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“Maybe if I truly want the best for you, I’ll insist that you start your own business and try to make a living from your art.”
She was silent, contemplative, maybe, as she stared at the horses, beautiful against the blue of the lake and the green grass. The early morning sun made their shadows long as dew on the grass sparkled.
“I don’t know that I want to try to make my art something that I make a living on. I guess I wouldn’t mind having a shop and selling it in the summer, maybe even just open it for a few hours in the afternoon and evening when things get busy. Like from one to seven or something. But... I seem to be mentioning your integrity and your character quite a lot, but it’s the truth. Working for you... I feel like I’m doing good in the world. Because I’m helping one of the good guys get better. Do better. Be better. You are making a difference in the world, maybe not for your business, but through the people you touch and the way you act and the money that you’ve made without stealing or double-crossing people but by holding to the values that Christians hold to. It’s not exactly something that happens a lot in today’s world. I don’t even know that people notice, because so many people assume that if you’re successful, you somehow have been crooked in getting there.”
She’d mentioned more than once about admiring him, and it never failed to make his chest swell. More than anyone else in the world, he cared about Clara’s opinion of him. And she saw him more intimately than almost anyone else. In fact, he couldn’t think of anyone who knew him and his business better than she did.
The fact that she still admired him shocked him a little but gave him hope as well.
“What are you going to do with your gram?” she asked, changing the subject, maybe misinterpreting his silence. Maybe she didn’t want to talk about that and she’d searched for something else to say.
He certainly didn’t mind talking about how much she admired him, but he went with the subject change, because they needed to talk about it.
“I thought I’d bring her back home with me. The last time I tried to get her into a nursing home, the waiting list for some of them was months or even years long. I don’t think I’m going to be able to switch her that quickly. Hiring personal care aides, as a Band-Aid, might be difficult with the tight labor market. Plus, I’m not in Chicago anymore, I’m in Strawberry Sands. So... I’m going to bring her home.”
“I think she’ll like that.”
“You know anyone that I could hire on a part-time basis to help me take care of her?”
“I’ll think about it,” she said easily, and he knew she would. A lot of times, he had asked her questions like that in his business, and she’d come through for him, coming up with the best solution, sometimes an even better solution than something he thought.
“With me needing to take care of my gram and having her live with me... I had wanted to do the work inside myself, but I was thinking that I was going to make a few phone calls and see if I couldn’t get it done, today.” He laughed a little. “I might not be able to get the school finished today, but I know I can get people in there that will make short work of it. I just don’t know if I can get them in immediately. A lot of times, contractors have a waiting list.”
“I know my brothers will help. I can make a phone call, and they might not be quite as fast or professionally streamlined as the contractors you would get, but I know it will get done, and they’ll do a good job.”
“We couldn’t ask them. That would put them out.”
“They’re my brothers. That’s what family is for.” She sounded incredulous, like she couldn’t even believe he would suggest such a thing.
Then he realized. That was the difference between his life and hers. The big city and the small town. People looked out for each other.
Even as he was thinking that, she said, “Actually, I bet the whole town will show up. Maybe they will get it done today. I’ll make a call?”
“I have the specs. And I’ll pay.”
“So, I’ll make the call. Matt will probably be the point person since he’s the oldest, and you’ll just tell him what you want. And I’ll give him my credit card number, and you can reimburse me.”
“I can give him my credit card number.” He didn’t usually hand it out like candy, but if Clara trusted her brother with hers, surely he could trust him with his.
They’re not your family.
He had a feeling that didn’t matter, and he tried to shut the voice in his head up. He wasn’t used to people being kind, or considerate, or loving him.
Was that what this was? Christians loving each other?
He was always a big believer in action, not words. He had a few relationships with women who spouted out the words after just one evening together. An evening of dinner and entertainment. A function, possibly one where he even hired her. They said the words so easily, but there was no action backing them up.
He liked the action kind of love. The one where he could see that people actually meant what they said because their action said it.
She hadn’t waited for him to say anything more. She was already talking to her brother. He assumed it was Matt, although if she said his name, he hadn’t heard it.
“Of course. Get Luke and Ryan involved. Ryan especially because he’s got more experience than either one of you two.”
“Oh, he does? I hadn’t realized.”
She glanced over at him with a happy smile on her face. He had no idea what she was smiling about, but he returned it, then looked back at the road, making sure he got on the right interchange as he turned toward the on-ramp to head south for Chicago.
The ride was going faster than it ever had, but he supposed that was what happened when a person was in good company.
