Face your fears. Be a good person. Do what’s right. Words of wisdom from Nessa’s father came back to him.
“Are you serious?” Tilly whispered.
“Yep, and it may take a year or even two before I feel like I’ve got something good and decent to offer a woman,” he said, “but I want to be honest with you.” God, it felt good to feel like he was helping someone, but it felt even better to realize that it didn’t mean he had to be there for someone. He was talking to himself as much as or more than he was to Tilly, and it was downright liberating.
“I appreciate that.” She cocked her head to one side. “You asked me what I want from life. I want the man you are working to become.”
“Then I’d say that you have to become the woman that would appeal to that man. Maybe it won’t be me, or even someone else, but you have to want that bad enough to work on yourself,” he said.
“Why wouldn’t it be you?” She winked.
“Because when and if I ever settle down, I don’t think I want a ready-made family, and please don’t take that wrong. I’m not being hateful, just honest,” he said again.
“Thanks, Flynn.” She stood up and started down the steps. “I appreciate you talking to me, but I’m not willing to work on that much change. I want my second husband to be someone like what you’re talking about, but I don’t want to give up my good times just yet to get him. I like to flirt. I like the thrill of the chase.”
“Who’s taking care of your kids while you live like that?” Flynn asked.
“That’s really none of your business, but the girls and I live with my mother. She’s not well, so they do a lot to help her. She’s more than willing to let me have my weekends to cut loose and let my hair down.” Tilly took a couple of steps toward her car and then turned around. “If things go in the crapper, honey, and you change your mind about all this changing stuff, I’m right here for you. Did your red-haired cousin give you my number?”
“She did.” Flynn couldn’t make himself head to his truck.
“Well, okay then.” Tilly sighed louder than the crickets. She blew him a kiss just before she slid in behind the steering wheel, and then she rolled down the window. “Thanks again for being up-front with me. At least I know you don’t think I’m ugly or too brassy. It’s one of those ‘It’s me, not you’ things, and I can live with that.”
“You are so welcome, and if you decide that you want something else out of life and need to talk, just holler at me.” Flynn waved. “And Tilly, you are a very attractive woman. You have such a lovely smile. You should kick any man who makes you feel ugly out the door.”
“Thank you for that.” Tilly laid a hand over her heart, and then blew more kisses toward him. She drove away, leaving a puff of dust in her wake. Flynn made sure he had his wallet in his hip pocket, crossed the yard with Tex right behind him, and got into his truck. “Want to go with me and be my wingman at the drive-in window of the ice-cream shop?”
Tex didn’t need a second invitation. He bounded up into the truck and sat down in the passenger seat. When Flynn drove past the fork in the road, Tilly fell right in behind him. Evidently she had been waiting to see if he was telling the truth.
“That was downright liberating, Tex. Maybe she’ll think about what I said. Maybe not. But it sure helped me to say it,” he said as he watched her pull her car in behind his truck.
He drove five miles below the speed limit, hoping that she would go on past him, but she hung back. Then he drove five miles over the speed limit and hoped that she might lose him, but she didn’t. When he finally pulled in at the ice-cream shop, she honked.
He hoped that she would think about what he’d said and wished her the best in her quest to find happiness. He rolled his windows down slightly so Tex could get some air. Then he got out of his truck and jogged across the parking lot. When he went inside, the first people he saw were April and Nessa at a booth on the far side of the place. He crossed the room in a few strides and said, “I thought y’all were going for groceries.”
“We did, and now we’re treating ourselves to brownie sundaes.” April scooted over. “You can help me eat mine. It’s pretty good, but Weezy’s beats it all to pieces.”
“I would, but Tex is in the truck. The windows are down a little, but it will get hot in there pretty quick. Tilly showed up at the house and tried to drag me to a dance with her. I’m just getting my ice-cream cone to go,” he explained.
“You can’t drop that on us and then leave. At least give us the short version of what happened,” April teased.
Flynn told them what he’d said, but that Tilly wasn’t ready to change. “She’s a lot like my dad. She likes her life just the way it is.”
“I admire you for trying,” Nessa said.
“I feel sorry for Tilly.” April finished off her ice cream. “If she’d admit it, she just wants someone to love her. I’ve been where she is, to some degree.”
“Maybe so, but she knows now that she and I want two different things out of life,” Flynn said. “I can’t leave Tex alone in the truck much longer. See you at home.”
He got his ice cream and then got in behind the steering wheel. Even with the windows up and the AC going, he had to eat fast. When the cone was half-done, he offered what was left to Tex. The dog gobbled it up in one bite, his tail thumping against the seat the whole time.
“That didn’t last long, did it?” Flynn smiled. “Ready to go home? As a thank-you for keeping me company, I’ll even drive you to your house this evening.”
A vehicle turned off the paved road right behind Flynn, and for a minute he thought Tilly was back. Maybe she’d taken time to think about things and had decided that she did want to talk some more. He was actually looking forward to visiting with someone who had the same problems he was trying to overcome. Then he realized that the vehicle was a truck and not a car. Jackson must have gotten his business taken care of and was on his way home, too. Flynn took the fork leading up to Jackson’s house and parked in the front yard. He opened his door, and Tex bounded out between him and the steering wheel.
Jackson got out of his truck and waved. “You didn’t have to bring him home. He knows the way.”
“No problem. He and I went to Paris and had an ice-cream cone.” Flynn took a few steps toward the porch. “Tilly came to seduce me, and I needed some time to think about what I told her.”
“And that was?” Jackson smiled.
Flynn told the story again, and Jackson stopped to pet Tex when he reached him and then leaned on the fender of the truck. “I’ve only been gone a couple of hours, and you went visiting.” Then he focused on Flynn again. “Come on inside and we’ll have a cold beer. Sounds to me like you were trying to help Tilly, and that’s a good thing.”
“Thanks for the offer, but April and Nessa will be home soon with groceries. I should get on back and help unload. I guess Tilly has to realize she has a problem before she admits that she needs help. I sure did,” Flynn said. “See you tomorrow.”
“Sure thing.” Jackson picked up a gallon of varnish and headed toward the shop with Tex right at his feet.