Wingman: Just a Guy and His Dog

by Tess Oliver

  "Now that you ask—" I pulled her arm to walk back the way she came from. "If Patty asks, you had an emergency and you called me to come help."

  "I did?" She reached up and pressed her hat lower on her head. "What kind of emergency?"

  "I don't know." I threw one out there. "The zipper on your purse was stuck, and you couldn't get your phone out."

  "Then how did I call you with it? And my purse has a latch not a zipper."

  "Your heel got stuck in the heating grate in your office."

  Fran cleared her throat and looked pointedly down at her sandals. "I just happened to wear flats today because my new shoes gave me a terrible blister."

  We stopped under the shade of the hardware store awning, well out of sight of the market.

  Fran laughed. "I guess we need to preplan these emergencies a little better."

  "I suppose we do."

  Fran leaned out to get a look at the sidewalk. "I see that cute beer delivery man's truck. Patty talks about him constantly." Fran's white smile lit up under the brim of her hat. "Does he have something to do with my emergency?"

  "Yes and Patty will probably never speak to me again. I thought if she had no choice except to sign for the beer, then she would have no choice except to talk to Samuel."

  "Aren't you a clever little schemer. It might work. Or like you mentioned, Patty might never talk to you again. Or me either, I suppose, since my hostile purse zipper pulled you from the store."

  Out of the corner of my eye, a dog trotted along the sidewalk. My pulse took off at warp speed as a dog that looked just like Boone came out from behind the fountain. Jilly emerged behind the dog and on the other end of a leash.

  "Jilly liked Boone so much she found a dog just like him on a rescue website. She drove out yesterday to pick her up. She named her Colette. She's a sweet little thing, and Jilly is over the moon about her new baby. She said she's almost ready to open the shop full time. I think this little town will be booming once the summer traffic starts coming our direction." Fran finished her little speech and then noticed that I had just recovered from seeing the dog. "Holy moly, here I am blathering on about Jilly, and I hadn't even thought that seeing little Colette would bring back memories. Still no word from Fynn?"

  "Nope. And I don't expect it anymore. He's gone for good." I took a deep breath to keep from tearing up. I'd allowed myself a few days of good crying, but I was done with that. For a brief moment in time, I’d been looking toward a future. Fynn had made me look toward a future. I wasn't going to be Ella, Lucky Thirteen of Butterfield, anymore. I was going to start a real life, an adult life with the man I loved. But that dream fell apart as fast as it grew. I should have known at the time that I wasn't destined for true happiness.

  Samuel's truck started up. "I guess I'll go back now and see if I'm fired . . . again."

  "Well, I was heading into the market, but I think I'll avoid it for a bit until this blows over. Good luck."

  "Thanks, Mayor Coward."

  I headed back to the market and stretched my neck up to see inside the window. I decided it was best to know exactly where Patty was standing as I walked into the ambush. I couldn't see her, which meant she was in the back or the corner aisle. The cowbell made sure that there was no way for me to sneak into the store unnoticed. How the hell did cows not go crazy wearing the damn things?

  Patty stepped out from the coffee and tea aisle. She strode straight for me. I wasn't sure whether to duck or run.

  She threw her arms around me. "You sneaky, wonderful friend."

  After smothering me for a good long moment, she lowered her arms.

  "So you don't hate me?"

  "I could never hate you, Ella. We have been friends for too long." She raised a brow at me. "How was Fran's emergency?"

  I waved it off. "You know Fran. She's such a drama queen."

  "Right. Well, Samuel asked me out."

  "What? He did. Oh my gosh, I think I've found my true calling."

  "You have. At first I was petrified but then I had no choice but to talk to him. I mean, I am the manager."

  "That you are."

  Patty hugged herself. "He's so cute and so nice. It turns out he'd wanted to ask me out for awhile, but I was always in the backroom when he came in. Now that the ice has been broken"—she took in a long breath—"I think I can do this." Without warning, the elation drained from her eyes, and she covered her face with her hands. Her shoulders shook with a sob. "I'm horrid. I'm awful. I'm a monster."

  "Whoa, how the heck did this go south so fast?" I tried to pry her hands from her face. "It'll be fine. We'll get your hair done up really pretty and—"

  She dropped her hands. "No, Ella, you don't understand. I've done something so awful, so unforgivable. Oh, I hope you can forgive me, although I wouldn't forgive me because what I did was unforgiveable."

  "O.K., Patty, deep breath. You are talking in circles, actual word circles. Tell me what you did, and I'm sure we can get past it. We've gotten past everything else."

  My words hadn't given her any comfort and her face was turning splotchy from tears. She sucked in a shuddering breath and raced into the back. I stood alone where she'd left me wondering what the hell had just happened. Maybe helping her meet Samuel wasn't such a solid idea after all. Maybe she wasn't ready for it yet.

  Still sniffling, Patty came back out of the office with a crumpled piece of paper in her hand. Through the wrinkles, I saw my name written on the backside of a note. I recognized the writing from a handwritten list I'd seen in Fynn's van.

  I lifted my eyes to Patty's face. As things dawned on me, it felt as if I was standing in the middle of an avalanche, rocks hitting me from every side. "Is that from Fynn?"

  Patty's sobs intensified as she handed me the paper. "He slipped it under the door the morning that Richard saw him driving away."

  I stared down at the hastily written note. He had been in a hurry, obviously anxious to get home to his grandfather. I read the few lines over and over again. Just one word. He needed to hear just one word from me and he would come back to get me. But he never heard it. He never heard even one word.

  "Oh, Ella, can you ever forgive me?"

  My stomach churned and my throat was dry as the desert. Patty's sobs continued as I reread the note again.

  I finally found the strength to look up at her. "I don't know, Patty. I don't know if I can ever forgive you for this." I whipped the apron off over my head and dropped it on the counter.

  I clutched the note in my hand as if it was the most important thing in the world. I walked across the street to the park, the park that now sparkled with life because of Fynn. It had been more than a week. I could only imagine what Fynn thought of me after I’d so coldly cut him off. I was sure he had already written me off as that girl in Butterfield who had known the truth about the accident but who had selfishly kept it to herself. After a week away from here, I was sure he had convinced himself that I wasn't even worth the trip back to Butterfield.

  I hiked all the way to the back of the park, to the benches that Fynn had painstakingly cleaned and painted. I sat down and stared at the stone flamingo. It looked nearly real again, with the pond water circling its long legs. Fynn had changed everything, and the biggest changes had had nothing to do with the park.

  I pulled out my crummy old phone. My fingers trembled as I dialed the number. My number would be unfamiliar, and he would most likely not answer. I was actually relieved when it went to voicemail. I almost hung up but then words fell off my tongue.

  "Hey, it's me. I just got your note. I hope your grandfather is feeling better. You said you just needed one word, well here it is. Yes."

  Chapter Forty

  Ella

  It had been three days since Patty confessed her miserable little plot to me. No call back from Fynn. It seemed I'd lost him for good. I'd considered calling him once more, but I talked myself out of it each time. I didn't think my message could have been clearer. It was, after all, just one wo
rd, and it was pretty hard to misinterpret the word yes.

  I worked the counter while Patty stocked the refrigerator, a crummy, cold job that she usually left for me. If nothing else, her deceit and the extreme guilt it left her with, had improved things on the job. This morning I strode in fifteen minutes late, and my boss didn't dare say anything except good morning. Unfortunately, none of it made up for losing Fynn. It was hard to know what had made him change his mind. The only thing I could come up with was the time away let him come to the conclusion that he hadn't been all that nuts about me in the first place. People say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but apparently, the opposite could happen just as easily.

  In the meantime, Patty had gone out on a date with Samuel. She had been walking on air about it ever since. As angry as I was at her, I was happy for her too. And even though she had rearranged the sodas on the refrigerator shelves three times, she stopped after three and that was a step in the right direction. Of course, frostbite on her fingertips might have had more to do with it than overcoming her anxiety.

  My phone rang. It never rang. My heart did a weird little flip flop thing in my chest as I pulled my phone out of my apron pocket. It was Fran.

  "Hey, Fran."

  "Ella, I'm having a small emergency, and I need your help."

  "What's wrong?" I pulled my apron off ready to hurry out the door.

  She paused and I worried that something terrible had happened. "The zipper on my purse is stuck."

  I pressed my hand over my chest to calm myself. "Very funny, Fran. You just about gave me a heart attack." I picked up the apron and started to pull it on. "You'd think a mayor would have more to do than play pranks on her constituents."

  "My heel is stuck in the floorboards," she said quickly.

  "Fran, what's going on?"

  "Oh, just get over here, would you?"

  I looked out the window. "Where are you at?"

  "My office and make it quick." She hung up.

  I stared at my phone in confusion. I hung the apron on the stool behind the counter. "Patty, I need to head over to Fran's office for a minute. She's got some kind of emergency. Either that or she's losing her mind. I'll be right back."

  "All right. I hope there's nothing wrong," Patty called from the back.

  The quickest route to Fran's office was through the park. I'd been avoiding the place because it reminded me so much of Fynn. A handful of kids were playing on the new equipment, and a few unfamiliar faces, people passing through town, were sitting on the benches at the park enjoying something from one of Jilly's signature pink boxes.

  I cut through the center of the park and kept my eyes averted from the beautiful fountain, the unusual site of our first kiss. I headed along the path. A dog came trotting around the back of the pavilion. He was short and chubby, and he was moving awkwardly with a bouquet of tiny purple flowers tucked under his collar.

  "Boone!" I stooped down and he ran straight to me. He licked my face as I relieved him of his flower burden. My pulse raced as if I had just run up a steep hill. I straightened and searched around for Boone's owner.

  Fynn leaned out from the pavilion. "Just to be clear—that was a yes, right?"

  "Yes. Hell yes."

  Fynn flew down the steps, and I threw myself into his arms. We kissed until it seemed we were catching far too much attention from shop owners and park goers.

  I smiled up at him. "I thought I'd never see you again. I thought I'd never feel these amazing arms around me again."

  "Now that I've got you in these arms, how do you feel about living on a farm and becoming a wheat farmer's wife?"

  "Will I have my own horse?"

  "You can have as many horses as you want."

  I pretended to be thinking it over.

  "You're hesitating. I wasn't expecting hesitation."

  "I was just trying to decide if there was a word that was more clear than yes."

  "I've got one. Only it's more of an action than a word." Fynn pressed his mouth over mine and kissed me again.

  I was glad Fynn was holding onto me tightly. Otherwise, I have no doubt I would have floated in a blissful bubble up to the sky.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Ella

  "I'm heading up to your house right now, Starshine. Are you ready?"

  "Almost. I'm running behind. The shopping trip with my mom was exhausting. That woman can move when she's inside a mall. I swear we went into every damn store. It was almost as if she was trying to waste time."

  "Did you get everything you needed?"

  "Check. I'm all ready for farming. Inside and out. Especially inside since I spent half my younger years dreaming about working on a farm, and by working I mean brushing the long, glittering silver tail of my pony."

  "Well, you might have to keep dreaming about a glittery silver tail because a glittery horse is hard to find. You might have to settle for flea-bitten gray."

  "That works. Now hang up so I can finish getting all dolled up. I haven't put on a dress for a long time, and I'm feeling a little weird about it. Just where are you taking me?"

  "You'll see. Bye."

  Mom knocked and poked her head into my room. "Can I come in?"

  "Sure."

  Mom had pulled on one of her nicest dresses, one that I hadn't seen in a long time. "You look spiffy. Are you and Dad going somewhere?"

  "Us? Uh, yes. We are going out for a little dinner. Thought I'd dress up for a change."

  Even though I was packing up to move to the farm with Fynn, I had decided to leave the decor and posters in my room alone. It might have been a nostalgia thing or a homesick thing, but I just didn't have the heart to strip away my childhood. I was sure it would make my leaving that much harder on my mom.

  Or at least that was what I thought until she stood in the center of my bedroom tapping her finger against her chin. "I'm thinking this would make a good sewing room. I'll get rid of the bed and strip the room down. Then I can have dad hang spools for thread and pockets for measuring tapes and other things I'll need." She rubbed her foot over the carpet that had started out a deep rose color years ago but that had lost most of the rose, leaving only an anemic pink. "If he rips up the carpet, there are hardwood floors beneath. I can draw out and cut patterns on the floor."

  "Jeesh," I said, trying not to look too hurt. "Guess you've been planning this for awhile."

  "I always knew you'd move out eventually. You look beautiful by the way." She hugged me for longer than a casual embrace. There was something more behind it, but I wasn't sure it had to do with me leaving.

  I patted her back. "Mom, are you all right?"

  She leaned back. "I'm just proud of what an amazing person you turned out to be." She was on the verge of tears. She sniffled and shook off the emotion. "Look at me. And I just got done putting on mascara. Well, your dad and I are leaving, so have a good time tonight."

  "I plan to. Oh, and Mom, thanks for the beautiful cowboy boots. I can't wait to get them worn in and dirty."

  "I figured since we never delivered on the horse, the least your dad and I could do was buy you the boots." She blew me a kiss and walked out.

  Minutes after my parents pulled out of the driveway on their highly unusual dinner date, Fynn pulled up to the house. I peeked through the front curtains to get a look at him all dressed up before I faced him at the door. I knew he would look breathtaking and he did. Seeing him ahead of time in his dress shirt and coat would help me to gain my composure before opening the door. At least I thought it would.

  I swung the door open. He looked even better without a dusty window between us. His reaction to me in a dress did not disappoint either.

  "Starshine, I guess I should have prepared myself. Are your parents home?"

  "Nope."

  "Great." He stepped into the house and pulled me against him for a kiss. "Now I wish we weren't leaving," he muttered against my mouth.

  "It would be a shame to deny the world such a stunning pair, but we could st
ay here. My parents went on a dinner date, the first I can remember."

  He pulled his mouth from mine with a frustrated growl. "No, we'll take a rain check until later tonight. Besides, Boone is waiting for us in the van, and he got dressed up especially for you."

  "I can't wait to see him."

  I locked the door behind us, and I took Fynn's arm as he led me down the front path to the van. He pulled open the passenger door. Boone was sitting like a perfect gentleman with a bouquet of roses under his front paws and a satin black bow tie around his thick neck.

  "Boone, you shouldn't have." I picked up the roses and smelled them. "They are beautiful, just like you." I rubbed his head.

  "Actually, the roses are from me." Fynn waved for Boone to climb into the back of the van and then he wiped off the fur. I climbed into the seat and lowered the roses to my lap.

  Fynn got in the van and started it up. He had been very secretive about the night he had planned.

  "You look very dashing in a suit, by the way."

  "Thank you. I guess the mirror didn't lie tonight. I was thinking about sporting formal wear around the farm. What do you think? We could start a new tradition."

  I laughed and lifted the flowers to my face for another whiff. "I love roses. Thank you."

  "You're welcome."

  "Are you going to give me a hint about where we are going?"

  "Nope."

  "Not even one clue?"

  "Nope."

  "It looks like we're heading toward town instead of away from it. I'm going to assume that you have a very romantic evening planned."

  Fynn turned the corner onto Main Street.

  I stared in shock through the front windshield. "A very romantic evening . . . with the entire town of Butterfield." Twinkling lights lit up the pavilion and cast a bright glow on the red and gold balloons. "Fynn?" I could hardly find my voice.

  "This was all the town's idea." He didn't say a word as he reached over and took my hand. "You O.K.?"