to Gilbert.