by Trisha Grace
“Pirates of the Caribbean doesn’t have too good an ending either—that’s if I remembered it correctly.”
She nodded. “I do like happy endings, but this is way better than the movies they brought.”
“You need to know that everyone is well and fine.”
“Not everyone. It’s just that through a book or a movie, you grow to like certain characters. And when the ending sucks, it’s just wrong.”
“We’ll watch your movie, then,” he stated. “It’s a good ending, right?”
She smiled.
Of course it did. She wouldn’t choose something that didn’t have a good ending. He grabbed the DVD and set up the player, smiling to himself as he thought about what she’d said.
She wasn’t just used to taking care of herself; she was used to taking care of everyone, making sure that things went well for everyone around her.
It was the same thing with Ryan and Joanne.
When Ryan didn’t have a ride home, she offered to drive. When Joanne was trying to get his attention but got ignored, Kate couldn’t bear to let it continue, so she stepped in to help.
She was the complete opposite of him.
“Do you think we can steal some popcorn from them?” she suddenly asked.
“I’ll get it.” He stood, then stopped and asked, “Do you want to come along?”
She went down the stairs with him, but didn’t follow him over to the couch. He figured she probably didn’t want to risk putting more gory images into her mind.
He strolled over, pulled the bucket of popcorn out of Ryan’s hand, and headed back toward Kate.
“Hey!” Ryan hollered after Tyler, but he didn’t bother to glance back over at him. “Can you guys eat that much? Share some with us.”
Kate laughed at the dismay on Ryan’s face. “Food is everything to him, isn’t it?”
Tyler grinned at her observation.
“It’s all right, we can share. He was kind enough to rent episode one of the zombie films just to make sure that I don’t miss out on anything,” she said, then rolled her eyes.
“That’s right.” Ryan shouted. “I love you, Kate.”
Joseph elbowed Ryan, shutting him up immediately.
“In a friend or brotherly kind of way,” he quickly added. Then, flashed Tyler an apologetic smile.
That brought about more laughs from Kate. “The things he’d say for food.” Taking the bucket from Tyler’s hand, she pulled him into the kitchen. “Since he loves me, I guess we have no choice but to share.”
He knew Ryan was just being Ryan, but he’d never felt more inadequate of himself as he was then. He found himself loathing his aloof personality and suddenly found himself jealous of Ryan’s cheerful deposition.
“What’s wrong?” Kate asked, breaking his thoughts.
He gave her a small smile and shook his head.
“I thought I was the one in the bad mood,” she said.
“Ryan made you happier.”
A corner of her lips turned up. “It’s always nice to be loved, I guess.” She paused, tilting her head to the side, scrutinizing him. “You protected me. If you hadn’t dragged me away, I probably would’ve watched the next zombie movie, and I probably would’ve lost my mind before the night was over.”
He said nothing as she moved away to take a bowl, pouring some of the popcorn into it.
With her back to him, she continued. “I like you the way you are. Ryan is … Ryan,” she said with an indifferent shrug as she turned around and leaned against the counter. “You guys are very different, but I like you just the way you are.” She smiled and strolled out of the kitchen. “I’ll bring our portion upstairs. You can return the bucket to Ryan.”
He grabbed the bucket and walked out alongside Kate. He never thought himself caprice, but by the time he got back to Ryan, he was all smiles. “Your popcorn.”
His smile, so genuine, seemed to worry Ryan.
“Did he add something to my popcorn?” Ryan shouted over to Kate.
Kate looked at Tyler, then shrugged.
“You won’t,” Ryan said and watched their reactions, but they simply ignored him and went up the stairs.
“Do you think he’ll still eat the popcorn?”
“He will,” Tyler said and pressed the play button on the remote.
He and Kate watched the two movies they brought. Halfway through the second movie, he felt her head against his shoulder.
He turned and smiled as he saw her sleeping soundly.
He continued watching the movie, keeping as still as he could, making sure he didn’t wake her. He only lifted her from his shoulder when the credits began rolling. He laid her down on the couch and pulled off her spectacles as gently as he could.
Pushing aside the hair that had fallen over her face, he couldn’t resist running his finger down the side of her face.
He smiled, then headed into her room to get her a pillow and blanket.
When he got back, he slipped his hand under her neck and slot the pillow in, smiling as he accomplished his task without rousing Kate from her sleep. Draping the blanket over her, he sat on the floor and leaned back on the couch with his iPad in hand.
He was midway through the new crime novel he was reading when Kate moaned.
“No …”
He turned back to her just as she flinched.
The peaceful expression on her face had been replaced by a frown, and her head pressed against the pillow as if she were bracing for something painful to happen.
Whatever she was dreaming of definitely wasn’t pleasant.
“Kate.” The moment he touched her, she screamed and shot upright, flinging her hands about.
He leaned back, avoiding her swinging arms, then held her hands firm in his. “It’s me,” he said.
Her hands relaxed within his.
He let go of her hands, got up beside her, and wrapped his arm around her, running his hand up and down her arm. “It’s all right; it was just a nightmare.”
Kate pressed her face into her hands.
“Everything all right?” Joseph said as the three guys sprinted up the stairs. They all skidded to a stop when they saw his arm around Kate.
He shot them a glare, irate with them for bringing the horror films. In his arms, Kate had stopped screaming, but he could still feel her shaking.
“Sorry,” Ryan mumbled, and they quickly retreated down the stairs.
“Are you all right?” Tyler asked softly while Kate appeared to be in a daze. He wasn’t sure if she was fully awake.
“Yeah,” she said after a moment. “Oh my God, was I screaming? Did I wake you?”
“Yes, you were, but you didn’t wake me.” He had thought it was better for him to stay near her, just in case she had a nightmare, but he didn’t think she would have such a bad reaction. “Feeling better?”
He waited, but there wasn’t any reaction from Kate.
“It’s all right. It was just a nightmare.”
“I know, but I couldn’t get out of it. I couldn’t find a way out.”
“It’s over now,” he said as he let go of her. If he could, he would keep holding her, but he didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable. “Go back to sleep, I’ll be right here.”
She glanced around, then down at the pillow and blanket. “Thanks,” she said as she tugged at the blanket.
“If it isn’t too uncomfortable, then sleep here tonight. I’ll be here if you have a nightmare.”
She lay back onto the pillow. “You’re going to stay here with me for the whole night?”
Brushing aside her fringe that had partially hidden her face, he assured her, “Yes, go back to sleep.”
But she didn’t. Instead, she pushed the blanket aside and sat up. “I can’t let you stay up the whole night just to accompany me.”
“I’m not tired anyway.”
She shook her head. “Then let’s do something together.”
“Like?”
She hesitated for a moment. “I want to
show you something, but I’m afraid that you’ll get upset.”
“What is it?”
She got up and went into his grandfather’s study, returning with a thick photo album. Tyler narrowed his eyes at the thick album. He couldn’t remember if his parents had a photo album or what could be in it.
Gingerly, Kate sat and opened the album, showing him pages that had yellowed along the edges. “This is the cabin you were telling me about, right?” she asked, pointing to a picture of young Tyler who was smiling so brightly that all his teeth were showing. “And that’d be you.”
He eyed the picture and smiled at the younger him who was beaming so elatedly.
“You were so cute then.” She looked up at him and pretended to scrutinize him. “You’re not too bad now either,” she said and laughed softly.
“Good enough for you?”
“Oh, Ty, no one is ever good enough for me.” Then she laughed at her own self-praise. “I’m kidding.”
“It’s all right. I agree.”
Shaking her head, she turned back to the album. “Tell me more about the cabin.” Flipping the pages, she stopped at one with Tyler on a pony. “Is this your horse? It grew up with you?”
“Yeah. I’ll let you ride him when we are there.” Pointing to another picture, he laughed. “That’s the boat I built with my dad.”
“Will it fit both of us?”
“If it doesn’t, I’ll build another.”
“Build another? You had your dad the other time. You probably just knock a couple of nails or sand off the surfaces. I don’t think I’ll dare to step into a boat you build on your own,” she teased.
“You’ll step in even if you see it filling with water, just to make sure that you don’t hurt anyone’s feelings.”
“No, I won’t. I’ll stand there and criticize at how awful the workmanship is and put the person down until there isn’t a shred of dignity left,” she countered.
“Why are we talking about Evelyn?”
She burst into laughter, but playfully smacked him on his arm. “Don’t make fun of my friend.”
That night, they talked about the photos, about all the things he used to do at the cabin. He would make plans for their time there, and they joked and teased each other along the way.
They hadn’t even realized that the sun was up and that the guys below had fallen silent until Marianne came walking up the stairs. “I was wondering where the two of you went. There are three huge guys snoring downstairs, but the two of you were missing. I thought you guys went out in the middle of the night again.”
Their head snapped up, but neither moved away from each other.
“We were just talking about the cabin,” Kate said and stretched her back. She took the spectacles that Tyler had removed from her and got up. “I think it’s time for bed.”
“Eat something first. You’ve been up the entire night; I’m sure you must be starving.”
Kate stood where she was, seemingly trying to weigh which was more important. “I am, and I doubt I can sleep with my stomach screaming for food.”
“Good,” Looking at Tyler, Marianne continued. “I suppose you’ll be coming with us?”
He stood without answering Marianne’s question. Placing the photo album down, he headed down the stairs with Kate and Marianne.
“How was the movie marathon?” Marianne asked, looking over her shoulder at Kate.
He smirked while Kate shook her head. “It was a disaster. I think I’ll be having nightmares for the next month.”
“They brought horror movies,” he explained.
“They brought horror movies?” Marianne gasped in disgust. “I thought the boys would know better. I’ll give them a piece of my mind later.”
Kate chuckled. “Don’t, it’s fine. I ended up having a good time anyway.”
“Really?” Marianne turned to him, giving him a coy smile. “Did you enjoy yourself, Ty?”
A corner of his lips sneaked up.
“Good, good,” Marianne mumbled and gestured for them to go on into the kitchen while she woke the guys up.
During breakfast, Marianne chided all the guys for being insensitive to Kate. The guys smiled and apologized, appearing genuinely sorry.
“We didn’t mean for you to get nightmares from the movie.”
That was when Kate finally realized what happened. “You guys heard me scream.”
“And saw Ty hugging you,” Ryan added as he swallowed his bacon.
Kate froze for a moment, her hands unconsciously moved toward her necklace as she struggled to find a response.
“You can just ignore them, I do,” Tyler suggested when he saw her twirling her locket. “If you haven’t noticed, Ryan tends to say whatever is on his mind without thinking.”
Kate smiled gratefully for Tyler’s rescue and did what he suggested. She ignored the guys, but Ryan wasn’t going to let it go.
“So, are you going to keep running into Tyler’s arms each time you get scared?”
“I didn’t run into his arms,” Kate said, narrowing her eyes at Ryan.
Ryan nodded. “So, Ty, are you going to keep hugging Kate each time she gets frightened?”
He had no intention of entertaining Ryan.
“Of course not,” Kate answered.
“Really?” Without any warning, Ryan shouted in her face and pretended to lunge toward her.
She screamed and leaned into Tyler while he instinctively wrapped his arm around her.
“I guess you’re wrong,” Ryan said jokingly, and the rest of the guys burst out laughing at them.
Tyler was used to Ryan’s antics, but he didn’t appreciate Ryan treating Kate that way. He shook his head and was about to tell Ryan off when Kate lifted herself slightly off his chest and gave him a mischievous smile.
He frowned, not understanding Kate’s reaction.
She leaned back into his arms and started making sniffing noises while her hands curled against his shirt.
Everyone froze and stared at Ryan.
“Crap. Kate … I’m sorry, I was just joking …” Ryan stammered.
She continued hiding in his chest for a couple more seconds while Ryan panicked.
Tyler finally understood what she was doing and laughed as Kate straightened herself and smiled at Ryan.
“That was for being a jerk.”
“Whoa, good one, Kate!” Dan said.
“That isn’t fair,” Ryan contested.
“Too bad. You started it.” Kate turned back to Tyler and smoothed down the creases in his shirt. “Sorry about that.”
“I was still right anyway,” Ryan mumbled.
Marianne knocked Ryan on the head. “If you intend to continue eating here, I suggest you shut up.”
Everyone laughed while Ryan raised both his arms in peace.
Having filled their empty stomachs, they went off to their respective rooms to get some sleep.
Tyler stopped outside Kate’s room, leaned against the door, and asked, “Will you be all right?”
“It’s broad daylight. I doubt I’ll be haunted by nightmares. But if I do, I won’t hesitate to wake you.”
His smile grew into a wide grin. “Make sure you do that.”
Chapter Fourteen
Conversations crisscrossed around the table as Kate took a mouthful of mozzarella cheese salad and nodded at something Ryan had said.
She tried to pay attention to the conversations, but she was exhausted.
With one less team to work with, the projects that were handled by the original team ended up on her table.
She hadn’t worked this hard since she and Evelyn started out their company.
But no matter how busy she was at work, she always made it back home for dinner. That was the only part of the day she looked forward to.
Marianne’s cooking was fantastic, but food wasn’t the lure that made her pack up her desk and leave her office on time.
Dinner was the only time she could talk to Tyler, and if she were
to get home on time, they could sometimes spend an hour on the piano together.
Otherwise, they would drink their coffee and chat about work, or she would take out another photo album and make Tyler tell her the stories behind the photos.
She’d heard many of the stories before, but she loved seeing the smile Tyler had whenever he spoke of them.
At times when he couldn’t recall what happened, she would tell him what the late Mr. Hayes had told her instead.
The only downside to the conversations they had was Tyler’s habit of making plans for them to head down to wherever the picture was taken.
She’d love to go to all those places with him. She’d love to see and do everything he said they could, but all they had was a year.
It started out exciting when he began planning their trip to the cabin. But as more places sprang up, the plans became reminders of how short a time she had with him.
There was no way they could do all the activities he’d planned in one year.
They would probably still be friends. They might still see each other once in a while, holidays perhaps. But things wouldn’t be the same.
“Tired?”
She woke from her daze and turned to Tyler. “Yeah, I had to run around quite a bit today.”
“Things will get better once the probation is over,” he said with an encouraging smile.
She nodded.
“Tell you what. If you want, we’ll make the trip to the cabin after the probation is over. I’ll arrange everything.”
There really wasn’t a need for six whole months of probation, was there? She was sure the team had learned their lessons.
“If you want, that is.”
“I’d love that.”
“Great,” he said with a grin. “And are you free this Friday night? It’s the company’s annual dinner, and I’m afraid that it may drag beyond midnight.”
“I didn’t think you’d bother to show up for these events.”
“I have to show my face.”
Chuckling, she nodded. “Yeah, I can go with you. Is it formal?”
“Is that all right?”
“Are you going to change the dress code for me if I say no?” she asked with a teasing grin.
“If that’s what you want.”
“And I bet you know that I won’t. Anyway, Evelyn’s been pestering me to go shopping with her; I can get a dress then.”
