Page 41 of Give In To Love
“Seriously?”
“I’m pretty sure he’s brought boys home to meet his Ma, but never anyone to meet me.”
“Oh, that’s…wow.”
“He looks at you the way my Brandon looked at me once upon a time.” I’d seen pictures of her wedding day in the hallway while TJ and I were helping set up things. TJ had told me his grandpa died in a car accident when he was little, so he didn’t remember much about him. “I was nineteen when he swept into Astaire with his dashing good looks and quiet charm. I avoided him like the plague. It was the sixties, you see, and I was an independent woman determined to stand on her own. I was full of big ideas and was sure a man wouldn’t do anything but get in my way.
“Brandon was a smart one, though, and Astaire is too small to avoid anyone for long. Would you believe it if I told you he got himself a job at the bank because he knew I was a teller there?” She chuckled, laughing at some unseen memory. “I was saving to move to the city, but I never made it. That man wore me down. Sent me flowers every Tuesday. Brought me chocolates every payday. And every Friday, he asked me to dinner. I made that man wait eight Fridays—two months—before I finally said yes. I never ate alone another Friday after that.”
That definitely sounded like something TJ would do.
“Brandon was a quiet man, but he was stubborn, and once he decided I was the woman for him, he was determined to wait me out. It turned out that the quiet steadiness he had about him was just what I needed. We were a good balance for each other. You remind me of him, in a way. That quiet steadiness. TJ needs some of that in his life, I think. He needs someone to bring him back to Earth when he flies too close to the sun.”
I was stunned by her insight, that she’d seen something in me she thought was good for her grandson.
“His intensity scares you, doesn’t it?”
“Sometimes,” I admitted.
“Good. If love doesn’t scare you a little bit, it isn’t love.”
“Oh, we’re not…I’m not…we just started dating…”
“Don’t you? At least a little?”
I thought about what TJ had said about relationships and how easy it would be to fall in love with him. If I just let all the worry, fear, and self-doubt go, I could slide right into love like slipping on a pair of comfy socks. It would be so easy.
But I wore that worry, fear, and self-doubt like a suit of armor. It was uncomfortable and restrictive, yes, but it also kept me safe. Protected me from getting hurt. I wasn’t sure I was completely ready to let go of it just yet.
“He’s amazing,” was the answer I settled on. It was the best truth I could admit to without giving away everything.
Mrs. McGee squinted her eyes at me and my heart thumped a little harder under her scrutiny, but then her expression softened and she took my hand. It was cold despite the heat of the day, but her skin was soft, her touch gentle. “You’ve had it rough, haven’t you? I can only imagine the scars we can’t see from what that awful woman did to you.”
I shrugged uncomfortably. She waved me off, saving me from response. “Never mind that. Just…there are bad people in this world who do a lot of awful things. And it makes it difficult to trust the good things that happen. But there are some really great people too. My grandson’s one of the good ones. You can trust him. You can trustinhim.” She gave my hand a squeeze. “And if he keeps looking at you like that, you can trust that too.”
“Hey, Mom.” TJ’s Aunt Lydia came into the room. “The Hansens are leaving and want to say goodbye. I told them I’d bring you out back.”
“No rest for the weary,” Mrs. McGee said, squeezing my hand before following her daughter out back.
“She’s right, you know.” Olivia peered at me with a thoughtful expression. I thought she’d been talking to her husband and hadn’t realized she’d been listening to our conversation. “There are some really great people in the world. You can trust the good things. Let yourself have them.”
“I’m trying to.”
“Good.”
19
TJ
Jimmy waspensive on our way home from the party, quietly watching the fields roll by. Tyler had stayed back to help with cleanup and planned to ride into the city with Ma and Trent, leaving Jimmy and me alone for the car ride. I had the music on low and held his hand in mine as we ate up the miles between Astaire and Omaha.
“It was good to see Olivia today,” Jimmy said, surprising me by breaking the silence.
“She seemed nice. How do you know her again?”
“Sammy and her son Will were childhood best friends, and they dated the summer Charlotte left. They were pretty seriously into each other and Olivia helped us when she found out how much we were struggling. She gave him some money and let us spend the night once when we needed a place to stay. She’s the kind of mom I always wished I had.”
I squeezed his hand. “What happened to Will?”
