| |
I had dated before.
I had had women over to my apartment before.
I had done this all before, and yet I was as nervous as a seventeen-year-old on prom night.
Shelby Lyn was on the way over to my house, and I couldn’t sit still.
The chicken and biscuits were in the oven keeping warm, and I had a bottle of wine chilling. My house was clean, and I had nothing else to do but worry.
She was just coming over to look at my deck, uh porch, and catch up. This wasn’t a big deal. I had done the same thing with Macon when I had moved back to town.
I had zero feelings for Macon, however.
Shelby Lyn? Now she was a different story.
When I had left Adams, Shelby Lyn had been the hardest thing to leave.
Even back then, I knew she was something special.
When she looked at me, she didn’t see a handsome face or the quarterback of the football team. She just saw me, Wilder Presley, and loved that. She never expected anything from me other than my time.
We had first started talking when I needed a little tutoring in calculus, and she had more than happily helped me. Calculus had ended, and I kept talking to Shelby Lyn.
We hung out after school sometimes and even went to Chicken Biscuit a few times.
Shelby Lyn treated me like a normal person, which resonated with me. So much so that for the whole long nine years I was gone, Shelby Lyn was the one person I thought about the most. She had told me she loved me before I left. She claimed it was a friendly love, but I could tell she cared about me more than she said.
I had walked away from her because I knew I couldn’t be the man she wanted me to be. Not back then.
Now? Now I was ready to be whatever Shelby Lyn wanted me to be, and I knew that was what I wanted. I had seen the world, lived in the city, and done the things I wanted.
But she had always been on my mind in the city. I wondered what she was doing, whom she was dating, and if she remembered me all the time.
I got some of those answers already, but I wanted to know more.
A light knock sounded on the front door, and my heart leaped. “Coming,” I called.
Here goes nothing.
I pulled open the door and struggled to breathe.
I had waited nine years for this moment, and it was better than anything I had ever imagined.
Shelby Lyn stood on my front step with her auburn hair around her shoulders, a white shirt, and blue jeans. Cute little shoes were on her feet, and she had a six-pack dangling from her fingertips.
“Hi,” she chirped. She thrust the six-pack at me. “I brought you a beer.”
I grabbed the beer before she dropped it and smiled. “Uh, thank you, Shelby Lyn. You don’t have to bring anything. I was the one who invited you.”
“Well, I am technically here to check out your deck, uh, p-p-orch,” she stammered. “You offered dinner to be nice.”
“Did I?” I asked. “I think I offered dinner because I want to spend more time with you.” I wasn’t going to play around with Shelby Lyn. I had walked away from her years ago, and I wasn’t going to make that mistake again.
“Oh, uh, well, cool.” She stepped back from the door and pulled a tape measure from her pocket. “I’m just going to measure your deck–.”
A huge smile spread across my lips. “Porch?” I chuckled.
“Yes,” she drawled. “I am going to measure your porch. I like to know the dimensions for when I start designing.” She moved to the far side of the porch and measured the height of the railing.
‘Uh, is there something you would like me to help with?”
Shelby shook her head. “No, I’m used to working alone.” She smiled at me over her shoulder. “One of the perks of being an only child. I learned at a young age to do things on my own.”
“That’s... kind of sad.” I chuckled and shook my head. “but also a good lesson to learn.”
“I think I can do a large bough in the front railing and then two smaller ones on the side.” She pointed to the door. “You can do a double wreath on the door, and I can do mini wreaths on each window that faces the street.”
“Wreaths on the widows?” I asked. “That seems like a lot of work.”
Shelby Lyn shrugged. “It is, but I think it’s what your house screams for. That’s what I would do if I lived here.”
“How much is all of that going to cost?” I didn’t really care, but it seemed like a question I should ask.
“I use all waterproof materials and supplies. The greenery will be fake, but you won’t be able to tell. I tried doing fresh greenery for a while, but it turned brown before the season was almost over.”
“How much, Shelby Lyn? I know you’re going to do an amazing job, and I hope you charge an amazing price. I’ve seen your wreaths around town, and they make every house more beautiful.”
“Eighty-five for a double wreath, seventy-five for the small boughs on the sides, one hundred for the large bough, and then I can do the eight small wreaths for the windows for one hundred.”
“So we’ll just say five hundred.” I pulled out my wallet and pulled out five one-hundred-dollar bills.”
“What?” Shelby Lyn squeaked. “That’s just a little over four hundred, and you don’t have to pay me now. You can pay after I put everything up.”
I held the money out to her. “Don’t you at least take a deposit? How are you supposed to pay for all of the supplies?”
She pushed my hand away and shook her head. “I have a lot of this stuff in my workshop, and what I do have I have money to cover it.”
“You’re taking this, Shelby Lyn. You’re doing yourself a disservice by not taking it. You should make all of your customers pay a deposit. What happens when you make something for someone and then decide they don’t want it? You’re out time and money.”
“That’s never happened to me before, and I hope it doesn’t. This is Adams, Wilder. People don’t stiff each other.”
“Because you all know where the other one lives?” I laughed.
“Well, yes,” she grunted. “And you’ll only owe for four hundred and thirty-five dollars.”
“It’s a tip, Shelby Lyn. Please tell me folks around here at least tip you.”
“Some do.”
Jesus, Adams was living in the stone age when it came to some things.
“A lot of the people around here live paycheck to paycheck, Wilder. I’m glad they are willing to pay me and display my wreaths as proudly as they do.”
“Well, you may be right, but I don’t live paycheck to paycheck.” I grabbed her hand and placed the money in her palm. “Take this, and put me on your schedule. I will not take no for an answer, Shelby Lyn.”
“Why do you call me that” she whispered.
“Why do I call you your name?” I asked.,
She shook her head. “Everyone calls me Shelby. Even my parents. You always call me Shelby Lyn. I don’t think I have ever heard you call me just Shelby.”
I shrugged and leaned against the door frame. “I like Shelby Lyn. It suits you.”
“I think I refer to you as Wilder Presley more than just Wilder,” she blurted. “In my head. And out loud.” She slapped her hand over her mouth and looked around frantically.
I pushed off the door frame and held up the six-pack of beer. “Let’s open a couple of these, and we can keep talking inside.”
Shelby Lyn was coming out of her shell, and I wanted to hear every word she had to say. Especially the ones that made her slap her hand over her mouth.
*
