Taylor Lynne: The Women of Merryton - Book Two (11 page)

“What’s this?”

Emmy ran under my arm and
into the house without a word, and Easton handed me the bouquet.

“I think you may have
mixed up the holidays,” I said.

“This is my way of saying
thank you.” He smiled sweetly.

I breathed in the scent
of the flowers. “They’re beautiful, thank you.”

He walked in and breathed
deeply through his nose. “I haven’t had Italian beef in years.”

I thought that was odd.
“Doesn’t your brother still live in Chicago?” I had been sending Christmas
cards to Caden and his wife, Nicole, for years. I sighed a little, thinking
about them. I missed them. Our relationship was never quite the same after the
divorce, which wasn’t surprising, but I had very fond memories of our visits to
the windy city and their visits to us in Alabama. We were the best of friends
at one time.

He rubbed the back of his
neck, and if I wasn’t mistaken, he was a little red. “Yes, they still live
there. It’s just been a long time since I’ve seen them.”

I was more than
surprised. Caden and Easton were like two peas in a pod. When those two got
together you couldn’t tear them apart. They always pushed their visits to the
last possible moment, even if it meant driving home in the middle of the night.
I remembered how Nicole and I were treated to the life and times of the Cole
boys every visit. How they turned out so well, I still have no idea, but I
never remembered laughing so hard.

“Did something happen?” It
really wasn’t my business, but I couldn’t imagine Easton and Caden not making
time to see each other.

He hung his head and
paused. “We had a falling out several years ago.”

I shook my head in
confusion. I couldn’t believe it. “What happened?”

He looked at me squarely.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”

With that, I turned and
walked toward my kitchen. I felt him follow, but he joined the girls in the
family room. I didn’t know whether to feel annoyed at his shortness or to feel
sorry for him because I could see it was a painful subject for him. I think I
felt some of both, but mostly sorry for him. Caden wasn’t only his brother—they
were best friends. I reminded myself it wasn’t any of my business. I placed my
beautiful flowers in a vase and sighed deeply. I turned my attention to dinner.
It was almost done.

As soon as I began
shredding the beef, Easton joined me in the kitchen looking dour. “Here, let me
do that. Your hand has to be hurting you.”

“I can’t let you make
dinner on Father’s Day.”

He took the forks right
out of my hands. “Believe me, I’m used to it.”

I reached over to try and
take them back. “That statement didn’t help your cause.”

He held them up and away
from me and half grinned. His depressed state wasn’t allowing for full smiles.
“Go sit down, I’ve got this.”

I rolled my eyes. “Suit
yourself.” I walked around the island, took a stool, and watched him carefully shred
his dinner like a surgeon.

“I’m sorry for snapping
at you.” He seemed not to want to look at me.

“You didn’t snap at me,
and honestly, I shouldn’t have asked. It’s none of my business.”

He looked up slowly,
directly at me. Trouble still brewed in his eyes, but they pierced me. “Like it
or not, we are each other’s business. We have a daughter together and last I
checked, you still bear my last name, so let’s get past that. Okay?”

My eyes involuntarily widened.
I felt like I had been put in my place and I wasn’t sure how to respond.

His face and features
softened. “Taylor, ever since you left my life has felt like a series of
mistakes, but I’m trying to correct what I can, especially where Ashley is
concerned. That means we’re going to be in each other’s lives, so we might as
well be friends.” He grinned for real.

I thought about the
conversation I’d had with Rachel earlier. “Yeah, well, this town has already
mistaken us for being too friendly, if you get my meaning.”

“No.” He winked. “Do you
want to explain that to me?”

I narrowed my gaze at him
and glared. “Remind me why I invited you over here?”

He chuckled. “It was
inevitable, I suppose.”

I didn’t get to respond
because the girls joined us. Suddenly it felt like Mother’s Day. Easton and the
girls took care of setting the table and finishing up dinner. All I had to do
was sit down and enjoy it. It was quite pleasant. I even took pleasure in
seeing Easton enjoy his favorite meal. I think he ate four sandwiches and half
the lemon meringue pie by the time it was all said and done. How he kept his
physique, I had no idea. It was unfair.

The girls offered to
clean up and do the dishes. That left Easton and me not knowing what to do with
ourselves. The girls insisted that we relax. I was trying to figure out how we
could do that separately, but we ended up together in my living room sitting on
opposite ends of my couch.

Easton looked my way. He
found his true grin. “That was the best meal I’ve had in years. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I could
give you the recipe if you want.”

“It wouldn’t taste as
good if I made it.”

“Where have I heard that
before?” That was always his excuse for not cooking when we were married.

“It’s a proven fact. Did
you forget about the time I tried to make you dinner for your birthday? The
chicken was so overdone I think you drank a gallon of water in an attempt to
finish it.”

I did remember. I didn’t know
if I’d ever made so many trips to the bathroom in one night, but I didn’t want
him to feel bad, so I did what it took to get that awful chicken down. I
cracked a small smile.

“You do remember.” He
smiled widely in return.

There was something else
I remembered and couldn’t get it off my mind. “Easton, what happened between
you and Caden?”

I felt bad wiping the
smile off his face, but so many things had turned out so different than I thought,
for both him and me. I felt like this was a piece of that puzzle. That perhaps
it would shed some light on where things all went wrong.

He leaned forward and
rubbed his neck. “Kathryn,” he said quietly. “She, Caden, and Nicole didn’t get
along very well. So I had to make a choice, my wife or my brother.”

“I don’t understand. Why
couldn’t you have both?”

He looked at me and I’d
never seen him look so defeated. “Because with Kathryn, that wouldn’t have worked.
It always had to be only her.”

“Is that why you stayed
away from our daughter?”

He turned from me. “Yes.”

“Well, maybe you should
call Caden.” I stood up to see if the girls needed any help.

He looked up to me.
“Where are you going?”

“I thought you might want
some privacy when you call him.”

“You think I should call
him now?” He sounded so nervous and unsure of himself. What had happened to
him?

“Why waste another
minute? If I know Caden, he’ll consider this his best Father’s Day gift.” And
with that I turned and left.

I was happy to see Monday
come. I needed to work. Work was normal. Father’s Day weekend had been anything
but normal. Easton and Emmy hadn’t left until late. I got the feeling they
didn’t want to leave at all, which was weird. We ended up playing board games
and watching a movie until almost midnight. That was after Easton talked to his
brother. I don’t know what exactly was said, but I knew it was good because
Easton’s mood bordered on jovial for the rest of the evening.

It wasn’t the best thing
to stay up so late before starting a new job the next day, but I was trying to
be selfless since it was Easton’s day. I could tell how happy he was to have
both of his daughters with him. It was as if he didn’t want to let it go.
Besides, the girls had become masters at the art of talking me into anything. Both
sets of their brown eyes were going to be my undoing.

As I rode up the elevator
to the third floor of Merryton General I tried to calm my nerves. I hadn’t
started a new job since I moved back to Birmingham and this was going to be a
little different. They were starting a new program where every new mother who
delivered there would get a complimentary consultation with me, so my office
was in the Women’s Center. I was looking forward to the new challenge and
direction. I had been doing a ton of research and working on meal plans that
would be best suited for new moms, but I knew not one size fit everyone, so I
had also worked up a questionnaire so I could tailor individual plans. I would
still be working with other types of patients, but I wanted to make sure this
pilot program with new mothers had its best chance of taking off. I also wanted
to do anything I could to help new moms feel their best. I remembered the
uncertainty I felt about my own body right after having Ashley. I remembered
having to separate nutrition from weight loss. As a society, we are so focused
on losing weight that we forget good nutrition has far better benefits. Thin
doesn’t necessarily equal healthy. In fact, some of the unhealthiest people I’d
known were thin.

I settled in my small
office near the nurse’s station. I had come in the week before and set up my
office so I would be ready to go. Annette Fleming, the Administrator of
Clinical Services and my new boss, had come in first thing to show me around
and introduce me to the staff in the Women’s Center as well as the Chief
Physician, Dr. Victor Carmichael. Everyone had high hopes about this program
and about having a clinical nutritionist on staff. I felt like a lot was riding
on me, but it was going to be good to have focus again.

My schedule for the week
quickly filled up. I was going to see everyone from new moms to gastric bypass
recipients to regular patients wanting to be healthier. I liked the variety.

I came home that first evening
exhausted, but it was the good kind. I loved helping people. When I pulled into
our detached two-car garage, I didn’t see Ashley’s little Honda Civic. I
thought she and Emmy might both be home, and I was disappointed not to see
them. I soon found out where they were.

Hi, Momma, I hope you had
a great first day. I’m staying at Dad’s for dinner. Raphe is coming over here
so we can swim. Love ya
! Ashley texted.

Love you,
I texted back. I was more than a little bummed by the news. I wasn’t used to
this sharing thing yet, and I didn’t have a pool to lure them back here. I
sighed as I walked into our cute little home.

I made a protein shake
and salad since it was a table for one. I put on some Marvin Gaye and tried to
unwind. I opened all the windows in the house and enjoyed the breeze and the
Colorado summer air. It was a little intoxicating. I ended up on the back porch
after dinner, contemplating how I should deal with being by myself. I knew it
was coming. Ashley only had two years left at home, but I hadn’t expected this
so soon. But now that Easton was back in the picture, I had a feeling I was
going to have more free time on my hands than I wanted. I was considering
everything from Latin Dance to taking some classes online.

Ashley got home that night
around ten. She came in and sat on my bed and talked to me about the many
wonderful attributes of Raphe. She also told me her dad had pulled some strings
and got her a tryout for the volleyball team even though tryouts had been held
back in March. I was happy to hear that. I knew that was one of the sacrifices
she had to make coming out here. It was very thoughtful of Easton to do that
for her. I had no doubt the coach here would be impressed with her skills. She
had been playing since she was six.

Ashley had never seemed
happier.

Tuesday found me busy at
work again, but halfway through my day I had a visitor.

Easton peeked his head in
the tiny window of my door. I looked up to see him grinning, and without an
invitation opened the door. “Am I interrupting anything?”

“No, I don’t have another
consult until two. What are you doing here?”

He ran his hands through his
hair nervously. “I was here to see a patient, so I thought I would stop by and
see you. How’s the new job going?”

“So far, so good.”

“Great …”

Awkwardness hung in the
air.

“Yep, great …” Why were
we behaving like teenagers?

“How’s your hand?” he
asked to fill the lull in conversation.

I held it up so he could
see it. “Good, but it itches now.”

He took my hand in his to
examine it. “It looks like it’s healing properly. If you want to come by my
office on your way home Friday evening, I’ll take the stitches out for you.”

“Are you sure? I don’t
want you to have to stay late on my account.”

He set my hand down
gently and looked into my eyes. “It’s no bother at all.”

“Okay, thanks. Oh, by the
way, thanks for getting Ashley a tryout. It meant a lot to her— and me.”

He gave a thoughtful
smile. “I guess it’s about time I started acting like a Dad to our daughter.”

“I didn’t mean anything
by that.”

“I know, Taylor. I feel
horrible about all the time I wasted, everything I missed out on. I never meant
for things to get so screwed up and out of control.” He put his hands in his
pockets. “Anyway, I better let you get back to work.”

I wanted to make him feel
better. For so long, I had wanted him to feel bad about what he had done to us
and to Ashley, but seeing him like this, I felt this ache. “Easton,” I called
out. “Ashley loves you and she’s never been happier.” It was a hard concession
for me to make, but it was true. She and I had been happy only the two of us,
but now that she had the missing piece in her life, she was complete and it
showed.

His smile was alight this
time. “Thanks, Taylor. See you later.”

“Yeah, see you later.”

Easton visited me one
more time that week after he delivered a baby that weighed eleven pounds. My
insides cringed thinking about having a baby that big. Ashley was barely seven
pounds. A fact I was very grateful for. Our conversation that day wasn’t as
awkward or melancholy, but it was odd that he kept stopping by.

Easton couldn’t cook
worth a darn so the girls made their way back to me most evenings. Even though
I was tired after work, I enjoyed cooking for them and catching up on their
day’s events. I especially enjoyed seeing both girls happy. There was more
light in Emmy’s eyes now.

Friday arrived and I was
more than looking forward to it. First, the itchy stitches were coming out, and
then it was girl’s night at Jessie Belle’s. I hoped the younger women wouldn’t
think I was cramping their style. And did I need a weekend. New jobs are
exhausting at first, even if I was enjoying it.

I pulled into an almost
empty parking lot at Merryton Family Practice on Friday night. I was sure all
the patients for the day had been seen. I felt bad to keep him after work, but
I didn’t feel comfortable asking for time off during my first week of work to
have this taken care of. I walked through the front door and, to my surprise,
was accosted by a familiar face.

“Taylor!” She wrapped me
up tightly.

I hugged her back. “Faye,
I had no idea you still worked here.” I loved Faye. She was the receptionist
that came with the practice when we bought it so many years ago. She and I had
immediately hit it off. She was probably a good twenty years older than me, but
she acted youthful. She looked similar to the last time I had seen her, but her
hair was almost completely gray now.

She released me and stood
back to look me over. “You’re as beautiful as ever.”

“Thanks, Faye. How are
you and your family?”

She waved her hand in the
air. “Nothing much changes here. Greg is still fixing cars and we’ve gotten
older. Both of our kids now live in Denver with our grandkids and we still get
to see them from time to time, so we can’t complain.”

I loved her lively
spirit.

“So tell me about you. I
know you’ve moved back here, and of course Dr. Cole tells me about Ashley from
time to time. I love seeing her pictures.”

“Then you know how I am.
Ashley’s my life, so it’s pretty terrific.”

She gave me a discerning
grin. “So how do you feel about living here again?”

She was one person I had
opened up to about not being thrilled moving here the last go around. “Oh,
about the same way I felt about it last time, but it was Ashley’s choice.”

She touched my arm.
“Well, maybe this go around will be better.”

“Yeah, well, it can’t get
much worse than last time.”

“Taylor.” Easton startled
me.

Both Faye and I turned
toward him.

“I was catching up with
your sweet …,” Faye stuttered.

Easton and I looked at
her.

She smiled, red tinge on
her cheeks. “I mean Taylor. Sorry.”

I smiled at her and
hugged her. “Don’t apologize. It was so lovely to see you again.”

“You too, dear. Don’t be
a stranger.”

“Are you ready to get
those stitches out?” Easton asked.

“More than ready.” I
followed Easton back to the same examining room he had stitched up my hand in.

I situated myself on the
examination table. “I didn’t know Faye still worked for you.”

“Actually, she just came
back a few months ago,” he said uncomfortably.

“Really? Where did she
go?”

Easton stared down at my
hand. “She and Kathryn didn’t get along, so she quit a few years ago.”

“Oh …” I was sensing a
pattern here.

Easton looked up at me.
His eyes once again looked worn. “Faye never made it a secret that she thought
I made a grave error in letting you go.”

“Oh …,” I repeated.

He shrugged his
shoulders. “She saw Kathryn for what she was.”

“And what was that?”

He looked at me squarely.
“A mistake.”

I shifted, suddenly
uncomfortable. “At least you got Emmy out of the deal, right?”

“Emmy is the best and
only good thing that came out of our relationship.” Easton grabbed a pair of
sterilized surgical scissors. “So, why haven’t you remarried?” He asked as he
sterilized my hand before removing the stitches.

I thought for a minute.
He probably had no idea what a loaded question that was, and how much of it had
to do with him. “I guess I didn’t want to make a mistake.”

“Again?” he questioned.

“No, Easton. I never
considered marrying you a mistake. Maybe I would have done it a little
differently or waited a little longer.”

He grinned. “I don’t
know. I would take the courthouse any day over an elaborate ceremony.”

“Are you speaking from
experience?”

“Yes, unfortunately.”

“So …”

He looked up right into
my eyes.

I caught my breath as I
peered into his troubled brown eyes. “Do you consider marrying me mistake
number one?”

He leaned closer. I could
smell the cinnamon on his breath. For a long second I wanted to taste it, but I
removed that thought out of my head.

“Not once.” He turned
back to my hand. “This may tug a little,” he said as he took out the first
stitch.

My hand didn’t tug, but
my heart sure did.