Love Finds You in Treasure Island, Florida (35 page)

When Amanda turned around and saw the look of despair on Harold’s face, she felt sorry for the man. “Are you okay?” she asked.

He shook his head then looked down at his feet. She knew he felt shame over what had happened, and it took every ounce of self-restraint not to run to him like Lacy had with Timmy. She didn’t want to humiliate him any further.

When she dared a glance in Jerry’s direction, she saw his balled fists at his side. This wasn’t a good time to try to talk to him.

Amanda thanked the Lord for finding Timmy and Harold safe, and then she asked for forgiveness. She never should have left them alone— not even for a minute.

“This isn’t your fault, Amanda,” Rosemary whispered. “My husband knew better than to leave.”

Harold looked up at her with glistening eyes. “I don’t know what I was thinking. Timmy and I were talking about Babe Ruth’s house. One thing led to another, and the next thing I knew, we were out looking for his house. He said it was right around the corner, and he made it sound like we’d only be gone five minutes. I figured we could get back before you, but when we couldn’t find it, Timmy was so disappointed that I said we could look for treasure instead. We sort of forgot and lost track of time.” He paused and visibly swallowed hard. “I hope you didn’t lose any business because of me.”

“Don’t worry about business,” Amanda said as she tried hard not to notice Jerry’s glowering face. “I’m just glad you and Timmy are okay.” She remembered the food she’d brought back. “I have some peanut butter sandwiches.”

“I’m not hungry. Timmy and I…well, we stopped off and got burgers. I’m really very sorry.”

Jerry stepped in front of his dad. “I need to get my folks back home.” He escorted his parents out the door and left without saying good-bye.

Amanda stood there staring after him, feeling as though the world had ceased spinning. The man she loved had just walked out the door of her shop—and probably her life. She doubted she would ever see him again.

It was late, so she flipped the Closed sign and left. When she got home, she was surprised to see Lacy there.

“You really messed up big-time,” Lacy said. “How could you have been so irresponsible as to leave a five-year-old boy in the care of a senile old man?”

That did it. Something inside of Amanda snapped. She turned and glared directly at her sister.

“How can you say such a thing after leaving Timmy for what was supposed to be an hour that turned into three?”

“We said an hour and a half or so.”

“You said an hour. And the least you and Brad could have done was bring Timmy some lunch or at least made arrangements for me to feed him. It was almost two o’clock and the poor kid was starving, so I did what I thought was best and went to get him something to eat. I couldn’t get ahold of you.” Amanda knew her voice was a few decibels higher than normal, but she didn’t care. Lacy had pushed her too far this time.

“He wouldn’t have—”

“Don’t try to make me fully responsible for what happened, Lacy. Yeah, I made a mistake, but if you and Brad hadn’t been so selfish—” Amanda stopped herself and hung her head. “I didn’t mean that.”

“I hope not.” Lacy chewed her lip before gesturing toward the other room. “Let’s go sit down. I have some news.”

Amanda followed Lacy into the living room, where they sat across from each other. “Okay, so what’s the news?”

“Brad and I are getting married. He proposed, so we went to look at rings. That’s why we were so late.” She held out her left hand to show the glittering diamond.

Amanda stared at the ring then looked Lacy in the eyes. “Why didn’t you at least call and tell me you were running late?”

Lacy shrugged. “I forgot.”

“You forgot,” Amanda repeated, as she stood on shaky legs. “Then don’t call me irresponsible. I might have messed up, but at least I didn’t forget about Timmy.” She started for her room before she stopped and turned around. “Another thing, Lacy. Harold isn’t a senile old man. He’s a wonderful person who loves Timmy enough to entertain him while I worked.”

Lacy didn’t say a word. She just splayed her hand in front of her face and stared down at the diamond ring.

The next day, Amanda went to work with a heavy heart. Fortunately, she had an early rush of customers, so she didn’t have much time to think about what had happened until after lunch when it suddenly got quiet.

As she stood behind the counter, trying to concentrate on her next order, her mind drifted to the events leading up to lunch the day before. The more she thought about it, the more convinced she was that she could have prevented it. Finally, by the time she closed the shop, there was no doubt in her mind that the whole thing was her fault. She didn’t have Jerry’s new address, or she would have sent a written apology. So she did the next best thing. She called.

He answered abruptly, letting her know he’d checked caller ID. After she apologized, he said, “Fine. I understand,” in a very clipped tone dripping with icicles.

After they hung up, she felt worse than before she’d called. Over the next several days, she continued to fret over the incident. However, Lacy seemed to have forgotten all about it. All she was interested in was planning her wedding.

“Timmy said he’s happy to have a teacher become his mommy.” Lacy giggled. “He seems to think I have some inside information on school or something.”

“I’m glad you worked through your issues with him. He really is a sweet little boy.”

Lacy looked at her, a puzzled frown furrowing her brow. “Issues? What are you talking about, Amanda?”

“You know. You had problems with Timmy in class.”

Lacy shrugged. “It really wasn’t all that bad. He’s just an active little boy.” She gave Amanda a look of annoyance. “Why do you always dwell on the negative?”

Amanda retreated. Was she negative? She never saw herself that way.

On Sunday she went to church and found Matthew sitting near the side door. He motioned for her to join him, so she did. She was surprised when she turned around and spotted Jerry walking in with his parents. He glanced over at her, did a slight double-take, then turned all his attention on his dad. His mother smiled and waved. Amanda waved back.

After church she followed Matthew to the fellowship hall. Without making any effort to be social, Jerry ushered his parents out the church door. Her heart sank. Seeing him in church gave her some hope that perhaps he’d be willing to at least talk.

“Why so glum?” Matthew asked.

Amanda told him what had happened, and he just stood there without saying anything. When she realized he wasn’t responding, she asked his opinion.

“Do you really wanna know?” he asked.

She nodded. “Yes, of course, or I wouldn’t have asked.”

He closed his eyes then opened them and looked her in the eyes. “I’m glad he’s mad at you.”

“What?”

“This isn’t easy for me to say, but I might as well come out with it. I’ve wanted to have more than a platonic relationship with you since we first met, but you were so intent on just staying friends, I held back and waited for the right time to say something.”

Amanda’s mouth instantly became dry. She squeezed her eyes shut then offered him an apologetic grin. “I’m sorry, Matthew.”

He nodded with a matching smile. “Yeah, me, too.” He took her hand and held it between his as he captured her gaze. “Now for some advice about Jerry. If you really care for him as much as I think you do, don’t just stand here talking to me. Go after him.”

“You know I can’t do that, Matthew.”

“Why?” he asked. “Are you too proud?”

“Stop being so foolish, Jerry.” Rosemary was exasperated with her son. She was tired of him taking out his own frustration on Amanda. “Everything is fine.”

“This could have turned out much worse.”

“But it didn’t,” she argued. “You and Amanda have something special. I don’t want to see you let it slip away.”

“Maybe it’s not as special as you think. Did you see her sitting next to that Matthew guy in church?”

Rosemary looked up at the ceiling and silently counted to ten before leveling her gaze on her very stubborn son. “Yes, of course I saw her sitting with him, and that’s all the more reason you shouldn’t hold a grudge for so long. Amanda is a very attractive, sweet, smart young woman who isn’t going to stay single all her life.”

“Good for her.”

Rosemary wanted to shake Jerry, but it wouldn’t do any good. He’d always been stubborn, and it took him days to work things out in his own mind. She needed to get him started, though, so she decided to go for the jugular.

“Don’t forget the time he took off when you were supposed to be with him and we had to call the police.”

Jerry’s face turned a bright shade of crimson. “That was different. We didn’t know he had Alzheimer’s.”

“We knew something was wrong, or I wouldn’t have asked you to stay with him while I went to my hair appointment.”

“Yeah, well…”

“Then there was that other time when we all went to the mall together. You turned your back for less than a minute, and when you turned around, he was gone.”

He tightened his jaw and stared straight ahead. Finally, he stood up from the chair in his parents’ apartment. “I’m going home.”

Before he got to the door, he hesitated long enough for Rosemary to say one more thought. “Just don’t miss out on this chance to work things out with Amanda. No one is perfect, you know.”

All the way home, Jerry pondered everything his mother had said. As usual, she was right. Now that some time had passed, he knew this wasn’t Amanda’s fault. Sure, she was aware that his dad had Alzheimer’s, but she didn’t realize he had a tendency to wander off. Jerry knew he should have said something.

Jerry also knew that part of his reaction was based on his feelings for Amanda. He had never intended to fall in love, but he did it anyway. Every nerve in his body was sensitive when she was around. It didn’t take much to set him off.

When he saw her in church with Matthew, he almost went out of his mind. She’d told him she and the skateboarder were just friends, and he didn’t doubt her sincerity in the least. However, he saw the way Matthew looked at Amanda, and it wasn’t like he was looking at a friend. The guy was head over heels.

As all his mother’s warnings ran through his mind, he knew she’d given him good advice. If he continued being stubborn, he risked losing out on being with the only woman who’d ever given him sunshine on cloudy days merely by being in the same room with him. Her smile sent a signal to his heart that all was right in his world.

He picked up some of his clutter then pulled out the papers he’d need for work the following week. Then he sat down in front of the television and channel-surfed until he felt like he’d go out of his mind. Finally, he picked up the phone and called his mom.

“You were right.”

“Is this Jerry?”

“Yes. Did you hear what I said?”

“Of course I did. I know I was right, but I didn’t expect you to come to this conclusion so soon. You generally have to stew over things for at least a few days.”

“I feel like a class-A jerk.”

His mother laughed. “No, sweetheart, you’re not a jerk—just a lovesick man who can’t handle the emotions.”