Chapter 14
Ellyn
“I’m so glad we finally got a chance to have lunch together this week,” Wanda says as the hostess of the Texas BBQ place shows us to our seats.
Wanda had something come up the week before, which meant she had to postpone the lunch date we’d scheduled.
“How is Tom feeling?” I ask.
Wanda rolls her eyes as she takes her seat in the booth across from me. “Threw out his back again,” she says. “He’s better now, but still sore. I keep telling him to take his butt back to the physical therapist.”
“She really helped him with his pain last time, right?”
“She did, but he got lazy and stopped doing the exercises she taught him. Maybe he needs to hire a trainer. It always motivates him when he spends money on something.” She chuckles. “Oh, I think I just figured out his Christmas gift.”
I laugh. “You can’t give that man physical therapy sessions as a Christmas gift.”
“Why not?” She gives me a sideways glance. “It’s practical. Something he needs, and honestly, in the long run, it’ll cost us less money. At the rate he’s going, if he keeps this up, he’ll end up needing surgery if he further injures his back.
“Who knows what recovery from that will be.”
I shiver at the thought. “I’m so glad I didn’t end up needing surgery from my fall. I got off easy.”
“Still, you need to be careful. You got lucky that fine neighbor of yours was around to help you out.”
I know I don’t hide the blush that fills my cheeks when Wanda brings up Joel.
“What’s his name again?”
“Joel,” I answer. “And I know you already knew that.”
She giggles, covering her mouth at the same time our waitress comes to our table for our orders.
We start off with a couple of diet colas and then order a side of string beans, steamed cabbage, mashed potatoes, and an order of beef brisket to share.
“I did,” she admits. “I just wanted to see your face when you said his name.”
I raise an eyebrow.
She shrugs. “You got the look.”
“What look?”
My best friend gives me a conspiratorial grin. “Has it been that long since you’ve actually been in love?”
“In what?”
“You heard me,” she says before taking a casual sip of her soda.
“I’m not in love. We haven’t even gone on our first date.”
“But you are going this weekend.” She leans in. “Have you decided what you’re going to wear?”
Wanda knows my buttons because I immediately launch into the rundown of the outfit I’ve decided on for my date with Joel.
“We’re going dancing afterwards, so I wanted something that I could move in,” I tell her while holding up a picture of the long, white and floral printed pleated dress that I plan to wear.
“That’s beautiful. You’ll definitely be able to move in that,” Wanda agrees. “How do you plan to style your hair?”
“Probably an updo. I look best in updos with a deep V-neck cut like this.” I point to the dress’ plunging neckline.
“In all honesty, I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen you this excited for a date. Even when you were married to that brother of mine, and he deigned to take you out on a date night, you were happy or going through the motions, but your eyes never sparkled like they are now.”
The return of our waitress with our food gives me time to think about my response. I’d never taken the time to notice it before, but Wanda’s right. In the last few years of my marriage, Rick and I never dated much, not unless it was a business meeting and he needed me to help him look good.
Even the men I’ve dated since getting divorced—though all nice and, at times, fun—didn’t make me feel like a woman with her first crush.
“Rick barely wanted to go out anywhere,” I tell Wanda. “Sometime in the last decade of our marriage we stopped courting.” I shrug. “No, that’s not the truth, we never really ever courted.
“With Joel, it feels different. Natural, somehow.” I lean into the table. “It almost feels like I was destined to move next door to him, and he was supposed to save me that day. So we could get to know one another.”
“Aww,” Wanda cocks her head to the side, “that’s so cute,” she squeals.
“Shut up,” I tease.
“No, really. That is the most adorable thing I’ve heard in a long time.”
I cut into my portion of brisket and scoop a forkful into my mouth.
“I’m so glad you moved to Texas. I knew it would be the fresh start you needed. All that talk you were saying a few years ago about never dating again.”
“I meant it when I said it.” I chuckle along with Wanda. By the time I left Rick, I thought I was through with dating and men in general. I just wanted my freedom.
“Especially not after everything I found out during our divorce. Finding out how much he’d lied to me throughout our marriage.” I tsk and shake my head.
“I never want to go through that again.”
Wanda nods along while wiping her mouth with a napkin. “I hear you. I don’t have to tell you again, but the amount of times I cursed my brother out for all of that BS is probably a record.”
We laugh.
Wanda stopped talking to Rick for almost two years while we were going through our separation and subsequent divorce.
“But I am glad you made it back to dating,” she says.
“Honestly, me too. The past few years have given me time to not only live alone but to find myself again. I have a career that I never could have imagined for myself, hobbies that I enjoy, and now …”
“New love?”
I toss one of my napkins at Wanda.
“A new love for myself,” I emphasize. “I appreciate who I am and what I have to offer. No matter who I end up with, I’m not ever going to shrink who I am again just to fit a man’s ego. Especially when he’s not reciprocating.”
“I’ll cheers to that.” She holds up her half finished diet soda.
I do the same, and we clink glasses before laughing and taking a sip.
Wanda and I talk more about life and the happenings around Harlington. She brings up the Harlington horse ride and Christmas light show that’s happening in a couple of weeks.
The show will run all the way until New Year’s.
“I think a few of Joel’s horses will be a part of the festival,” she says. “Along with a few of the other ranchers from the area.”
“That’s sweet.”
“Yeah, the kids loved it growing up,” Wanda adds. “You know Josiah is trying to buy a ranch. His father and I gave him some seed money and he’s working on investors now.”
“I think Meghan told me that.”
Josiah is Wanda and Tom’s oldest son.
“He wanted us to keep it to ourselves for a while until he was certain, but I think he’s getting more comfortable talking about it now that it looks like it’s going to happen.”
“I’ll have to tell him his Aunt Ellyn is good for some investment money,” I say.
“He’s too damn proud to ask.” She rolls her eyes. “Just like his daddy.”
“Which is why I want to support him even more.” Times like this is why I’m grateful to have my own career and a paid off home. I can give my nephew a check to help support this dream without having to consult a spouse or anyone else.
“Oh, I wanted to ask,” Wanda begins, “are you still thinking about Pilates instruction?”
I nod. “I was looking up training programs just yesterday. Since my fall, I’ve become even more grateful to Pilates, and you of course. The doctors say my injuries could’ve been a lot worse if I hadn't been in as good of shape as I am.”
“I know a few programs I can tell you about for training. Once I get fully certified, I’ll be able to train myself.”
“Are you planning to offer instructor training at the studio?” I ask as we stand to head to the register to pay for our lunch.
“At some point.” She bumps my hip as I hand the clerk cash for our meal. Wanda and I alternate who pays when we go out to eat together. “Maybe once someone gets her qualification, I’ll finally have an instructor who can help me with that.”
“Possibly.”
We exit the restaurant, and Wanda points in the direction of a department store that she’d like to go in and check out.
“I’d like to take a look at the new Christmas items they might have,” I say without thinking.
Wanda stops and looks at me.
“What?”
“What happened to ‘Ms. I’m done decorating for the holidays’?”
I clear my throat and lift my chin, looking away. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
She wraps her arm around mine, giggling. “It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with a certain silver-haired rancher who’s won Harlington’s Christmas decorating competition three years running, could it?”
“Who?”
She pokes me in the side. “Yeah, right.”
We both crack up laughing.