His Small-Town Girl

Charlotte adjusted the heat on the heavy-duty clothes drier, set the timer on her watch, checked the load in the washer and walked back into the apartment through the door that opened from the laundry room to the kitchen. Moving swiftly, she passed through the dining room and on into the reception area. With Hap and his buddies at the domino table, she need not worry about having the front desk staffed and so turned at once toward the office. A familiar voice stopped her in her tracks.

“I wonder if you gentlemen might tell me where I can find some workout clothes and a gym?”

Laughter erupted.

Rolling her eyes, Charlotte moved at once to the counter. Justus had all but fallen off his chair, while Teddy and Hap tried to maintain some semblance of good manners, without much success. Tyler stood before the game table, his hands in the pockets of his pants as he waited stoically for their amusement to die away. At length, Hap cleared his throat.

“Only gym hereabouts is down to the high school, son.”

“If you’re wanting a good workout, though, you can get that out at my place,” Justus teased. “I got about a hunerd head of cattle what need feeding and a barnyard full of hay ready for storage. Keys are in the tractor.”

Justus chortled at his own joke, while Teddy snickered and Hap kept clearing his throat in a belated effort to remain impassive. Torn between amusement and pity, Charlotte leaned both elbows on the counter and interjected herself into the conversation.

“He looks like he’s in pretty good shape to me, Justus. You never can tell, Tyler might be able to shift those big old round hay bales without a tractor.”

Tyler shot her a wry, grateful look over one shoulder.

“He could get one on each end of a metal bar and lift ’em like weights,” Teddy suggested with a big grin.

“Speaking of weights,” Charlotte went on, addressing Tyler directly as he turned to face her. “If that’s what you’re interested in, I could always call my brother. He could get you into the field house.”

“That would be, um, Holt?”

“Ryan. Holt’s the older one.”

Tyler nodded. “The driller. Among other things.”

Uncomfortably aware that the other three men were suddenly listening avidly, Charlotte kept her tone light. “Exactly. Ryan’s the coach—”

“History teacher, assistant principal,” Tyler finished for her. “I wouldn’t want to put him out.”

“Well, he’s your best bet,” she said a bit more smartly than she’d intended. “Nearest health club is around fifty miles from here.”

Tyler looked lost for a moment. Then Hap laid down his dominoes. “Here now. We could use a fourth for forty-two. Straight dominoes has me bored to tears. You wouldn’t consider sitting in, would you? Least ways until Grover finishes his sermon for tomorrow.”

Tyler shifted his weight from foot to foot. “I don’t know how to play forty-two.”

“Oh, we’ll teach you,” volunteered Justus, as if making amends for his teasing earlier. “Won’t we, Teddy?”

“Sure thing. He can play opposite Hap.”

To Charlotte’s surprise, Tyler pulled out the empty chair at the table. “Does that mean we’re partners?”

“That’s what it means,” Hap answered, obviously pleased that he’d picked up on that. Hap began turning the dominoes facedown and mixing them up. “Since I’m paired with the new kid, I get first shake.” He looked to Tyler, instructing, “Now draw seven.”

Hanging over the counter, her chin balanced on the heel of her hand, Charlotte got caught up in the game. She jerked when her timer beeped. By then, Tyler had learned enough to engage in a bidding war with Justus. Ill-advised, perhaps, but gutsy.

“Two marks.”

“Three.”

“You don’t even know what you’re doing,” Justus warned.

“Then your partner can take me off.”

“I’m not bidding four marks. You two are nuts.”

Charlotte laughed as she slipped through the door into the apartment, hearing Hap declare, “Lead ’em, partner. I got your off covered.”

It wouldn’t surprise her one bit if the newbie made his bid and taught a couple of old dogs a new trick or two, but why that should please her so, she couldn’t say.

Chapter Four

The sun hung low over the horizon when Charlotte heard footsteps scraping on the pavement. She pulled her bulky, navy-blue cardigan a little tighter and crossed her legs before reaching over to close the Bible on the low, wrought-iron table at her elbow to keep the breeze from ruffling the pages. Picking up her coffee cup, she sipped and smiled with contentment.

This was her favorite time of day. With the work done and Granddad’s dinner in the oven, she could steal a few minutes to just sit out on the patio and ponder. What would normally be a moment of supreme relaxation, however, suddenly became tinged with something else as Tyler Aldrich strolled around the corner of the building.

“Hello, there.”

She shifted in her seat, uncomfortable with the way he made her feel and a little ashamed for it. Pushing the unwelcome feelings aside, she smiled in greeting. “Hello, yourself. Game’s over, I take it.”

He grinned. “Grover just showed up.”

“Ah. Lost your seat, then.”

“I don’t mind. Looks like I found another one.” He pointed to the chaise next to her. Like her own chair, it lacked padding and the dark green paint had flecked off in places, but he didn’t seem to care. Good manners demanded that she nod, and he sat down sideways, using the elongated seat like a bench. “At least your grandfather didn’t seem particularly eager to lose me as a partner.”

Charlotte laughed. “He likes to win, and Grover’s too polite to trounce the competition. You must’ve caught on well.”

Tyler shrugged. “I have a good head for numbers, and it’s a pretty entertaining game. Kind of like bridge. Do you play?”

“Bridge? No. Forty-two, absolutely, but usually just with the family, my brothers, Granddad and me.”

“So tell me something. What is nello?” Tyler asked.

Charlotte chuckled. “Am I to understand that they wouldn’t let you bid nello?”

“Never came to that. It’s just something Grover said as we were playing out my last hand.”

She explained that a nello bid meant the exact opposite of a trump bid. Instead of trying to catch enough tricks and count to make the bid, the nello bidder tried not to catch a single trick or point, despite having to lead the first trick.

Tyler nodded with satisfaction. “Makes sense now. I didn’t have a domino larger than a trey that last hand.”

“And Grover would have seen that. He does love to play nello,” Charlotte put in.

Glancing around in the softening light Tyler commented, “I can’t remember the last time I spent half the day playing games.”

“Sounds like a case of all work and no play to me.” She sipped from her mug, realizing belatedly that her hospitality lacked something. She held up the cup. “Care for coffee?”