Orchard Hill Volume One

by Kara Lynn Russell

  After he left, Lily stood at the door, lost in thought. How long had it been since she’d received such a casual gesture of caring from anyone other than Grace? She’d shut out her friends because she was ashamed of her failed marriage. She shut out her family because she knew her own pain would cause them pain. She hadn’t reached out for any new friends because she was afraid to be hurt again.

  A knot formed in her chest, and her throat tightened with tears. She didn’t even try to stop them. Lily sat on the couch and cried until her lap was full of tissues, and her eyes ached. But it felt as if a weight had been lifted from her. Perhaps the ice around her heart was breaking up and spring was finally coming. Lily offered up a prayer of thanks and then, leaving all of Maria’s packages right where they were, she went to bed and slept like a baby.

  TITLE

  Orchard Hill: Volume One

  Chapter Six

  As good as Lily felt that night, by the morning she was appalled that she had opened up so to Ian. What did he think of her? He’d probably only said he wanted to be her friend because he felt sorry for her. Lily was tempted to pull the covers up over her head and stay in bed.

  The ringing of the phone drew her out, however. When she heard Ted’s voice on the other end, Lily’s chest tightened with dread. “You’re up early? What do you want?” She tried to keep her voice calm and neutral.

  “What do you think I want? The same thing I’ve been calling you about for weeks.”

  Lily shuddered. She was tired of this argument. She wished she could change her phone number to an unlisted one, but if her number was unlisted, how could her customers call for appointments?

  “I don’t have any money for you.”

  “Listen, you owe me.”

  “I received that inheritance from my uncle after the divorce settlement. It wasn’t that much anyway. Why are you making such a big deal out of this?”

  “Wasn’t that much? Why should I believe you?”

  “I’ve always been truthful to you. Can’t you just drop this, please?”

  When he broke out into profanity Lily hung up. She let the phone ring while she took a shower.

  It was still ringing when she came out. Anger rising in her, she caught up the phone and pushed the talk button.

  “Why are you still calling me? I’m not going to change my mind.”

  “Change your mind? About what.”

  Lily smacked a hand to her forehead. She’d foolishly assumed it was Ted. “Nothing. Sorry, Ian. I thought you were someone else.”

  There was no mistaking the intensity in Ian’s voice as he replied. “Has he been calling you again?”

  “Um…” Lily didn’t know how to answer that. She didn’t want to lie, but she also didn’t want Ian getting upset about Ted again. “It’s nothing I can’t handle.”

  There was an uncomfortable silence so she added, “What did you want?”

  “I talked to Sadie at the shelter this morning. She mentioned that you’ve been approved to adopt Maria. They should be calling you sometime today.”

  “Really? That’s great.”

  “When do you want to pick her up?”

  Lily hesitated, her embarrassment about what she’d revealed returning. “I’m not sure.”

  “When you decide, let me know okay?”

  “You don’t have to come with me. I can pick her up myself.”

  “Is that what you want, Lily?”

  No, that wasn’t what she wanted. Before she could reveal any more secrets of her dark past, habit kicked in and saved her. “I think I can handle this without a big strong man. I’m not helpless, you know,” she snapped, resorting to her man-hater persona.

  Ian was silent. Lily squeezed her eyes shut and waited. Maybe he would hang up on her. Maybe she should just hang up on him.

  Finally, he said, “Okay, Lily. I can see you’re back to your old self, but at least this time I know why you’re being so defensive. I get the message. You need a little space. Call me if you change your mind. I’ll be here.” There was a click, and she knew he’d hung up.

  She stood there frozen, still clutching the phone. He understood her. Part of her was frightened that he could see through her now. Would he use it against her somehow?

  Another part of her was touched at his sensitivity. “I’ll be here,” he’d told her, and she almost believed it. The part of her that had opened up to him desperately wanted to believe it. But she realized that every part of her was going to be late opening her shop if she stood around holding the phone all day.

  ****

  Ian put down the phone with a huff of frustration. He thought he’d really made progress with Lily last night. It looked like it was going to be one step forward and two steps back in this relationship.

  So why was he putting himself through this? It’s not as if he didn’t already have plenty of friends, and there were certainly other women he could date.

  But none of them were Lily. He admired her for her resiliency and her courage. He never wanted to see the day when the fight went out of her.

  And then there was the New Year’s Eve Dance. That night he’d discovered that there was definite chemistry between them. What he wouldn’t give for another slow dance with her. But at this rate, they’d be eighty years old before she could admit that they were friends, never mind anything more. Maybe they could sit in adjoining rockers and hold hands at the nursing home.

  George began to whine, and his tail thumped against the floor. “I know, I know,” muttered Ian, scratching behind the dog’s ear. “It’s time to go out. And time for me to go to work.”

  ****

  By eight o’clock that evening Lily had had it. She’d done everything she could think of, and Maria still wouldn’t come out from under the bed. She’d offered food and treats, talked until she was hoarse and tempted the cat with toys, but nothing worked. Maria was entrenched under her bed.

  Feeling foolish and desperate, Lily called Ian’s cell phone. “Hello,” she said hesitantly when he picked up.

  “Lily? Is everything all right?”

  Now that she’d called him, she didn’t know what to say that wouldn’t make her look like an idiot. “I picked up Maria this afternoon.”

  “Is she getting settled?”

  To Lily’s great disgust, tears were welling up in her eyes. She hated crying. It made her look so weak. “Absolutely. She’s settled under my bed, and she’s never coming out. She hates me.”

  “Lily…” he paused. “…I’ll be right over.”

  Within minutes, he was there.

  “How did you get here so fast?” Lily demanded as she opened the door.

  “I was at Riley’s house when you called.”

  “I didn’t mean to interrupt your night. You didn’t have to come.” Angry and frustrated at her pathetic attempts to win over Maria, Lily answered more harshly than she meant to.

  He looked at her strangely, but just answered, “I told you I’d be here if you needed me.”

  “You said I couldn’t handle a difficult pet, and you were right. Maybe I should take her back.”

  “Hey, it’s only been a few hours. You couldn’t have done anything that horrible.”

  Lily described how she’d brought the carrier home and let Maria out. The cat had cautiously stuck her head out, looked around, sniffed the air, and then took off through the living room, down the short hallway into Lily’s room and under the bed.

  “She hasn’t moved since,” Lily wailed. “I can’t get her to come out.”

  “Actually this is pretty normal behavior for a cat.”

  “It is?”

  “Yes, she’ll come out when she starts to feel comfortable. Probably while you’re sleeping or away from the apartment at first. She’ll have to come out to use the litter box and eat, anyway.”

  “So I didn’t do anything wrong?”

  “No. It’s better to let her come out by herself than to try and coax her out, but I don’t think you’ve done any damage
. It will take a long time for a cat like Maria to learn to trust. She may never exactly be the cuddly lap sitter type.”

  “That’s okay with me,” Lily said, relief flooding her. “I’m sorry I bothered you. You can go back to Riley’s house now. I don’t want to ruin your Friday night.”

  “I don’t know.” Ian offered her a flirtatious smile. “Maybe I’d rather spend the evening with you.”

  “With me? Why?”

  “For one thing, you’re a lot better looking than Riley is.”

  Lily felt her mouth drop open, and she quickly snapped it shut. Was Ian flirting with her? She felt like she’d just been a rather large pain in his backside, and here he was grinning at her as though he was happy to be with her. She didn’t know what to say.

  “So what do you want to do?” Ian prompted her.

  “I…I don’t know.”

  “Can I make a suggestion?”

  “Why not?”

  “How about a movie. We can call Grace and Riley and see if they want to go too.”

  “But…but I don’t want to leave Maria all alone.”

  “It’s probably better if you do. I told you she’s more likely to come out when you aren’t around at first.”

  “I don’t know…”

  “You don’t want her to put off finding the litter box for too long do you?”

  Lily’s eyes widened. He was kidding, wasn’t he? He had to be kidding. Still, better safe than sorry. “All right. I’ll change. You call Riley and Grace.”

  She hurried away into the bedroom and closed the door.

  Ian allowed himself a moment to cherish his triumph. Lily had gone prickly on him again, and he’d turned her attitude around. Who would have thought after the way she’d brushed him off this morning, that she’d be agreeing to go out with him tonight. Maybe he was learning to how to handle her.

  He brought out his cell phone and hit the speed dial for Riley’s number.

  TITLE

  Orchard Hill: Volume One

  Chapter Seven

  The evening almost got off to a bad start when Lily and Ian got into an argument about who was going to pay for the movie. Ian wanted to buy her ticket, but Lily insisted she would pay for herself. Grace solved the problem by suggesting that the women would pay for the tickets, while the men would pay for popcorn and soda.

  “We got the better end of the deal,” Grace confided as she and Lily found seats in the theater. “Snacks are always more expensive, plus we only had to wait in line once. They’re doing it twice.”

  Lily smirked. “I didn’t know you were such a mastermind, Grace.”

  “Just don’t tell Riley,” she said and winked.

  Meanwhile, Riley and Ian were figuring out what Grace had just revealed to Lily. “Nice going,” grumbled Ian. “Grace has you wrapped around her little finger.”

  “Hey,” Riley protested. “If she hadn’t suggested this, you and Lily would still be arguing over who was going to pay. And we’d have ended up standing in line to get popcorn anyway. It’s what the guy always does at movies.”

  “Chivalry is not dead.” Ian chuckled.

  “So how are things going with you and Lily?”

  “She says she wants to be my friend.”

  “That’s not usually what a guy wants to hear from girl. How do you feel about that?”

  “With Lily, that’s a major step forward.”

  “Are you sure she’s worth all this?”

  Ian grinned. “You know I love a challenge.” Then, with a more serious note, he added, “Plus Lily told me a little about her marriage. I understand why it’s so hard for her to reach out to people now.”

  The line moved forward, and Ian realized this wasn’t the best of places for a private conversation, so he changed the subject.

  The four enjoyed the movie but Lily declined to go out for ice cream after, saying she wanted to get home to check on Maria. “But you can just drop me off, Ian, and then meet up with Riley and Grace. I don’t want to spoil your fun.”

  “No, I’ll go with you to check on Maria.” He waited for an argument and was pleasantly surprised when she didn’t offer one.

  As they stepped into Lily’s apartment they saw a streak of brown fur heading for the bedroom. They discovered that Maria had found and used the litter box and eaten some of the food Lily left out for her.

  “At least she came out,” Lily said. “That’s good, isn’t it?”

  “Of course.” Ian stood by the door awkwardly. He didn’t want to leave yet, but Lily hadn’t invited him to stay.

  “Do you have to go already?” she asked.

  That was just what he’d been waiting for. “No, not yet.”

  “Would you like some coffee or a soda?”

  “Sure. Don’t bother to make coffee. A soda’s fine.”

  Lily ducked into the kitchen. While she was gone Ian studied the few photos she had on her wall.

  She came back out of the kitchen with two tall glasses. Ian accepted one as he asked her, “Who are these people in the pictures?”

  Pointing to one, Lily answered, “That’s my mom and dad. My dad died a few years ago.” Moving on she pointed out several cousins, aunts and uncles in the other pictures.

  “You’re adopted I take it. None of these people look Asian,” Ian commented.

  “Yes. My parents went to Korea to adopt me. Sometimes it’s strange not to have anyone that looks like you in your family, but most of the time I don’t think about it.”

  “Does anyone in your family live around here?”

  Lily shook her head. “I have an aunt in Milwaukee that’s the closest. Her son Kenny still lives in Milwaukee, but he travels so much I don’t really count him. My mom lives in Illinois.”

  “Do you get to see her much?”

  “Let’s sit down,” she said, and Ian followed her to the couch. They sat on opposite ends, and turned toward each other. “Do you think Maria will come out again tonight?”

  Ian frowned. “Did you just change the subject on me?”

  “Um…no. What was the subject?”

  Ian wasn’t fooled. She really didn’t want to talk about her family. “Family. You know, I have so much family, and so many of them live in Orchard Hill, that I can’t walk a block without tripping over a relative.”

  Lily was drawing patterns in the condensation on her glass. “Do you like that?”

  “Yes, and no. It has its good points, such as you always have someone to lend a hand when you’re moving. On the other hand, everyone knows your business and feels they have, not only the right, but also the duty to comment on every aspect of your life from your choice of career to your choice of dental floss.”

  She laughed, and Ian relaxed. If she became too uncomfortable, he’d be out the door in no time flat. But he really did want to know more about her family.

  “I always wanted brothers and sisters when I was growing up. I did have a few cousins that lived close by, and that was good, too. I…I don’t see them much any more.”

  “Grew apart over the years, huh?”

  Lily was quiet, staring into her glass. The silence stretched on, and Ian let it go. Finally, she took a deep breath and said, “I did it. I stopped writing to them and getting together with them.”

  Ian tried to contain his surprise. He didn’t want to spook this skittish creature who was gradually extending her trust to him. “Why did you do that?”

  “My life was a mess. My marriage was a joke.”

  “You thought they’d be disappointed in you?”

  “No. I knew they would hurt for me. I couldn’t inflict that on them.”

  “So, you were protecting them?”

  She nodded, and his heart twisted painfully at the sorrow etched on her face. “Let me get this straight, Lily. You stopped being friends with men because your husband was jealous?”

  “Women, too. He was jealous of anyone or anything that took my focus off of him. He was just nastier about the men, so I worked harder at
avoiding them.”

  “All right. And then you cut yourself from your family because you didn’t want to hurt them? You’ve been dealing with everything alone all this time?”

  “No. I have God. He’s always there. He never leaves us or forsakes us.”

  “That’s true. But still it’s nice when a neighbor pops over with a casserole once in a while. That’s been a lot for you to carry.”