By Summer's End (Christian Fiction) (8 page)

Ryan realized the girl was apprising him
of her sister’s fine attributes, and suddenly reminded him of Annabelle, who
was also guilty of conspiring to set him up with assorted friends and friends of
friends.

“She seems very nice,” he said
neutrally.  “As I said before, you’re lucky to have one another.”

“Very lucky,” Brianna agreed.  “We’ve
gotten close.  I mean, really close, considering we only met a few months ago.”

Ryan
was still pondering Brianna’s announcement that she had only just met her
sister when he received a call from a friend.  Apparently the guy was moving
and had loaded the last of his worldly possessions into a U-Haul, save his huge
refrigerator.  He needed help with the behemoth appliance.

The timing of the call was inopportune,
since he really had wanted to hear what Brianna had to tell him.  If he was
being truthful with himself, he really wanted to hear more about her sister. 
She seemed like a good person—beautiful inside and out—which would make her …
anything but his type. 

He suddenly remembered that upon his
departure from her house, he had urged Brianna to pack up her painting supplies
and to go inside.  It was getting late and she was a beautiful young girl—a
veritable mirror image of Holly.  And as the brother of a beautiful sister, he
knew the attention Annabelle drew from nearly every male that crossed her
path.  He was actually grateful to Harrison, as he had assumed the worry about
Annabelle and to his credit, was very protective, but appropriately so. 

He was relieved Brianna had followed his
advice and gone inside.  Perhaps it had been presumptuous of him to advise her,
but he couldn’t help himself.  He grimaced when he remembered his parting
advice to the girl.  “You need a dog.  A big dog.”

“Stupid. 
Stupid,”
he muttered
aloud.  He’d just suggested Ben’s niece get a dog, when he was soon going to be
evicting her and her sister from the property.  What the heck had he been
thinking?

As he drove toward his friend’s home,
the enormity of the situation gripped him.  What would Holly and Brianna do
when he delivered the awful news?  Where would they go?  Would they return
home?—wherever that might be.

When he arrived at his friend’s place,
his long-time buddy was sprawled out on the front steps of his place downing a
bottle of water.  He rose slowly and grinned.  “Thanks for coming.  I knew I
could count on you.”

“Jim,” Ryan said, smiling ruefully, as
he extended his hand.    

Jim grasped his hand and pulled him into
a hug.  “Good to see you, buddy.   How was your trip?”

“Excellent.”

“I missed you, man.”

“Yeah, well, it seems like I got home in
the nick of time.  You have a refrigerator to load,” he said ruefully.

“Yep.  I’m moving.”

“Where?”

“Outside of town a few miles.  I picked
up a little place on an acre of land.”

Ryan slapped him on the back.  “I’m
happy for you.  I know you’ve always wanted a little breathing room.”

He grinned.  “You got that right. 
‘Course, I’ll never have the kind of wiggle room you have out at your place.”

Ryan attempted a smile, but it came off
as more of a grimace.

Jim read the worry on his face.  “Hey,
what’s up?  I can see something’s bothering you.”

“Let’s load the fridge and then I’ll
fill you in.”

“Sure.  Okay.  I’ll buy you dinner
after.”

Soon, the men had the U-Haul packed.  They
headed to one of the local pizza places in Battle Ground. 

“I’m hungry,” Jim said, as he dropped
into a booth.  “What sounds good to you?”

“Anything,” Ryan answered, still seeming
preoccupied, as he sat down across from his friend.

A waitress appeared and took their pizza
order.  “A couple sodas too,” Jim added, and then turned his attention to Ryan. 
“What’s on your mind?”

Ryan shook his head and glanced around
the restaurant.  “Same thing that was on my mind when I left for my trip.”

“I thought the reason for that extended
trip was to clear your mind, to enable you to arrive at some clarity with
regard to your extensive land holdings,” he teased.

Ryan made a face.  “Yeah, well, it
didn’t help me, I’m afraid.”

Jim cocked his head.  “Well, your
would-be buyers have been doing a lot of PR around these parts.”

“What … are you talking about?”

“Local paper covered them,” he informed.

Ryan frowned.  “That’s odd.  Why would
they approach the paper when a deal hasn’t even been made?”

He shrugged.  “Who knows?  Maybe the
paper got wind of the prospective deal and contacted them.”  He laughed. 
“‘Course, that doesn’t account for the billboard…”

“Wow.  You’re serious?”

“Deadly,” he told him.  “These folks
mean business and apparently they’re pretty confident in you, my friend.”

“Confident I’m going to sign on the
dotted line, you mean?”

“Yep.”

“Well, they don’t know me, do they?”

Jim burst out laughing.  “Well, I do,
and I’m fairly confident you’re going to sign.”

Ryan shot his friend a dirty look.

“There’s … more to this story, isn’t
there?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I know you.”

“Apparently pretty well,” he admitted
drolly.

“Talk.”

Ryan proceeded to fill him in on the
situation with Ben’s former home and the apparent confusion about the property.

Jim digested the information for a
moment, watched the waitress put sodas in front of him and Ryan, and then
watched his friend intently.  “That’s rough,” he said finally.  “I mean, that
woman and her sister likely pulled up stakes and left everything behind,
looking to start fresh.  And you, my friend, are about to pull the rug right
out from under them.”  He laughed without humor.  “Right up your alley.”

Ryan’s eyes widened.  The remark hurt,
but he recovered quickly.  But not quick enough.

“Hey, you’re a terrific friend, a good
man, and you care deeply about, well, the people you care about, but buddy,
when it comes to business, you have to admit, you’re a shark.”

“Yeah, well, my teeth aren’t as sharp as
they used to be.”

“Really?  Why?”

Jim leaned back in the seat and remained
silent for several long moments.  He knew better than to push.  Ryan would talk
when he was ready. 

Finally, he spoke, “I saw more than I
bargained for on the trip.  I guess it’s cliché, but I saw so much human
suffering, it…”  He sighed.  “I guess it changed me—maybe my priorities, though
that remains to be seen, I guess.”

Jim nodded.  “Maybe that’s a good
thing.  That land has been in your family for years…”

“Goes back to my great, great, great
granddad,” he said.

“Annabelle has a real affinity for it,
doesn’t she?  She wants to keep it?”

“Yep.”

“I understand she wants to build a
stable and arena and so forth.”

“Yep.”

“But you’re not interested?”

He sighed.  “I don’t know.  It would
require my undivided attention.  I don’t even know if I want to stay in this
area.”

“Really?  You heading to India to care
for orphaned children?”

Ryan glared at him.  “I just might.”

“Hey, I’m just messing with you.  But,
you know what they say, ‘When in doubt, don’t.’”

“Since when am I so full of doubt?” Ryan
wondered aloud.  “All I do is doubt…”

“There’s a verse in Psalms that comes to
mind…” Jim began.

“Jim…” he moaned.

“I’m just telling you what helps me,” he
said.  “The verse is, ‘Be still and know that I am God.’  Be
still
,” he
repeated, smiling serenely.  “That’s what I do when I’m uncertain.  I become
‘still.’  I wait for God to speak to me.”

“I’m not good at being still, and if God
is speaking to me, he’s isn’t talking loud enough.”

Jim shook his head, but smiled.  “Regardless,
God speaks to you.  You just have to learn to listen.”

Ryan felt relief when their pizza was
put in front of them.  “Good timing,” he murmured beneath his breath.

“I’m starving,” Jim declared again. 
“It’s been a long day.”

“Yeah, I’ll say,” Ryan concurred, as he
reached for a slice.

“I’m always here if you need me,” Jim
said, and then aimed a glance heavenward.  “So is He.”

The
following morning, Holly was surprised to find Brianna up early to see her off
to work.  “Well, isn’t this nice?” she said cheerfully.  “And you’ve even made
coffee.”

“I thought I should set my alarm, in
case you slept through yours.  You were home late.  I figured you could use the
caffeine.”

“I know.  I’m sorry I woke you when I
got in.  I didn’t expect to have to stay at work until after two a.m.  I’m
exhausted.”  To add emphasis to the statement, she yawned loudly.

“I bet,” Brianna commiserated.   “I’ll
try to have dinner ready when you get home, so you can go right to bed.”

“Hey, I have a chair to paint.”

“It can wait,” Brianna said, sounding
mature beyond her years.  She perked up.  “Hey, I wanted to tell you that Ryan
stopped by last night.”  She grinned smugly.  “He wanted to talk to you,” she
added in a sing-song voice.

“I wonder what he wanted.”

“I don’t know.”  She smiled at the
memory.  “He’s a nice guy,” she observed, still smiling.

“How do you know?  He seemed nice, but
do we really know anyone?”

“Well, we don’t really know
him
yet, but I was thinking it might be nice for you to get to know him.”

Holly laughed.  “I don’t think so.  But
I still wonder what he wanted.”

“To ask you out, maybe,” Brianna
suggested.

“Good thing I was working.”

“Too bad you were working.”

Holly chuckled as she bit into her
toast.  “Did he have anything else to say?”

“Oh, yeah.  He told me to go inside.”

“Why?”

“It was getting dark and he didn’t think
it was safe for me to be outside alone.”  She made a guilty face.

“What, Brianna?”

“Well, I guess I essentially told him
where you were working, how long you’d be working, and what time you’d be
home.  I basically told him I was all alone and for how long, too.”

“And why would you do that?”

“I wasn’t thinking, I guess.”

“I guess not.”

“Well, Ryan must be a good guy because
he pointed out that it wasn’t a good idea for me to divulge too much
information to a virtual stranger, in case he happened to be a bad guy.”

“Which he isn’t,” Holly added bemusedly.

“Right, because…”  Brianna spread her
hands.  “I’m still here.”

“So, he was worried about you?”

“And you, thanks to me.”

“Okay, well…  Okay.  But he doesn’t know
us, so he really shouldn’t worry about us.  We’ll have to be on our guard.”

“Maybe he’d like to be your bodyguard,”
she grinned.

“Oh, stop.”

“He also suggested we get a big dog.  I
think it’s a good idea.  I figured I’d check out Craigslist while you’re at
work, maybe make a few calls.”

“I’m thinking not.  We have Dave.”

“He isn’t a dog.”

“Yes, but he has a man’s name.  If we
get worried, we’ll call for Dave.”  She chuckled at Brianna’s frustrated
expression.

“Holly, you won’t let me have a horse. 
May I please have a dog?  Just think about how much companionship a dog would
offer me during all these long days when I’m all alone and you’re at work and
some weirdo happens to see me and get ideas into his head and…”

“No dog, but…”  She raised a clarifying
finger.  “I don’t want you out front after dark when I’m not here.  You’re a
beautiful girl and some weirdo could get a look at you and…  Well, you get the
drift.”

“But I can go
out back
after
dark?”

“No!  Why would you want to?”

“Well, I probably wouldn’t, but you said
I couldn’t go out front.  I figured out back might be okay.”

“You figured wrong.”

Brianna broke into a wide smile.  “You
really care about me.”

“I really do.”

“It’s nice to be cared about.”

“Right back at ya.”

Holly rose from the table, toast in one
hand, travel mug in the other.  She kissed her sister on the top of the head. 
“Wish me luck.  It’s going to be a long day.”

“Good luck.”

“Thank you.  I’ll call you during my
break, and then at lunchtime.  Please answer.  When you don’t, I get scared.”

“Okay.”

***