“Oh, they’re so pretty,” Kelsey commented, pausing to extend a timid hand to the snorting noses. “I’ve always wanted to ride. I just get scared when it comes to getting on.”
Tyler came up behind her, scratching the mare’s ears. “You mean you never have?”
Kelsey shook her head.
“Then come dressed for riding tomorrow. I’ll show you the farm.”
“Really?” She gazed up at the man next to her, unable to believe he’d choose to spend his time with her, not when he wouldn’t get a single thing out of it. It wasn’t like he had to bribe her to buy his junk, and she remembered how girls had fallen all over him in college. “Um, you’re not still dating that girl from Dalton, are you?”
Tyler crooked a brow at her. “It was Gainesville, and that was over a year ago.”
“Oh. I just didn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea.”
“What idea would that be?”
“That it was a date.” Kelsey faltered as a new idea hit her. Maybe he was bottom trolling. She stammered, “Because, you know … I realize it’s not. Just a friendly horse ride. Right?”
“Right.” A crooked grin lifted one corner of his mouth. “And you’d better take me up on it, because if Nick Standard has his way, it might be your last opportunity.”
The sadness in Tyler’s voice made Kelsey decide she could trust him.
CHAPTER THREE
With Kelsey’s agitated phone call still echoing in his ears, Tyler sped up the mountain as fast as he could Monday morning without getting a speeding ticket. He couldn’t believe what she’d told him. A break-in? At The Flea An’Tweak? The store’s front window shattered?
Not only had Tyler left Trent high and dry over cooling coffee at Chestatee Excursions, where they were supposed to start on a shed today, but he’d absconded with his brother’s shop vac and some plywood.
His stomach clenched when he saw the police cars. He had to park behind the store, where an officer dusted the door of Kelsey’s storage room for prints. Tyler walked to the front. Kelsey and Angel huddled together apart from a growing crowd, their breath frosty puffs on the air as they spoke with Sheriff John Dooley. Glass shattered from a sizeable hole sprinkled unwanted glitter over their elegant window display, while a deputy near the register photographed the scene.
“So, this Martin Spivey is the only person who might have something against you?” Dooley asked.
“I don’t think—I can’t think …” Kelsey shook her head in disbelief, then noticed Tyler’s approach.
“Kelsey, you okay?” Signs of Kelsey’s distress brought out his protective instincts, Tyler wanted to hug her but settled for touching her back. “Hey, Sheriff.”
“Mornin’, Tyler.”
“You didn’t have to come,” Kelsey told him.
Tyler glanced at Dooley. “Yes, I did. I brought a shop vac and supplies. But I don’t mean to interrupt.”
“I think we’re about done here, so you can start clean-up. I’m going to pull the surveillance footage. Depending on what that reveals, we might question Martin. But could just be a random thug.”
“Let’s hope so,” Kelsey agreed.
Putting away his notepad, the sheriff hesitated. “What’s strange about this are the signs of forced entry in the back, plus the brick through the front. But don’t worry. We’ll get to the bottom of it.”
As soon as Dooley left, Tyler turned to the women. “What was taken?”
Angel shook her head. “Just the cash from the drawer.”
“Just the cash,” Kelsey wailed. “We finally had a great weekend. Now I’m back to not knowing how I’m going to pay the lease, and Bethany, and what I owe you, Tyler.”
When Kelsey had left the farm yesterday, Tyler had accepted only a fourth of the agreed-upon price, while the big items still awaited transport. Now he was glad he had. Wanting to stop the tears in her eyes, he reached for her arm. “Hey, it’s okay. That can wait.”
While Kelsey made an impatient swipe at her cheek, Angel glanced between them. “We do need the merchandise now, since some key pieces sold Saturday. Maybe you’d consider consigning, Tyler?”
“Doesn’t that mean you’d make less?”
“A little, but it would be worth it.”
“Kelsey?” Tyler waited on her response.
Kelsey nodded, catching a trembling lip between her teeth. “If you’re willing, I’d really appreciate that.”
“Consider it done. Now, the sooner we get busy, the sooner you can reopen.”
“Tyler, this isn’t your problem.”
He paused, realizing that was true. So why did he care about this soft-spoken gal, her success or failure? Knowing she wasn’t his normal type, he started to give the obvious answer about being raised to help a fellow human being in need, when his eyes fell on Nicholas Standard, standing at the front door with a broom. Seriously? Did this guy show up everywhere?
“What’s he doing here?”
Kelsey traced the trajectory of his glower. “Oh, he saw the commotion from the bank and came to help.”
Guys like Nick were good at making business deals. They were also good at diverting the attention of impressionable women. They were not good at repairs. “Well, unless you relish tweezing glass out of your fingers for the next several months, I’d suggest this should be my problem more than his.”
✽ ✽ ✽
Angel stifled a giggle as they watched the two men compete to clean up the window display. First Nick brushed glass off the table and chairs, then Tyler ran the vac. Now they laid duct tape over the rug, pulling up minute shards. “For not agreeing on how to do anything, they’re sure getting it done.”
Kelsey glanced up from her numbers crunching. “I don’t know why they’re both here. I’m just glad they are.”
Thankfully her call to her landlord, Jim Keller, had revealed that his insurance would cover the damage. Kelsey figured she could pay Bethany this week if Jim would give her an extension on the lease. She just hadn’t manufactured the courage to ask him yet. Maybe by text.
Setting out some decorative items from the Jackson farm, Angel paused. “You really don’t know why they’re here?”
“Nope.”
Angel came over and tugged her up from the desk. “Come on. We both need a coffee break.”
Kelsey didn’t protest. She could use the pick-me-up. But she did stop at the door to see if Tyler and Nick wanted anything.
“No, thanks, we just need to get this done,” Tyler said, his closed expression hinting at his disapproval of his companion. Nick just winked at her.
When the door closed behind them, Angel whispered, “They’re both into you, stupid.”
Kelsey laughed out loud. “Right. Nick Standard and Tyler Jackson, into me.”
“And why not?”
She tilted her head with an expression of exaggerated impatience. “That kind of man doesn’t go for … me.”
“Kels, this isn’t college anymore. You’re an attractive, single, successful business owner.” Angel linked her arm through Kelsey’s.
“Yeah, so successful I can’t make rent.”
“Oh, stop. This is all going to work out. Look.” Angel jerked an arched brow toward the guys in the window, now arguing over securing a sheet of plywood. “God sent you two hunky helpers. We’ve got rich and successful, or strong and outdoorsy. I call your leftovers.”
A genuine laugh bubbled from Kelsey’s throat as they joined the line at the coffee shop, the rich aroma of dark roast and chocolate and the whir of a latte machine swirling from behind the counter. Her throat closed up as she sent a prayer of gratitude heavenward. She’d never had a best friend until Angel. Even now Angel’s hand clutching her arm felt like a gift she didn’t deserve. Could it be that God really would bless her with a boyfriend, too? Yes, she believed He would. But not someone like Nick or Tyler. Some things just defied the natural laws.
She ordered her favorite drink and opened her purse.
“Oh
, no, Kelsey,” Sarah, the shop owner, said from behind the college-aged employee running the register. “You don’t need to pay. Someone put a hundred dollars on your account.”
“I can’t believe you’ve never done this,” Tyler said as he checked the stirrup distance from the speckled white mare Kelsey had admired on her first trip to the farm against Kelsey’s arm span. “Yep, should be about right. Now put your foot in here.”
When Kelsey offered Tyler her right boot, he looked back at her, those lash-studded amber eyes under the brim of his cowboy hat alight with such amusement that she froze. “You going to mount backwards?”
“Oh, um, no.” She let her leg drop with a thud.
“Left foot from the left side, hold the back of the saddle with your right hand.”
Kelsey inserted her toe into the stirrup, but when the mare shifted, she tensed.
“Stay relaxed.”
Somehow she got up on Miss Britches. “Whoa. This feels very unsteady.”
“Keep your lower back tucked in, and don’t choke up on the reins.” Smiling from below her, Tyler positioned her hands. “They aren’t going to hold you up there. This is.”
Kelsey tensed again as Tyler squeezed the inside of her thigh. “Okay …”
His hand descended to adjust her foot. “Heels down.” She nodded and listened attentively as he went through the instructions he’d outlined in the barn.
“Got it. Now if we can just practice sitting here for about ten minutes, I might feel ready to go.”
Swinging up onto his stallion with an ease that demonstrated a lifetime of experience in the saddle, Tyler laughed. “We’ll keep it to a walk. Just follow me. Remember how to make her start?” he asked over his shoulder.
Eager to impress him, Kelsey leaned forward slightly and gripped Miss Britches with her legs. To her relief, the mare responded. Kelsey flushed with pleasure at Tyler’s exclamation of approval.
He waited for her to draw up next to him before asking, “So what else have you never done?”
Loaded question. If he wanted the whole list, they’d be here until dark. Kelsey eyed the Chestatee Excursions t-shirt under Tyler’s open flannel. “Uh, kayaking.”
“Really?”
“Yep. And tubing.”
“Why not?”
She lifted a shoulder. “Seems dangerous. Not to mention the snakes.”
“It’s not dangerous if you have a good guide and start small. I could help with that.”
The half lift of Tyler’s mouth did funny things to her heart. “Lucky for me it’s not summer.”
“You going somewhere before then?”
“No …” Kelsey looked away from Tyler’s baiting smile, uncertain of what to make of his attention. In her experience, athletic, handsome guys only acknowledged plain girls if they hoped for an easy score. To protect herself from being taken for a fool, she’d learned to act like she didn’t even notice Tyler’s sort. “Not so long as I can pull things together at the store.”
“Any luck from the video footage in identifying your robber?”
Kelsey shook her head. “No. It just showed a man in a dark, hooded sweatshirt. Never his face. Could have been Martin. Could have been someone else.”
“Well, the Bible says what’s hidden will always be revealed. Maybe we should pray that way.”
Pleasantly surprised that Tyler was strong enough in his faith to speak of it, Kelsey nodded.
“Do you mind if I ask why you stayed in Dahlonega? Don’t you miss your parents?”
“Yes, and it drives them crazy that I’m this far away. My mom and I are really close. But she understands my dream. She got me started, after all. And they trust Miss Hannah like a surrogate grandmother. What would I do in Texas, anyway? I’ve never lived there.”
“I guess it would be hard to feel like any place was home when you grew up moving around in the military.”
“Right. When I came here … this was the first place that did.”
“I get it.” As he directed them upstream, past the fields and chicken houses and into a stand of bare hardwoods, Tyler cut a look at her that might be interpreted as sympathetic. “So you’ve lived here in the mountains for what—six, seven years now? Haven’t you gotten out to explore them?”
“I take drives.”
Tyler snorted. “What about cold weather stuff? Ever skied, snow tubed, ice skated?”
“Outside activities, you name them, I haven’t done them. I’m the girl you find in the antique store, remember? Or at the library. My adventures consist of coming across a bargain or reading a book.”
“But isn’t this beautiful?” Tyler sat up straight in the saddle, took a deep breath, and swept his arm to indicate their surroundings. “Doesn’t it make you feel alive?” He glanced back at her, eyes sparkling with mischief. “Wanna trot?”
Kelsey tensed, causing her mount to snort. “No! I’m just barely holding on.”
He laughed. “Just kidding.”
“It is beautiful, though. I can see why you don’t want to sell the place. Maybe you should take Nick’s suggestion and develop this as a riding stable yourself.”
“Hm.” Tyler tilted his head, apparently considering her words.
“You’re a really good instructor. Me, moving along on a horse, is proof.”
“Ah, you’re gonna be a natural. Just like I think you would be at a lot of other things if you gave them a chance. Maybe you just need a little push.”
Did Tyler’s smug grin suggest he wanted to be the one to give her that push? Feeling her face heat at the possibility, Kelsey dipped her chin. “Maybe. And maybe you’d like antiques if someone taught you about them. You know there’s a story behind every item. I try to put all the details I can on my price tags, because that way people know they’re taking home a little piece of someone else’s history, of their precious memories.”
“I do like antiques. I’ve got a whole farmhouse of them back there, with memories tied to my grandparents.”
“I bet.”
“Would you like to see?”
Kelsey shot Tyler a look of disbelief. “Would I!?”
“Okay, but remember I’m against an estate sale. The trail circles our land. We can go in the house for some hot chocolate when we get back.”
By the time they returned, the cold penetrated Kelsey’s gloves, coat and jeans. As much as drinking hot chocolate and touring the antebellum home appealed to her, she surprised herself by feeling no impatience to dismount Miss Britches. Chatting with Tyler about UNG days, current local happenings and a shared love of faith and family while the breeze sighed through the pines and small wildlife twittered in the brush came far easier than she’d anticipated. He helped her out of the saddle, catching her—and causing her to catch her breath—when she stumbled against him.
Tyler explained the steps in caring for the horses as he did them and even encouraged her to brush Miss Britches while he brought feed and water. Finally, he led her inside the house, where she admired Greek Revival trim work, refinished heart pine floors and family heirlooms in every room.
“Hiram Jackson, who built this house, came here as a supervisor for the mint in the 1850s,” Tyler said.
“Wow, I can’t imagine having that kind of history. My family is so scattered.”
“Maybe that’s why it means so much to you.”
“Yes, maybe so.” In the dining room, Kelsey paused in front of a triple-door, oak china cabinet. She turned to point across the table to a twin piece.
“Yes, there are two of them. Grandma Rose, my dad’s mother, had a lot of china. She ran this place as a boarding house after my real grandfather, Connor, died.”
“Farm accident?”
“Late 1950s influenza epidemic. It was a hard time. Almost lost the farm then, too,” Tyler said. “Grandma had just gotten back on her feet from the birth of my dad. She’d almost died herself. In fact, my grandfather had hired some foreign housekeeper to help her.”
“Good thing she had
someone there for her.”
Tyler leaned against the door frame. “Oh, no, Grandma didn’t take a liking to her. I think she was dishonest or something. There was a big blow up, and the woman left.”
“Yikes.” Kelsey settled her hands on the back of one of the chairs. “Rose must have been one tough lady to weather all that.”
“Not so much tough as determined.”
“But then she met Frank?”
Tyler nodded. “He was one of Grandma’s boarders in the 1960s. Fell in love and never left.”
“So Frank was your grandfather all your life.”
“No ‘step’ about it. He’d grown up in a farm family, so he did this place proud.”
Kelsey smiled. “Almost as proud as a Jackson.”
“Right.”
“Hey, thanks for sharing some of your family history with me. It’s amazing.” Kelsey tried to keep the envy out of her voice. She’d only ever dreamed of an impressive family tree and a historic estate.
“Sure. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone that’s been interested.”
“Well, I am. And those china cabinets are right up my alley.”
“They need a little polish.”
She ran a hand down the well-worn wood. “I’d paint this white, and the inside a light aqua. It’d look beautiful in my shop, that is, if I could bear to part with it.” She glanced at Tyler. “But of course, you should never part with it.”
“Right. Well, let’s get to loading the stuff I am parting with before it gets dark.”
They secured furniture for the shop close to the cab of Kelsey’s truck, while arranging items she planned to refinish against her tailgate. Tyler insisted on accompanying her to both her home and the store. When they pulled up in the yard of Hannah’s 1930s cottage, Kelsey saw a light in the front parlor. A minute later, the petite octogenarian appeared on her side porch in a Christmas sweater, her white hair drawn up in its typical bun.
“Tyler Jackson, is that you?”
Holly, Ivy, & Intrigue Page 13
