The Proposal (2 page)

“Hey, are you still
there?”

“I'm here. Sorry. I'm
disappointed you won't be home for my birthday, but glad you'll be
here for Thanksgiving.”

“I have to get back
to work. I love you, Jacqueline. Bye.”

She glanced at her
watch. In another twenty minutes, she needed to pick up Alex from
football practice. Her mother and father never signed Alex up for the
midget league as a child, because they felt he'd get burned out if he
played too much football while younger. However, her parents gave
their approval for him to play his freshman year, and he loved
playing. When he asked to play his sophomore year, she signed the
permission slip. She enjoyed going to his games and many times Tyler
went with her. She hoped he could go to Alex's last game of the
season this Friday. It was like old times going to their high school
turf together.

As Tyler entered the
living room, he said, “What's wrong? You don't look too happy.”

“Brad's not going to
be able to make it for my birthday. He has to work. He said that we
can celebrate it when he comes for Thanksgiving.”

“I'm sorry.”

“Do you realize I
haven't seen Brad for three weeks? Maybe I'm wrong about him
proposing. He apparently can go a long time without seeing me.
Thanksgiving is another two weeks away.”

Tyler sat beside her
and squeezed her shoulder. “He did want you to visit him when he
had a business conference in Portland. You've never been to Oregon.
Brad thought you'd enjoy the vacation.”

“I didn't want to
leave Alex. I know he's a good kid, but he is a teenager. I thought
about having Grandma stay here but she wasn't feeling well at the
time.”

“And I already had
plans to go to the Ohio State football game. The next time Alex can
stay with me.”

She leaned her head
against Tyler's chest. What would she do without her best friend? He
always listened to her vent about everything. He was a better
listener than her girlfriends. “Long-distance relationships suck.”

“If you two get
married soon, will Brad be able to move here? No offense, but I can't
see you and Alex living in Chicago.”

“That is going to be
a problem, but Brad's talked about asking for a transfer.” She
straightened and looked into Tyler's eyes. His blue eyes were ringed
with incredible thick, black lashes. She'd often teased him that it
wasn't fair he'd been blessed with such great eyelashes.

“If he doesn't get
the transfer, then good luck because you'll have to uproot Alex. That
will be rough for him to leave his friends here.”

“I definitely want
Alex to finish high school here.”

“What are you going
to do about Gypsy?” Tyler asked.

“Taking Gypsy will be
a challenge but I’ll find a place to board him in Chicago if I have
to.” She loved riding Gypsy and couldn’t imagine not taking him
with them if they have to move. One of her happiest days had been
when her dad bought Gypsy.

“All your problems
could be solved if you married me instead.”

She blinked before
focusing her gaze on Tyler. "I know you're kidding me. I wanted
that and not just at age four. Remember prom night when I said I
loved you. You said I was being silly and I didn't know what real
love was yet. But you were wrong. I had fallen in love with you. But
you were right when you said there were other fish in the sea for you
to date. It would’ve been a mistake for us to just see each other
and no one else. We needed to experience life outside of our small
town.”

He reached for her
hand. "I found out the other fish weren't as precious to me as
you.”

What was he getting at?
He couldn't mean that he wanted more than her friendship now, could
he? She stared at him for a moment. “I'm glad you said what you did
to me on prom night. At the time it was painful to hear you didn't
return my feelings, but I got over it. I grew up and fell in love
with Brad.” She pulled her hand out of Tyler's. “I better get
going. I need to pick up Alex at football practice.”

“I'll call you later
this week to make plans for your birthday. I know I can't take the
place of Brad, but we can celebrate with Alex and other friends.”

Jacqueline tapped her
fingers on the steering wheel while waiting for Alex. Why did Tyler
have to mention marriage? Did he think that would make her happy? Did
he know that Brad wasn’t going to propose? Maybe Tyler’s purpose
was to help her not to feel as unwanted if Brad didn’t come through
with the engagement ring. Nope, Tyler said he hadn’t talked to Brad
for a while. He sounded in the dark about Brad’s plans.

On prom night, she
poured out her heart to Tyler. It seemed like the right time with him
leaving Huntington to go three hours away to college. She was staying
behind to go to school. A long-distance relationship worried her with
him meeting new girls. She wanted Tyler to know before he left, her
true feelings for him. Instead she’d been mortified when he
rejected her.

She put the car window
down a bit to get fresh air. She took a deep breath of the cool air,
hoping it would clear her head. Now that she thought about it, she
bet he’d been kidding her. But something else occurred to her. He
hadn’t dated anyone for some time, but she figured it was because
of his job. He’d been putting lots of hours in at the doctor’s
office.
He couldn’t really want to marry her.
She would try
to fix him up with Annette at work. She seemed like Tyler’s type.
If he asked Annette out, then she wouldn’t have to worry about the
whole marriage comment. Although if he fell for Annette, she’d miss
her best friend. He’d be busy spending time with his girlfriend,
and not her. Well, she’d have to chance it, because she wanted
Tyler to find love too.

Guys. They could
drive you crazy if you let them.
This thought was right on target
as she watched her brother walk toward the car. Last night, Alex
expressed again his strong feelings about getting a car when he got
his driver’s license. This whole driving thing drove her crazy. For
crying out loud, he was only fifteen, but Alex couldn’t wait until
he was old enough to drive. She wanted him to wait until he was
eighteen, but in Indiana you could get your license at age sixteen
and a half. It was in Alex’s best interest for him to wait. Too
many teenagers died from lack of driving experience. She couldn’t
lose Alex because of a tragic automobile accident. He argued that
their parents hadn’t been killed by a teenager but a drunk,
middle-aged man driving on the wrong side of the highway.

Alex opened the back
door and threw a gym bag on the floor. “Hi, sis.”

She glanced over her
shoulder at him. Her little brother wasn’t so little any longer.
He’d shot up several inches over the last few months. “Hi. You
had a longer practice today.”

After Alex closed the
back door, he slid into the front seat. “Just think when I get my
driver’s license, I can drive home from practice. You won’t have
to get bored while waiting for me.”

The driving topic
already. She needed to get Brad to support her on this controversial
issue. She bet he’d agree that Alex needed to wait to drive. “I’m
never bored. I enjoy picking you up and spending time with you.”

“The guys were
disappointed that you didn’t come early today to watch us practice.
They love showing off in front of my sister, the hot babe.”

She ignored the hot
babe comment. “I was later because Tyler stopped in after work.”

He pushed a lock of
brown hair off his forehead. “I need a haircut so I’d like to get
it cut this weekend. If you have time, that is.”

She nodded. “We can
go to Great Clips after I finish some paperwork on Saturday morning.”

“Hey, is it okay if
Sam comes over tonight? I’m going to help him with his Geometry.”

“Sure.” After she
closed her window, an awful smell permeated the tight space. “Geez,
Alex. You’ve stinking up the car.” She pinched her nostrils
together. Her brother stunk like something rotten.

“I never smell great
after football practice and you never complain. What’s wrong?”

“When are they going
to get the plumbing fixed in the showers?”

Alex fastened his
seatbelt. “Don’t change the subject. What’s up?”

“You know me too
well. I told Tyler how I think Brad’s going to propose to me and
give me a ring for my birthday. Before Tyler left the house, he told
me how he can marry me so I can stay in Huntington.”

“So who are you going
to marry? Brad or Tyler.”

She laughed as she
maneuvered the car onto the street. “Brad. Tyler wasn’t serious.
Maybe he thinks Brad’s not going to pop the question.” She then
explained to Alex why she thought Brad would.

When Alex didn’t say
anything to her explanation, she was glad to have a red traffic
light. She turned her head to look at her brother. “You’re quiet.
I thought you like Brad. Don’t you want me to marry him?”

He nodded. “If that’s
what you want. Sure. Brad’s an okay guy. But…”

“But what?”

“I want you to stay
in Huntington. I don’t see that happening if you marry Brad and
you’ll leave and go to live in Chicago.” He frowned. “Maybe I
can live with Mr. and Mrs. Jordan or move in with Grandma until I
turn eighteen.”

She shook her head. “I
don’t want you to live with anyone else. If I go to Chicago, I want
you to go with me. But don’t worry. I’m hoping Brad will move
here. You and I are a package deal. I’m not leaving you. Brad
travels all the time anyhow for his job. Every ten months, he’s
assigned a new hospital. He might as well let go of his apartment in
Chicago.” As a healthcare consultant, Brad traveled to various
hospitals to design and implement process improvements and tools at
client hospitals for inpatient flow. That’s why he made the big
bucks. His company rented apartments near the hospitals for Brad and
their other employees to live. The consulting company even paid
Brad’s weekend flights when he went home to Chicago or came to see
her. But she hadn’t seen him recently with his heavy workload
lately.

“I’m glad you
aren’t planning on ditching me.” Alex cleared his throat. “I
can’t imagine not having you around.”

She swallowed hard. “I
can’t either. I love you, bro.”

At the green light, she
stepped on the accelerator.

“Well,” Alex said,
“I guess we’ll learn soon what Brad bought you.”

“By the way, Brad
said you’ll appreciate his surprise. That has to mean he expects
you to live with us. I know he loves you…except he might reconsider
when you stink bad.”

“Maybe Brad will want
me around.” He grinned at her. “I bet I can talk Brad into
letting me drive when I turn sixteen.”

“You two men aren’t
going to gang up against me.”

“It was worth a try.”
He popped the spout up on his jug of water and raised it to his lips.

As Alex made slurping
noises, she said, “I’m glad you’re replenishing your body
fluid, so you don’t become dehydrated. You had to lose a lot of
water from sweating so much.”

After quenching his
thirst, he wiped his mouth with his sleeve. “Sorry, I stink. You
should ride the bus with a bunch of smelly football players after an
away game. You’d probably throw up.”

She laughed. “Thanks
for that lovely image you just put in my head.”

“I just thought of
something. In football we always have a backup plan. Tyler can be
your backup plan.”

She gave him a puzzled
glance. “For what?”

“Brad’s not the
only guy in love with you, sis. Tyler has the hots for you. If things
don’t go the way you want with Brad, you can hook up with Tyler.”

“Tyler’s my best
friend. He wasn’t serious when he mentioned me marrying him.” How
could he be when he trounced her feelings on prom night, she thought.

“Geez, are you blind?
Tyler can’t take his eyes off you. And the way he looks at you is
definitely more than just as a friend.”

* * *

“Hey, Gypsy. Did you
miss me today?” Jacqueline rubbed her big bay horse between his
ears. “I told one of my kids at work today all about you. She loves
horses too.”

She enjoyed working
with troubled teenagers in her job, but it wasn’t easy sometimes to
get a sullen teenager to respond to her questions. Fortunately, a
picture of her and Gypsy in the office had caught Izzie’s attention
during their first meeting.
Maybe if I hadn’t grown up in a
secure and loving family, I’d have had serious problems as a kid
too.
She sighed. But now her immediate family only consisted of
Alex and Grandma. Things changed less than a year ago when her
parents decided to go to a basketball game. She got out of her
apartment lease in order to move back home to take care of Alex. In
spite of the big age difference, they had always been close. From the
time of Alex’s birth, she had loved being his big sister. As much
as she wanted to get married, her first priority was Alex. Brad just
had to be understanding about Alex living with them after they got
married.

“Are you hungry,
Gypsy?” She walked to the feed bin and scooped out oats. “Here
you go,” she said while pouring the grain into the horse’s feed
box.

While watching Gypsy
eat, she felt uneasy. What would she do about her horse if Brad
didn’t want to move here? Boarding Gypsy in Chicago would be
expensive, and she couldn’t afford the whole expense on a social
worker’s salary. Well, Brad might be agreeable to paying part of
the boarding bill. But she’d miss this barn. Before she had Gypsy,
she used to spend time with her dad in the barn. He’d farmed the
few tillable acres with an old, rickety tractor. It broke down a lot
so her dad did the repairs on it in the barn. She played sometimes in
the hayloft while he’d worked. She loved the smell of freshly cut
hay. “Gypsy, would you like to share a barn with other horses?”