TWO
Life for Shaylynn Ford was one big hustle. It always had been. Nothing worth having had ever come easy for her, but when she decided to take her life’s biggest faith leap and become her own employer, she had no idea the magnitude of the challenge that lay ahead. Shaylynn desperately needed to prove to herself that she wasn’t the failure she’d been defined as for the majority of her life. Emmett’s life insurance policy had left her with a nice nest egg, but if she lived off of that, it would validate what her former in-laws had always said about her—that she would be nothing if it weren’t for their son.
Despite proving her genuine love for Emmett, his parents, both successful corporate attorneys, were determined to hold fast to the accusation that the Ford family fortune was what had most attracted her to him. As true as it was, they never believed her story that she didn’t even know about their class and ranking prior to falling for Emmett. To solidify their “liar” status once and for all, Shaylynn had to make this business venture work. She had to show attorneys William and Melinda Ford that she had a net worth aside from the small fortune that Emmett had willed to her.
When she first metaphorically opened the doors of Shay Decor, Shaylynn spent the better part of her days praying for God to send business to her home-based interior decorating company, so that defeat wouldn’t force her back into corporate America. That was over a year ago, and just as it is promised in scripture, God had done exceeding abundantly above all that she’d asked. These days, she sometimes found herself praying that He would allow her a breather between assignments. Shaylynn loved what she did, and she knew that a prosperous Shay Decor signified a blessed Shay Decor, but still ... she needed a break, or at least a good assistant. She would love for Saturday to be a day of relaxation for her, but it just wasn’t possible with her workload. There never seemed to be enough time in the weekdays to get it all done.
“Mama, can we go to the park or something?”
And now, here was someone else who wanted to shorten her Saturday. Shaylynn stopped flipping through her design binder and looked up in time to see her son stomping his way down the stairs. Considering Chase’s slim build and early growth spurt, most would probably think the boy would be interested in basketball, but that wasn’t his sport of choice. Chase had a genuine leather regulation-sized football tucked under his right arm, and a helmet dangled in his left hand. Was he crazy? Saturday morning had greeted them with twenty-eight-degree temperatures. As the afternoon settled in, it had warmed to thirty-six, but that was still too cold for Shaylynn. Plus she had far too much to do to donate time to the park. She sighed. Moments like this one caused her to miss Emmett even more than normal. If he were still alive, regardless of the outside elements, she was sure that he would have no qualms with taking Chase to the park for some outside playtime.
“No, son, we can’t do that today.” Shaylynn watched him stop midway down the stairwell. His shoulders slumped and his face fell. The sight of it sank her heart. She never took pleasure in disappointing her only child, but ... “Mama has a lot of work to do, Chase. Besides, it’s just too cold outside. The park is really for spring and summer, maybe early fall. But in the winter it’s too frigid for playing outdoors. Nobody plays outdoors in this kind of cold unless they’re playing in the snow.”
“Ah-huh.” Chase bobbed his head up and down as he challenged her declaration. “We still go outside and play at school. When you run around, it gets your blood pumping and warms you up. It helps you to think better too. That’s what Dr. Taylor says when he runs around with us on the playground.”
Shaylynn placed her design binder on the coffee table and gave Chase her full attention. “Dr. Taylor goes outside and plays with the kids during recess?”
With one elbow propped on the banister of the staircase, Chase looked at her with a know-it-all expression. “Yes, ma’am. Not every day, but sometimes.”
Shaylynn cocked her head and eyed her child. His story wasn’t believable; it didn’t make sense. “Dr. Taylor wears a suit to work. Are you trying to tell me that he goes outside and plays in his dress clothes?”
Chase’s laugh made Shaylynn feel like she was on the verge of crossing into idiot territory. “Of course not, Mama. He couldn’t run around with us in a suit. He changes clothes when he plays with us, and then he goes back inside, takes a shower in the bathroom that’s in the back of his office, and puts his good clothes back on. He says that getting our blood pumping helps us to get our work done better and faster.”
“He would say something like that.” Shaylynn mumbled the words to herself.
“Hey.” Chase said the single word as though a light switch in his head had just been flipped into the on position. “Maybe if you go outside and play with me, you can get your work done faster too.”
Shaylynn couldn’t help but smile at both Chase’s rationale and at the mental picture she had of Neil on the playground running after children or having them pursue him. The newsflash shouldn’t have taken her by surprise. Neil’s energy level had reaped the benefits of his new, healthier lifestyle. He’d been carrying on a love affair with the treadmill for more than a year now. His body was cashing in too. Shaylynn liked that best of all, but that was a secret she kept to herself.
Neil was becoming quite the sportsman. He’d participated in the six-mile Peachtree Road Race last July, and though he didn’t even come close to winning it, for a middle-aged rookie, he had a very impressive fifty-eight-minute finish. And Neil had always taken special interest in the children at his school, so it only made sense that he’d take his interaction with them to such a level. At first, Shaylynn thought it was just a “Chase thing.” In the early days of their courtship, Shaylynn figured that Neil was trying to impress her by being so actively involved with Chase. But the more she got to know him, the clearer it became to her that he wasn’t being biased. He genuinely loved children. Still, she had no idea that he took it as far as roughhousing with the students on the playground. Neil had never told her that. Shaylynn’s chest warmed at the realization of it all. The longer she knew Neil, the more reasons she found to love him. He would make a good dad one day. Maybe even to Chase... .
“So can we go to the park?”
“I really can’t.” Shaylynn blinked rapidly as her trance broke. That last thought had entered her head without warning, but it wasn’t the first time. As she continued speaking, she reclaimed her binder for visual effect. “I have to put together some ideas to show a client by Monday morning, and I’m doubtful that I’ll have time to do much tomorrow with church and all. Plus, I’m not going to be running around like Dr. Taylor does, so I’ll be freezing if I went out there. If you want to go out into the backyard and play, you can. You’ll just need to stay in the area where I can watch you from the bay windows.” She pointed toward the kitchen, which was set in the rear of their split-level townhouse.
“By myself?” Now Chase was whining, and Shaylynn didn’t like that. Little boys shouldn’t whine. Emmett used to say that repeatedly, and he was cringing right now if he could somehow hear his son. “It’s no fun if I have to play by myself.”
“Well, we’ll have to consider it for another day then,” Shaylynn said. “Why don’t you go play video games, or what about watching that karate movie that stars Will Smith’s son, who you love so much?”
Chase’s top lip curled upward. “I’ve seen that a hundred times already. Plus he ain’t all that. I mean, he’s a good actor and stuff, but Willow is the one who’s hot. I just give him points ’cause he’s her brother.”
Shaylynn’s eyes widened. Wasn’t it about five years too early for her son to be noticing girls? And had he just used the adjective “hot” to describe one? Shaylynn didn’t know whether to laugh at Chase or scold him, so she decided to do neither. “Go read a book, then. You can’t convince me that you’ve read all the books on the list that your teacher gave you at the beginning of the school year. Remember what I told you before. It’s better to be ahead than to fall behind.”
Apparently none of Shaylynn’s options appealed to Chase. “Can I call Dr. Taylor? Maybe if he’s not doing nothing, he’ll come and play with me. He likes playing with me.”
Shaylynn often wondered just how much Chase understood about her relationship with Neil. She’d never told him how she felt about the director of his school, never figured that he’d understand anyway. But now, with him using words like “hot” to describe the opposite sex ... maybe he would. Neil visited her home often, and the three of them spent time together nearly every weekend, but Chase probably thought he visited all the kids’ homes just as regularly. Both Shaylynn and Neil were conscious of the boy’s presence whenever the three of them were in the same place. They never kissed, hugged, or even held hands if there was a chance that Chase might see them. It wasn’t a mutual agreement. Neil totally opposed her insistence to conceal the relationship from her son, but Shaylynn was adamant. As strongly as she felt about Neil, she wasn’t yet fully convinced of how their relationship would pan out.
The handsome, talented educator, who also served on the deacon board of Kingdom Builders Christian Center, was one of the kindest, most loving men Shaylynn had ever known. But he was also older and, undoubtedly, far more experienced than she. Plus, she wasn’t blind. Shaylynn knew that she wasn’t the only woman who liked what she saw when she looked at Dr. Neil Taylor. He was admired by several of his female business and church associates, many of whom were closer to his age. What if one of those smart, educated women he worked with wormed her way into his heart? Add to that the fact that Neil already had one failed marriage to his credit, and Shaylynn had even more reasons to be cautious. And she didn’t even have to put a “what if” in the equation where that one was concerned. If Shaylynn had ever wondered if Audrey Taylor was still interested in Neil, that question was answered when Ms. Thing and her Mary Kay Career Car made their grand appearance at the Taylor family reunion back in July.
Shaylynn had heard the stories, and she knew Audrey was probably going to show up, but that didn’t stop her from feeling uneasy. Audrey was pretty fabulous for a woman her age. Shaylynn hadn’t expected her to be so attractive. She found herself struggling to hold together her mask of security and self-confidence. When Audrey had to leave suddenly, it was an answer to a prayer that Shaylynn had begun praying the moment the woman stepped out of her car. Neil promised that he had absolutely no interest in his ex-wife, and from what Shaylynn could see he wasn’t being untruthful about that, but what if Audrey’s persistence eventually paid off? During their marriage, they’d separated and reunited two or three times. What if, somewhere down the line, Neil decided to give it one last try? Shaylynn was still very protective of her son. Chase had already lost one dad. Granted, Emmett was a father her son had never known, but he was his father still. And the last thing Shaylynn wanted was for Chase to get too accustomed or attached to Neil, and then be left with a broken heart if it didn’t work out.
“Today is Saturday, Chase. Dr. Taylor spends five days a week with children. It’s not fair to ask him to come here and spend his weekend with children too.” The explanation she offered didn’t nearly address Shaylynn’s real concerns.
Chase shrugged his shoulders. “What’s the big deal? He’s over here all the time anyway.”
The kid had definitely inherited his father’s gift for gab and flair for quick comebacks. But the traits that Shaylynn had found appealing in her late husband she sometimes found annoying in her son. It was at that moment that she decided she had allowed the debate to go on long enough. “How ’bout you go back upstairs and take off those cleats? You want to move around and get your blood pumping? Fine. While you’re upstairs, clean up your room. That ought to do the trick.”
“But, Ma—”
Shaylynn held up her hand to stop any further deliberation. “And stop whining,” she ordered. Chase said nothing more, but remained standing in place looking down at his mother with those big brown eyes that usually got him his way. He’d inherited those from his father too. Shaylynn fought the urge to give in. The image of her shivering in the near-freezing temperatures helped her find the strength to stand her ground. Her tone thickened when she added her single order and pointed a stiff finger toward the top of the staircase. “Go.”
While he obeyed her command, Shaylynn basked in the relief of her victory as she began flipping through her book once again. She had never been one of those mothers who spanked her child as a first-string disciplinary action. In Chase’s lifetime, he’d only endured corporal punishment four or five times, and even then she’d used nothing harder or heavier than her open hand. She had endured so many unmerited beatings as a little girl that she found it hard to pass along the tradition, even when one would be justified. Overall, Chase was a well-mannered and obedient child. Today he was just antsy. He got that way periodically. Shaylynn remembered being that way as a kid too. She surmised that it was one of those things that came along with being an only child. There were no built-in playmates to pal around with, and sometimes that became a problem ... for both the parent and the child.
Thumping sounds coming from upstairs indicated that Chase was making his normal valiant, but poor, attempt to tidy his room. Shaylynn would go behind him and tweak it later. She didn’t expect him to be an expert. At his age, she just needed him to give it his best effort. She didn’t want him growing up to be ill-equipped to take care of himself. One of Emmett’s flaws was his inability to do anything deemed “woman’s work.” His mother had done everything for him in their well-to-do home. Even after he was an adult and had moved from under his parents’ roof, housekeeping was a woman’s job. A hired maid came by Emmett’s home twice a week to tidy it for him, and Melinda Ford would insist that her son bring his dirty laundry to her to wash on a weekly basis. Even his meals came compliments of his mom. Emmett could name all of the US presidents in order of their servitude, fill in the names of the fifty states on a blank map, convert centimeters to feet, and decimeters to yards, but he couldn’t properly iron a shirt even if his life depended upon it. Shaylynn leaned back on the cushions of her loveseat and chuckled. Thoughts of Emmett almost always made her smile.
She set her design book to the side as her telephone rang. Her smile widened when she looked at the caller ID. “Hello?”
“Hey, suga.”
She liked it when Neil called her Shay, but she loved it when he called her suga—mostly because she didn’t personally know anyone else who referred to their love interest as such. Where she came from, sugar was something that was added in cake mix. She knew a lot of honeys, dears, babies, and sweethearts, and since moving to the South, she’d even met her share of muffins, pumpkin pies, and cupcakes, but as far as Shaylynn was concerned, sugar or suga was hers alone. There was just something especially endearing about the manner in which Neil said it.
As for her, she didn’t need to find a nickname for him. “Hi, Solomon.” She’d developed a habit of labeling him by his middle name even before their relationship turned serious. Shaylynn began doing it because to her, he just looked more like a Solomon than a Neil, but the fact that he seemed to relish it made it stick.
“I love that smile,” he cooed.
“What smile?” Shaylynn looked up like she expected to see him inside her house, peeking down at her from the same spot on the staircase where her son once stood.
“The one I hear in your voice. I hope it’s for me.”
Shaylynn took in a breath, and then released it. The sound of Neil’s voice always moved her, but over the phone his mellow, raspy tone sounded especially appealing. She imagined him wearing one of those Nike running outfits that made him look so enticing. Neil sounded calm and relaxed, so he was probably sitting in his recliner, or maybe resting in his bed. No ... not the bed. She shook the thought from her brain like the devil himself had put it there. Envisioning Neil in bed wasn’t something that she needed to be doing.
“Well, is it?” A twinge of concern had crept into his voice.
“Is it what?” Shaylynn used her fingers to rake her long braids over her shoulder. What was he talking about? She couldn’t believe she’d drifted.
“The smile,” Neil said, bringing her up to speed. “Is it for me?”
Shaylynn searched her general area. She almost always kept a bottle of water nearby as she worked, but of all days, not today. Her tongue felt pasty when she used it to try to moisten her parched lips. “Of course it is.” She felt justified with her response. Hers had started out as a smile that developed from memories of Emmett, but Neil certainly didn’t need to know that. And anyway ... the smile expanded when she saw Neil’s name on the caller ID. So technically, it was for him. Right?
“Good.” He sounded satisfied with her confirmation. “I know when we spoke last night you mentioned that you needed to catch up on some work today, but I was wondering if you were at a place where you could break for a couple of hours.” Shaylynn was already shaking her head in a negative reply, but unable to see it, Neil continued. “I’m over at Ms. Ella Mae’s house, and she’s about to start cooking dinner. She asked me to invite you and Chase. What do you say?” After a pause, he added in that sexy voice of his, “I’d love to see you.”
Shaylynn felt the onset of goose bumps. Seeing Neil would make her day too, and his mother, the woman he lovingly called Ms. Ella Mae, was one of the best cooks she’d ever met, but Shaylynn’s reality was that she couldn’t afford to spend time away from work. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can do that,” she replied with regret. “I have too much on my plate, and I’m so far behind. From the looks of it, I’ll probably be spending at least a part of tomorrow working on this project as well.”
“Wow. That busy, huh?”
Shaylynn could hear the disappointment in Neil’s voice. Inside of fifteen minutes, she’d managed to burst the bubbles of both the men dearest to her heart. “Yeah. I’m sorry, Solomon; believe me, I am. But I just can’t chance not having these samples together by Monday.”
“No need to apologize,” Neil said. “I understand.” After a brief silence, he added, “So with all this work you have to do, what are you and Chase gonna eat for dinner?”
Shaylynn hadn’t even given dinner a thought. It was four o’clock now and she hadn’t even begun to prepare anything. “Don’t worry about us; we’ll eat.” She tried to sound confident, but it was apparent that Neil wasn’t fully convinced.
“Well, listen. Let me at least come and get Chase. Ms. Ella Mae hasn’t seen him in a couple of weeks, so I know it would make her day. Plus if you’re that bogged down with work, I’m sure getting him out of the house will help you be able to better concentrate and give the project your full attention. Maybe the two of us can toss the football around for a while until Ms. Ella Mae finishes dinner. Then he can eat over here so you don’t have to break from your work unless you absolutely want to. You eat like a bird, so you’ll probably just throw a sandwich or something together. Chase is a man. He needs more.”
Shaylynn laughed. “A man? Really?” Then she thought about her son’s earlier remark about Willow Smith. “Well, maybe you’re right. That would be great. I’m sure he’d like to play outside, and then eat a full meal.” She didn’t want to tell Neil that Chase had actually asked for him earlier. Neil would be offended that she hadn’t called him. “Are you sure you don’t mind?” She hoped he didn’t somehow feel obligated.
“Not at all. Why would I mind?”
“I don’t know.” Shaylynn shrugged. “I mean, it’s Saturday, and there are a whole lot of more important things that you might need to get done on your off days.”
“More important?” Despite her effort not to offend Neil, he sounded offended anyway. Shaylynn heard the wind of his sigh as it blew into the telephone, and then he said, “Just get him ready, Shay. I’ll be there in about half an hour. And if you think you’re gonna have to pull a late-nighter with this project, it’s okay if you want to pack an overnight bag for Chase. He can crash at my house tonight. It’ll be fun. We’ll all be at the same church in the morning anyway.”
Allowing Chase to spend the night with Neil was something she’d never done. It was a nice gesture on his part, but Shaylynn didn’t know if they were ready for that yet. Something like that could have dire consequences if things between her and Neil didn’t work out. “Thank you. He’ll be ready by the time you get here.” Shaylynn decided to leave it at that. The overnight bag would never get packed, but she didn’t want to insult Neil any more than she already had. He’d discover her decision when he arrived to pick up her son.