Chapter 6
CHAPTER 6
MATTHEW
I spot Tandy’s car as soon as I round the corner. When Zach invited me, I accepted because my grandson makes one heck of a brisket. Tandy’s presence is just a huge bonus.
The whole town knows Tandy avoids me. Well, she’s made it obvious, and before now, I’ve mostly stayed out of her way. Not anymore.
Having people mad at me makes sleeping peacefully impossible. And at my age, I need all the beauty sleep I can get.
My grandson Eli meets me at the front door. “Granddad, hi, you made it.” He gives me a hug and whispers, “Just a warning. Tandy is here. Cami invited her. Don’t blame me.”
I pat his back. “Thanks for letting me know.”
Genetics is not my area of expertise, but I take pride in having two handsome grandsons who look a lot like me. And not just because of our green eyes. And I love that they look out for me and choose to include me when they have backyard get-togethers. But my grandsons don’t know the reason Tandy won’t speak to me. In fact, only Tandy and I know about that. And I’m fuzzy on why she’s still mad after all this time. Maybe she’s told someone else. But I doubt it. It was embarrassing for me, so I hope not.
After scanning the living room and not seeing Tandy, I snag a beer from the cooler and slip out the back door. She’s leaning against the wall, watching the littles play.
I ease up beside her and tip my bottle in greeting. There is no marker board here today, so it’s an opportunity to push a few buttons and get her to use her voice. I start with something I know she won’t ignore. Since offering candy hasn’t gotten me conversation, I’m trying a different tactic. I nod toward the guys playing with their children. “They’re all happily married. You’ll have to find someone else to play cougar with.”
She mutters a bad word.
After biting back a laugh, I touch a finger to my lips. “You don’t want the little ones hearing that kind of talk.”
“Shut up.” She points a finger at my nose, a warning flashing in her eyes. It’s clear she’s unhappy about giving up the silent treatment.
“Since we—well, you—haven’t chatted in a while, I thought I’d say hello and make conversation. You know, the kind where both of us talk.”
“A while? It’s been decades.” She folds her arms and blows out a frustrated breath.
“I know how long it’s been, Tandy.” Back then, it took me a long while before I wasn’t spending every waking minute thinking about her, but I moved on. Eventually. Now that she’s back, the memories are too.
“I talked. Do you feel better now?”
“Not yet.” I tipped my cowboy hat. “Nice to see you.”
“You saw me yesterday and the day before that.” She takes a sip of her wine cooler. “What do you want, Matthew?”
I’m taking a risk with my honesty, but nothing ventured; nothing gained. “I miss you.”
She snaps her head around and stares at me. “When you crawled out that window, you crushed me. I was humiliated. And you have the audacity to say that you miss me? What about Catherine?” Her chest heaves, and she shifts the grip on her bottle.
This is not the reaction I expected. And I certainly didn’t think my late wife would be part of the conversation.
“I miss her too. We were married for a long time, and for ages after she died, it was hard to force myself out of bed in the morning. But it’s possible to miss more than one person, I think. And if people knew what happened with us in my bedroom that night so long ago, it would be me that they’d laugh at. Not you. And I never meant to humiliate you. You just surprised me.”
Caught up in our heated whispers, I don’t see Jeremy, one of my great-grandsons, until he’s tugging on my pant leg.
“Well, hello there, fella.” I scoop him up, and he grins while eyeing Tandy. “Jeremy, this is Miss Tandy. Can you say hello?”
The little tike isn’t even two yet, so his words are limited, but he wiggles his chubby fingers. “Hi.” Then he turns and meets my gaze. “Grampy, ball.”
“Okay, buddy. We can play with the ball.” I lean close to Tandy. “I’d like to resume this conversation later. But in the meantime, please know that I’m sorry I made you feel that way.”
She shrugs. “Life worked out like it was meant to. You have a nice family.”
“You promise that you won’t go back to ignoring me?” I hate walking away now, but I have Grampy duties.
Jeremy isn’t the patient sort. He’s patting my cheek and pointing at the ball in the yard.
“Go play with your grandson.” Then she smirks.
The woman is toying with me, which is the Tandy I knew.
“Nice chatting with you. Finally .” I wink, then hurry away before she decides to swat me.
Jeremy and I find Josh, and we toss the ball around. Mostly, I toss the ball, and they giggle while they chase it. It seems like only yesterday I was tossing the ball to Zach and then Eli. Now those little boys are all grown up and have families of their own. Time is weird.
This is what happens when you marry young and live into your seventies.
Another little boy joins our game, and when I drop to my knees, pretending to be hurt, all three boys climb on top of me. I’m thankful to be healthy enough to play like this with these guys.
Trixie, my only granddaughter, isn’t much for rough and tumble play. Not surprising since she isn’t even walking yet.
Zach strolls out into the grass and scoops up his boys. “Time to eat. You need to get off Grampy.”
Laughing, they wiggle down, then run toward Haley, who is waiting near the back door.
And the other little guy follows.
Zach calls after him. “Aiden, your mommy and daddy are inside.” Then he turns to me. “I saw you talking to Tandy. Is everything okay? It looked like a tense conversation.”
“All good. Long ago, before I met your grandma, Tandy and I dated for a few years in high school. We had a rough split, and I was just smoothing things over.”
“You sure? Because her expression made it look like you were stirring things up.” He flashes that Gallagher smile. “But Cami will be excited.”
“Cami? Why is that?” I know the name, but I can’t say I know her well.
“She’s been telling Haley that you and Tandy belong together. Laughable, huh?”
I nod, but this tidbit has me intrigued. Did Tandy say something to Cami to make her think that? When I embarked on my quest to get Tandy to speak to me, it was just so that we could be friends again.
But if she’s talking about me to others, maybe there’s hope for more. There’s no denying that Tandy was my first love. What are the odds we can rekindle that?
There’s no sense in both of us spending our golden years lonely.
On Tuesday, I show up to Tandy’s ten minutes earlier than I did on Monday. And I have my candy bag and a box of donuts with me.
Tandy opens the door before I knock and props a fist on her hip. “You need to stop bringing donuts every morning.”
“Why? Are you watching your figure? I can watch it for you.” I wiggle my eyebrows, which draws a smile out of her.
“You’re impossible. Did you remember to bring your cup?”
“Nope.” I set the goodies on the dining room table.
She hands me a mug that has Shakespearean insults written all over it. And it’s filled to the brim with coffee. “Good thing I got one for you.”
“Thanks. Should we resume that conversation now? Or do I need to wait until you’ve had more coffee? And two or three donuts.”
“I’d rather we never speak of that night again. It’s in the past. Let’s leave it there.”
“But you forgive me?”
After grabbing a donut, she sips her coffee. “Didn’t say that.”
“But we’re friends again?”
“Sure.” She takes a bite, staring at me the whole time.
Silence drags out as we eat our donuts.
“It was nice to see you at the barbecue. It’s fun watching all those young couples and their children.” I pull out a chair and motion for her to sit down.
Tandy takes a seat, then looks up at me. “I love watching people in love. It inspires my stories and my new project.”
“Can’t say I’ve read your books. Maybe I should pick one up.” I ease into the chair beside her.
She shakes her head. “Nope. I think that would be a bad idea. All the scummy guys are named Matthew.”
“Ouch.” I lean forward and study her face.
Her brown eyes still have that same fire that attracted me so long ago. Wrinkles frame her eyes and mouth, a reminder of the years that have passed.
“Tell me about your new project. Does it have anything to do with the renovations?”
“It does.” She shifts, like she’s excited. “I bought a ranch.”
“You what?” I’m not sure what I expected her to say, but this isn’t even close. “A ranch? Like with cows?”
“Yes. Well, eventually. I hired a young guy?—”
“The one you were having dinner with the other night?” I happened to see her at the barbecue place with a young guy, and I’ve been curious about him.
Her lips curl into a rather devious smile. “Matthew Gallagher, have you been following me?”
“I have not. But if you didn’t want the entire town to see you with your new fling, you shouldn’t have dined at the barbecue place where everyone eats.”
Those expressive brown eyes make it clear that she wants me eight feet under. She stands, leans in close, and whispers, “You sound jealous, Mr. Gallagher.” Then she walks away, her hips swaying from side to side.
Tandy really hasn’t changed that much. She’s still spunky.