Hearts in Motion (10 page)

“That’s cool. I’d like to see it.”

“You’re serious? It’s in my partner’s barn right now. I can take you to look at it.” A Maroon 5 song spilled out of the bar, and she waved her hand at the bar. “Unless you want to wait for karaoke hour?”

“Not unless you do. I can listen to karaoke singing any night.”

“I was hoping to sing and watch everyone’s horrified faces, but I suppose I can pass.”

“We could do both,” he said, grinning.

She laughed. “Finish your burger, and we can go.”

“Done.” He took out his wallet as she looked at his plate and saw he’d eaten his burger already, only potato chips left.

“So you eat fast, too,” she said.

The waiter stopped at the table with their bill and made a choking sound of suppressed laughter. Ryan shook his head, but his lips pressed together in a smile as the waiter left with his money.

“You’re going to ruin my reputation,” he said.

“You have a reputation?” She stood. “I’ve heard of guys like you.”

“Your mom warned you against them?” He got to his feet, and they started walking along the sidewalk.

“My mother just told me not to settle for someone who didn’t treat me well.”

“I could treat you well.”

“I’m sure you could.” While it lasted, she thought.

“But you’re not interested.”

She frowned at him. “You know I’m babysitting for your niece, don’t you?”

“Holden didn’t mention it. I wonder why not.” He grimaced, steering her to his parked car. “He knows we dated all those years ago. After you came to our grandparents’ house for your book, he reamed me good.”

His words made her feel warm inside and out. Knowing her cheeks must be flushing, she was grateful for the darkness gathering around them.
 

Some things she didn’t want him to find out. Didn’t want anyone to find out.

She got into the car, and he closed the door. Seconds later, he was in the driver’s seat, saying, “He probably didn’t want to remind me that you were still single. He wouldn’t leave Cara with you unless he thought you could be trusted. He’d be afraid I’d corrupt you.”

“I’m not that easy to corrupt.”

“I know.” He sighed dramatically. “To my deep regret.”

As she shook her head, he pulled out of the parking lot. The windows were open, the weather was perfect, the man was witty and good-looking. She looked at him and felt sadness because he was not the right person....

And neither was she.

She could fix a lot of things, but that wasn’t one of them.

12

“Hey, Sam, I’m on my way to the barn.” Abby held her cell phone to her ear. “I’m showing a friend the cat furniture.”

“Oh.”

The one-word sentence didn’t surprise Abby. Sam was better with her wood tools than words. But it was the tone she used, making it one word short of
oh shit
.

“You don’t have to come out. I have the key. When we leave, I’ll turn off the lights and lock up.”

“That’s fine, then.” Her tone was normal as she said goodbye.

“Sam?” Ryan asked.

“Short for Samantha.”

“I knew a girl named Samantha,” he said.

She gave him a sideways look. “I’m sure you knew a lot of girls. Just drive.”

By the time they arrived, it was night. A quarter moon shone down on them. About three-fourths up the driveway, it split into a Y shape. The left side angled off to the garage by the house, with the lights mounted on either side of the garage door on. The right curved to the barn, the lights off.
 

After they turned toward the barn, Ryan slowed the car to a crawl, and the tires veered onto the grass, off of the stone and gravel driveway. Abby, who’d been looking at the barn, glanced at him and saw his head twisted toward the garage.

“You’re on the grass.”

He straightened the steering wheel, gazing toward the dark barn. “I thought I recognized the car parked outside the garage.”

She twisted to peer at the car. “It’s not Sam’s. Probably a friend’s.”

“Does the friend have a name?”

“I imagine she does.”

“She?” He parked in front of the barn and looked at her inquiringly.

“She,” she said, no hesitation.

“Huh.” He looked at her, and she looked back. She didn’t know how he’d caught on so quickly, but some guys were tuned into the nuances. She didn’t say anything, just got out of the car. Sam didn’t hide her sexual preference, but it was no one’s business but hers.

With the lights off, it took a couple minutes to unlock the doors, step inside, and turn on the lights. A half smile of wonder spread on Ryan’s face, as if he were a kid who’d stepped into Santa’s toy factory. He walked around the barn, peering up and down and side to side. Checking out everything, from a ladder with a perch on each step, to a cat throne, to the walkway on top. Rubbing his hands on the different woods and the carpeted surfaces. Looking at the different cat pads and the patterns. Asking her questions about the designs. He even climbed up the ladder perch—shoeless, because Abby insisted he take off his shoes.

She laughed at him, and he laughed back at her.
 

Climbing down from the ladder, he asked, “How come we’re not burning up for each other? We get along so great.”

“Opposites attract,” she said, but she didn’t get it either. It would be easy to be with him. But instead, she was attracted to his uptight brother. His uptight,
engaged
brother.

Perhaps it was a way to pass on different genes to children. Or maybe her hormones were messing with her.
 

Ryan came to her side and slung his arm around her shoulders. She leaned against him, looking at the cat furniture for the second time that day. It was gratifying seeing it through his eyes, but it had been even more gratifying to see it through his brother’s. Holden was harder to please, and when he was impressed, it meant something special.

“Why are you babysitting?” Ryan asked. “When you have this?”

She shrugged. “The usual reason. Money.”

“Ah.” He didn’t say anything right away. Just stood with his arm around her. A peacefulness stole into Abby, and she could tell he felt it, too, his hold relaxed and his breaths even. He turned to her. “I could sell this.”

“What do you mean, ‘sell this’?”

He released her. Stepping in front of her, he swept his hand out to include every item in the place. “Your cat furniture. I know people who buy furniture. I’m vice president of marketing. I head the sales and the merchandising teams.” He cocked his left eyebrow and shrugged. “It was Holden’s idea. Turns out I’m good at it. I get along with people. They like me. Without me, the business wouldn’t do as well.”
 

“I believe you.”

His eyebrow came down, and his eyes narrowed. “I could help you, too. Just drop a word or two here and—”
 

She put her hand over his lips. “Selling isn’t the problem, it’s keeping up. We need to hire people, buy equipment for Sam, and find a better place to make the furniture. We’re supporting ourselves on this and even making money. But every time we start saving money, something goes wrong.”

“Like what?”

“The roof.” She peered upward. “It collapsed this past winter. Every piece of furniture in here was ruined. It all had to be redone.”

“Wasn’t it insured?”

She shook her head, her lips clamped shut. Not wanting to say anything against Sam, who’d been sick about the entire thing. “We were saving everything we could. Sam had to buy new saws, and she thought the roof would last at least until we could afford something bigger. And then we had all that heavy, wet snow....” Just thinking about it twisted her stomach.

He put his hand on her shoulder. “That’s tough.”

“A lot of people have it worse,” she said with a shrug. “Sam and I have a plan. We tried to get an angel investor group to help us last week, but no one was interested.”

“They’re probably dog lovers.”

Her humorless laugh turned into a series of choking barks. She clamped her lips together and shook her head. As if she could shake away every mistake and disaster, from the small to the big to the gigantic. Sometimes it felt like she’d made them all.

Lowering her hand, she took a deep breath before talking again. “We’ll be okay. I’m going to sell my house, and we can use the money to see what we can finance. Maybe we can find a small plant somewhere. We don’t even have to buy it; we can rent it. Start out small.”
 

“Have you thought of going to Kickstarter?”

“We think we’d do all right on something like that, but not enough to get the money we need. It’s more impressive to see at least a couple of pieces in person so backers can see the quality. And then show the brochure with the different designs. We can show our orders in the past year. We can show everything.” She scrunched her face, because she felt scrunchy thinking about all the work ahead to find a new angel. Again. Just as it seemed the possible could happen, it became impossible.

“Two of the investors from the angel group wanted to invest, and three didn’t.” Her chest tightened. It had been so close.
 

He squeezed her shoulder. “Hey, it’s tough out there. We’re up against products made in Asia. It’s not the slam dunk it used to be for us, either.”

Taking a deep breath to open up her chest, she reminded herself they weren’t the first to face adversity. Almost everyone did. Winners didn’t quit. Winners kept going. They had to. If they gave up, the minute they quit trying and took that first step back, they became losers.
 

She nodded. “This is turning into a depressing date.”

“We’ll blame it on Aunt Daisy.”

Her laugh sounded like it came from under water. Maybe that was it. While trying to save herself, she was emotionally drowning. “Daisy told me from the beginning that you wouldn’t be perfect for me.” She twisted from his loose grip on her shoulders. “Sam and I aren’t giving up. It might take us another year or two, but we’ll do it.”
 

“Great attitude.” He walked beside her to the door and waited while she turned off the lights and locked up. She felt embarrassed by the flimsy lock that any thief would be able to break.

In the car, he drove slowly down the drive. When they became even with the garage, he stopped his car and hunched down to look at the car parked by Sam’s garage.

“Is that a BMW?” he asked.

“You’re asking the wrong person. It’s light gray and it’s a car. I have no idea what kind it is unless I’m close enough to read the name.”

“Good idea.” He put the car in park, opened the door, and stepped out. Standing on the driveway, he stuck his head back in. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

Then he was off and running before she had a chance to say anything. Not even, “
Watch out for the dog.
”

He was almost at the driveway when the barking started. Loud barking for a big dog.

The next second, Abby had a chance to admire his agility as he turned and ran as if Cerberus, Hades’ watchdog, was snapping at his feet.

She was on the driveway as he ran up, shouting, “Get in the car! Get in the car!”

Ignoring him, she held out her hand. “Treat! Loki, come and get your treat!”

As Ryan rushed around the rear of the car, she threw half an energy bar as far as she could away from Ryan. Its mouth slavering, Loki changed course and chased after the treat.

“Get in,” Ryan yelled as Loki found the treat and gobbled it up in a half second. “Get in while you can.”

She ignored him again, crouching to catch the dog racing toward her. His slobbery tongue swiped her cheek, dripping saliva down her face and onto her top. Murmuring that he was her sweetheart, she hugged him and kissed his sagging jowls while he whined as if he was in ecstasy.

“Abby? Is that you?” Sam called from across the way.

She let the dog lick her mouth one more time before she stood, wiped her mouth with her sleeve, and threw the other half of the bar toward the house.

“Sorry for bothering you!” she called, seeing a tall, slender woman in the driveway, just at the edge of the light. “We’re leaving now. Will you call Loki so we won’t run him over?”

Sam shouted Loki’s name, but he stayed another minute while Abby got into the car, finally leaving when she closed the door, and he was sure there would be no more treats. Only then did he gallop back to his mistress.

As Ryan steered slowly down the driveway, Abby said, “I bet that got your blood pumping.”

“Not the way I was hoping to get it pumping,” he said, but it was a throwaway line, his voice distracted, and she could tell he was thinking of something else.
 

A Michael Buble song came on the radio, and she sat back to listen, her mind drifting. Every day for her was full, but this was over-full. From purring cats to a slobbery dog, from one tamped-down brother to his too-loose brother. With a little girl who needed all the love Abby had to give, and yet she seemed to have some left over. Or at least something in a similar category to love, and she wanted to give it to the wrong man.