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“I would really like to start things over between us,” he rushed on. “That is, if you’ll just give me a chance.” There. His confession was complete. Now all that was left was her reaction.
Sylvie sat there as if she was processing his words. He watched the flicker of different emotions cross her face. It seemed as if she might be happy about what he said, but then, suddenly there would be a slightly darker look that must mean she was unhappy about something he said.
He decided he wasn’t going to say anything else. He had laid his soul bare to her. Now it was up to her to decide if she wanted to get to know him, too, or if he was going to be leaving town empty-handed and alone. There were certain rules to these kinds of exchanges, and for them to work, it couldn’t be one-sided.
He held his breath when he saw her mouth open to reply.
“Well, well. Young Sylvie. Where have you been hiding?” The old, tinny voice over his left shoulder interrupted his entire thought process.
Sylvie quickly stood up and kissed the cheeks of the two elderly women who stepped up beside their table. It was as if they had appeared out of nowhere.
“Aunt Charmaine. Aunt Chelly. I didn’t know that you were going to be in town today,” Sylvie said.
Unless he missed his guess, Sylvie seemed relieved at the interruption. He caught the curious glances in his direction from Sylvie’s aunts, and he looked at her expectantly with a raised eyebrow.
Sylvie waved at him, almost dismissively. “This is Heath Cartwright. Heath, these are my great-aunts, Charmaine and Chelly Jones.”
Heath stood and gave the two ladies a slight bow. “My pleasure, ladies.”
He was rewarded with two giggles. If there was one thing that Heath could normally do when he wanted, it was charm the socks off a woman. It didn’t matter her age. Although Sylvie seemed to be immune today.
He held out his hand to each of them in turn and kissed the tops of their wrinkled knuckles. They smelled of roses. He sat back down.
“Where you been? I haven’t been able to get in for an appointment with you in over a week,” one of the women asked Sylvie. Heath had no idea if it was Charmaine or Chelly.
Sylvie grimaced. “I’m sorry, Aunt Charmaine. I’ve been busy, and I’m getting new clients in from as far away as Rollinsburg now. I’ll let Meg know to make time in the schedule for you when you call. I’ve been meaning to call you anyways to schedule time for tea.”
“I guess I can see why you’ve been busy.” The other aunt, Chelly, gave Heath a sly look. “You should come around for tea this Sunday. Aunt Elfleda has been looking for you, too.”
Heath wasn’t sure if that was a cue of some kind, because the two women split apart as a wheelchair scooted in between them. An even older, even smaller elderly woman sat in the chair, her back ramrod stiff.
She gave Heath an appraising once-over before turning to Sylvie. “Sylvie Jones. Who’s that?” She pointed a long, bony finger at Heath.
“Heath Cartwright.”
“Is that so?” Aunt Elfleda said, as if his name was somehow suspicious, as if it had been up to something when no one was looking. “You look familiar. And didn’t there used to be a fellow on TV with that name?”
Heath was stumped. Sylvie knitted her brows. Chelly and Charmaine giggled.
“You’re thinking of Hoss, Elfleda. On ‘Bonanza,’ it was Hoss Cartwright,” Charmaine said.
“Nope!” Aunt Elfleda pursed her lips. “I guess I know what I’m thinking. Heath Cartwright. He was the big one. I liked him. I always liked me a big man, one who can split a couple ricks of firewood and still have enough energy left to ring your clock.”
Sylvie rolled her eyes and Chelly and Charmaine tittered and nodded like bobbleheads.
“You got a voice, Heath Cartwright?” Elfleda demanded.
“Yes, Ma’am,” he answered quickly. He stood and did the bowing thing again.
“Hmm, I kind of liked that,” Elfleda said. “You’ll do … for now. Come to tea on Sunday.”
And with that, Elfleda spun her wheelchair ninety degrees and tore off down the center aisle of the cafe. More than one person had to leap out of her way or risk getting run down. Chelly chased after her, calling out that she’d get the door.
Charmaine stayed behind for a second and gave Sylvie a hard look. “I haven’t forgiven you for taking my recipe,” she said. “But you know I have a hard time holding a grudge. So anyway, that’s why I want an appointment. So we can let bygones be bygones.”
Sylvie opened her mouth then snapped it shut again. She blew out a short breath then said, “That’s … kind of you. I’m glad it’s all settled then.”
“Oh, it’s not all settled. But it’s enough to be getting on with.” She rushed away without a response, calling out to Chelly to wait for her to help Elfleda.
Elfleda, meanwhile, had screeched to a halt in front of the cash register and was digging out change from a giant coin purse, throwing Chelly and Charmaine’s front door plans to the winds.
Sylvie watched her aunts jostle one another at the door. “In case it wasn’t obvious, Great Aunt Elfleda rules the Jones family.”
“I imagined as much. I meet a lot of people in charge in my line of work.”
“Yeah, well, Elfleda’s more dictator than anything else. She drives me nuts sometimes.”
As if she could hear them, which was impossible since she was all the way in the front of the building, she swung her wheelchair around to face them. She stared them down.
“And Sylvie,” she called, her voice carrying surprising well for being so elderly, “Don’t forget to bring those babies with you to tea!”
With that command complete, she whirled toward the door which was being held wide by both Chelly and Charmaine.
Sylvie sighed. “Like I was going to leave the babies at home alone or something? Gawd, she never quits.”
She didn’t stop watching the front until Elfleda and the other two women were gone.
She slid back on her seat. “I’m sorry about that. My grandpa used to say you can’t swing a cat in this town without hitting a Jones. The Jones family is quite a big thing in Zeke’s Bend.”
“What’s a big thing?” he asked.
Heath was intrigued. This seemed like much safer territory for discussion than Sylvie’s babies or the reason for him showing up in Zeke’s Bend. He had not forgotten, though, about his confession, and that he was still waiting for Sylvie’s response.
“If you go back several generations, one of my ancestors founded Zeke’s Bend,” Sylvie said, a note of pride in her voice. “He had a large family, and after a bit of time more folks started settling in this area. Everybody started marrying each other and having kids and pretty soon most of Zeke’s Bend was made up of the Jones family, or relatives in one way or another. But not really. To folks from out of town, it just may feel that way.”
Heath was going to ask her what that meant when another woman appeared beside the table. This one he recognized. She had been at Sylvie’s shop the night before. She rubbed her belly as she looked between Sylvie and Heath with an amused smile.
“Sylvie,” she said.
All she said was Sylvie’s name, and yet it felt as if she said, at least, three or four more sentences that Heath couldn’t comprehend, but he could see that Sylvie understood. She seemed to slip a little bit further down in her chair.
“Phae,” she answered.
Heath looked back and forth between the women. There was some sort of tennis match going on that he couldn’t quite see or understand, but he knew it was happening. Phae stood there with a cocked eyebrow looking at Sylvie. Sylvie looked back at Phae with a closed expression. It was as if each of them was waiting for the other to say something.
Sylvie was the one who finally caved. “This is my friend, Heath Cartwright.”
Phae turned to look at him. “Well hello, Heath. My name is Phae Holmes, once Jones.”
Heath was trying to figure out if he was supposed to k
now who Phae was or not. He could see a slight resemblance between Phae and Sylvie, and he was starting to make some connections now. In fact, he couldn’t help but be aware that there were a lot of other people around the cafe who suddenly seemed to be very interested in the activity at their table.
“Hello, Phae. It’s very nice to meet you.” He stuck out his hand, and Phae accepted it. Then all three of them stared at each other.
“Surely you have to get back to work now, don’t you Phae?” Sylvie said.
If Phae was expecting an invitation to join them, it didn’t appear to be coming any time soon.
Sylvie looked at Heath. “Phae is my cousin. She and her husband run a nonprofit down the street. They’re very busy this time of year.”
Heath had to grin. It was obvious that Sylvie was trying to make her cousin leave. Just when it looked as if Phae would concede, another woman popped up beside her. This woman was cute as a button with long braids down her back. She was smaller than Phae and Sylvie, but her face lit up with a warm smile that made Heath instantly like her.
“Hey, Sylvie. It’s so nice to see you here,” she said.
Heath was starting to wonder if he had stumbled into some kind of comedic play when he wasn’t looking. Sylvie appeared frustrated at the turn of events. “Nice to see you too, Neesa. This is my friend.”
Heath stood up again. He was starting to understand how this was going to work. Clearly, if Sylvie’s relatives had the run of the town, this was probably what he could expect through the rest of lunch. He stuck out his hand. “Hello Neesa, I am Heath Cartwright. I’m a friend of Sylvie’s just in town for a little bit.”
Neesa shook his hand with a vigorous pump. Phae had a sly smile on her face, and Heath was starting to wonder what Sylvie’s relatives were thinking about him and Sylvie. She clearly introduced him as her friend for a reason.
He supposed it made sense. She couldn’t exactly introduce him as the man she had a one-night stand with in Chicago last year. Still, it felt a little bit awkward because he definitely didn’t want to be just friends.
“I suppose you’re a cousin of Sylvie’s, too?”
