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“Because I have a surprise to show you, that’s why.”
She was a bit leery of his surprise. They hadn’t spoken of her leaving or of her job in New York since the fashion show. “What kind of surprise?”
He kissed her nose. “Nothing ominous, I can assure you.” He could see that she wasn’t in a frisky mood. He rolled onto his back. “What’s bothering you?”
“The perfection that my life has become. It always makes me nervous. One Sunday afternoon at home I was thinking how perfect my life was, with Dad and my bulldog brother, and how I was going to study art in college and become a famous painter. It was all without flaw. The next weekend Joey introduced us to Sheila and told us he’d asked her to marry him. Dad and I hadn’t even heard her name before.”
Tristan looked at her in disbelief. “And happiness always does this to you?”
“This kind of happiness is scary.” She put her hand to the side of his face. “You and I need to have a serious talk about the future.”
Tristan got out of bed. “Not today, and certainly not this morning. Maybe after you see what I have to show you . . .” He hesitated. “Maybe things will be different after today.” Bending, he kissed her quickly. “I’m going to take a shower. Put on some jeans and sturdy shoes.”
She watched him go into the bathroom; his words had lessened her feeling of foreboding. If Tristan’s surprise required hiking boots, that meant it was some sort of Edilean thing. She let out her breath and realized she’d been a bit worried that he was going to offer her a ring.
What would she do if he did? she wondered. In her life she’d never met a man she liked better or got along with more easily than Tristan. He even passed what Sophie used to call “the boringness test.” She said men were easy to like when everything was exciting. But when nothing was going on and it was just the two of you—that was the real test.
Sophie used to say, “When it’s ultraboring. Not just a lull in the day, but so boring you want to shoot yourself in the foot just to liven things up.” Her Texas sense of humor always made them laugh, but what she was saying made sense. After that, with each new boyfriend, the girls would work to set up a day so they could try out the “boringness test.”
Tristan always passed. If Jecca wanted to be quiet and sketch, Tris was happy to do so. In return, she liked to pull an old wicker chair into the little conservatory while Tris puttered about.
“Now you see the real me,” he said as he held up one of his purple orchids. “No hot-air balloons, no six-course meals. Just me and a bunch of plants that need a lot of care.”
“You deserve a break from saving lives all week.”
“My job isn’t quite that dramatic. Today I had two sore throats, a—and I quote—‘a funny-looking mole,’ and two splinters. However, one was in a rather delicate area of a newlywed man. I suggested he either sand his dad’s workbench or use the bed. He and his new wife can’t afford a house, so they’re still living at home and sneaking around.”
Jecca had laughed. There was nothing at all boring about Tristan Aldredge, nothing she didn’t like—except the town where he lived. But actually, that wasn’t true. A couple of times, Tris had said Jecca “fit in” with Edilean—and she had to admit that she did.
Since the fashion show, Jecca had become part of the little town. She was now considered the champion of the girls who weren’t cheerleaders, girls who were shy or misfits in some way. She could hardly walk down the street without a mother stopping her and asking about the Achievers’ Club.
One day when they were having lunch, Kim started laughing.
“What’s that for?” Jecca asked.
“Do you realize that you’ve drawn three outfits for girls while wegirn. I sug’ve been sitting here?”
Jecca was startled. The girls had seen her through the window, come inside, and she knew what they wanted before they asked. She looked at each girl and instantly knew what she should wear. She also gave advice about hair. “Talk to the hairdresser about downlights and dye your eyebrows and eyelashes,” she told a fourteen-year-old girl with white-blonde hair.
At Kim’s words, Jecca realized how she was being taken over by the needs of Edilean, and she frowned. The thought had made her concentrate on the paintings she needed to do for Kim.
They were finished now and she knew it was time to talk to Tristan about some very serious matters. She wished he hadn’t come up with this surprise, but she couldn’t help that. She’d just have to wait until afterward to talk with him.
He got out of the shower, then she took hers and got dressed. After a quick breakfast, they got in his car, and he drove them to the road leading into Williamsburg. He pulled into a parking lot that was weed infested. Jecca looked out the windshield at the big old brick building in front of them and had no idea what was going on.
“What do you think?” he asked, his voice full of expectation.
The place was little more than a shell, spreading out across the end of the parking lot. “Roof, wall, foundation,” she said. “Needs them all.” She was looking at him curiously. What was in his mind and what did this place have to do with her?
She watched him get out of the car and come across to open her door.
“I bought this place from Roan,” he said.
“You’re expanding your practice? Opening a big clinic?”
“Not quite,” he said, smiling as he extended his hand to help her out. “Come inside and look at it. Tell me what needs to be done to make it usable.”
She followed him, but she was frowning. She had an ominous feeling that this building was important—and that it was going to change things.
