“Are you Nicola?” Regina asked. “Because I was told you were five-foot-eleven. You won’t do, sweetheart,” she said, practically shooing me away with her hand. “And if the agency allows another one of you to come to my home again they can be—”
“Excuse me for interrupting, but I’m not Nicola. My name is Ambrielle. I’m, uh, Tyse’s friend. From Oregon.”
The woman just stared at me, for a long time, and I was about to ask if I was really at the right home when she said, “Get out of my house.” She even pointed to the door, like I was a dog that had just crapped on her floor.
“What? I’m only here because I came to visit Tyse and I just need his address…”
She was laughing—not kindly, but more like Cruella DeVil—and even Juanita seemed to shrink from the room.
“Is this some kind of joke?” Regina asked. “I mean really, the son that hates my guts has a lovely little friend in my foyer?” She said it snooty, like “foy-yay.”
“So does that mean you won’t give me his address?”
She laughed again. “That means I don’t even know his address. Look honey, I don’t know what in the world my son told you about us, but we have no contact with him whatsoever. He does his thing, we do ours, and everyone is happy that way. Now get out of my house before I call the police.”
She stormed to the front door and flung it open. “If you find him, tell him that mommy wants her reputation back.”
She slammed the door once I had barely stepped onto the porch.
I was numb, and I literally did not know what to do. I could feel my eyes burning with tears, and just as Eduardo stepped out of the car with a concerned look on his face, I barely made myself walk down the walkway.
“Let’s go,” I mumbled as he held the door open for me.
I angrily dropped down onto the seat just as I heard, “Wait. Please? Miss?”
I stuck my head out of the door to see Juanita rushing across the yard from the side of the house. She had a piece of paper in her hand and gave it to me.
“This is Tyse’s street address,” she told me. “Please do not ask me how I got it, but I believe it is where he lives right now.”
I was very grateful. “Thank you so much—”
“I have to get back inside,” she said quickly, ready to hurry away.
“Wait, Juanita—”
“I’m sorry,” she practically whispered, glancing back at the house. “It is not good that I am doing this, so please just go.”
She left without another word and disappeared around the side of the house. Eduardo gave me another concerned look, but he shut the door and walked around to the driver’s seat.
“I am sorry that did not work out how you expected,” he said as we drove away.
“Yeah, me too. But really, I don’t know what I expected. I know that he doesn’t have a relationship with his parents, but I had no idea it was…that awful. Maybe I did, I don’t know. I don’t know what I was trying to accomplish. I just wanted a stupid address…”
The tears fell easily and Eduardo let me cry in silence. Finally I handed him the piece of paper and muttered, “Here.”
He sighed. “These people are a different kind,” he finally said. “I guess I should have understood a little better; maybe I could have prepared you.”
“Well I didn’t exactly know what I was doing,” I admitted. “I didn’t realize Tyse’s mom was Satan.”
He chuckled. “There are many just like her.”
“Well that’s a shame. I guess now I understand what Tyse meant about the girls here.”
“That they are different?” he smiled.
“Please don’t tell me they’re all like that woman.”
“No, no, no,” he smiled. “Maybe if they have parents just like her.”
“Hmm, then I guess I don’t want to meet his sister.”
Eduardo only smiled as he ventured onto Interstate 5. He let me ride in silence for a bit until I began asking him about himself—his wife, his kids, where he grew up—and I enjoyed listening to him share his life. He actually had a son my age and he hinted around that I should meet him. We talked about José for a while, and then Eduardo asked more about Tyse.
We made it to La Mesa pretty quickly, and because it was one-o’clock, I hoped that Tyse was home and finished with his friends. We pulled up to a house that matched the address on the GPS, and Eduardo turned around to face me.
“Well? Does this look okay?” he smiled.
I nodded. “Yeah, this is more my pace.” The house was pretty simple in a regular neighborhood, and definitely within my expectations.
“Well good luck to you,” he told me as he opened my door.
I took a deep breath and slowly let it out as I moved up the walkway. I was pretty nervous, but maybe I was still a little rattled from the last porch I’d been on. Taking another deep breath, I tried to forget that awful experience and rang the doorbell. I glanced back at Eduardo, and seeing him smile and give me two thumbs up as he stood by his car made me finally smile. I felt a huge weight lifted from my shoulders, and I knew everything was going to be—
The door opened and Nate was standing in front of me. He just kind of looked at me in general, and then his mouth dropped open.
“Ellie?” He didn’t seem sure, so I nodded my head. “Holy shit. Uh, what are you doing here?”
“Well, I came to see Tyse. Is he here?”
He was still kind of staring at me until he replied, “Uh, yeah he’s here. He’s in the shower right now but, uh… Yeah, come on in,” he motioned.
I looked behind me and said, “Uh, I have a couple of bags…” Actually, was I really going to just haul my luggage into Nate’s house? Talk about inviting yourself over…
Nate followed my gaze and raised his eyebrows. “Oh, you came in style.”
Eduardo smiled a huge smile and waved, and it made me chuckle. Nate awkwardly returned the wave.
“Hang on just a sec, okay?” I asked Nate. “Let me just… Uh, hang on.”
“Sure.”
I made my way to the car and Eduardo still had the same smile on his face. “Yes? You’re staying? Everything is good?”
“Um, yeah I guess so. I mean I still need to make sure Tyse is okay with it…”
His face perplexed and he looked toward the porch. “Oh, so is that not…?”
“Oh! No, that’s not Tyse,” I smiled. “I guess he’s in the, uh, shower. But should I wait to bring my stuff in? I mean is that really rude, or should I wait to be invited?”
“It’s up to you. I can wait in the car until you speak with your man.”
I laughed at the twinkle in his eye. “Okay, maybe I’ll do that. If you don’t mind?”
“Oh, no. I have all day, remember? And besides, I’d like to see this Tyse for myself. I’ll let you know if I approve.” I softly chuckled and he leaned closer to whisper, “I don’t approve of that guy, so I am very thankful there is another option.”
I returned to the porch where Nate was still standing and he shrugged his shoulders. “You’re not staying? I thought you had bags.”
“Oh, uh, yeah I do, but I just thought…”
“Just thought what?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Just wanted to make sure it was okay.”
“Yeah, it’s okay. Bring your stuff in.”
“Oh, he’ll just wait for a few minutes. I’d like to see Tyse first.”
“Oh. Yeah, of course.” He motioned for me to follow him inside, so I did and shut the door behind me. “He’s gonna drop a load when he sees you, though.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, following him into a family room. “Is that a good thing or—”
“Ellie?”
I turned to face the hallway where Tyse was just standing in his boxers. He looked absolutely stunned that I was in his house.
“Tyse, go get some pants on, man,” Nate told him with a chuckle.
Tyse didn’t even seem to hear him. “Ellie, what
are you doing here? I thought I heard your voice but…I thought…”
“Well you’re not dreaming, hermano,” Nate said. “So go get some pants on so she doesn’t feel weird when you hug her.”
I kind of laughed, and Nate winked at me before he left the room.
Tyse just stood there for a moment, and then held up a finger to tell me to wait. He was back in about ten seconds, dressed in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. With a big smile on his face he gathered me in his arms and said, “I can’t even believe you’re here.”
I just stood there with my arms wrapped around him, breathing him in and feeling quite a lot of relief that the day finally felt okay again. With my face against him I said, “I hope it’s okay. I mean I wanted to surprise you, but I guess that was kind of risky if it didn’t work out…”
“No, it’s okay. It’s more than okay.” He pulled away to look at me. “How long can you stay?”
“Um, just until Sunday evening. If that’s okay with you guys,” I added. “I don’t have to impose, I can stay at a—”
“No, you’re not staying anywhere else,” he scoffed. “My house is your house. Anytime. You can have my room and I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“No, the couch is fine for me.”
He smiled. “Ellie, if you give me any trouble about it…”
I scowled at him. “Fine.”
He looked around briefly. “Where’s your stuff?”
“Oh, it’s still out in the car.”
“You drove here? Oh, did you rent one?”
“No, I have a driver,” I smiled. “And he’d like to meet you to make sure it’s safe to leave me here.”
He gave me a funny look but slipped on a pair of shoes and followed me outside. Eduardo appeared almost immediately.
“Eduardo, this is Tyse. Tyse, Eduardo.”
The two shook hands, and even though Tyse was a little confused about being introduced to a driver, he was polite about it.
“Thanks for getting her here safely,” he told Eduardo. “She’s very precious cargo.”
Eduardo’s smile was huge. “Yes, yes she is. Precious cargo.” He looked at me and asked, “Well? Your luggage? You’ll be staying?”
“Yes, I’ll be staying. Thanks for everything,” I told him. I even gave him a hug.
“Oh, you are very welcome,” he replied. “I hope your visit is good. And if you need a ride to the airport, just call.”
He handed me a business card and I thanked him, and then he unloaded my bags. Tyse took both of them for me, and I said goodbye to Eduardo one last time.
“I am totally confused,” Tyse said once we were in the house. He set my bags by the hallway and faced me. “Do you just have that effect on people? He acted like he’s known you forever.”
I smiled. “Nah, just since this morning.”
He shrugged. “And now he’s a huggable friend?”
With a laugh I replied, “Yeah, I guess so. I’ve had a rough morning, so he was like an answered prayer.”
He gave me a puzzled look. “A rough morning? What happened?”
He led me to the couch and we sat down. I almost panicked, realizing I didn’t know what to say about my visit to his parents’ house. Then I decided I just wasn’t going to say anything at all. At least…not yet.
I explained my spontaneity and how I felt a little stranded at the airport. Then there was the nice couple that offered up their driver for me.
“A town car,” he kind of scoffed. “You should have just called me.”
“But I wanted to surprise you.”
“Yeah, and you did. But I would have been surprised about picking you up at the airport, too.”
“I know, but you had your game. How did it go, by the way?”
He groaned as he slightly stretched his body. “Two mornings in a row… I think I took a beating.”
“I thought Nate was on your team?” I smiled.
“He was, but Loofah was on the other team.”
“Loofah?” I snorted.
He smiled. “Yeah, it’s easier than calling him ’50 Grit Sandpaper.’ ”
I laughed, but I was totally confused.
“His face,” Tyse clarified. He moved his shirt and showed me some burn marks on his upper arms. “The guy has the coarsest stubble you can ever imagine. He shaves and it grows back instantly.”
“Okay, and I couldn’t help but notice—when you were standing there in your underwear—that you looked pretty bruised up.”
“Oh, yeah. Thanks to Loofah, as well. I got tired of his face rubbing on my arms when he blocked me at the line, so I had to be quicker than him. He got pissed and started hitting me harder.” I could already see some of the bruises on his arms, but he lifted his shirt and I saw the ones on his ribs again. “That one could be broken, I’m not sure,” he added.
“What?” I asked with concern.
“Nah, I’m kidding. Anyway… So?” He looked at me with an eager smile. “Do you have any plans?”
“Uh, nope. Just this. Just sitting here with you. But don’t let me get in your way if you have things to do. I’ll just go with the flow.”
“You won’t be in my way, not at all. So what made you give up snowboarding for the weekend? I thought you were really looking forward to that.”
With a shrug I replied, “I decided there was something else that I wanted to do instead.”
He studied me carefully, and I was almost carried away by his eyes. I’d missed seeing those eyes, and witnessing their power in person was way better than just thinking about it.
“Is everything okay at home, Ellie?” he asked me.
I was a little caught off guard because it seemed totally out of the blue. “What?”
He sighed. “I just feel like there’s something going on that you’re not telling me about. On the phone you hardly talked about your family, which is odd, so I just felt like something was wrong.”
“No, everything’s okay,” I lied.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. Dawn and her mood swings are a little out of control, so she says things that are pretty ridiculous, but all of that has become the norm lately. We’re getting used to it.”
He studied me for a few seconds again. “Well, just be patient with her. She’s pregnant, and I don’t know what that’s like, but she’s also going through a really hard time because of Wyatt. I’m sure it just feels good to lash out at people.”
Hearing Tyse defend my sister almost made me wish I could slap her right then. Would he be so nice to her if he knew of the things she’d said about him? I actually thought that he would, which made me want to slap Dawn even harder.
“Yeah, I know,” I agreed. “She’s going through a rough time.”
Thankfully the subject of families was dropped, and we began talking about other things instead.
The entire weekend was great, even just hanging out at the house. He did take me to the beach on Saturday, but it really wasn’t that warm out. It was sunny and beautiful and I absolutely enjoyed it, but he promised me a better day in the future. I really didn’t even care. I wasn’t sure what was “better,” because spending time with Tyse was all that really mattered to me anyway.
Sunday afternoon was hard because I knew I would be leaving that evening. I had actually made the guys a Thanksgiving dinner, and they were completely blown away. I was pretty thrilled that they were so happy—Nate was like a little kid on Christmas morning—and it made me feel good to see them enjoy it.
But the happy times ended when Tyse had taken the trash out, and somehow I admitted to Nate that I’d been to Tyse’s parents’ house. Nate seemed pretty stunned, and he grilled me about it as quickly as he could until Tyse entered the house. He was just insisting that I tell Tyse about it, and Tyse heard him say that.
“Tell me what?” he asked, looking between the two of us.
I was about to say “nothing,” and Nate gave me a stern look and left the room. I didn’t really understand an
y of it.
“Tell me what?” Tyse asked again. “Ellie, what’s going on?”
I shrugged. “I don’t… I don’t understand…”
“Understand what?” He stepped closer to me and said, “Ellie, just tell me. What’s the matter?”
“I, uh… I met your mom, Tyse. At her house? In Solana Beach? She, uh… Well, she kicked me out and…”
I didn’t finish the sentence because I thought Tyse was going to completely snap.
Chapter Twenty-Six
I guess I had never really seen Tyse mad before, and I wasn’t going to that time, either. He didn’t snap like I was expecting him to, but his silence and the tenseness in his jaw really unnerved me.
“I, uh… I’m sorry if that was totally uncalled for,” I said quietly. “It just came about that way when Eduardo was trying to track down an address for you… I thought…”
Like a zombie he moved to the other side of the room, and I could feel myself wanting to cry again because I knew he was upset with me.
“I’m really sorry, Tyse.”
He turned around to face me. “Sorry? Are you kidding me, Ellie? You’re sorry?”
He shook his head and came toward me, and I was surprised when he took me in his arms and held me. I didn’t understand anything that was happening, but if he was holding me in his arms, he couldn’t be mad at me, right?
“You’re not mad at me?” I had to ask.
“Mad at you?” He pulled away to look at me. “No, I’m not mad at you, sweetheart. I’m, uh… Well, I don’t know what I am, actually. I’m worried. Yeah, I guess that’s what I am. Worried.”
“Worried about what?”
He exhaled and shook his head. “I just… I wish you hadn’t introduced yourself to my past, that’s all.”
I didn’t speak for a few seconds because I wasn’t sure what to say. Finally I said, “Well, I’m just going to get everything out in the open, okay?”
He only looked at me and didn’t respond.
“For one, I am completely and utterly shocked that your family is filthy rich. That kind of blew me away. I pull up to the house of Alistair and Regina Morgan, and I find out they don’t really live in the ghetto.”
Summer Swing Page 29
