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ELIZABETH
“My phone keeps buzzing. I think that ClickandWed app is trying to kill me. Is yours still setting off notifications for you to do the Steps with all kinds of end-of-the-world warnings?” Tyler walked in the front door with his phone in his hand. He searched for me and found me on the steps.
Following the directions he had texted me, I had put on a pair of cargo pants and a T-shirt with tennis shoes. I had no idea what was going on, but that’s what he told me to do before he got home, so I did it.
He studied me up and down and smiled. “Good. I’m glad you did what I said. Give me a few minutes to change and we’ll get started. Check your app and see if yours is having a seizure, too.” He shook his head as he climbed the stairs.
I called up after him. “No, I deleted the app. What’s the point, right?” Nothing that we had done had been what ClickandWed had wanted us to do. Even now I didn’t trust that we were both trying.
So, he brought me some flowers and candy and made me dinner a few nights. It would take more than that to convince me he wanted me to stay.
I stood and ambled over to lean against the doorframe. The California sunsets were getting to me. I wouldn’t be able to leave even if I was told to.
He trotted down the steps and came up behind me. “Are you ready? Because your first clue is ‘Roman columns.’”
I turned, startled, quirking my head his direction like I couldn’t hear him. “Clue? What is this?”
“I set up a scavenger hunt for you. ClickandWed had the right idea of us getting to know each other but we haven’t been on its timeframe. I thought maybe something like this would help us catch up.” He wore khaki cargo shorts and a camouflage T-shirt. I hadn’t seen him in such casual clothing since I’d moved in. The sight of muscular shoulders and bulging biceps beneath the sleeve line had me rethinking my whole protecting my heart thing.
“Roman columns?” I thought for a second and snapped my fingers. “The gazebo.”
“I’ll drive.” He grabbed my fingers and pulled me along behind him.
I don’t know if I was more excited that he touched me or that I was going to get to do a scavenger hunt. I had never done one before and I’d always wanted to.
We pulled up to the park and almost skipped our way to the gazebo. Tied to a post on the railing, a small pink gift bag swung in the soft breeze. I glanced at Tyler and giddily removed it, wrinkling my nose. “Can I open it now?”
He nodded, watching me.
Carefully, I untied the knot of pink ribbon and reached inside the three-inch wide bag. I pulled out an apple fritter that was still slightly warm. The smell assaulted my senses and I looked at him for explanation.
He reached out and tore the donut in half, giving me half and taking a bite of his half. “This is a ‘getting to know you’ scavenger hunt. These are my favorite donuts. They were my dad’s favorite when I was growing up. We used to get these before we would go fishing, and before doing anything else. There’s a little donut shop down the street and this is where we would get them from. What’s your favorite donut?” He licked his fingers as he polished off his half.
I took a bite and close my eyes. “Apple fritters are my favorite, too. My grandpa used to have a box of them in the shop when I would help. How funny that these are both our favorites.”
“Look at us, we have something in common. Careful, Lizzie, you might not be able to protect yourself for too much longer.” He winked at me and nodded toward the bag. “There’s another clue, but it’s on the bottom of the bag.”
I finished the donut and peeked at the bottom of the bag. The logo to a hardware store topped the receipt taped to the bottom. It was folded so nothing but the logo was readable. “There’s a receipt here. Are we supposed to go to this place?”
“Let’s check it out.” Tyler grabbed my hand and away we went again.
My excitement mounted and I couldn’t wait to go with him to a hardware store.
In no time, we reached the shop and it was like a candy store for kids.
I breathed in the smell of sawdust and grease mingled with air freshener. It was a smell that was universal around the world. All tools smelled the same along with oil.
“Okay, now what?” I looked at him in the car, my excitement keeping me from protecting myself too much. He was breaking through my shields and I didn’t resent it. I enjoyed his attempts.
“Go inside, find out.” He hopped out of the car and came around to my side, opening the door for me.
I was nervous. I was never nervous going into hardware stores. We walked in together and I offered the gift bag to the first person I saw with a nametag. “Do you know what I’m supposed to do with this?”
The older gentleman in a red vest turned the bag around and untaped the receipt. His eyes widened, and he smiled. “We just got this in. You’ll find it in the back, at will call. Just follow the line there all the way to the back.”
Tyler took the receipt so I couldn’t peek. He walked along beside me as we wended our way through the aisles. “My stomach is nervous. I’m a little too excited for this. What did you do?”
“You don’t strike me as the type of girl who likes jewelry. So, instead of getting you a necklace or bracelet, I chose this. I hope you don’t mind, but I had to go through your garage a bit and make a list. I can’t carry this gift in my pocket.” The last part was sardonic and served with a side smile.
“Has anyone ever told you how handsome you are?” Heat flushed my cheeks at my blurted compliment, but I said it, and I meant it. I wasn’t going to take it back.
“Not that meant anything.” He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me close, as we walked.
Back at will call, Tyler produced the receipt and handed it across to the gentleman standing there at the counter.
The man’s eyebrows lifted and he glanced from Tyler to me. “Nice one. Says here it’s a gift. From whom to whom?”
Tyler lifted his hand. “From me to her. I wouldn’t know the first thing to do with that.” He was comfortable laughing at himself and it made him so adorable.
“It’s okay, man. You’re not the first one. We get a lot of ladies in here who know more about tools than their guys. Nothing wrong with that.” He turned and pushed a button and spoke into the intercom. He then turned back to us and smiled. “I’ll have the product up here in a second for you to look at it. Then we’ll deliver it this weekend, if that’s okay? It’s the earliest availability in the schedule.”
Tyler nodded, squeezing my hand in his fingers. “That will work perfectly.”
As surrounded as I was by the tools of my trade, I couldn’t help but wish he’d given me some kind of jewelry... a ring would’ve been nice.
I snapped myself out of that longing.
In no time, another man in a vest wheeled in a dolly loaded with a Jet drill press taller than me. I covered my mouth with my hands and stared. The press was one of the last things I had left to get.
I wasn’t a huge woodworker, so wouldn’t need a planer but the drill press would help a lot. His research astounded me.
He leaned over to me and whispered, “Did I do well?”
I spun and looked at him, my hand still over my mouth. “Yes! It’s amazing. You didn’t have to do that.” I couldn’t believe what he’d done. He saw me. He truly saw me.
Guilt swamped me that he was being so good to me and I continued lying to him.
Tyler inclined his head. “Trust me, this was easier to get than jewelry. There’s only good, better, best in these types of situations. In jewelry, there’s cut, clarity, and all the other Cs I don’t really care about.” He laughed softly.
We left the store. I couldn’t imagine it getting any better. If only I could squash my guilt over the lies. He wanted to spoil me and I didn’t deserve it.
I stepped off the curb and fell, stumbling against the car. I twisted my ankle and called out.
Tyler rushed to my side. “Are you okay? Let’s cut this short. We can go back so you can rest.”
“I’m sorry. I can try to walk on it.” The pain hurt, but not enough to keep me from finishing the night. “I’m sure it’s fine. Thank you.”
“It’s okay. We really were going to get pizza next. I tried getting complex and I realized I was hungrier than anything. That’s why I think I started with the donut.” He glanced at me sheepishly. “Was it a stupid scavenger hunt?”
I shook my head, giggling. “I’m so glad that’s all it was. Can we just ask each other questions and get to know each other? It was so fun, but I’m a little self-conscious about stuff like this. Plus, I’m starving, too. I’m very overwhelmed by the generosity of your gift. It was very romantic.” I widened my eyes and nodded my head suggestively.
He laughed. “Let’s go. The pizza isn’t going to walk to our place.”
Our place. It sounded nicer than I’d thought.
We opted for carryout, and when we got back to the house Tyler took it inside.
I pointed toward the garage and tried not to limp too badly. “I’m going to run into the garage really quick, I’ll be right back. Meet you inside?” I had forgotten to forward my business line to my cell phone and I needed to check messages before the day was completely over.
On my way to the garage door, Ronald called out to me from his gate.
I turned, and in mid-stride motioned toward the door. “Come with me into the garage. I’ve got to check the calendar and do a couple things. I’m late to having pizza with Tyler.”
Ronald opened the gate and joined me. He walked inside and leaned against the counter. “The boys are done with the jobs you gave them. Did you want them to do anything else or should I just let them know that you don’t need anything?”
I checked the calendar and with only two weeks left, my stomach twisted tighter. “In two weeks I have the job over at Mrs. Waddell’s. If they’re interested, I’d be happy to offer them that job. They did a great job here. Can you find out if that will work? If so, let them know I’m going to be offering a bonus when they do jobs like this. I’ll have their bonuses ready for them tomorrow for this one.”
Per my agreement with Ronald, I would also be paying him for helping me manage the boys and with the marketing.
At the door, I thanked him for his help and leaned over to give him a hug. Heat flushed his cheeks, and he smiled. “My pleasure.” He disappeared back inside his fence. I locked up the garage. There were too many things worth a lot of money in there to just be blasé about keeping it locked anymore.
Climbing up the steps, I let myself in the backdoor. Tyler must’ve unlocked it for me.
I closed the door and smiled at the night we’d had. We were going to keep going with the pizza. I was so excited.
The House Doctor business was coming along lovely and I could really be proud of it. If only its origins and current operations weren’t masked and shadowed with lies, I might actually be able to relish the growing success.
“That looked pretty intense. I thought you and Ronald weren’t seeing each other?” Tyler stood at the kitchen window, kind of hid him from my view by the cabinet on the wall.
“Oh, we’re not seeing each other. He’s just a friend. I had promised him I was going to support him at the market this weekend. He invited us to go. I was just giving him a hug for thanks.” I couldn’t tell Tyler that my husband was the one I wanted. Couldn’t tell him that all of my thoughts were around him and I lost sleep thinking about him.
I don’t know why I was having such a hard time disclosing my feelings when normally I just blurted them out. Maybe because these words actually counted.
“Would you like to go with me? Maybe we could get some bread and some fresh jam and have it for breakfast?” Would he turn me down? Did he suspect something? He’d never forgive me, if he knew.
He rounded the counter and took my hands in his as we faced each other. “I would love to. Thanks for inviting me. And thank you for going with me tonight. It was fun.” We were frozen in a moment of time that I never wanted to leave.
As if drawn by a magnet, we leaned into each other and Tyler softly placed his lips to my nose. Then he moved and kissed my eyelids one after the other, drawing out the lingering touch slower and slower.
As I lifted my chin, with the softness of a butterfly’s wings, he placed his lips on mine. We both sharply inhaled and after a space of time we pressed closer together and kissed deeply.
And, hot dang, if my heart didn’t pound a little bit faster and my skin get a little warmer. Maybe this crush wasn’t just a crush anymore.
