“Oh, they’re lovely! Who sent them?”
“I’m not sure. I only deliver.”
She took them, looking at the card with its elegant logo. “They’re from Evergreen and Ivy? I love their stuff. They’re gorgeous. Please tell whoever created the arrangement how grateful I am for their hard work.”
“I’ll do that, ma’am,” he said.
“Thank you,” she said, setting the arrangement on a console table in the hallway and scooping up her daughter, unicorn and all.
“You’re welcome. Merry Christmas.”
After refusing the tip she tried to press on him, he walked down the steps, feeling an odd ache of longing somewhere inside him.
He had only had a brief glimpse into that house. He didn’t know anything about the people who lived there. For all he knew, they could be selfish, terrible people or bitterly discontented or struggling with hidden trials.
But in that one tiny fragment of time, the woman had seemed so warm and friendly and... happy. The little girl had been cheerful and cute. The house had radiated welcome.
He wanted that.
He thought of his condo in California, where he camehome to an emptiness each night. He had never considered himself lonely. He had plenty of close friends and could always pick up the phone and find someone to hang with.
Since coming to Idaho, he had begun to see that the emptiness of his condo mirrored the emptiness of his life. He suddenly yearned for something else.
He returned to his truck and headed back to the main road. He turned in the direction of his father’s house, wishing he had another flower delivery to make.
He didn’t want to talk to Doug that day but unfortunately he still needed something to wear to the wedding.
He should have driven into Boise some time over the past few weeks to pick up a new suit. It had seemed silly, though, when he had a perfectly good suit hanging in his closet back in California, as well as his dress uniforms that served for most occasions.
Good thing he and his dad were the same size, though he expected his shoulders might be a little broader than his father’s.
His father opened the door before Ryan could ring the doorbell, almost as if he had been watching for him from the moment Ryan had texted as he left Shelter Springs to let him know he was on his way.
“Come in, son. Come in. We were about to have lunch. Would you care for some soup?”
He almost automatically refused but that seemed rude, especially when his father was loaning him a suit.
“Sure. Soup sounds good.”
“Great. Hope you don’t mind eating on a tray in the family room with Diane. The dining chairs aren’t very comfortable for her so we’re still eating most of our meals in there.”
“I don’t mind. How’s she doing today?”
“She had physical therapy this morning and that’s always draining.”
He knew a thing or two about physical therapy. As if in sympathy, his knee began to ache and it took all his powers of concentration not to limp.
His stepmother sat in her recliner again, with a book spread out on her lap. When she saw him, her face lit up and she smiled, closing the book and setting it on the small table next to her.
“Ryan, darling. It’s so good to see you.”
“You are looking lovely,” he told her truthfully. He leaned in and kissed her cheek, gratified to see her bruises had faded and her eyes seemed brighter, less dulled by pain.
“I’ve been meaning to call and check on things. How are you? How is everything going with Audrey?”
He considered it a mark of Diane’s strong character that even though she was dealing with her own troubles, she was first concerned with others around her.
“She’s good. I am, too.”
