Reaching Her Heart: A Christian Romance (Callaghans & McFaddens Book 8)

by Kimberly Rae Jordan

  “You’re welcome, buddy.” Tristan rested his arm on Timothy’s shoulders as they walked to where he’d parked the car. He held his other hand out to Shayna which, after the slightest hesitation, she took.

  Once they were back in the car, Timothy made a request that surprised no one. “Can we go for pancakes.”

  “Sure.” Tristan glanced over at Shayna. “As long as it’s okay with your mom.”

  “Yes. That’s fine,” Shayna said. “I hadn’t planned anything special for supper.”

  Shayna seemed to try to interact more as they ate, almost to the point where Tristan began to wonder if he’d just imagined her distraction. Maybe she had just been tired, and Tristan knew that museums weren’t exactly her thing. So maybe it was boredom and lack of interest that had been to blame for her subdued behavior.

  Though he’d known her for several months, Tristan still didn’t know all her moods or what she’d be like in every circumstance. He hoped to talk more with her when they were back at the apartment, but when they got there, Eva—who hadn’t been there when they left—was back with her boyfriend.

  He’d met him a few times since Eva had moved in at the beginning of January. Dave Alsteen seemed to be a nice guy. He was friendly and willing to engage in conversation with Tristan and Shayna whenever they were at the townhouse at the same time. He even got along well with Timothy.

  So while Tristan normally had no problem with Eva and Dave being at the townhouse, when he saw them there when they got back, he was disappointed. There wasn’t much chance of having a conversation with Shayna when the others were around.

  “I guess it’s time for me to head for home,” Tristan said after chatting with Shayna and the other two for about an hour.

  “And it’s time for bed for you, Bug.” Shayna pulled Timothy close for a hug. “Say goodnight to Tristan then head upstairs to get changed and brush your teeth. I’ll be up in a few minutes.”

  Timothy pouted for a minute before pulling out of his mom’s arms and heading to Tristan. He gave Tristan a hug and said, “Night, Tristan. Thanks again for the museum today.”

  “You’re welcome, buddy. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Timothy nodded then headed up the stairs to carry out his mom’s directions. After Tristan said goodnight to Eva and Dave, he walked down the stairs behind Shayna. She got his jacket from the closet and handed it to him after he’d pulled on his boots.

  Tristan hung his jacket over the end of the railing of the stairs instead of putting it on then turned to Shayna. He reached out to cup her cheek. “Are you doing okay?”

  She gave him a smile that seemed equal parts sad and weary as she pressed her cheek against his hand. “Yeah. Just tired.”

  Tristan gently pulled her close, worried but also enjoying the feel of Shayna in his arms. She leaned more fully against Tristan, letting him take her weight for a few minutes, her forehead pressed against his cheek. When she lifted her head, Tristan kissed her softly. She didn’t pull away as they kissed, her hand tightening in his shirt.

  When the kiss ended, Shayna gave him another smile as he pulled on his jacket. Her smile was still tired but a little less sad. “Thank you for today. For coming along with us.”

  “Anytime. You know that. I love you.” Tristan gave her another quick kiss. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  She nodded. “Yep. We’ll be there.”

  Tristan felt a little better about Shayna’s mindset as he left the townhouse and headed for his own home.

  Seeing that Shayna was pretty much back to normal the next day after church, Tristan decided not to push for details about what had happened between her and Lisa. He really hadn’t known her long enough to be able to comment on the friendship she shared with the other woman.

  Their friendship had predated his arrival in their lives by many years, and he didn’t know how they typically related to each other. It was possible that they had disagreements and made up on a regular basis. He had his own arguments with Jackson that sometimes resulted in tense communications between them for a few days.

  Hopefully that was all it was because, like Tristan, it appeared Shayna didn’t have a lot of friends, so losing one would be a shame.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  Shayna had never gone so long without contact with Lisa. The memory of their conversation just after Valentine’s Day almost two months earlier played in her mind whenever she wasn’t focused on something else. She regretted pushing Lisa as hard as she had about her feelings for Lorne. They’d never had such an intense discussion, and something told her that it might be something they couldn’t ever recover from.

  While she was upset about the situation with Lisa, Shayna was enjoying the time she spent with Tristan. They’d fallen into a schedule of sorts, which she suspected was something Tristan appreciated, as did Timothy.

  At least once a week, in addition to texts and calls, Tristan would come by the house for supper. Sometimes she’d cook something. Other times, he’d order them pizza or whatever else they were in the mood for. On Friday nights, Tristan would bring Sierra over, and she’d hang out with Timothy while he and Shayna went out on a date.

  Saturday afternoons were usually spent doing something with Timothy, and on Sundays, they had started going to the Callaghans’ home for dinner after church. For the first time in her life, she was welcomed into a larger family unit.

  Slowly but surely, Shayna was building friendships with various family members. Her friendships with Maya and Hannah helped to take the edge off the loss she felt because of not having contact with Lisa, but that didn’t mean she didn’t miss her friend enormously. Part of that was because she felt like her last link to Lorne was fading away.

  She’d always have Timothy as a physical reminder of the love she and Lorne had shared, but he had been so young, and Lorne had been away from home so much, that Timothy didn’t have clear—or many—memories of his father. Lisa shared a lot of memories with Shayna because she had hung out with the two of them more than anyone else prior to Lorne’s death.

  So to have her relationship with Lisa end so abruptly, just as she was moving forward with her life, brought up emotions Shayna struggled to deal with. So she just shoved them aside. Maybe it was time to accept Lisa’s departure from her life and focus on the future. The future that looked more and more like it would include Tristan.

  She’d taken her ring off—well, not completely off. It was now on the ring finger of her right hand. And after much internal debate, Shayna had removed all the pictures on the main floor that were of just her and Lorne. Most of them were tucked away in the bottom drawer of her dresser.

  She had left up pictures of the three of them and ones of Lorne and Timothy. It was the only solution that sat well with Shayna. She wasn’t prepared to deny Lorne’s place in their life, even if it was only in their memories and pictures.

  “Tristan said that Sierra, Danica, and Les are going to take me to the movies,” Timothy said as he came into her room. “Where are you and Tristan going?”

  “Dinner and a concert.” Shayna smoothed her hands over her hair. “Are they here already?”

  “Yep, but Tristan said you don’t have to rush.”

  “Okay. Thanks, sweetie. I’ll be down in a couple of minutes.”

  Left alone again, Shayna added a few things to the purse she was using for the evening then pulled on the light blazer she’d chosen to wear. Spring had arrived, according to the calendar, but the evenings were still quite cool.

  When she got downstairs, Shayna saw that Sierra, Danica, and Les were gathered around the table while Tristan leaned against the counter, his arms crossed. He turned toward her as she walked into the kitchen and smiled. As she neared him, Tristan straightened and slid an arm around her waist.

  He bent his head to give her a quick kiss. “Ready to go?”

  Shayna rested a hand on his stomach and nodded before looking at the others in the room. “Are you guys going to eat here?”

 
“We’re going to stop somewhere before the movie,” Danica said. “Maybe pizza or burgers. Is that okay?”

  “That’s fine.” Shayna moved from Tristan’s side to kiss Timothy. “You be good, Bug. Okay?”

  He frowned at her for a moment, then said, “Of course, Maman. I’m always good.”

  Shayna laughed as she gave him a hug. “Of course you are.”

  She looked at Sierra and gave her a wink. At some point in the last couple of months, Timothy had developed something of a crush on the young woman. He was always on his best behavior when she was around. Shayna hated to think about the day when Sierra got a boyfriend her own age and the heartbreak that would follow for Timothy.

  “Go on,” Danica said, waving her hands in a shooing motion. “We’ll all be good.”

  “I would certainly hope so.” Tristan came to Shayna’s side, his arm going around her waist. “I’ll ask Timothy for a full report later.”

  Shayna loved how well Tristan and his family fit with her and Timothy, and she hoped that his family felt the same way about the two of them. She wanted Timothy to have more people than just her and maybe Lisa in his future. If something ever happened to her, she wanted to know that there was a support system in place for Timothy.

  “Well, on that note, let’s go,” Shayna said as she stepped away from Tristan and took his arm, tugging him toward the stairs to leave.

  They didn’t go anywhere fancy for dinner since it was just a quick stop on their way to the concert that was being held at the church. It was a Gospel concert with a variety of different groups performing.

  As they settled into their seats at the church, Shayna didn’t really know what to expect of the evening. She’d agreed to come mainly because Tristan had wanted to, and she had wanted to spend time with him.

  Probably the biggest issue in Shayna’s mind about her relationship with Tristan was how spiritual he was. He reminded her of Lorne, in that way. In her experience, religious people weren’t always good people. Her stepmother had been proof of that. Extremely active in her church, but she’d treated Shayna so badly.

  When she allowed herself to think about it too much, Shayna would wonder how it was that she’d gotten involved with not one but two men who were very committed to their faith. Lorne hadn’t been that way when they’d first met, but after staying in the foster home with Erin and Noella, he had changed.

  Tristan laid his arm on the seat behind Shayna, surrounding her with his presence. “I hope you enjoy the concert. I’m not the biggest Gospel music fan, but I do like several of the groups performing.” He paused. “I just wish that Dalton was here. He’d definitely enjoy it.”

  Shayna had learned more about the youngest Callaghan over the months, and she knew how heavily his absence weighed on the family. She hoped that one day soon, she and Timothy would get to meet him.

  For the next couple of hours, Shayna focused on the music and found herself enjoying it more than she thought she would. Maybe that was because it was less of a performance and more of an experience. These people weren’t just singing, they were sharing their stories through song and testimony.

  Tristan sat close, one arm around her back on the pew and his other hand holding hers. It was an experience within an experience for her, and her heart felt full of emotion as the concert wound down.

  As they walked hand in hand to the car, Shayna wasn’t quite ready to share what all was in her heart. Though she’d grown closer to Tristan over the months, there was still something within her that struggled to label her attraction to him as love. It just seemed that what she felt for Tristan was so different from what she’d felt for Lorne.

  If her feelings for Lorne had been love, then what was how she felt about Tristan?

  It was after ten by the time they got back to the townhouse. Timothy was in bed, and the trio of sitters were talking in the living room. Eva was home as well, but she was already up in her room. Sierra, Danica and Les didn’t hang around long after Tristan and Shayna got home.

  “Do you want a cup of coffee?” Shayna asked after the others had left.

  “I think I should probably go. I have to be at the office early tomorrow. Holly’s been doing interviews this week about the show home, and we’re hoping that exposure might bring in an influx of interested buyers before we break ground next month.” Tristan reached out and tugged her into his arms. “I’m sorry we couldn’t make plans for tomorrow with Timothy. I just didn’t want to have to cancel if we got busy at the show home.”

  “That’s fine. Timothy understood.” Shayna allowed herself to relax against him, relishing the feel of his arms around her. “Maybe you could come for supper afterward?”

  “I could do that,” Tristan murmured against her temple. “That definitely wouldn’t be a hardship.”

  “I’m glad to hear that.”

  They kissed for a bit before Tristan loosened his hold on her and stepped back, giving her a rueful smile. “I think I’d better go.”

  Shayna let him go a bit reluctantly. She’d never thought that she’d feel that way about another man, but she actually did enjoy the physical closeness that she and Tristan shared at times like that.

  “Thank you for another lovely evening,” she said.

  “Did you enjoy it? Honestly?”

  Shayna smiled and nodded. “More than I thought I would, actually.”

  Tristan’s brows drew together. “So why did you agree to go if you didn’t think you’d enjoy it?”

  “Because you wanted to go. I figured I’d still enjoy the evening, just being with you.”

  His frown smoothed out at her words. “Well, I enjoyed it too.”

  She walked with him down to the door. “So supper for sure tomorrow night?”

  “You bet.”

  As he stepped outside, Tristan turned back and said, “I love you.” He gave her another lingering kiss before leaving.

  Shayna stood in the open doorway, arms wrapped around her waist against the cold, watching as Tristan drove away. She wondered how long it would be before he got tired of waiting for her to say the words back to him.

  The thought made her feel a little sick, but every time she considered saying the words to him, her throat would get tight, and she felt a pain in her heart. As if loving someone else, saying those words to someone else, would literally rip Lorne from her heart, and she just wasn’t sure she could handle that.

  She cared for Tristan, and if he wanted something more serious in their future, she would agree because she believed that they could be happy together. The three of them. She’d do what she could to make him happy, to take care of him.

  She hadn’t realized when she’d made the decision to date Tristan that all these months later, even after taking steps like moving her ring, she’d still find it so difficult to say the words, let alone feel them. It seemed like deep caring and affection were all she could offer him.

  Would it be enough?

  Tristan had been right not to make plans for the afternoon. There was a steady flow of people in and out of the office and the show home. He and Holly had realized before the first people even arrived that they needed to work out a strategy if they had several people come at the same time.

  Unlike a normal show home, where many people could view it at the same time, a tiny home would barely accommodate three or four adults. Holly had asked one of her fellow agents to be at the office with her, and while Tristan stayed at the tiny home, the two women met potential buyers at the office. They’d then bring them to the tiny home to meet Tristan and ask any questions they had as they looked around.

  They had worked fairly well as a team with only small hiccups when people wanted to spend more time in the tiny home while others were waiting. By the time the show home closed late Saturday afternoon, Tristan had come to the realization that he probably should have built two show homes, and also, he was done dealing with people for the day.

  Except he still had to go to Shayna’s for dinner. Normally, that wo
uld have been something he looked forward to, but that day, he was tired and really only wanted the peace and quiet of his apartment.

  Instead, he headed straight over to her place, knowing if he stopped at his apartment, he’d find it harder to leave again.

  “Hey, Tris!” Timothy greeted him when he answered the door.

  “Hi, bud.” Tristan held his hand up, and Timothy jumped to high-five it.

  “Were there lots of people at the tiny home today?” Timothy asked as Tristan took off his jacket and shoes. “I wanted to go too, but Maman said no. That you’d be too busy.”

  “She was right,” Tristan said as they climbed the stairs to the main floor, the aroma of something delicious growing stronger with each step. “We were super busy.”

  “Did you sell lots of them?”

  “Why don’t you let Tristan come in and sit down before you interrogate him, Bug?”

  Tristan smiled his thanks at Shayna who stood at the counter with a large casserole dish in front of her. He went to her and gave her a quick kiss. “Smells good.”

  “Hope you think it tastes good too. It’s one of Timothy’s favorites.”

  “What can I do?” Tristan asked, even though all he really wanted to do was to sit down and not move for a bit.

  “Not a thing.” She waved at the table. “Go ahead and sit down.”

  Tristan sat in a chair where he could still see Shayna as she finished getting the supper together. As she did that, he answered the questions Timothy had for him. When Shayna had brought the food to the table, she asked Timothy to say grace for the food.

  Throughout the meal, Timothy continued to talk about the tiny homes. Tristan was too tired to give anything other than short answers. He caught a few worried looks Shayna gave him, but he didn’t say anything until he was ready to leave.

  “Sorry I’m not up for more tonight,” Tristan told her as they stood at the door.

  Shayna had sent Timothy upstairs to get ready for bed, so they were on their own. “It’s okay. It sounds like you had a really busy day.”