“You don’t need a theme,” I tell her, pointing to an adorable pair of denim overalls. “Just get whatever.”
She shakes her head. “But everyone has a theme. You’re supposed to have a thing, like a sport or a hobby…I’m not a man, Robin. I don’t know sports and I don’t know anything about construction or freaking zoo animals. He won’t have a dad to teach him that stuff either.” She places the outfits back on the rack. “My kid is going to grow up with no sense of direction.”
I’m not sure if she’s being dramatic on purpose or if her pregnancy hormones are making her insane. I step forward and take one of each outfit in the smallest size. “Screw that. Your kid is going to be the best-rounded kid in Texas. I can promise you that.”
“What makes you so sure of that?” Miranda grabs one of those snot sucker things and makes a face at it.
“Because it’s on my to-do list.” I take the snot sucker from her hand and drop it in my basket. “Let’s get one of all of these things,” I say, grabbing baby nail clippers, baby combs, baby shampoo and everything else.
“Your to-do list?” Miranda gives me yet another sideways look like she thinks I’ve gone insane.
“Yeah. Taking care of my nephew is on the mental to-do list I’ve made for myself.”
“What else is on it?”
I count out the list on my fingers. “Get a job. Get some friends. Take care of my nephew of course. And find out more about Grandpa.”
My explanation seems to hold Miranda over for a while and we continue shopping without any more interrogating questions thrown my way. When we head to the front counter to check out, the cashier sets down her phone and gives us a big Texas smile.
“You should talk to some of the people at the diner,” Miranda says as the lady rings up our purchases. “Ask around and see if there are any Salt Gap historians or something. That’s a thing, right?”
I blow a raspberry with my tongue. “Yeah right. Not in a town that small, unless some kind of epic Civil War battle went down there.”
“What do you need to know about Salt Gap?” the girl behind the counter asks.
I hand her my debit card without bothering to check how much this shopping trip is costing me. “There’s these photos sealed in acrylic at the Salt Gap Diner.” My story feels stupid as I say the words. “We found a photo of my grandfather and I just wanted to find out why it got there and where it came from.”
“I might be able to help you,” she says, stepping out from behind the counter. “Hey Mom!” she yells toward the back of the store. A woman steps out from behind a back room and the cashier motions for her to join us. “They’re looking for someone who knows about the Salt Gap Diner, like the history of it. You think Grandma would know?”
The woman’s face brightens as if she’d been waiting all day for someone to ask about the diner. She introduces herself as Gabriella Tanner and then launches into a friendly southern conversation about her mother as if we were all old friends and not strangers who’ve only just met.
“Mama’s lived in Salt Gap her whole life,” Gabriella says. “And trust me, she loves talking about it. She knows every person who’s ever lived there.” Her daughter nods eagerly. “If you want information, you need to talk to her.”
Gabriella writes down the directions to her mother’s house and assures me that her mother, whose name is Candy, will absolutely love the company. After we’ve left the store with a dozen bags of baby stuff, I’m still not sure if I want to go over to an old woman’s house and ask her about my grandfather. But Miranda won’t shut up about it as she gets ready for work.
“You have to go see her!” she whines over and over again as she flat irons her hair. “We have to know about the photo in the counter and maybe she’ll have answers. Plus, it’s not like you have anything better to do.”
“I could sit here and watch TV,” I say. I’m not trying to be an inconsiderate jerk, but it’s just such a weird situation. This would never happen where I’m from. In Houston, we keep our grandparent’s away from strangers out of fear of them getting robbed.
“Just go,” Miranda says, shoving me out of her bedroom.
“I’m scared!” I whine.
“Go,” Miranda snaps, giving me her super serious look. “Go or I’ll tell Tyler you have a massive crush on him.”
“You wouldn’t,” I say.
She lowers the flat iron and puts her hands on her hips. “Tyler comes in for lunch every day at one. He orders a bacon cheeseburger with waffle fries and he always asks me how the apartment is doing. Go, or I’ll tell him.”
I shake my head and grab my car keys. “I’m gonna make you pay for this,” I say.
Miranda laughs. “I look forward to it!”
Chapter 11
Candy waves to me from the white porch swing under her gorgeous wrap-around Victorian style porch. The house and the woman look exactly as I pictured them; old, well taken-care of, and well, kind of cliché. I shove my car keys in my pocket as I walk up her gravel driveway and then scale the three steps up the porch. My voice turns into sweet old lady mode as if I were still back at work in Houston, dealing with elderly homeowners.
“Good afternoon, Miss Candy. I’m Robin Carter…your daughter said you’d be expecting me?”
She smiles and lowers her feet to the porch, stopping the swaying of the porch swing. She lets go of her knitting needles and pats the spot next to her. “Of course dear. Please sit down.”
I do as I’m told. Candy is very beautiful, even in her old age. Her silver hair lies in front of her shoulders in long curls, binned back at the bangs with a rhinestone bobby pin. She wears winged eyeliner and red lipstick and half a dozen golden rings on her fingers. If we traveled back in time forty years, she’d look like a hot pinup girl.
She picks up her knitting and focuses on the stitches. “So what things do you like to talk about, dear?”
“Oh,” I say, a little hesitantly. Did I accidently drive to the wrong house and am talking to the wrong woman? “Your daughter didn’t tell you what I wanted to talk about?”
She shakes her head. “I figured she was just sending another person to keep me company while she’s busy. She always does that, you know. She thinks I can’t manage things by myself, but I am quite happy by myself sometimes.”
I swallow and she must feel like she just insulted me because she looks me in the eyes and immediately adds, “But this is a beautiful day and I always prefer spending beautiful days with friends. I’m so happy you could join me.”
“Thank you. She actually sent me here for a reason,” I say, tangling my fingers together as I try to figure out a way to bring up the subject of her lost love as non-awkwardly as possible. “She told me that you’ve grown up here and you knew just about everyone. I was hoping you could tell me some information about my grandfather.”
She nods, pressing her lips together as if sharing information to a total stranger is an everyday sort of thing for her. “Of course. Who is your grandfather?”
Part of me isn’t sure she’ll even know him. I have no real evidence that he’s ever been to Salt Gap. An old photo sealed in a countertop hardly counts as evidence. So even though this endeavor will be pointless, at least I can check off one thing on my to-do list.
“His name was Joseph Carter. He died a few months ago.”
Ms. Candy frowns and the small fragment of hope I hadn’t realized I was holding onto deflates inside of my chest. Of course she doesn’t know who he is. I was stupid to even try.
She reaches out and grabs my hand, her wrinkly fingers feeling very cold against my skin. “I’m so sorry to hear that. Seems the older I live, the more times I have to say goodbye to friends.”
“You knew him?” My words are raspy over the lump that forms in my throat. A pool of tears forms in the corner of her eyes but she dabs at it lightly with a tissue so as not to smudge her eyeliner.
She smiles and her eyes seem to pierce into my soul as she looks me over. “Yes dear, I
knew Joe. I haven’t seen him since the day after Carol died.”
Chills prickle over my arms. Ms. Candy’s head tilts to the side and she squeezes my arm. “How lovely. I can see so much of them in you. Carol had a widow’s peak just like yours and those dark eyes are definitely Joe’s.”
I smile back at her, filled with gratitude and a sort of proudness that’s hard to explain. I’m happy that she sees my grandfather in me. He was a far better person than I’ll ever be. “How did you know him?” I ask.
She clasps her hands in her lap on top of the yarn work as if she’s finished talking. A few seconds pass in silence. Finally, she turns to me and gives me a warm yet coy smile. “Honey I’m not sure you want to know that part.”
My eyebrows narrow. “Wha—” I begin to ask, before the bright red flush in her cheeks makes me realize how naive I’ve been. My mouth hangs open mid-sentence until, a few awkward seconds later, I slap my hand over it.
She bursts into laugher and shakes her head. “Heavens, girl. It’s not as bad as you’re thinking.”
I let out my breath in a slow gush of air. “Please tell me. I need to know. Did he live here?”
“Yes ma’am,” Ms. Candy says. “He lived just down the road from the library in a little farm house. He was born in this town and for a while, I thought he wanted to die in it.” She points off into the distance and I glance in that direction but only see trees.
“That’s so weird,” I murmur. “I guess I figured he grew up in Houston. He never talked about living anywhere else. My mom didn’t have any grandparents because they had died before she was born.”
She nods. “Joe’s parents died very young. He was still in high school. I went to their funerals.”
“So…you were close with him?”
Another nod. Her eyes seem far away. “Girl, I don’t mean to cross a line here, but you want the truth so I’ll tell it to you. I was in love with Joe Carter. Absolutely head over heels for him.”
“So you dated him?” I ask, hoping to god that she’s not going to reveal some secret affair with my honorable grandfather whom I refuse to believe could ever do anything wrong.
She shakes her head. “Nope. I sure wanted to. I remember meeting him in grade school and I’m pretty sure I fell in love with him right there on the monkey bars at recess. But he was always in love with Carol. He was a good man and he loved your grandmother more than anything else in this world. He was a hopeless romantic, you know.”
“Hopeless, eh?” I say with a little laugh. Grandpa was a businessman. Dedicated to his job and his clients. He wasn’t romantic. I look at his watch on my wrist and twist it around to see the time.
“He was incredible. Always doing little romantic things for Carol. He’d have carved their initials in every tree in town if he’d had the time.”
My back pocket vibrates and I take out my cell phone and find Tyler’s name on the screen.
Is your reception good enough to get this text?
Of course he would text something like that. Not wanting to look rude in front of my new friend, I slip the phone back into my pocket without replying. Waiting a little bit for my reply won’t kill the boy.
“When did he leave Salt Gap?” I ask, followed quickly by, “Do I have any relatives in this town?”
“He left the day he buried Carol. He packed up their baby and filled his pickup truck with all of the essentials. His friends all told him to stay and give that baby attention, but he insisted on leaving. Said he couldn’t live in this town without his wife.” She shrugs and gives me a sad smile. “I guess that’s when he went to Houston. I never saw him or heard from him again.”
Grandpa moved across the state because he was heartbroken. And here I am not allowing myself to love out of fear of being heartbroken again. Hell, I’m not even allowing myself to go on a measly date with the hottest small town man around. Ms. Candy grabs my hand, startling me out of my own thoughts.
“Why did you come here looking for answers, girl? What are you trying to learn?”
I shrug. “Believe it or not, I didn’t come to Salt Gap on purpose. I just happened to stop here for food and, well, I haven’t left yet. I found a picture of grandpa in the countertop photos at the Salt Gap Diner and it made me want to figure out why it was there.”
“How wonderful,” she says with a cute little laugh. Her hand flies to her chest and then her fingers grip the cross on the necklace around her neck. She shakes her head as her laughter fades. “It’s amazing what fate does, isn’t it?”
I can’t help but smile. “Yeah, it is amazing.”
Chapter 12
The stop sign at the end of Ms. Candy’s road can’t arrive fast enough. When my tires finally roll to a stop at the four-way intersection, I glance in all directions and confirm what I already knew: there’s not another car in sight. I grab my phone from the cup holder and open Tyler’s text.
I type a quick reply and I don’t spent sixty seconds pondering over which words to write.
Me: Yup. Luckily I was outside so that probably helped.
Tyler: I tried calling but it didn’t go through. Are you busy?
I consider saying yes, but what’s the point? Me: Nope.
Tyler: Great. Meet me at the library. It’s on Main Street.
Nerves filter into my stomach as I put my car in park. Salt Gap Public Library is bigger than I’d imagined for a town so small. It has a red brick exterior and wraparound floor to ceiling windows around the whole front of the building, allowing a great view of the bookcases inside. Libraries don’t usually make me nervous. But of course that’s not why the butterflies are having mini heart attacks inside my chest.
Tyler raps on my car window and I let out a shriek of surprise, tossing my car keys into the air. He laughs and pulls open my door for me.
“Hey…jerk,” I say as I reach into the floorboard to retrieve my fallen keys. “You scared me.”
“You looked pretty serious in there. Were you car meditating?”
I roll my eyes and climb out of my car. “Is car meditating a thing?”
He shrugs. “You’re the big city girl. You tell me.”
I swallow, wanting the expression to calm my nerves but it doesn’t. “Nope,” I say with a smile that I hope hides my nervousness. “We city folk still do our meditating indoors.”
Even though the last time we talked was when he dashed out of the diner, Tyler doesn’t have a hint of awkwardness in his voice. I guess the awkwardness is only on my side. Tyler looks incredibly normal today. Dark jeans as always, white t-shirt that hugs his chest in all the right places. Tanned skin and short black hair. IPhone compressing against his ass in his back pocket. Oh to be that denim…
I shake my head. “So what are we doing here?”
Tyler’s sly grin widens into a full out child-on-Christmas-morning smile. He shoves his hands in his pockets. “I have a surprise for you.”
“Is it a book?” I ask with a wave of my hand toward the library.
“Kind of.” He rocks back on his heels and this little dimple forms in his left cheek and ugh, I wish I hadn’t said no to that date. “Miranda just served me lunch and she got to talking about the photo of your grandfather in the counter.” He pauses and looks at me as if he’s expecting me to have some kind of reaction to this news. Not sure why I would…Miranda has a huge mouth after all.
“So…?” I ask, wondering what he’s getting at. “And since when is she a server? I thought she was a hostess.”
He pushes open the glass library door and motions for me to go inside first. “I have something you’ll want to see.”
The smell of library books brings up memories of my high school years where I spent most of my time with my nose in a book instead of getting blackout drunk at parties with the other students. The librarian greets Tyler by name and gives me a polite hello. She’s unlike any librarian I’ve ever seen, probably because she’s about my age and covered in tattoos. Tyler takes me to the back of the building where th
e isles stop being shiny and the books smell more like stagnant mildew.
“In my freshman year of high school, they made everyone do a project on the History of Salt Gap. I was really into architecture so I chose to make this poster board documenting all the buildings in town, what year they were built, who designed them…stuff like that.”
“That’s cute,” I say.
He rolls his eyes as he grabs a rolling cart of old books and pulls it away from the wall, revealing a door. “It wasn’t that cute. My poster board making skills were less than stellar back then.”
“I’m sure you could make a really nice poster board now,” I say with an encouraging wink. “I mean, those wood floors in my house are proof that you’re a man who knows how to use his hands.”
I regret them the moment the words are out of my mouth. Tyler blushes and runs his hand over his face. “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind next time I have to make a poster board.”
The awkwardness I’ve created hovers around Tyler and me, threatening to suffocate us until he opens the door that leads into a small storage closet. I cough at the musty air and follow him inside the room that glows from a single light bulb with a pull string.
Shelves of boxes and newspapers line the small four walls and a stack of filing cabinets fill the floor space, leaving very little room for us to maneuver around. Tyler finds the box he’s looking for and pulls it off the shelf. “Will you clear some space off that table?” he asks.
I swipe some newspapers to the side and he sets down the box. My interest is piqued when I read the words written across the lid: Salt Gap Diner. Chills prickle down my arms when he removes the lid.
Hundreds of black and white photographs stare up at me along with an old newspaper that Tyler pulls out and opens to the front page. I skim over the article quickly because all I want to do is look through the photos.
The Fate Series Box Set (Robin and Tyler Book 4) Page 13
