Folding Hearts (16 page)

“Are you saying we are close?” h
e asked as he pushed the hair away from my face.

I tried to pretend like his touch didn’t affect me. “He says that my old phone had been getting threatenin
’
phone calls.”

“Nothing will happen to you while you are here with me Miranda. I promise you that.”

He pulled me into his chest and just held me there for a few seconds. “Thank you.
This is my first real time away from home. It makes it harder having Bella. She is a good little girl, but I never wanted this for her.”

He put his hands on either side of my face. “I know I already said this, but I am really glad you came here.
I missed Izzy…..,” he looked directly into my eyes, “a
nd I missed you.”

I licked my lips and glared at his.

We started moving closer.

My heart was beating
out of my chest.

Yes…yes……

Then someone knocked on the
door
.

Chapter 16

Tyler

Leave it to my mother to drop by the carriage house at the worst time possible.

I was inches away from feeling those soft lips again, when she came beating on the door.
Then to make matters worse, she just came bursting in. “
Sorry t
o just barge in. I wanted to give Ty his cell phone. It has been ringing in his room all day.”

My mother looked around the living room. “Is the baby sleeping?”

Miran
da had scooted at least two feet
away from me, but I could tell that both she and my mother sensed the
tension in the room.

“I took them to Jeb’s farm to pet all the animals. It wore her out.”

“So how are you doing Miranda? Do you have everything you need out here?” My mother asked.

Yes, thank you for lettin’ us come here. I know the
circumstances
aren’t ideal. I
apologize for the inconvenience,
” Miranda explained.

“It’s no trouble.
It’s a real shame that boy is threatening you and your baby like that.”

Miranda gave my mother a quick smile.  “I thought he would change once she was born.
I swear I truly believed that once he saw her for the first time, he would want to be a family.”

“He is a damn fool.” My mother shook her head and turned her direction toward the bedroom door.

Izzy came peeking around the corner. She was looking straight at my mother but being shy because she didn’t know her. Miranda had her back facing the bedroom, so she wasn’t seeing the hide and seek that was going on. “There’s
my favorite girl,
” I announced in an excited tone. Izzy got a big smile on her face and came walking out into the living room toward me. I held my arms up and offered to pick her up. Just like every time, she jumped right up. “Don’t be shy. This is my mommy.”

“Ma
ma.” Izzy said as she pointed toward Miranda.

“Yes that is your ma
ma,
” I agreed and laughed.

My mother approached us and held her arms out for Izzy. Instead of reaching back, she turned her face and buried it into my shoulder. “No!”

We all started laughing even though my mother seemed genuinely hurt that the baby hadn’t made friends with her yet.

“She is shy at first. Just give her a little while and she will open up.” Miranda explained.

I tick
l
ed Izzy’s neck with my whiskers and got her
to finally
look up. “There she is!”
I looked over at my mother. “Grab that container of cereal and hand her some, Mom. She can’t resist them.”

Miranda handed her the cereal container and she took a few pieces in her hand. In hindsight she looked like she was trying to lure out an angry or scared puppy, but instead it was just a cute little girl.

I got a very excited look on my face. “Izzy, look what she has for you.”

Izzy peeked behind her and saw her favorite cereal in my mother’s hand. She had sat down on the couch and I sat down next to her. “Don’t you want one?” My mother asked kindly.

“Mine.” Izzy announced as she grabbed all three out of my mother’s palm.

After shoving them all in her mouth, she climbed down and started gibbering about something. It was clearly
baby talk
and none of it made sense, but to appease the child, my mother pretended to know every word she was saying. “Is that so? Tell me more.” She leaned over and played with one of Izzy’s curls. “You have such pretty hair. I can see why Uncle Ty is so crazy about you. You are the cutest little thing.”

Izzy looked up and pointed at me. “Ty.”

My heart skipped a beat. It had been clear as day. I looked over to Miranda, who now had her hand over her mouth. “She said my name. She pointed to me and said my name.”

“That is incredible. She has never said that before.
I mean, she has been sayin’
random words more and more, but I
don’t remember her ever
hearin
’ that. It was perfectly clear
Ty.”
Miranda said, still shocked I was sure.

I couldn’t stop smiling and when I turned to look over at my mother, she had this sparkle in her eyes that I hadn’t seen in forever. She ended up staying and hanging out with us for at least a half hour. When she finally headed out, she invited us to dinner and told us she wouldn’t take no for an answer.

When I walked her outside, she pulled me into a hug. “Please forgive me for being so protective of you. I don’t know if there is anything going on with you and Miranda, and you are right, it’s none of my business, but I want you to know that I see how easy it was for you to fall in love with that baby. She is perfect.”

I smiled and
looked at my mom. “She is. I know they came here because they were running away, but I am so glad to be able to spend time with her, with both of them.”

My mother nodded and started walking toward her house. “See you in an hour.”

I was shocked at how she had turned around, but I knew that the little girl had also made me have feelings that I didn’t know existed. All of the partying and
sex could never give me the happy feelings that I felt when I spent time with Izzy. Her little smile sent a charge straight to my heart. I understood how grizzly old grumpy men could become puppy dogs when they saw their grandchildren, or how people in the armed forces could shed those tears of joy when they saw their babies for the first time through a computer screen. Suddenly, the life I was living seemed so empty. Sure, I had family and friends here, but when I came home at night I was alone.

Last year I thought that I had my future all pegged out, but after the accident, the coma and losing everything else, it was clear that I was left with nothing to look forward to. I had been a shitty boyfriend to Van. I had treated her like a possession while I went out and screwed around on her. I never thought about getting caught or what would happen if I did. I always just assumed she would be there.

The thing was, when I actually did lose her, I realized just how unhappy we both were. We were living in the fantasy of it all. Van and I didn’t have much in common. She
was her own person and I had never taken the time to get to know her. I was more worried about myself.

I had fucked up, but the worst part of it all was that she found that happiness in my cousin. I had to see her when I visited my family. I had to hear about their upcoming nuptials and how I should be a man about standing up beside Colt, being his best man. Did anyone realize how much that hurt me? Not just because it was Van, it was because after losing her, I realized it may have been what I wanted all along.
I didn’t know how to be in a faithful relationship, with someone that was my best friend.
I was completely jealous of their life.

Having Miranda and Izzy come to stay had forced me to rehash all of the feelings again, reminding me of how lonely I would be when they left. I had an instant ache in the pit of my stomach just thinking about it.

I needed to stop being a selfish prick, get over what happened last year and move on. For the second time, I had almost kissed Miranda and I was certain this time that she wanted to kiss me to. We had been friends for a while and talked about everything, in fact she knew all about my feelings, because she was the person I confided in. The problem with Miranda was that she had made it clear that we were just friends, almost family even, and because I had agreed, it had made the situation carved into stone.

I was starting to wonder if I was actually having feelings for Miranda, and not just because I was already in love with her daughter.  I needed to figure it out without ruining our friendship and
definitely
before she headed back home to Kentucky.

When I went back into the carriage house, Izzy was getting a much needed diaper change. The smell of fresh shit
filled
the room and I covered my nose. “Ewww somebody has a stinky hiney.”

“That would be your little cutie over here.” Miranda started laughing as she pointed to the wrapped up diaper. I grabbed a plastic bag and held my nose as I walked over toward the stink bomb.

“I will tak
e this outside and bury it,
” I said as I scooped it into the bag and tied it shut.  When I reached the door, I fanned it open and shut. “How can you sit in there and not gag?”

“You get used to it,” She laughed.

Izzy ran toward the door. “Bye bye?”

“No. Unc
le Ty will be right back,
” I explained.

I didn’t bury the diaper, but I threw it in the dumpster behind the barn. I wanted that smell to be as far away from human contact as possible.

When I got back inside Miranda was cleaning up. “Your cell phone keeps ringing.”

I grabbed my phone and noticed I had
thirty-seven
missed calls. I shook my head and sat down, scrolling through the numbers. Ten calls were from my mother, and the rest were from my friends, including Van and Colt’s number. I had seventeen text messages.

Most were asking about Miranda and Izzy, so I answered everyone from Kentucky back that things were fine and I
just left my phone somewhere. I
had a bunch from Heather, telling me what I had missed out on, and some from my best friend Mike.

Every year the fraternity had a big ABC party. The concept of the party was that you could wear anything but clothes, and let me just say that people my age were very creative. To say that a lot of skin was revealed would be an understatement. The outfit malfunctions themselves left for great
entertainment
.

Miranda must have noticed me smiling just thinking about it. “What are you smilin’ about?”

“There is an ABC party tonight at the frat house. I was just thinking about how much fun it was last year.”

“I have always wanted to go to one. I even know what I wou
ld wear. I am sure you are goin’
to have a good time. Take pictures so I can see them tomorrow.”

That wasn’t acceptable. “What if I can find a sitter? I mean, we won’t go until after nine so Izzy will be asleep anyway.”

“We just got here. I don’t know anyone to ask. Izzy would freak out.”

“My mother will do it. We can find out at dinner.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know if that is a good idea. We didn’t come here so I could go party with college people. I came here to protect myself and daughter.”

“I am inviting you to come out for a little while. I won’t
even drink.”

“You really think she will watch her?”

“I think that after spending ten seconds with her earlier, she is filling a craving for her own grandchild, that obviously she isn’t going to have anytime soon.”

For the next half hour Miranda seemed excited, but still feared my mother would say ‘no’. Izzy was running around the couch, itching for me to keep chasing her. Every time I got close, she would scream at the top of her lungs and yell ‘no’. I would grab her and tickle her. 

I managed to run over and ask my mother if she would babysit, before the girls arrived for dinner. I knew that after seeing Izzy for herself, she wouldn’t be able to resist. She agreed without even giving it a second thought.

Dinner worked out great. We brought Izzy’s seat over and hooked it right to the table. My mother got herself so excited about watching Izzy, that she had my father run to the church to borrow a porta-crib. While the girls did dishes, we tried to get it set up ourselves. Of course Miranda came walking in and had the damn contraption set up in three seconds flat.

Izzy saw what it was and ran away from it, like it had teeth.

ABC parties required planning, due to the fact that it was an anything but clothes party. I had already set out something for myself to wear, but I had absolutely no idea what Miranda was planning. She grabbed a few things from my mother’s pantry and headed over to the carriage house to get ready,
while I went in my old bedroom to do the same.  My costume consisted of a small orange cone and some caution tape. The cone was to cover my goods, while the tape was wrapped around to cover the rest. Last year I had used the tape and it got ripped off, so this year I secured it better with
Duct tape. Because
we still had to drive there, I threw on a sweatshirt and some large jogging pants.
I tried to avoid my parents as I walked past them, with what looked like a giant hard-on.