Page 19 of Fa-La-La-La Faking It
“Perfect.” Adaline grinned. “But you’ve still got the most important part to figure out.”
“And that would be?” Ford prompted.
Adaline waggled her eyebrows. “Who’s going to make the wedding cake?”
Jace spent his Saturday morning losing at chess while black-and-white reruns ofGunsmokeand old John Wayne movies played on the television in Uncle Gus’s room. At least his uncle was in a somewhat decent mood today. He swallowed the pills the nurse brought to him in a tiny paper cup without protest. He wore a crisp new pair of pajamas and the new slippers Jace had given him the day before instead of the ratty ones he insisted were his favorite. He even cracked a smile at Jace’s latest corny Christmas tree joke.
What looks like half a Christmas tree?
The other half.
The jovial mood quickly evaporated when Jace steered the conversation toward an actual tree.
“I told you I don’t need one,” Gus growled as he slid his rook from one white square to the next.
“A Christmas tree might brighten up the place,” Jace countered. “I’ve got a small three-footer that would look perfect right over there.”
He tipped his head toward the space in the corner beneath the mounted television where two cowboys were squaring off against each other in front of a saloon.
Uncle Gus muttered something that sounded an awful lot likebah humbug.
What was it about this town all of a sudden? Jace had never had so much trouble giving trees away before.
“I’ll bring it over tomorrow morning,” he said, ignoring his uncle’s protests. He hated the thought of Gus stuck in this room all day, with its plain mint-colored walls and generic furniture. Maybe he’d gather some items from his uncle’s house and bring them next time he visited. Anything to make the space a little more personal...a little moreinviting.
The living space in Gus’s home was sparsely decorated, at best. It was practically barren. Jace wasn’t sure if it had been that way back when he’d been a kid. He knew his memories of Gus and his farmhouse, with its big red barn just outside of town where the bluebonnets grew wild every spring in rolling fields of blue, were sugar-coated. He’d seen things differently back then. Staying with Gus had been a reprieve from the fear that had wrapped itself around Jace’s heart when his dad had been diagnosed with bladder cancer.
His parents had thought it best for him to go stay with Gus while his dad got treatment. The prospect of staying with his gruff uncle for an entire school year had flat-out terrified Jace. There’d always been an air of mystery about the man, who was more than was a decade older than Jace’s father. He rarely said a word, and he never,evershowed up for the family’s Christmas celebrations. But he came to every single one of Jace’s birthday parties and important school events. He’d been the one who’d first taught Jace all about plants and growing things. The window over the sink in Gus’s kitchen hadn’t been flanked with ruffled curtains, but tiny seedlings sprouting from damp paper towels had been lined up in a neat row on the windowsill. To Jace, the home had been a respite—a place where he could breathe again after feeling like he’d been holding his breath every time his dad had gone for another doctor’s appointment or his mother broke down in tears. If the place had been as bare-boned as it was now, Jace had been blissfully unaware. Beneath Gus’s stern exterior beat a sure and steady presence—one that Jace had so desperately needed that strange, sad year. Gus...that house... Bluebonnet itself, they’d been his saving grace. His soft place to land, as safe and warm as a downy feather bed.
Now Jace was all grown up and he could see things as they really were. The house—a rustic log cabin with knotty pine walls—was filled only with necessities. There wasn’t a family photo or a trinket in sight, other than the school picture from Jace’s lone year at Bluebonnet Elementary, still tacked to the refrigerator door with a bluebonnet-shaped magnet. The living room still held the same console television that had already been past its prime when Jace had been a kid, along with the same patchwork sofa and a lone recliner with a TV tray parked in front of it.
As for the barn, Jace had no idea. He wasn’t ready to go back in there. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
The entire property felt much more remote than Jace remembered. Sterile.Lonely.
Gus scowled. “If you put a live tree in this room, the dog that nutty woman drags around this place will probably pee on it.”
“‘Nutty woman?’” Jace repeated with a shake of his head. “I thought I told you to be nice to Adaline.”
For the life of him, Jace couldn’t figure out why Adaline seemed to bring out the worst in Gus. The woman was a walking ray of sunshine, with her dangly cherry-shaped earrings, blunt-cut bangs and big blue eyes. She dressed her dog in reindeer antlers. She baked pie for a living, for crying out loud.
“I thought you didn’t even know her. From where I’m sitting, you seem awfully interested.” Gus let out a sardonic laugh that quickly turned into a coughing fit.
End stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.Jace had uprooted his life and come as soon as he’d heard the official diagnosis. He had a feeling that Gus had known about it for quite some time before he’d finally shared the news with Jace. He might never have said a word if things hadn’t progressed to the point where he could no longer live at home.
Jace waited for him to quiet down before pointing out the obvious. “I’m not the one who brought her up. You mentioned Adaline first, not me.”
Gus glanced up, made brief eye contact and then looked away.
“Just saying.” Jace nudged his chess piece into place. It didn’t really matter where he moved. As usual, he was losing. “You’re the one who seems interested.”
“Not interested in herorher dog,” Gus insisted.
“I don’t believe you,” Jace said.
Objectively speaking, Adaline was interesting. More interesting than Jace cared to think about, if he was really being honest. He wasn’t ready to admit that he was attracted to her, especially when that feeling was so obviously not mutual.
“And I don’t believeyou.” Uncle Gus pushed one of his pieces closer to Jace’s king.
