Page 17 of The Lyrics of Love

“Is it a working farm?”

“Not in the sense that we produce commercially. We have a couple of dairy cows and a passel of chickens. A few goats and pigs. Pops takes care of the animals and raises vegetables. He manages things on a daily basis for me. He’s happy in Tennessee. It’s close enough for him to go into Nashville and listen to music at the clubs.”

He chuckled. “About every other place on Broadway Street is a place where you can go and hear live music.”

“Did you play in a lot of those getting started?”

“Yes, ma’am, I sure did. I began playing honky-tonks in Texas when I was fourteen. I dropped out of school when I was sixteen. Like I said, school just didn’t do it for me. I learned right before I left that I’m dyslexic.”

“Most people who are dyslexic are quite bright. They learn how to compensate and use their strengths to balance things. You must have done the same to achieve the level of success you have in songwriting and as a musician.”

“I still have a terrible time with spelling,” he revealed. “Usually, Billy or Dart serve as my live spellcheck and correct my lyrics. But you’re right. Since reading and writing were so tough for me, I worked on other things. I’m a good listener. I told you how much I enjoy performing. I like that connection with people when I play. I don’t care if the audience has twenty or twenty thousand people. I’m a performer at heart.”

“I’m the exact opposite,” she said. “I grew up very shy. The only time I seemed to come out of my shell was with sports or when I came to the Cove. The residents here knew I had lost my mom and just wrapped their arms around me. The Cove felt more like home than my neighborhood in Portland did. Dad had his own antiques store, and he was frequently gone, looking for new items to purchase and resell. We had a live-in housekeeper who watched me, but she was pretty cold and didn’t really like children. That’s why I enjoyed coming to the Cove and being with Ainsley and my aunt and uncle.”

“You said you played sports?”

“I played several, but basketball was my great love. Somehow, I could tune out all the noise and distractions around me and live for running those eighty-four feet down the court. I was a shooting guard and played for almost ten years before I broke my leg.”

“On the court?”

She nodded. “We were playing our arch rivals, and I was leading in scoring and rebounds. The girl defending me was embarrassed by her own performance against me and threw a hard elbow into my temple when the ref wasn’t looking. It caught me off-guard and knocked me off-balance. I fell wrong and broke the tibia in my left leg. By the time the leg was out of a cast, the season was over. I felt burned out on basketball. My last two years of high school I played tennis instead. I still play some now. It’s a sport you can play your entire life.”

He laughed. “I have never picked up a racquet in my life. I wouldn’t know the first thing about it. Maybe you can teach me,” he suggested.

His words hung in the air, and then she shrugged. “Maybe.”

“You said you worked out every morning before coming the store. Do you have a tennis partner you play with?”

“No, I usually hit the water every season but winter. I like to surf and SUP. Stand-up paddleboard,” she corrected. “We say SUP for short.”

“I’ve seen people doing that. It intrigues me. I think I’d want to learn that more than tennis.”

“There are several schools up and down the Oregon coast. If you really are interested, I can recommend a few to you. It’s a great full body workout, but you have to devote your entire attention to it.”

Rylie blushed then, and Nash wondered why she did so.

“Show me your store.”

“All right.”

She led him to the far corner in the rear. “This is a hodgepodge. This portion of the store is for consignments. I have people up to fifty miles away ask for me to place their furniture here. I sell it for a modest profit. These aren’t really antiques. They’re merely people’s leftovers. They’ve bought something new to replace this, or they’ve downsized and need to eliminate a few pieces of furniture. The section is only slightly profitable, but I know it’s a good service for the community. That’s why I don’t mind providing it.”

“Let’s start over here.” She led him back to the front. “Stores with more space than I have will carry furniture from multiple eras and countries. Because my space is more limited, I tend to focus on several of the more popular eras from which collectors are interested in obtaining furnishings. That doesn’t mean I won’t purchase it if I find a wonderful piece at a great price from a different era. I always will, but most of the antiques I stock come from six or seven different periods in history. I also don’t buy many little items. Things such as doorknobs or lamps. I try to concentrate on furniture itself, although I cannot pass up a great clock.”

Over the next hour, Rylie led Nash through her store, pointing out the time frame in which a piece had been created, and some of the things that marked the style which distinguished that era from another one. Twice she excused herself when a customer came in. One merely wanted to browse and left after a few minutes. The other wished to check in with her regarding the search for a certain headboard.

She rejoined him and their tour came to an end.

Nash asked, “What are your favorite periods?”

“Of things I carry at Antiques and Mystiques, I’m drawn to Queen Anne because of how various regions of the American colonies put their own spin on this style. I also like Empire because of the inlays of ebony or maple veneer. Sleigh beds were first created in this period.” She sighed. “I adore a good sleigh bed.”

Nash would like to have her in a sleigh bed. Naked.

“I do enjoy furniture from a few periods which are narrow in their time frame. It’s harder to find pieces, and that’s why I don’t stock them. I like Art Nouveau, which was around the turn of the twentieth century and only lasted less than twenty years. Americans aren’t very interested in furniture from this period. Furnishings from this time period reflect the Art Nouveau movement in jewelry and silver. Its sweeping lines didn’t align with mass production, which was really taking off in the US at that time.” Rylie paused. “How about you? Did you see anything that struck your fancy?”

“Well, I did like the Arts and Crafts period you pointed out. Especially those Stickley brothers because they let the natural beauty of the wood shine. I also liked the Federal and Sheraton pieces you showed me. You said those eras were really similar. I liked the lines and the woods used. I don’t think I would want an entire house full of antiques, though.”

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