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Chapter 14
Lots of forgiveness - for big and little things. Lots of laughs and kisses. - Barb Stillings
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Monday morning, Brycewas just coming back from going on a run with his dogs when two cars pulled into the spot in front of his house.
The first one he recognized easily as he slowed to a walk, putting his hands behind his head and trying to get his breathing under control. Sweat dripped down his temple, and the front of his T-shirt was wet with it.
He had needed to take a pretty hard run, just trying to get the thoughts and ideas that were jumbled in his head straightened out.
Running usually helped him clear his brain. Some people hated it, but once he pushed through the initial reluctance and the natural laziness of his body, he found that the steady stomping of his feet on the ground, the increased heart rate and blood flow, and the change of scenery, with nothing in his ears but the whistling of the wind, helped him focus.
Today, he got nothing figured out. Nothing except all his mind wanted to do was think about Peyton.
Her easygoing personality under which lay an ironclad determination to do the right thing. He’d figured that out while she was sitting in the kitchen talking about her divorce. And how she wasn’t going to be bitter and angry. How she wanted the best for her son, and how she had needed to change her thoughts, the courage it had taken for her to pull up from the place where everything was familiar, where she had friends and neighbors and relatives, and move to a place where she knew no one, just because she felt like that was the right thing for her child.
He loved that she put her son above herself, that she wasn’t living selfishly, figuring out what she wanted, and finding herself.
She reminded him of something he had learned when he was much, much younger and much less cynical.Sometimes in order to find oneself, one has to lose oneself in serving others.
Peyton hadn’t needed to say that. She was living it.
He reached the cars, recognizing the first car as Pam, the lady who normally made his meals for the week. Typically, she wasn’t here this early on Monday, but he seemed to recall that she’d mentioned she was taking a break from making his meals while she went to Duluth to visit family over Easter vacation.
He hadn’t worried about it too much because in the next breath she said that she would find a replacement for him, training them, telling them everything they needed to know, saving him from having to cook for himself or make himself uncomfortable by going out and finding someone.
But the second car looked a little familiar too. He had his breathing under control when Charlene stepped out.
He had seen Charlene several times before. She was the reason Peyton was working for him now.
A few weeks ago, he might have been upset with Charlene, since she’d sent Peyton out without a phone call or any kind of warning.
He and Peyton hadn’t had the best start, and he found that odd, especially considering Peyton was so easygoing.
But that first meeting, she’d been angry.
He knew now anger wasn’t an emotion she normally felt, and it was interesting that he managed to elicit it from her after talking to her for barely five minutes.
“Good morning, Bryce,” Pam said, stopping as she opened the trunk of her car and looked at him as he walked toward her.
“Good morning, Miss Pam. Miss Charlene.” He nodded at Charlene as she walked up to the car.
“Good morning,” the ladies said together.
Pam said, “I told you I would take care of everything, and Miss Charlene and the other Piece Makers ladies are going to make sure you don’t starve to death while I’m gone.”
“I appreciate that.”
He could make sandwiches, but he wasn’t sure he could do too much else. He’d never had to. When he was younger, he’d just ordered takeout, fast food, or gone out to eat.
“Let me help you carry that stuff in,” he said. He wasn’t usually out when she came in, and honestly, he usually tried to avoid any human interaction.
Something about Peyton had caused him to... He wasn’t even sure. Maybe feel like he was ready to step out into the jungle of humanity again.
There was just something about her steady personality, her easy acceptance of him, her refusal to get offended when he was gruff or short or even unkind. How she just let whatever he did roll off her back. It was almost like, after those first two times of her getting angry at him, she’d made a choice to accept him and like him no matter what.
