Chapter Thirty-two

You’re going to break something, boss.”

Stan straightened, set the crowbar down, pulled a rag out of his pocket to wipe his hands, and then stared at Jordan.

Part of him wanted to reprimand Jordan for insubordination, part of him wanted to tell Jordan that if he did break something, he would fix it; but the smarter part of him needed to tell Jordan that he was right. The workplace was no place to exorcise his frustration. If one of his employees did what he had just done, Stan would probably have written him up.

“You’re right. Thanks for pointing that out. Unless you just want me to be quiet so you can have a nap.”

Jordan grinned, and his eyes lost focus. Stan mentally kicked himself. If Jordan was going to bring out more baby pictures and tell more baby stories, it was time to get out.

“She’s sleeping better, and so are we.” Jordan’s smile widened, and he reached into his pocket for his cell phone. “Look at her little smile,” he muttered as he turned the phone to camera mode and started scrolling through his photos.

Stan’s phone picked that moment to ring. He checked the caller ID to see who it was, but he would have answered it even if it was his garbage collector.

It was Amber. “Sorry, dude. I have to take this.” He walked through the open bay door and into the middle of the parking lot to get away from the noise of Hank using the impact wrench. “Hey. What’s up?”

“I’m sorry to bother you, but I was wondering, what if someone calls and tells me they’ve got Gnorman in their yard? What do I say? What are we going to do?”

He honestly hadn’t thought that far in advance. “Go with the flow, I suppose, and do the same thing. We’ll go wherever he is and get the new note, but we’ll have to do a little convincing while we’re there.” He didn’t want to think that more people would be involved now that they’d pretty much figured out that it was the committee members. It would be interesting to see if Gnorman’s next journey would be to the yard of someone who was just a regular member. If so, then the scheme was much more far-reaching than he feared, and he didn’t know how he’d deal with that. He already had a hard enough time dealing with it. He’d simply assumed that Gnorman would go back to one of the same yards, and the circle would start again, not necessarily in the same order, just to keep them guessing.

“Okay. Just so we’re on the same page. I’ll call you the next time someone calls me, just the same as I did before. Thanks.”

Stan hit the End Call button and shoved the phone back in his pocket.

They weren’t on the same page at all.

He wanted exactly the same thing the committee wanted, and he had been getting there without their help, just not at the speed he wanted. He didn’t know why Amber was so slow to respond, or why she seemed to be fighting the changes in their relationship, but he had been making progress. It may have been three steps forward and two steps back, but it was still forward. He’d taken her on two dates, and he’d kissed her a few times, and she’d responded. Now, with the interference of his mother and her cohorts, when he kept on his current trajectory, he wouldn’t know if Amber’s responses were sincere or just playing the part.

He looked inside the shop, where everyone once again worked diligently.

Again, he wanted to go back in and hit something.

This might kill him, but he didn’t know what else to do, short of getting down on one knee, blurting out that he loved her, and asking her to marry him. He would do it in an instant if he thought she would realize he was serious and say yes. But knowing Amber, she wouldn’t just say no. She’d retreat. Not only did she have a nearly terminal fear of heights, she also had an intense fear of making the wrong decision. He’d never known someone who hated to take chances more than Amber. He didn’t know how she started up her business with a mind-set like that because many start-up businesses did fail. Yet she went with it, she worked seriously and diligently, and she still went with it, even in a tough economy.

He wished there was some way he could find out how to make her see things as he did.

He pulled out his phone and hit the speed dial for Amber’s number. “I have an idea, but I don’t want to talk about it over the phone. How about if I take you out for lunch? Jordan wouldn’t mind sitting in your store for an hour. It will give him a chance to sort the 200 baby pictures on his phone.”

“I don’t know . . .”

Stan gritted his teeth. He didn’t know why he was going to do this because it only showed how desperate he was. “I’ll take you to Caroline’s tearoom, The Pink Geranium.” Even the name of the place made him itch.

Amber gasped. “Really? You told me recently you’d never go there. Are you sure about this?”

Stan turned and watched Jordan, who had just cornered Mark with his latest new batch of photos. “Yeah, I’m sure. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

As expected, Jordan welcomed the chance to once again have an hour of paid time to sit in Amber’s store and play with his photos.

They arrived at the tearoom just before noon, just before the lunch rush, but the place was still fairly crowded, and most of the guests had gray hair.

Caroline was shocked at first to see them, then went all gushy and seated them at a cramped little table for two against the wall, right under a basket of pink geraniums. After they were seated, he switched napkins with Amber so she would have the pink one, and he could have the green one.

Caroline came back with menus and stood above them with her pencil poised over her notepad. “What kind of tea would you like? I just got a beautiful new fragrant Indian blend that’s just magnificent.” She turned to Stan. “I’ve got a peppermint tea that you’ll probably like.”

Stan looked down at the fragile little cup, painted with flowers and trimmed with swirls of gold. Amber’s cup had pictures of chickens and other farm animals on it.

He should have traded cups too.

He looked up at Caroline. “Just normal tea is good.”

Amber didn’t look at the menu, she knew what she wanted, and Stan said he’d have the same.

Surrounded by fine china and flowers and candles and delicate pretty things, he felt like an elephant in a gift store. It didn’t help that he was the only man in the place.

“Isn’t this lovely?” Amber said when Caroline left, nearly gushing.

“Yeah,” he mumbled, not quite sure why he thought this was such a great idea. One thing, though, the cuteness of the decor took the edge off his mood; he couldn’t stay angry in a place like this. Everything was breakable.

He also couldn’t concentrate. A few tables to the right were Libby and Pamela and Naomi, holding their teacups up in the air not using all their fingers, giggling at each other while they talked.

There was no way he could tell Amber what he wanted to with the troublesome trio so close to them, watching everything they did.

Just to rub it in, the three of them smiled and waved at them, so he and Amber smiled and waved back.

“Don’t look so glum,” Amber said to him. “Smile. This place is meant to lift the spirits.”

“I’m not glum.” He looked down into his teacup. Even the bottom of the cup had pictures of flowers. On the inside. “I guess you can’t put these in the dishwasher, can you?”

“Absolutely not.”

He couldn’t imagine a restaurant that would hand-wash this many dishes a day, but he guessed Caroline’s prices had to account for the extra labor. He didn’t know, since he hadn’t looked at the menu.

Amber managed to make him forget about Libby and Pamela and Naomi in the immediate vicinity by talking about the last ball game, although it was hard to get excited about sports surrounded by pink.

The food was as good as Amber told him it would be, which did a lot to soothe his savage stomach. The peach cobbler was also good, even better than his mother’s, and he made Amber promise never to tell his mother he’d said that.

In the time it took to eat a full lunch, including a salad, plus dessert and a second cup of tea each, Libby and Pamela and Naomi were still sitting there, giggling and yakking. Since both he and Amber had to get back to work, Stan didn’t stop to chat with the ladies; he only gave them a polite smile and kept walking. But he did make sure that when he walked by them, he held Amber’s hand.

As he walked by, he snuck a peek at them, all three of them staring back, poking each other and nodding their heads. And that made the whole embarrassing trip worthwhile.

He grinned at Amber as he tucked his wallet back into his pocket. “Jordan has probably used up the battery on his cell phone by now. I’m sure he’s anxious for us to get back.”