“Would it only be for kids from Sun Valley?” Willow asked.
“Yeah, at first I think so,” Tyler said nodding. “We have a lot of trouble teens out that way, and this would be a place for us to try and help them.”
“That’s so sweet of you,” Willow said.
Despite herself she could see the old Sawyer place as a camp. With a bit of money invested and some honest hard work, it could be great. She chided herself. Tyler and his friends, no matter how wonderful, were the enemy. She and Aunt Vanessa wanted the land too. She couldn’t afford to go soft. Yet in the dim light of the foyer, with only his friends around, she found herself liking his idea, and genuinely hoping he got the farm. There was no denying that she was drawn to him. He seemed to be feeling something similar, because she kept catching him staring at her.
The conversation turned again from topic to topic, and eventually everyone decided to call it a night. Tyler was the last to say goodbye. He took her hands in his and held them for a while.
“This was really nice, talking to you,” he said.
Willow looked up into those impossible eyes and smiled, “I had fun.”
“Come for coffee with me,” Tyler said. “I’m sure we could find an all-night diner somewhere.”
Willow really wanted to, but her busy day was creeping up on her, and she really just wanted to sleep. So she shook her head.
“Tyler, I would love to, but I’m beat,” she said smiling sadly. “You have my number, call me tomorrow and we can meet up. If you’re free that is?”
He smiled then and kissed the backs of her hands. It was a strange gesture, familiar and yet not. Willow wasn’t sure what to do with it. So she smiled back and hugged him. That was a mistake. Getting so close to him sent shivers through her whole body. Being this close to him for any time was clearly going to impede her judgement, so Willow pulled out of the hug. Then as he got into his truck and drove off she stood waving, until he was out of sight.
It took a moment to lock up the theatre and walk down the path to the house she shared with Rosemary and Aunt Vanessa. It was a little cottage, with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The kitchen light was still on when she made her way up the steps.
Aunt Vanessa was sitting at the table, a cup of chamomile in her hands. She said she needed it to get to sleep. She had her hair in curlers and her face looked oddly colorless without its usual layer of makeup.
“You had some adoring fans tonight,” she said as Willow came in.
“It was Tyler and his friends,” Willow said. “You know the guys who helped us today?”
“Oh right,” Aunt Vanessa said. She nodded and drained her mug. “Well I’m done and off to bed. You know where Rose is?”
Willow shook her head.
“Oh well, hopefully she took a key this time,” Aunt Vanessa said and stood up, put her cup in the sink and with her slippers making a hushing sound on the tiles, she shuffled off to bed.
Willow sat at the table. She had a lot going on in her mind, not least of which was an action replay of each look she had shared with Tyler. The hug featured hugely, and made her heart race each time she thought about it.
The kitchen door opened suddenly and Willow jumped in her seat.
“You’re edgy,” Rosemary said as she stepped into the kitchen. Willow looked up and realized that Rose was hand in hand with a man. He was tall and slim, but with muscle. That was obvious in the way he moved. His face was thin and he had a look about him. Oh, he was handsome with his firm jaw, slim nose and black hair. But one look was all it took for Willow to decide she didn’t like him.
“Willow this is Dave. Dave this is my sister Willow,” Rosemary said beaming. “Dave came to both shows today.”
“Is that a fact?” Willow asked thinking that it was desperate to say the least.
“Pleased to meet you,” Dave said and shook Willow’s hand. She nodded curtly. A feeling rose in her stomach at his touch. It was almost revulsion but not quite. Willow put it down to her being so tired. All she wanted was bed.
“You look like you’re falling asleep there,” Rosemary said looking concerned.
“You know, I am,” Willow admitted, ‘’I’m going to bed. It was nice to meet you, Dave. Perhaps next time I won’t be dead on my feet. We’ve had a long and very eventful day.” Then she turned to Rosemary who was filling the kettle. “Rose, don’t forget we have another busy day tomorrow.”
“I won’t,’ Rosemary said pulling mugs down from the cupboard.
Willow gave up, and standing up, went to the bathroom. She washed her face properly, brushed her long hair and tied it into pigtail plaits, something she had learnt to do as a child, to stop her curly hair tangling itself up during the night, and hopped into bed. She was so exhausted that although Tyler’s gorgeous face floated in front of her, offering basket loads of imaginary kisses, she drifted off to sleep.
Tyler called Willow at eight the next morning. By ten she was sitting at a table in the Lemon Drop Café in town, and he was seated opposite her. They spent hours there, talking and drinking far too much coffee, and then they went on their way.
He called her the day after that again. And they followed the same routine. By the fourth day, Willow was up and waiting for the call before it came. And by the fifth day, neither of them needed a call at all, to know that they were seeing each other that morning.
Willow was so preoccupied with Tyler and the show, that she almost missed everything else in her life. Aunt Vanessa was worried. She had made an offer to purchase the Sawyer farm, but had heard nothing back for three days.
“And you know to top it off, both of you girls are just vanishing all the time,” she moaned to Willow one afternoon. It was their day off and Willow was sitting with her in the kitchen waiting for Tyler come pick her up.
“Well we both met people,” Willow said shrugging. “Look I can call Tyler and cancel if you like?” she said the words praying that her aunt wouldn’t make her act on them. A day without Tyler was a day without air.
“Oh, no its fine,” Aunt Vanessa said shaking her head. “I just…well. It doesn’t matter. I just don’t think we’re getting the farm is all.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I called Sally-Anne,” Aunt Vanessa admitted. “I just wanted to know what she was thinking. It sounds like there’s been a massive offer made on the house and she’s torn. She says she’s not sure what to do.”
“So she needs a little time,” Willow said taking her aunt’s hand in hers.
“Do you think the other offer came from your boyfriend?” Aunt Vanessa asked.
Willow nodded, “He said he was going to make an offer. But it didn’t sound like it was going to be much more than we could do. I mean Tyler isn’t rich or anything. Maybe you need to go see Sally-Anne again.”
“Maybe,” Aunt Vanessa said glumly. “I’ve just got a bad feeling about this.”
Just then they heard an engine and a truck pulled up. It was blue. It idled for a long while, and then Rosemary hopped out of the passenger seat. She was dressed in the previous day’s clothes, Willow noticed, as she waved to the driver. The truck drove off.
Rosemary entered the kitchen with a huge grin on her face. “Morning,” she said. “Isn’t it a wonderful day?”
“Where have you been?” Willow demanded more harshly than she had meant to.
Rosemary was taken aback. She stopped walking and stood, hands on hips, her chin jutting out, and looking defiant.
“What’s it to you?” she asked.
“You’re my little sister,” Willow said hotly.
“And you’re my darling girl,” Aunt Vanessa said, getting in on the action, “We’re just worried about you. What do you know about this Dave you’re hanging out with anyway?”
“I know plenty,” Rosemary said. “I know he works in IT for a company in town. I know he’s an amazing kisser, and that he can do things with his…”
“We really don’t need to hear that!” Aunt Vane
ssa exclaimed scandalized. “I would like to meet him you know. Any man who takes an interest in my little girl needs to be vetted.” She smiled sweetly at Rosemary.
Rosemary softened at this and kissed her aunt’s cheek.
“I will bring him round for coffee or something,” she said, “he’s a nice guy. Really. Anyway, Willow met him.”
“I don’t know if saying hi, counts as meeting him properly,” Willow said, the hairs on the back of her neck were rising, and she couldn’t figure out why.
“Sure it does,” Rosemary said smiling. “Well we’ll organize, then we can have family meal or something.”
Just then there was a knock on the kitchen door and Tyler opened it.
“Morning ladies,” he said. “And don’t you all just look as fresh as a June morning?”
Willow felt her insides turn to electrified mush.
Rosemary smiled at her and then at Tyler and said, “If anyone looks fresh Mr. Crowe it is certainly you. What did you do swim in a mountain stream, and then roll dry on spring green grass or something?”
“Nope,” he said walking into the kitchen. “I just have a good constitution. And the rest is all awesome genes.”
Willow smiled at him and turned to kiss her aunt. “Don’t forget what we talked about,” she said.
“I won’t,” Aunt Vanessa said.
Rosemary was making herself a cup of coffee, but she stopped long enough to hug her sister, and watch Willow and Tyler go out the door.
“Is everything okay?” Tyler asked as they walked to his truck, that gleamed silver in the morning sun.
Willow nodded. “Yeah, I think so. It’s just Rosemary is dating this guy and I’ve got a weird feeling about him. I just don’t want her to get hurt.”
“Aw, you’re such a wonderful big sister,” he said in a playfully mocking tone.
She punched his shoulder as he opened the door for her. She climbed up and as she sat down, he planted a kiss on her cheek.
“Morning beautiful,” he said.
Willow knew in that moment, that she wanted to hear him say that every morning for the rest of her life.
The drive to the Lemon Drop was a quiet one. Willow was deep in thought, mulling over her sister’s new boyfriend and another puzzle that was worrying her. The other puzzle was Tyler. Since that night at her show, he had been a perfect gentleman. An old school, perfect gentleman. He hadn’t even tried to kiss her yet. She knew he liked her. The phone calls and the daily coffee run spoke to that, but did he like her enough?
“Tyler?” Willow found herself saying when they were still outside town.
“Yeah,” he said glancing at her, his hands on the steering wheel.
Oh well she had his attention now, so she went for it.
“Do you like me?”
“Of course I do. Why do you ask?” Tyler asked, a note of concern in his voice.
“Well,” Willow began feeling awkward. “In all this time you’ve never…I mean we’ve never.” Now it came to it there was no good way to say this. “You’ve never kissed me.”
Tyler’s smile was suddenly so wide it threatened to circumnavigate his head. Without a word he pulled over onto the side of the road, and turned in his seat to look at her.
“I have a confession to make,” he said. “I’m in love with you. You have taken my breath away from that first moment I saw you, and I have wanted to kiss you more and more each day.”
Willow was ecstatic. Tyler loved her. Her heart did cartwheels in her chest.
“There is one thing though,” Tyler continued and now he looked serious.
Her heart stopped mid cartwheel and hung there frozen, as ice slid down her spine. Oh no there was something wrong. Was he going to tell her that he was what? Married? Had sixteen love children? Was actually a woman? Or worse, that he had loved her but it was all gone now?
“It’s complicated,” Tyler said looking really uncomfortable now.
Willow stopped panicking and took his hands in hers. “It’s okay,” she said.
Tyler looked deep into her eyes. His golden ones looked so sad and scared. What could he be scared of she wondered? But Tyler turned away then and opened his car door. Willow began to panic. Had she said something wrong?
He came to her door and opened it.
“Willow,” he said and her heart wanted to cartwheel again but she held it in check. “I need you to know me. I need you to see who I really am, what I really am. So please, come with me.”
He took her hand and she let herself be led out into the open field. There was a small clump of trees and bushes just up the hill a little way, and Tyler took her there. He found a fallen log and spread his jacket on it for her to sit.
Then he said, “Now I’m gonna go behind that bush over there. Please don’t freak out when I come out.”
“Okay,” Willow said not knowing what to expect.
He disappeared. There were some horribly organic sounds and then a huge black bear padded out from behind the bush, and stood in front of her. It sniffed her. Willow sat dead still, not daring to breathe.
“Tyler!” she called when she found her voice. “Tyler!”
The bear nodded at her. It did, it nodded. Willow sat with her mouth open. The bear sat in front of her and pushed his head under her hand. After a moment’s hesitation she patted him, feeling his soft fur.
“Oh,” she said and giggled. “You’re a bear. Like a werewolf?”
He leaned towards her, his wobbly bear nose inches from own human one. Then he licked her. She laughed. He licked her face again and Willow patted him, sliding her hands through his fur.
“Okay,” she said. “You can change back now.”
Tyler the bear went back behind the bush. There was another moment of organic noise and then Tyler the man walked out, doing up the button on his jeans.
“So, you see that’s why I don’t jump into physical relationships with women,” he said. “It’s amazing how badly some people take the fact that, some of the time, I look and smell like a bear.”
“I think you’re kinda cute for a bear,” Willow said standing up and wrapping her arms around his neck. “So about that kiss…”
Tyler grinned like a naughty boy who was about to raid the cookie jar. He bent his head down to her, as she stretched up to him and he picked her up, pressing her to him. She could feel every firm muscle in his abdomen, and hers turned to jelly. She breathed him in and after an eternity, his lips met hers.
It was a kiss she would always remember.
Tyler and Willow had just pulled up to the Lemon Drop when his phone rang. Willow went inside and ordered a cappuccino for him and a hazelnut, honey latte for herself. She was about to find them a table, somewhere in the busy little place, when Tyler appeared next to her.
He looked tense.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
Tyler leaned across the counter and flagged down a barista. “Can you make our coffees to go?” he asked.
The barista, a short, plump girl with very rosy cheeks, smiled and nodded.
“Great, thanks,” he said then turned to Willow. He lowered his voice. “It’s the bank. They called to say that they aren’t going to approve the finance for buying the Sawyer farm.”
Joel (BBW Bear Shifter Wedding Romance) (Grizzly Groomsmen Book 5) Page 104
