“Um, okay then,” said Riley, trying not to form a picture of that in his head. “Thanks Judy. I’ll meet her at Grace’s to introduce her.”
“Thank you, Riley”
****
On Tuesday at 5:55 a.m. Riley parked his car at the store and walked down the street to Grace’s. Judy was parked in front of the coffee shop, a sullen Vanessa sitting next to her in the passenger seat. When Riley approached she got out and Judy drove away with a wave, grinning from ear to ear.
Vanessa, however, was not smiling. She slouched over to him, arms crossed, lip stuck out.
“Hi Van,” said Riley.
“Hi Ry,’ she answered sarcastically.
He ignored the attitude. “Thanks for helping out. My friend, Grace, is really in a spot.”
“I know. Her fiancé dumped her for her waitress.”
Riley hoped Vanessa would be tactful enough not to bring that up in front of Gracie. “Anyway, thanks for stepping in and helping out. It means a lot to me.”
Vanessa dropped her arms and straightened up a bit. “Sure, Riley. It’s no problem.”
Grace came to turn the sign on the window to open. She smiled and opened the door when she saw them.
Riley returned the smile as he steered Vanessa through the door in front of him. “This is my cousin Judy’s daughter, Vanessa. She’s here to take over for Tami.”
Gracie’s eyes widened. “Wow, Riley. I didn’t think you could do it.”
He feigned sadness, laying a hand over his heart. “I’m hurt, Gracie. I can’t believe you doubted me.”
“Well, Riley, it looks like you lived up to your reputation.”
“What reputation?” he asked, genuinely puzzled.
“People say you’re the Fix It Man.”
Vanessa started to laugh, but Riley stopped her with one well-practiced look, a look that stopped his many younger siblings and cousins in their tracks and made them reconsider what they were about to do.
“You’re kidding. People don’t really say that.”
“I think it has to do with you being in the hardware business, Riley,” Vanessa assured him.
“Oh. That must be it.”
Grace didn’t say anything, but she knew it had more to do with Riley’s willingness to lend a hand when someone was in trouble. She turned to Vanessa. “Why don’t you head into the kitchen? There’s a doorway to one side that leads to the back hallway. You’ll find a place to put your coat and some aprons hanging on a peg. Put one on and we’ll get you started.”
“Sure.” Vanessa sauntered away.
Grace turned back to Riley. She was truly grateful to him. He’d saved her a lot of work by finding a new waitress for her. She didn’t for a moment question whether his choice would be appropriate. “Thank you, Riley. Coffee’s on the house for a week.”
“That’s great, but really I just wanted you to have some time off.”
“Well, maybe I’ll be able to do that soon.” Why did he have to keep bringing this up? Grace moved away and began wiping the spotless counter.
“What do you mean, ‘soon’?”
“I can’t just take off and abandon Vanessa. She needs to be trained.”
Riley frowned. “Can’t one of the other waitresses do that?”
Irritation sparked within her. What was up with him lately? “I like to train my employees myself. Why are you so anxious to get rid of me anyway?”
“You had an emotional blow, Gracie. You should take some time to recover.”
“I’d rather work. I don’t want to sit around and dwell on my failures.” Why couldn’t he understand?
Riley took a deep breath. “Gracie, this wasn’t your failure. It was all Steve.”
“What if it wasn’t?” Tears sprung to her eyes. “It’s not as easy as that. What did I lack, that he had to look elsewhere? What did Tami give him that I didn’t?”
“I’d tell you but I’m too much of a gentleman.”
“Oh, Riley!”
“Really, Gracie, I’m worried about you. I’m afraid you’ll overdo it.”
“Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself, and I can take care of my business.”
He didn’t say anything else but the look on his face told her he didn’t believe her.
Grace went behind the counter and filled a to-go cup for him with the French Vanilla coffee she knew he liked but would never ask for because he thought it made him look too sissy or something. Then she snapped a lid on it and handed it to him.
“I have work to do, and so do you. Go to work.” With that, Grace went into the kitchen and didn’t look back at him. She heard the door close and knew he had gone.
TITLE
Chapter Three
Riley backed off for a couple of days. Then he stopped by Gracie’s house on his way home from work on Thursday. Thursday was her day off.
Gracie had inherited her home, like the shop, from her grandmother. It was an old-fashioned house with white clapboard siding and red shutters. He went around to the back door, as friends and relatives usually did. If someone rings the front door bell in Orchard Hill you can pretty much guarantee they’re selling something.
Riley knocked, and then stuck his head in the door. “Gracie?” he called.
A wonderful aroma of cinnamon and ginger wafted past him. “Come in,” she called. Riley stepped in. She was transferring a batch of cookies from the cookie sheet to wire cooling racks. She’d put a headband on to keep her shoulder-length hair out of her face, and she wore an old Orchard Hill High School t-shirt. The smudge of flour on one cheek was the perfect accessory, Riley thought.
“Hi. What brings you by?”
He shrugged. “Nothing. I was just wondering how Vanessa is working out.”
“She’s doing great. We had a long talk yesterday after her shift. Do you know why she came home?” asked Grace.
“No. She wouldn’t even tell Judy what happened.”
She paused in her task to look up at him. “You have to keep this just between you and me, Riley.”
“Okay.” Riley picked a cookie up from the rack and started to munch on it.
“Well, she had a huge crush on one of her professors, poor girl.” Grace went back to transferring cookies to the wire racks. “When he started to show her a little extra attention, she was sure it meant something. Well, it did, but not what she thought it meant.”
“What are you saying?”
“He told her that…um…that she had to be his girlfriend if she wanted to pass his class.”
“What!” He choked on the cookie and began to cough. Grace filled a glass with water and handed it to him.
“Don’t worry. I told her that she doesn’t have to put up with that kind of behavior to get a degree. Vanessa said she was going to talk to her mother and they’re going to see about getting her back into school next semester.”
Riley’s brain tried to go off in several different directions at once. He slammed the glass onto the counter. “Why didn’t she tell anyone in the first place? Who is this guy? What exactly did he try on Vanessa? When did you have time to find all this out? And what are you going to do for a waitress when Vanessa leaves?”
Grace looked stunned by his volley of questions. “Riley, don’t worry. Vanessa and her parents are handling things.”
He took a deep breath and counted to ten. “Okay. Judy and Ken know what they’re doing, I guess. But what about you, Gracie?”
“Why are you acting this way? There is nothing the matter with me.”
“You and Steve were together for years. And now he’s deserted you. You must be hurting. Why can’t you just cut yourself some slack and take some time off to heal?”
Grace pulled out another cookie sheet and began dropping scoopfuls of dough onto it. “Maybe I’m not as hurt as you think. Maybe…Maybe I was more shocked and embarrassed than hurt. Maybe now what I’m feeling is…relief.”
Riley shook his head. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “What d
id you say?”
She put down the scoop and wiped her hands on her apron. “I said I’m relieved I didn’t marry Steve.”
He walked over to the kitchen table and sat down. He leaned his elbows on the table and rested his head in his hands. “Say that again, please.”
“I know Steve is your best friend and all, but lately I’ve been feeling that we weren’t cut out for each other.”
Riley’s world shifted as he absorbed this new information. “Then why were you marrying him?”
“I guess…I guess I felt like I was obligated.”
Silence fell like a heavy curtain.
“Gracie, what am I going to do with you?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you would have given up your whole life for a man you didn’t think was right for you? You have a problem, lady.”
“Oh, I do?” She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. “And what might that problem be?”
“You are too nice. You let everyone walk all over you.”
She gasped. “I do not.”
“Oh, really. Why are you baking cookies?”
“What?”
“Just answer the question,” he demanded.
“They’re for the Sunday School program. One of the other volunteers got sick, so I offered to make them. Is there something wrong with helping out?”
“No. Unless you’re so busy helping other people, you never help yourself.”
“I don’t need any help,” she yelled at him.
“That’s what you think,” he yelled back. He pushed back the chair and stood. He stomped to the door and opened it. Just before he left, he turned back and growled, “And for your information, Steve isn’t my best friend. You are.” He slammed the door behind him.
Later that night, Riley called Grace. “I’m sorry I yelled at you,” he said as soon as she picked up the phone.
“You should be,” she said tartly, but he knew he was about to be forgiven. If he weren’t, she would have hung up already.
“Let me make it up to you.”
“How are you going to do that?”
“I’ll take you out to supper tomorrow night.”
Silence, and then she finally said, “All right.”
He hadn’t known he was tense, until he relaxed. “Thank you. Where would you like to go?”
They planned the details, and he promised to pick her up at seven the next evening.
****
On Friday during her lunch break, Grace took the cookies she had baked to the church. Pansy Parker was in the office, as usual. Grace had to pass by the office to take the cookies down to the kitchen, so naturally Pansy stopped her to talk.
“Grace, dear, how are you doing?”
She shifted the boxes of cookies to one arm. “I’m fine, Pansy. How are you?”
“Oh, I can’t complain.”
“Considering what a busy time of year this is at church, that’s pretty good.”
“Yes, Advent is busy. But Holy Week is worse. Have you heard from Steve?”
Grace stiffened. “No, and to be honest I really don’t want to.”
“I don’t blame you, dear. A woman needs a man she can count on. Like one of the O’Neil boys.”
“What about them?”
“That Ian and Riley are so dependable. Of course you and Riley have been friends for years.”
“I’m closer to Riley than Ian, but I’m friends with both of them.”
“Riley was certainly worried about you on Saturday. That boy must care an awful lot about you.”
“We’ve been friends since kindergarten.” Grace shifted the boxes of cookies again. They were getting heavy. “I really need to drop these off, Pansy.”
“It’s such a shame Riley hasn’t found a nice girl to settle down with, yet. Maybe you should fix him up with one of your friends.”
Grace lowered her eyes, deliberately hiding her expression from Pansy. “Yes, well I don’t really have time to start a dating service. I’ve got all I can handle with my shop.”
“Of course, dear. You’d better take those cookies to the kitchen. They must be getting heavy.”
Grace gladly made her escape. Pansy’s suggestion that she fix up Riley with one of her friends had surprised her. But what shocked her more was the surge of anger that had shot through her. She didn’t like the idea of Riley with one of her friends.
Why should she feel this way? It wasn’t as if Riley had never had a girlfriend before. In the past, she and Steve had often doubled with Riley and whoever he was seeing at the time.
But she didn’t have Steve any more. And so she needed Riley more than ever. Was she so selfish that she would resent any chance Riley might have at finding love just to keep him at her side?
As she went into the church kitchen Grace reflected that maybe Riley was right; maybe the cancelled wedding had disturbed her more than she cared to admit.
****
At seven that night, Riley knocked on Grace’s back door.
“Come in,” she called from somewhere inside. “I’m almost ready.”
He slipped into the kitchen. The smells of the day before had evaporated but the room was still warm and welcoming.
She came into the room, putting on her earrings. “I’m running a little late.”
“That’s okay. We have plenty of time.” He was unhappy with the way he and Gracie had been arguing lately and was determined to make this a peaceful night.
“Mrs. Morris came in just before my shift ended. She wanted to tell me all about her cat’s kidney problems, so I didn’t get home on time.”
“Why didn’t you just tell her that you needed to go?”
“That would have been unkind, Riley. She’s so lonely.”
“Right.” Riley could have said more, but keeping his goal for the evening in mind, he let it drop.
As Grace gathered her coat and purse, he told her, “I called Judy today. She was really thankful that Vanessa finally talked to her about what was wrong.”
“That’s good. I’m glad I could help.” She slipped into her coat and was ready to go out into the winter weather.
Riley drove them to a small supper club just out of town. It was decorated with a rustic style. The lighting was dim and candles glowed on all the green linen covered tables. They were seated, browsed the menus, and ordered.
“How’s business at the hardware store?” Grace asked.
He shrugged. “Not bad. We’re selling a lot of snow shovels and Christmas tree lights.”
“That’s good.”
They floundered around, seeking subjects for small talk. It wasn’t like them. Riley had never had a problem talking to Grace before.
Their meals came and that was a slight reprieve. But by the time they were almost finished, Riley was getting frustrated. He was pretty sure Grace must be feeling the same. They couldn’t go on like this. He put down his fork and reached for her hand. Grace looked up from where she was pushing her food around on the plate.
“Were you serious about being relieved that you hadn’t married Steve?”
She drew her hand away. “Riley, can’t we just leave it alone?”
He looked down at the table. “No, Gracie. I’ve been trying, but I can’t stop thinking about it. It makes me crazy.”
“I wish I’d never told you.”
“Why didn’t you tell Steve how you were feeling?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t want to hurt him.”
“You see, Gracie, that’s why I worry about you. You’re too kindhearted. It’s going to get you in trouble someday.”
“Riley, I’ve always been the way I am. It never bothered you before.”
“Before, you had Steve to look out for you.”
“So what? Now that Steve’s out of the picture, I’m your responsibility? Don’t worry about me, Riley. I don’t need you to watch over me.”
He’d always watched over her. Only she probably didn’t know it because in the past, he’d
paid attention to what she needed, and then pushed Steve to give it to her.
They finished eating in silence, and she went to the ladies room to freshen up while he paid the bill.
“I didn’t intend for us to argue again tonight, Gracie. I’m sorry,” Riley told her, taking one more shot at salvaging the evening while they were on the way home.
Orchard Hill Volume One Page 3
