Читать книгу A Texas Christmas Wish - Jolene Navarro - Страница 14

Chapter Four

After checking on Bryce, Karly went back into her new room. Unpacking again, she hoped this time they would get to stay for longer than a few months. With one hand she gently opened the top dresser drawer to start putting her few belongings away. Pens, hair clips, rings and other random items cluttered the space.

Oh, my. She took a deep breath. Carol’s belongings were still in the dressers. She reached down to the bottom drawer and pulled on the handles. The clothes smelled musty. Shutting the drawer, she sighed.

Putting her back to the dresser, she scanned the room. The closet was probably filled with Carol’s things, also. She didn’t feel right moving anything. When Pastor John had told her to take this room, he must not have known his late wife’s teenage life was still here.

“Wow.” Tyler stood at the open door. “It looks as if she could walk in any minute.” His triceps flexed as he crossed his arms, the loose T-shirt and jeans in contrast to the tension in his stance. Dark blond hair still damp from his shower curled at the base of his neck.

She had no clue what to say. “I’m sorry. I can move my things into your room.”

“You mean Bryce’s room. No. When Carol left for college, Mom wanted to clean out the room for sewing and crafts, but my dad wouldn’t let her. He said it was Carol’s room and would always be Carol’s room. Then Mom got sick.” He walked over to the dresser and picked up a trophy with a horse on the top. “I think it’s time to clean it out. Man, this was from seventeen years ago.”

He put it down and picked up another relic from his sister’s childhood. Silence lingered as he went from one dust-covered item to the next.

She understood loss, but she didn’t have a house full of memories. She’d always wanted something of her mom’s to hold. Tyler had a whole house of memories of the people he loved. It didn’t seem to make it better. “So you lost your mom before Carol’s accident?”

His back to her, Tyler nodded and set down a picture frame. “Yeah, eighteen months.”

No one had talked about all his losses when they talked about Tyler Childress. They loved to recap all his wildness and scandals. “I’m sorry. Were you still in school?”

This time he turned away from the dresser and walked over to the faded purple-covered bed. “When Mom died I was in Florida, at flight school.” He looked around the room. “We could put the old clothes in your bags and donate them. All the other stuff can go in the boxes.” He pulled the bedcover up at the corner and folded it over, starting to strip the mattress. “I think the room is ready for a new comforter, also. There are plenty of newer ones in the hall closet.”

“Oh, no... Everything can stay.”

He raised one eyebrow and grinned at her. “So you like the purple-people-eater theme.” He walked to the other side of the bed. “Really, it should have been done years ago. Carol would do it herself if she was here.”

“What about her girls? They might want some of their mom’s things.” Habit stopped her from saying more. She always made a point not to dwell in the past, and she never talked about it. He folded over the stuffed comforter, shoulders slumped as if a heavy weight pushed them down. Biting hard on the inside of her cheek, Karly resisted the urge to put her arms around him. She couldn’t go there, but maybe she could ease his pain in another way. At this rate she would be eating the flesh inside her mouth. “Right after my sixth birthday, I lost my mom. The same age Rachel was when her mom died. I dreamed of having something, anything of hers. I don’t know anything about her other than she was from Hawaii.”

“So your parents are from Hawaii.” He placed the purple comforter in the window seat. “That explains your last name.” He walked back across the room without looking at her.

“It’s my mom’s name. A lot of people think I’m Hispanic.”

“What about your grandparents, your father? They didn’t share anything with you?”

He picked up her bag of clothes and dumped them on the bed. He didn’t have much sense of personal space. Another reason to not get emotionally involved.

She rushed to the bed and started gathering the articles he had scattered on the bed. “I can get my clothes.”

“I’m using the bags to clean out the old clothes.” He paused.

“You could have asked.”

He moved to the dresser, pulling open the one with all the trinkets first and closed it just as quick. Reaching for the next drawer, he looked at her. “We need to make room for your clothes.” Without looking, Tyler pulled out the next drawer and dumped the contents into the black plastic bag. He did the same with the three long drawers, his jaw locked and his posture tense.

He nodded to the bed. “Go ahead and put your clothes in here and I’ll get the ones hanging in the closet.”

“Tyler, we don’t have to do this now.”

He shook his head as he opened the closet door. “It should have been done a long time ago.” His face took on a hard look as he pulled clothes off the hangers and crammed them into the now-stuffed trash bag. “My dad goes on as if they’re coming back. He won’t change anything.”

“If you really love someone, I would think it’s hard to get rid of their things.”

He stopped and looked at her. “You said you didn’t have anything of your mother’s. How did that happen? How did you lose her?”

She shouldn’t have brought it up. He wouldn’t understand all the holes in her life. “She just died. One morning Anthony took her to the hospital. I never saw her again. The next day, my stepfather put me in his car and we left town.” And from that day forward traveling became the cornerstone of her life. Anything given to her got pawned.

What if her mother had lived? Would they have left Anthony? She couldn’t change the past, only her future. This was why she never let herself think about it. She took her eyes off her list and peeked at Tyler from under her lashes.

Tyler looked at her as if she was crazy. “You left town with your stepfather? What about your father, grandparents?”

“No, there was only my stepfather. I don’t even know my bio dad’s name and my mother didn’t have any family.”

With sharp motions, he stuffed the clothes into the plastic bag and tied off the top. “I can’t imagine not having any family.” After grabbing a box off the top shelf, he turned back to her. “There’s still some stuff in there, but you can hang your clothes for now.” Tyler left the room.

He confused her. She went ahead and put a few of her things in the dresser. The long skirts she loved wearing were wrinkled from being jam-packed. Shaking them out, she took them to the closet and hung them on the faded pink silk hangers.

Tyler returned, this time with a stack of blankets and sheets and a smile. “Here you go. I’ll take the purple monster to the laundry room.”

Karly went to one of her boxes and dug out a spiral notebook and her green pen.

Lists—she liked making lists, organizing the things she had to do, learn and schedule.

She also needed to make a plan in case the worst happened and she lost this job. She’d been afraid of that earlier, when Tyler said they’d needed to talk. Pray for the best but prepare for the worst. So far the worst seemed to follow her around, but it was time for a change.

Eyes closed, she took a deep breath and centered herself with God. He put her here. He would give her the tools she needed to make this work.

* * *

In the laundry room, Tyler started the washing machine and stuffed the old comforter into the hot water. He rubbed the palms of his hands deep into his eye sockets. How did someone not have any family? There had been days when he thought life would be easier without one. But if he truly thought about it, he wouldn’t know who he was without his parents and sister.

He hoped taking Carol’s things out of her room wouldn’t upset his dad. Why did he want to act as if she would be coming back? The muscles around his chest tightened.

Running both of his hands through his hair, he filled his lungs and let the air out with a harsh sigh. He walked back through his mother’s kitchen to his sister’s room.

His dad was so stubborn. The whole house looked exactly the same as the day his mom died. Dub Childress was a stubborn fool, but he always got what he wanted. He always won.

Well, Dad, you can’t beat death. Mom and Carol are gone and they aren’t coming back.

He walked right past Carol’s room, his old room, and straight to his dad’s. Stepping through the door, he leaned his weight against the door frame. The hard, breathing bump in the hospital bed was his dad. They had a chance to get this right. Tyler wasn’t going anywhere until he knew his dad would be walking, talking and laughing again.

His family had been hit hard; first they’d lost his mom, then Carol. When was the last time he’d heard his dad’s laugh?

The ranch was too much for him alone. He had to convince the old man to retire, maybe even sell the place. First, he had to make sure his dad had the care he needed.

He walked over to the edge of the practical steel-framed bed and noticed his father had kicked one foot out from under the covers. He had always hated being completely covered, insisting he needed air.

Tyler shook his head. The edge of the bed gave under his weight as he sat next to his dad. He thought of all the nights his dad had tucked him in after saying their nightly prayers. With his left hand he reached for his father’s shoulder. He didn’t remember the last time he even tried to talk to God. “God, Dub has been a faithful servant to You. He did the best he could with a son that wouldn’t listen. Give me a chance to make this right. Amen.” He leaned over and kissed the side of his father’s forehead. “I’m here, Dad. Together we will get through this and you’ll be as good as old.”

With a nod to his sleeping father, he turned and made his way to the other problem he had to figure out. Karly and Bryce.