Chapter 11
“You look like you could use a nap.” Cady-Jo came to a halt beside me where I stood looking at paint samples in the town’s one and only hardware store.
I laughed because she wasn’t wrong. “It’s been a long few days.”
Was there another word for understatement that meant understatement but worse? ‘Cause if there was, you’d find my life in pictures right beside it in the dictionary. It didn’t mean everything that happened was bad. In fact, a lot of it was startlingly good, which made me wary. It was just a lot.
Ty dropping the surprise of coaching on me wasn’t so much the issue as the fact that, apparently, at some point, my son had confided in him that he didn’t like being called Lachlan.
No, he tolerated it for my sake. After having a little heart-to-heart with my wayward child when I tucked him into bed, which again was something he tolerated for me, I had decided to give in.
I wasn’t upset he wanted to be called Lock.
Thanks, Alex. It was the reason he told Ty, a man he’d only known for the better part of two weeks, instead of me.
And okay, it had been a pretty crazy two weeks with Ty being shockingly good about chatting with Lock whenever he wanted. Still, I was his mom.
Clearly, I had some work to do if my son thought he had to keep things a secret from me to make me happy. He’d told me he did it because he wanted me to be happy and I’d been sad for so long.
I cursed Jeremy to hell and back for that and then myself for good measure.
I’d thought I’d had a pretty good handle on how I was feeling, but I needed to remember that Lock wasn’t a normal kid. I had to do better. And I would.
Then there was the phone call from Wade, who shocked the hell out of me by telling me one set of prints on the cocaine belonged to Jerome.
As in city inspector Jerome. There was currently a warrant out for his arrest, but he’d fled town already.
They still hadn’t identified the person who the other prints belonged to.
However, they had eliminated a whole bunch of people, including Rowdy.
I wasn’t actually worried about Rowdy’s prints being on the drugs. He’d worked on my roof and hadn’t even asked to see the basement, let alone done anything weird. I’d been the one to show him when I asked if he could give me a quote for the renovations I wanted.
Scarlette had dropped the information that I’d asked Rowdy for a quote for my larger renovations, having learned it from Lock.
Silence had descended until you could hear dust fall at her announcement. Ty was the first one to speak, almost demanding—or maybe I’d just imagined that—to know if I was going with Denton Renovation and why I wouldn’t go with Brockmann Construction?
I pointed out he hadn’t given me a quote, and I thought they only had time for my urgent issues, which I knew full well they were doing as a favor to Cady-Jo. I already felt guilty that I’d gummed up his time off; now, with the baseball coaching…I wasn’t going to impose anymore.
“It’s not an imposition.” Ty crossed his large arms over his chest. “I’ll have a quote to you by the end of tomorrow.”
When I went to argue, Scarlette just shook her head, swallowing the spaghetti I’d made for dinner.
“Don’t bother. Ty has his ‘I’m serious’ face on.
You won’t win.” She twirled more spaghetti on her fork, shoving it into her mouth.
“Anyway, Rowdy is okay for a grown-up…mainly because he can play ball—” Did I mention pretty much everything came down to baseball with this kid?
“—still, he bailed on Mrs. Jenkin’s last month, and I heard him say he hates doing renos. ”
She then relayed a whole bunch of things none of the adults knew.
The Maplehurst gossip mill had nothing on this kid.
By the time I crawled into bed, I had a good cry because there was only so much peopling I could handle and I’d had to keep it together with a lot of people for most of the day.
Okay, so I may have had an extended bathroom break for ten minutes when we’d gotten home from my house to wait for the chief of police.
Helen showed up (the Maplehurst gossip train had been speeding down the track) and drove me while Ty and everyone else stayed at the Drugged-Out Murder Manor.
I only emerged once I could stand without feeling like I was going to pass out.
Everything went at warp speed after that.
Ty gave me a quote, which was light-years better than Rowdy’s.
Rowdy confessed he was glad Brockmann Construction was willing to do the work.
Scarlette was right; he didn’t want to do renos anymore.
Still, I found I liked the young man, and given he’d gone to the trouble to do the drawings I asked for, I insisted on buying him lunch.
We were two days away from being able to move back into the Murder Manor, Lock was due for his first baseball game at the end of the week, and I wasn’t sure I’d slept since this whole nightmare began.
“A night at Louise’s is not what I’d call ‘restful.’” Cady-Jo grinned.
“It’s not so bad.” I was still careful with what I said. These women were still new to me, and I didn’t want to offend anyone by accident.
“Oh, please.” Cady-Jo patted my arm. “Between her snoring, the kids snoring, and then her getting up before God decides to grace us with the sun? It’s a miracle anyone ever gets sleep there.”
She wasn’t wrong about that.
Chuckling, I swapped out a mauve paint sample for a darker green/blue one. “I don’t mind.” Well, I did, but it was ungrateful to complain when someone did something nice for you.
“You’re a better woman than I am, and I’m her cousin!” She looked at the sample in my hand. “Is that for your living room?”
“I was thinking about it.” I grabbed a moss green sample, adding it to my collection. “I want something soothing and calm, but I can never decide which color I like best.”
“It’s a tough choice,” Cady-Jo agreed. “Speaking of choices…”
I lifted my head curiously.
“Did you decide if you’re going with Brockmann Construction?”
Oh, that. “I wasn’t going to.” Then I rushed to explain.
“Not because I’m not profoundly grateful to you, Ty, and Dalton for what you’ve done.
I just feel horrible that this put everyone out.
I’m—” I hesitated then told myself to suck it up.
New Phoebe was in the house. “I’m just not used to people wanting to help, if that makes sense?
Atlanta is so different. It’s almost like Game of Thrones sometimes, everyone out for themselves.
But Ty and Dalton convinced me it was something they really wanted to do. ”
Ty’s face, which I can only describe as giddy, came to mind. He’d been walking me through what he thought should be done, the way he could restore this or restore that, and it was hard not to agree when someone’s excitement was that infectious.
Cady-Jo put a hand on my shoulder, her face a visage of understanding. Thank God. “I get it. I truly do. Especially after what happened with your ex, trust is a difficult thing to give to anyone.”
And she knew just how difficult. It would have been funny if it weren’t so tragic how similar our lives had been in some of the most crucial ways.
“But you have friends here now. And we’re always happy to help.” Why did I tear up hearing that? “So do I take this to mean you’re going with Brockmann Construction?”
I nodded, unable to speak for a moment. Friends. I had friends who wanted to help me here. It wasn’t like I didn’t have friends who wanted to help me back in Atlanta. I did. And they were less hard on my blood pressure than Alex, but something about this felt so different.
“Fantastic. I didn’t want to say anything because I didn’t want to influence you. You know, ‘I got my son to help you, so give his company business.’”
I nodded, laughing.
“Given you’ve decided, I can tell you Ty’s dreamed of renovating that place for years. I thought he might buy the place himself at one point…er…”
Well, that made me feel a whole lot better, and maybe worse, too? “Why didn’t he?” Ah, hell. I could have smacked myself in the face. “That’s private. Pretend I didn’t ask.”
I grabbed another paint sample without looking then grimaced, putting it back.
“He actually tried.” Cady-Jo reached over and grabbed a deep, rich blue sample, offering it to me. “Mr. Winterbourne said he’d know when the right person came along. He said if that person didn’t come along while he was still alive, he’d leave Ty the house in his will.”
He did? Mr. Winterbourne hadn’t told me that when I visited him. I liked the older man and didn’t like how alone he was, so I’d taken to visiting him once a week.
“Oh, darn!” She looked at her watch. “I’m supposed to meet Helen and Louise for coffee. Are you going to come?”
My mind was reeling from the new information. It actually made me glad I went with Brockmann Construction, even though I had to wonder how Ty felt working on the house he’d wanted to own.
“Huh? Come?” She asked me to go somewhere?
“To coffee with Louise and Helen?”
Oh. “I don’t want to impose.”
Cady-Jo stopped dead only to put both hands on my shoulders.
“Phoebe. You are not imposing. We want to be your friends. We want to include you. Yes, you’re new, and we still have a lot to get to know about one another, but we can tell that you’re good people.
And we’re pretty awesome people, so we’d like you to join us. ”
And that is how I ended up at Maple Mornings café with my friends.
We laughed for what felt like hours. Alex, being the unpredictable hurricane that she was, came blowing into town and joined us.
By the time the day had ended, we all agreed to have dinner at Cady-Jo’s after picking the kids up at school.
Alex and I were the last to arrive. I’d made some chocolate chip cookie dough earlier and wanted to bake it off for dessert. I also needed to find out why Alex’s face looked pinched. Not that I had to really guess hard. Preston.
“That’s great, Lock. Now, widen your grip an inch.”
Lock did as he was instructed, his feet planted apart, the bat held steady.
“Great. Now, Scarlette, remember we don’t want a head injury,” Ty instructed his sister, who gave a solemn nod. She lifted her foot and then threw the ball at Lock, who swung as hard as he could and missed. For the thirty-first time. And no, I wasn’t exaggerating that number.
I winced when Ty sucked in a breath, already on my feet.
“I’m sorry!” Lock cried, closing in on himself. Another Jeremy reaction, making me want to take that bat to my ex. “I shouldn’t do this.”
“It’s okay, pal.” Ty moved over to him, hunkering down so he was on Lock’s level, and I stopped at the bottom step of the patio. “I know this is frustrating. You are improving. I can see it every time you swing the bat. You’re getting closer.”
“You really are.” Scarlette abandoned her spot on the makeshift pitcher’s mound. “You can’t help that I’m an excellent pitcher.”
My lips twitched, and Lock rolled his eyes at the same time Ty pinched the bridge of his nose.
Ty must have seen the hesitation in Lock.
“Listen, how many times did the Wright brothers have to try to fly before they did? We don’t know.
All we know is that they flew and changed history.
But I’m betting they failed hundreds of times first. Each time they failed, they tried again because they believed in themselves and in what they could do.
I believe in you. Your mom believes in you.
Your aunt Alex believing in you should frighten you—”
“Hey!” Alex cried in outrage while the others sitting with her laughed, earning them a lecture on how awesome she was.
When Lock smiled genuinely, I knew why Ty had done it. I sat down on the bottom step.
“—now all you need to do is believe in you. We’ve all failed. Heck, I fail all the time. It’s okay. The only real failure you can ever have in life is giving up.”
Lock hefted the bat over his shoulders. “Let’s do this!”
It took Lock eleven more tries, and then he hit the ball so hard Scarlette had to dive down or get taken out.
When Ty high-fived him and reminded him that head injuries were not fun, Lock beamed.
A tear slid down my cheek, and I barely noticed Alex sitting down beside me. Now, if you thought Lock would acknowledge my presence or even ask me if I was proud of him, you don’t know my son. Instead, he got right back into batting position and demanded to try again.
Blinking back the tears, I wiped away the lone tear, hoping no one noticed.
Unable to help myself, I sought Ty out, expecting him to be watching the next pitch. Instead, I found him looking at me with a grin of pride on his face. Pride in my son. In his perseverance.
“Hey! When do I get a turn!” Alex jumped up, making sure she interrupted the moment. “Now let Aunty Alex show you how it’s really done...”
“So that’s how it’s done, huh?” I pressed the ice pack against the side of her face five minutes later.
“Less talking, more icing!”