Wine Astray: Spirit of the Soul Wine Shop Mystery (A Rysen Morris Mystery Book 1) (7 page)

“And Brandon?”

Rysen stopped in the middle of the shop floor.  She’d forgotten about Brandon in the rush she’d gotten from Josh asking her out.

Why, she asked herself again, did men have to be so complicated?

Rysen opened the door to the house she’d grown up in and waited for the memories to hit her.  She’d left this house behind her in her journey to self discovery, a journey that had ended miserably and brought her back here again, full circle.  Her dad’s house.

It had never really felt like her home, even when she had lived here.  It had been dad’s house.  A place she could stay until she found what she wanted to do.  All through high school, even, she’d spent more time over at Josh’s house or at the flower shop or over in the park.  Anywhere but here.  When Christina had gone off to college, she’d made up her mind that her days in this house were marked, too.  When she was able to, she made good her escape.

Now she was back.  Funny, how life had a way of working things out for you whether you liked it or not.

The house had always seemed so big to her as a little girl.  Now she saw it for what it really was, a two-story little bungalow with stucco walls and a slate roof.  Fireproof, her dad had always said, and she would giggle at that until she was ten and the joke had gotten old and stale.  It had never kept her father from trying to make her laugh at it just the same.

“Dad?” she said uncertainly.  She’d knocked, and he’d told her to come in, and now she stood in the little entry space like a trespasser.

“In here, Rysen,” his round baritone voice answered.  “The living room.”

She traced a path from the door through the hallway to the living room without missing a step.  She still remembered the whole layout to the house.  Here in this room, the same green couch and matching armchair and the same bookshelf stocked full of paperback mysteries and an aged set of encyclopedias stood in the exact same spots she remembered them.  The television was new.  So were the curtains.  The fish tank in the corner…

“Are those the same fish?” she asked in amazement, crossing the room to watch white and orange goldfish swimming around fake plastic plants and an aerator shipwreck.  The water was crystal clear and immaculate.

“Of course they’re the same,” her dad said from his armchair.  “I’ve been taking care of them since you and your sister left home.  Someone had to.”

He hadn’t gotten up when she came in the room.  Just sat there, waiting for her to say something.  She’d decided to talk about the fish.  It seemed safer.

“Rysen, what were you thinking?”

Her back stiffened, and she kept her eyes carefully on the goldfish moving around in the tank.  “I know you’re upset that I left home but I had to take the chance when I had it.  I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings, Dad, I really am—”

“That’s not what I meant.”

He said it gently, without any anger in his voice at all.  Turning around to face him she crossed her arms over her stomach.  “Dad…”

“What I was asking you, was what were you thinking going after that guy on your own?”

She blinked, not realizing tears had started to collect in her eyes until that moment.  He stood up from his chair then with a tight expression on his face.  Her dad had always been a big man, and that hadn’t changed in the years since Rysen had been gone.  Built like a big bear, with long arms and a barrel chest and hands that used to dwarf hers during walks in the park, Robert Morris had always seemed like an immovable force.  There was more gray in his salt and pepper hair than there used to be but other than that he was the same as when she had walked out years ago.

“You could have gotten hurt, Ry,” he said to her.  “That was dangerous.  You know that, right?”

“I had someone with me,” she started, and then went on to tell him all about Brandon.  Well.  Not all about him.  About his working at the shop and his being a security consultant and how he had hatched this plan to track the shipments and find the thief.  Which they had done.  Together.  Her and him.  She emphasized Brandon’s involvement probably more than she should have considering it really was her who had grabbed onto the guy and wrestled him out of the truck.  She just didn’t want her dad to think she’d been in any danger.  “Besides, Dad, the police weren’t doing anything so Christina and I had to take matters into our own hands.”

He snorted.  “Same old Rysen.  Doing what you think is best without ever asking for help.  Did you guys ever consider coming to me?  Christina never even told me the shop was in trouble.  I’m a firefighter, for crying out loud, and your father to boot.  You don’t think I could have helped?”

“It wasn’t for me to tell you Christina was in any trouble,” Rysen argued.  “It’s her shop.”

“And I suppose it wasn’t your place to come and tell me when you were back in town?”

His tone didn’t change one iota, but Rysen still felt the sting in his words.

“I had to hear about it from your sister,” he said.  “When she couldn’t find you.”

“I wasn’t ready,” she muttered, feeling silly.  She wasn’t that same little girl any more.  She shouldn’t be afraid of facing her dad.

“You weren’t ready.”  He turned away, shaking his head, waving his arms around.  “Well, that’s great.  My daughter wasn’t ready to see me.  Nice to know where I stand.”

Her heart sank.  This was all too familiar.  Her father yelling without raising his voice, and her standing there and feeling like she had to take it no matter what.

Only, she didn’t feel that way anymore.

She was an adult now.  She was her own woman.  Had she made mistakes?  Certainly.  They were her mistakes, and she owned them, and she wasn’t going to let anyone hold them against her.  Not even her own father.

Rysen felt her body relax.  Every muscle had been tense and now it was like the pain and guilt and anguish she had felt at seeing her dad again just melted away from her.  She took a breath, and was surprised to feel a smile come over her face as she unfolded her arms.  “I’m going to go now, Dad.”

“What?  Oh, sure.  Leave again Rysen.  You can’t just stay and talk this through?”

She went over to him, and leaned up to kiss him on his cheek like she used to when she was little.  “I love you.  I never meant to hurt you.  Right now I don’t think either of us is ready to talk.  Maybe in a few days we can try to meet for coffee or something.  Okay?”

Surprise widened his eyes.  In her whole life, this was the first time that Rysen had ever stood up to him, and she’d done it with a kiss.

She was almost out of the room when he cleared his throat.  “Rysen?”

“Yes, Dad?” she said, leaning in the doorway, looking back.

“I, uh, I love you.”

“Love you too, Dad.”

Closing the door on her childhood home Rysen knew she hadn’t fixed anything between them today.

But maybe she’d made them just a little bit better.

***

“You go get the blankets and pillows, and I’ll whip us up some snacks.  The movies are in my room.” 

Christina was in a good mood.  Sales at the shop had been better today than they had been in a very long time and the sisters had decided to celebrate with a movie night.  Taking pillows and fluffy blankets from the hallway closet Rysen dropped them to the floor before going in her sister’s room.  She found the shelf of DVDs and rifled through them, selecting several romances and two comedies that she knew and loved.

As she came back downstairs Rysen reflected on the events of the day.  Her visit with her dad.  All of the tourists coming in and out of the store, and more than enough sales to make Christina hug Rysen and thank her over and over again.  Brandon, and his amazing, incredible kiss.

Josh, and his offer of getting together with her for lunch.

Dropping blankets and pillows and DVDs in a heap on the living room floor Rysen followed her nose to the kitchen and the popcorn her sister was making.  When Christina pulled the bag out of the microwave and dumped it into a bowl Rysen swiped a handful.

“Hey!” Christina laughed.  “That’s still hot!”

              For the next three hours, they watched the movies, ate way too much junk food, and talked.  They made plans for the shop, and talked about their dad, and Christina even managed to get Rysen talking about Brandon and how he’d kissed her.

“And now Josh asked you out,” Christina said.  “Wow.  Looks like things are looking up for you.”

“I don’t know,” was Rysen’s reply, and even she heard how depressing that sounded.

Christina rolled over onto her side, her head propped up on her hand.  “Aren’t you happy here, sis?”

“Well, sure.  I guess.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m so, so grateful that you opened your home to me and that you made me a part of the shop and all but this was never my dream.  I wanted to start my own interior design business.  Be married and successful and…and…”

“On your own?” Christina guessed, throwing popcorn at Rysen’s face.  “I get it, sis.  I do.  I know this isn’t what you were expecting, but it’s what you have.  You can be happy with it for now, can’t you?”

Rysen thought about that.  She was somewhere that she mattered, and where she could help her sister reach her dream.  Even if she had to delay her own dreams in the process.  This could be home for now.

Couldn’t it?

Her sister was still waiting for her to say something.  Rysen scooped a handful of popcorn and threw it at Christina, and the two made a mess for a little bit until they settled down laughing to watch more of the movie.  It felt good to Rysen.

It felt like home.

***

Rysen was midway through a dream when her phone rang.  It took a while for the ringtone to filter through her dream and shred it apart until she couldn’t remember anything except that she had been in a man’s arms in a very hot embrace.  She didn’t remember the face of the man who had been caressing her with kisses, but she woke up embarrassed in the dark and fumbling for her phone on the dresser next to her.

“Um.  Hello?”

“So I’m thinking,” Josh’s voice said to her, “that we should go out of town for lunch.”

“Mph,” she said, meaning it to be something very profound and intelligent.  She brushed a hand back through her hair and sat up in bed.  Taking a moment to orient herself, she tried again.  “Josh?  What are you doing calling me at this hour?”

“I’m calling to ask you out on our date,” he said.

She growled.  “Josh, I told you to call me tomorrow and I’d see.  Remember?”

“It’s tomorrow.”

“What?”  She blinked around her at the darkness.  “It’s night time.”

“It’s tomorrow.  Twelve-thirty in the morning to be exact.  So, I’m calling.”

Her first instinct was to strangle him.  Then as she realized what he was saying, she smiled to herself.  It had been a long time since a guy called her in the middle of the night just to talk.  Now, here was Josh, being daring and fun and spontaneous.  All for her.

“Okay,” she said, shifting up onto her knees and coming more fully awake.  “I’m up.  I can’t believe you’re calling me now.”

“I couldn’t wait.” 

She could hear the smile in his voice.  She remembered how expressive his voice could be.  She remembered a lot of things, actually.  “You know I haven’t even agreed to go out with you yet.”

“You will.  Now.  I know this great Thai place just, like, a half hour away.  I could pick you up from your sister’s shop around noon and that would get us there just after the lunch rush.”

“Josh.”

“You’ll love the place, I promise.  So.  Noon?”

“Josh, I haven’t said yes,” she said again.

“So say it now.”

“Josh…”

“Say it.”

He was so infuriatingly…cute.  She heard herself giggle and wondered what he was doing to her.

“Say it with me,” he coaxed.  “Yes.”

“Josh!”

“Come on, it’s easy.  Just say, yes.”

Her heart skipped and she laughed again and threw herself back onto the bed.  “All right, all right!  Yes.  Yes, I’ll go out with you!”

She clamped a hand over her mouth, reminding herself that she was in a bedroom just down the hall from her sister’s and that she needed to keep quiet or Christina would hear every word she was saying.

“See how easy that was?” Josh asked her.

“I still have to ask Beatrice before I go.”  That kind of dampened the mood, but only just a little.  “I’m not going to go out with you anywhere until she tells me if it’s okay with her or not.”

“Should we call her now?” he asked.

“No!”  She couldn’t tell if he was serious or not but still she grinned like a teenager.  A teenager just getting to know a boy who wanted to take her out on a first date.  “Listen,” she said, making her voice serious, “I’ll go see Beatrice in the morning.  After that I’ll call you back and then I’ll let you know if you can take me on a date.  All right?”

“I’ll be waiting.”

“I’m sure you will.”

“Right here by the phone,” he said to her, like it was the most important thing in the world.

“It’s a cell phone, Josh.  You’re always right by your cell phone.”

“See?  That’s how important this is to me.”

She rolled her eyes in the darkness and a sudden yawn took over.  “Uh.  I should go back to sleep.  Tomorrow morning’s not going to be easy.  You know.  Talking to Beatrice about whether I can date her ex-boyfriend and all.”