“She’ll work through it. Life takes us by surprise sometimes. We make a plan and suddenly the plan isn’t, and then we make a new plan. Gracie thought she’d be married and living in Manhattan by now. She wanted a place of her own.”
“I’m sure she did.”
“You’re taken by surprise because you thought you’d try out a new life in a new town. You had a nice little employee who was getting married, and then she wasn’t, and then you started falling in love with her.”
He paid for the gas and the gallon of milk. “You read too many romance novels, Velma.”
She laughed and leaned forward. “Yes, I do. But I can also spot a couple in love when I see one. Or at least falling in love. It’s because I’ve lived awhile. I know the signs.”
“What signs are those?” He leaned on the counter, unfortunately hooked on the crazy conversation with Velma in her tie-dyed T-shirt.
“Oh, the signs. A couple in love starts out with little looks. They start to share things. And then they start putting the other person first, taking care of each other, looking out for each other. Now, the common mistake is when a person thinks it’s all about chemistry. Everyone loves the ‘zing’ of chemistry, but that zing isn’t going to get you through fifty years of marriage.”
“So you think I’m in love with Gracie?” He grinned and took the piece of dark chocolate Velma offered.
“I think you and Gracie have to figure that out for yourselves.”
“Weren’t you just saying…?”
She laughed and popped the dark chocolate into her mouth. “I said I know love when I see it. What’s going on between you and Gracie is between you and Gracie.”
“Velma, you trapped me again.”
“I get bored sitting in here on a Sunday afternoon. Trapping you breaks up the monotony.”
“I’ll have to make sure I stop in more often and skip Sunday afternoons.”
“You’ll be back.”
He probably would. But next time maybe he’d realize he was walking into one of Velma’s traps. He laughed as he got into the truck. At least she’d helped clarify things for him. Now he just had to figure out what to do about it.
Chapter Seventeen
Gracie called in sick on Monday. Patrick didn’t know if she was sick or avoiding him. He thought maybe it was best if they did have a little time apart, time to think. It created a problem when he needed his right-hand woman and she was the one he needed space from.
Especially since the block party had been a success. By Tuesday morning he couldn’t run the store by himself, not even with Jeff coming in after school. When Coraline Connolly stopped by Tuesday midmorning, he knew what he had to do.
“Coraline, you’re hired.”
“I’m what?”
“You’re hired. Here’s your apron.” He tossed the apron he pulled out from under the counter. She caught it but was still staring at him as if he’d fallen off the proverbial turnip truck.
“Where’s Gracie?” Coraline, always game, slipped the apron over her head. It fit her better than it did Gracie.
“She’s taking some time off.” He rang up the sale for the gentleman standing at the register. He bagged the paint and lightbulbs, thanked the customer and straightened the work area.
“How much time off, Patrick?”
“I’m not really sure.” He watched the customer walk out the door.
“I see.” And she let it go.
Instead of discussing it, she went to work. By lunchtime she was an old pro at working the counter, and he found that she had a decent knowledge of nearly every type of home-remodeling project. She wasn’t Gracie, but she was a good hand.
“Coraline, do you think this is enough?” He sat down next to her when there was a lull. They had a fresh cup of coffee and a few minutes to catch their breath.
“This? The help I’m giving you?” She smiled and sipped her coffee.
“The stores. I know that these stores bring business to town, but is it really enough to keep the school open or to keep the police and fire departments going? With homes being foreclosed and people moving, I know the property tax revenue is down. I love this town and Main Street, but I don’t know if it’ll save Bygones.”
She sighed and took another sip of coffee before answering, “I don’t know, Patrick. I really don’t. What will you do if you can’t keep this store going?”
“I don’t want to leave.”
“No, and we don’t want you to go. I guess only time will tell. But you have more pressing matters. What are you going to do about Gracie Wilson?”
“I’m going to give her space.”
“Wise man. She needs a little space and maybe a little time to figure out who she is on her own. Don’t worry, she isn’t going to walk away from this store.”
He wanted to tell Coraline that he wasn’t as worried about Gracie walking away from The Fixer-Upper as he was about her walking away from him. There were a lot of things he wanted to say that he didn’t.
He had to fight the urge to close shop and drive over to Gracie’s. As much as he wanted her to pick him, to pick them, he wouldn’t push. She’d felt as if she had to go through with the marriage to Trent, even after she caught him cheating. He never wanted there to be a question about the two of them.
If he had to give her time to realize what they had, he’d give her time. But not too much.
After three days of sitting in her little house, alternately praying and staring at walls, Gracie had finally come to some very strong conclusions. And those conclusions required action.
She tossed aside the blanket she’d been wrapped up in, carried her coffee cup to the kitchen and started step one of her plan. She opened her closet and started throwing clothes onto the bed. She picked up a pretty dress, black and shimmery. She thought she’d worn it to a formal dinner in college. She held it up, wrinkled her nose and tossed it back to the bed with the other rejects.
Jeans and a nice top. She shook her head. A nice dress she often wore to church? No. Not that it wasn’t a pretty dress, but it didn’t quite have the appeal she wanted. Finally she settled on the red dress she’d worn to church Sunday. She smiled as she lifted it off the pile of clean clothes she had yet to hang and put away.
Perfect.
Next, hair and makeup. She almost never wore makeup, but she did own some and she did know how to apply it when necessary. And she owned a flat iron for her hair. Not that she ever used it. Tonight required all of the weapons in her female arsenal.
She had spent months trying to find Patrick Fogerty the right woman, and the right woman had been under his nose the entire time. She was the right woman for Patrick. She hadn’t realized it for a while. Or maybe she had but she’d tried to deny it.
How could she love Patrick after such a short time and after an almost wedding? It had occurred to her that she’d grown to love him slowly over time. In the past week or so she’d recognized that he was the person who made her feel whole. He completed her life as no one ever had.
She had to show him and convince him to give her a chance.
She had almost made a mess of her life. God had redeemed the mess because He’d had another plan the whole time. God had opened a door for Patrick to come to Bygones.
It took her an hour to get ready and she walked out of the house. She looked around, hoping no one would see her climbing into her truck to go after her man. But he was hers and she was determined to make that known.
When she pulled up to the back of the store, his truck wasn’t there. She parked and got out. He’d be back soon. Maybe he’d gone to church. Or maybe…
She sat down on the steps that led to his apartment. Maybe he’d gone out with one of the women she’d fixed him up with. Her heart sank a little as she sat there waiting. Inside his apartm
ent she heard Rufus bark at the door. Even the dog was tired of waiting.
Or maybe wondering when he’d come home.
She had no one to blame but herself. She’d let him leave her dad’s without telling him how she felt. She’d asked him for time off from work. He’d had to bring Coraline in to help him.
Headlights flashed. Patrick’s truck pulled up behind hers. For a long minute he sat behind the wheel and then he got out and walked past her truck to the steps. She stood as he was pulling keys out of his pocket.
“So this is where you’ve been.” He walked past her, up the steps to the door. “I’ve been at your place. I was worried about you.”
“I’ve been sitting here thinking you might be on a date. I did fix you up with some really nice women.”
He reached inside the door for a leash and snapped it on the dog’s collar. The big, scruffy animal jumped and lurched from the apartment.
“I need to walk him. You can wait here or walk with us.”
Gracie followed him down the stairs. Rufus kept the leash pulled tight in his excitement. Gracie hurried to keep up with the dog’s excitement and Patrick’s longer stride.
“He’s glad to be outside.” Gracie caught up.
“I’m glad you finally came out of your house. I was so worried about you. I tried your house, Velma’s and Coraline’s. I even knocked on Ann’s door.”
“I’m sorry. I just needed time.”
“I know.”
She took the hand he offered. “You always understand. Do you understand how exasperating I can be to the average person?”
He laughed at that. The dog sniffed at bushes and lunged at a rabbit, which escaped. They kept walking.
“I know you need space to figure out what you want.”
“You.”
He pulled Rufus to a stop and turned to face her. The wind blew her hair. He brushed it back and then he leaned down and kissed her gently.
“I need you, too.”
Gracie’s heart sang as she touched his cheek and he kissed her again. The dog moved around them, sniffing the ground and wrapping them close in his leash. Patrick laughed and nuzzled her hair, then her ear. His arms went around her.
“Hold still. Rufus is tying us together.”
“Smart dog.” Gracie held still as Patrick moved, pulling the dog to unwrap them from the leash.
“Very smart.” Patrick kissed her again. “He’s missed you, too.”
They were untangled and the dog pulled in the other direction. Patrick held the leash in one hand and wrapped the other arm around Gracie. She needed him in her life.
“You’re not the rebound man.”
“Okay.”
“You’re the only man I want in my life.” The words were out and she waited, wanting to be the only woman he needed in his life. Her heart ached as she waited.
Patrick held the leash, watching as Rufus sniffed around a tree and then tugged, trying to go in another direction. The animal was too big to be kept inside. He needed a fenced yard. Gracie moved and he looked down at her sweet, upturned face.
The woman he hadn’t known he needed. He looked up, laughing a little at how God worked.
“I’ve never known what it would feel like. I questioned if I would know.”
She shook her head. “What?”
“I’m the product of a broken home. I took myself to church. I grew my own faith. I knew that someday, if I got married, it would be forever. I didn’t know if I would know how it felt to meet a woman I wanted in my life forever. What if I didn’t know?”
“I can tell you what it doesn’t feel like.” She half smiled but he saw the remnants of the pain left behind from her failed attempt at a wedding.
“I can tell you what it feels like to know the person you’re holding is someone you want to hold forever.” He kissed her again. She felt sweet in his arms. She belonged there, with him. “It feels like this.”
She sighed and touched his cheek. “What if there are times it doesn’t?”
“Doesn’t?”
“Feel like this?”
“Then we stick it out until it feels this way again. I’m not going to any more singles’ meetings, Gracie. I’m only asking that you give us a chance.”
“Yes.” She reached for the leash he nearly dropped as he held her close. “I think this is definitely something to take a chance on.”
“I’m glad, because I’m okay being your rebound man if it means being the only man in your life.”
She kissed him again and then whispered next to his ear, “I love you.”
He picked her up and hugged her. “I love you, too.”
His lips touched hers as he set her back on her feet, on firm ground that wasn’t so firm at the moment. He loved her. And this time it was real; she knew the difference in her heart. The next time Gracie Wilson made plans to walk down the aisle of a church, he would be the man waiting for her. She closed her eyes and dreamed of a wedding that she would plan, and it ended with her in the arms of Patrick Fogerty.
Gracie Fogerty. She smiled as they linked arms and finished their walk.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from A Father’s Promise by Carolyne Aarsen.
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Chapter One
Just go in. It’s just an office. A building.
Renee stood just outside the door of Arlan Truscott, Barrister and Solicitor, surprised that the pounding of her heart wasn’t echoing in the entrance.
The last time she’d been here, she’d sat in Arlan’s office and signed papers that haunted her still.
That was ten years ago. Mom has been your priority since then.
With a decisive nod of her head, she pushed the door open and entered the office.
The woman sitting behind the wooden desk dominating the reception area looked up, a headset nested in her teased blond hair, and smiled. “Hey, Renee, you’re early.”
“Is that okay?” Renee asked, her eyes flicking over the interior of the office. Now the walls were painted a soft, colonial blue instead of the puce-green imprinted on her memory. She clutched the handle of her shoulder bag and prayed away the dark thoughts, turning back to Debbie. “Is Mr. Truscott ready to see me?”
“There’s been a change in plans. Mr. Truscott was called away, but his son, Zach, will take over your file.”
That was puzzling, but she was secretly relieved. Though Hartley Creek wasn’t large, and she ran into Mr. Truscott from time to time, seeing him was a reminder of that fateful day. Only sheer necessity had forced her to set up an appointment with him today.
“Have you met Zach?” Debbie asked.
“No. Not yet,” Renee said. “Though I have heard about him.”
Then the door of the other office opened, and Renee got to her feet to meet Zach Truscott herself.
He looked to be in his mid-thirties, tall, slender, thick blond hair waving away from a strong-featured face. His blue eyes flicked from the file he held to her, and when he smiled, she couldn’t stop an answering lift of her heart.
Classi
cally handsome, she thought, yet with eyes that seemed to hold a shadow of sadness. Through her friend Evangeline, Renee had heard that Zach Truscott was a widower, that he had a young daughter and that he’d moved to Hartley Creek from Toronto two weeks ago to help his father with his growing legal business. Evangeline knew all this because Zach boarded his horses at her father’s ranch.
“Good morning, Ms. Albertson,” Zach said, holding his hand out to take hers. “I’m Zach Truscott. I’m sorry my father couldn’t see you this morning. He had some unexpected business to take care of.”
Renee took his hand, his firm grip creating the faintest tingle in her palm.
She shook her feelings aside, attributing them as a normal reaction to an attractive male. She was still single, after all, as her mother frequently pointed out to her.
As if she had any time for men. She had a disabled mother to take care of and a business to sell. And it was the latter that brought her here today.
“My father gave me your file this morning,” Zach said, standing aside to let her precede him into his office. He walked around the desk and dropped into the chair across from her. “He said you’re in the process of selling your business?”
Renee nodded, settling into the straight-backed wooden chair across from him. As she did, she darted a quick glance around the room, stifling the chills that chased each other down her spine. This was a different time. Different lawyer. Different office.
The walls in here were painted a cheerful yellow. A large bookcase covered one wall with the usual assortment of legal books. To one side, however, she saw a small red table and chair covered with papers and crayons and paints. A pink electronic device sat on one corner of the table emitting glowing green light. On the wall above that table was an assortment of framed pictures. One of them was of a stunningly beautiful woman. She held the hand of a little girl with tousled blond hair and a gap-toothed smile. They were backlit by a large window that overlooked the city of Toronto.
The Boss's Bride (The Heart of Main Street) Page 18
