Chapter 11
Jenny pulled into her driveway, got out of the car and trudged to the front door. She’d overslept that morning and had to drive herself to the university, after being up late talking with her mother. She’d finally told her about Andy, her behavior, and her confusion over both. She then mulled over what her mother had said for several hours afterward, mainly the parts about risking one’s heart and dealing with the fear of loss. Jenny had never been in a serious relationship before. This was all new territory.
But Mom had also pointed out that sometimes things happen through no fault of anyone, and you had to go with the flow and laugh at yourself. Well, she was starting to get the hang of that part, at least.
She stopped short, the thought lost as she stared at her doorstep. A single yellow rose lay on her doormat, with a note attached, atop a small book. She bent down and picked it up. The Language of Flowers. The note said: “For your reading pleasure.” Nothing more, not even a signature. But then, it really didn’t need one.
Jenny glanced at the lattice separating her side of the porch from Andy’s, then opened the book and looked up the meaning for a yellow rose. “Joy and friendship,” she read, and glanced next door again. “Vague.” Did it mean he just wanted to be friends? Or was there something more to it? And why tell her through a book instead of on the phone or in person?
Frustrated, she unlocked her door and went inside. She tossed the book on the kitchen counter, went to a cupboard and found a tall glass to use as a vase. She filled it with water, clipped off part of the rose’s stem so it would fit, set it in the glass and the glass on the dining table. After she stared at it for a moment, she sighed. He was being kind, really, not to mention creative in telling her how he felt. At least he wanted to be her friend. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to his actions.
Glancing at the book, she wondered idly which flower meant “could you please elaborate?” If it grew around here, she could tack it to his door. She smiled and shook her head. She’d already said she’d call him after classes – she could find out then. At the moment, she could stop worrying and go check on her rooster.
The sun was out again, and Jenny opened the door to the chicken coop so Sir Lancelot could wander the yard at his leisure. She had homework, and she was hungry. She went back inside, made herself a sandwich and, after eating it, gathered her books and a chair and returned to the backyard.
Immediately she noticed something was wrong. She glanced around, unsure of what, then realized Sir Lancelot was nowhere to be seen. “Oh no!” She set her books down and ran into the yard, calling “here, chick-chick-chick-chick,” called in a high-pitched voice. She had to try something.
No sign of the bird. “Great – I’ve lost my rooster!” She glanced at the fence, but there were no holes – could he have flown over it? She raced through the house and out the front door. Andy’s backyard was on one side of her, a heavily treed lot on the other. She certainly hoped Sir Lancelot didn’t head for the lot – he could be anywhere in there. At least if he hopped over the fence into Andy’s yard, he might hang out for a while.
She ran down her front walk to the street, and thankfully saw nothing that would indicate he’d been caught by a neighborhood cat. She peeked into the tall cedars that bordered this side. “Here, chick-chick-chick-chick …” Still no response.
She spent another fifteen minutes scouring the area to make sure, then went back inside and moved her chair from the patio to the fence near the coop. Standing on it, she peeked over into Andy’s backyard … and sure enough, there he was, near a small tool shed. She should have looked there to begin with. “Sir Lancelot, what are you doing over there? You get back over this fence right now!”
Sir Lancelot pecked at the ground a few times, then wandered around the shed and out of sight.
“Ohhhh, you darn bird!” But what could she do? If she managed to get over the fence, catch Sir Lancelot and toss him back into her own yard, how would she get back? She didn’t see anything she could use to help her climb back over. There was nothing to stand on. She’d have to wait until Andy got home, all the while hoping her rooster didn’t hop the fence on the other side of his yard and head into the woods.
Well, she was already planning to call Andy – might as well be now. She went inside, grabbed her purse from the kitchen counter and pulled out her cell phone. She looked the number up for Pages of Romance and entered it.
“Pages of Romance, this is Andy. How can I help you?”
“Sir Lancelot is in your backyard.”
There was a pause, then what sounded like him clearing his throat. Then the laughing started. “He’s what?”
She had to admit, it was kind of funny. “In your backyard. The birdbrain decided to hop the fence.”
More laughter. “Sit tight. I’ll be right there.”
“No, wait, you don’t have to –” But he’d already hung up. Jenny shrugged, knowing it would take him about ten minutes to get there. She glanced at the yellow rose on her kitchen table and smiled. Well, if all he wanted was her friendship, she didn’t have to worry about making a fool of herself in front of him anymore. But she still hoped for more.
She went back outside, peeked over the fence and cringed. There was no sign of Sir Lancelot anywhere. Good grief, what if he flew over the fence on the other side of the yard? It was a tree-filled lot on that side too, and she hoped her silly rooster didn’t get lost in the woods. She went into the trees, searching, but found nothing.
By the time she re-emerged, Andy was pulling into his driveway. “What are you doing?” he asked as he got out of the car.
“I think he might have flown over the fence and into those trees, but I can’t find him.”
“No, he’s in my backyard.”
“I looked over the fence and can’t see him anywhere,” she argued, then thought again – and smacked her forehead with her hand. “He might be behind your tool shed. I saw him go back there.”
“You might be right. Let’s go check.” They went up the walk to his front door.
Jenny waited for him to unlock it, suddenly curious what his place looked like. She found out as soon as they went in – it looked like an extension of the bookstore. Jenny smiled. “Wow.”
He glanced around. “Well, I guess you could say I don’t have everything on the shelves at the shop.” He headed for the sliding glass door in the kitchen. “C’mon, let’s see if we can find your rooster.”
Outside, he went straight to the shed, walked behind it – and sure enough, there was Sir Lancelot. “I can’t believe he’s still back here,” she said from behind him.
“I can.”
Her eyebrows shot to the sky. “Why?”
Andy walked around to the front of the shed and opened it. Inside was a huge tortoise. “Jenny, meet Merlin.”
“Oh my gosh, look at the size of him!”
“And he’s not even half grown – probably about eighty pounds now.”
Sir Lancelot walked into the shed and straight to Merlin. Andy had turned the shed into a home of sorts for the tortoise, complete with lights for heat, an enclosure, a sandbox of sorts, along with his food and water.
“I have him in here only temporarily,” Andy continued. “I’m either going to turn this into his permanent home and build him an outdoor enclosure, or let him have the run of the yard. But with the winter coming on I definitely need to get him situated either way.”
“And you’d told me they were best friends,” Jenny recalled. “How did you end up with him?”
“There weren’t any other takers. Besides, I’ve always wanted a turtle.”
“That’s a lot of turtle,” she said as Merlin peered up at her. Sir Lancelot pecked at the area near the big tortoise, perfectly at home. “Speaking of friends … I found something on my doorstep when I got home.”
“Really?”
She arched an eyebrow. “Yes.”
He stared at her. “So are you going to tell me what it was or make me guess?”
“You know what it was.”
“Do I?”
She suddenly looked at him in shock. What if he hadn’t left the rose and the book? Did she have a secret admirer? Her mind quickly began to tick off possible suspects from school.
Andy bent over to pet Merlin. Sir Lancelot scooted out of his way but didn’t go far. “I think your rooster should be able to visit his friend as often as he likes.”
“Fine,” she mumbled, her mind still racing. She came up with no other prospects likely to leave a flower on her doorstep. It had to be Andy. At this point she hoped it was him – better a man she knew declaring friendship for her than an unknown stalker …
“Everything okay?”
She looked at him. “Sure, sure, no problem.”
He smiled. “So what are you doing later? Want to help me with Merlin’s lodgings?”
She smiled back. “Sure, why not?”
“Okay. I’ll have Alice close up the store for me so I can get home early. For now, I’d better be getting back.”
“Thanks for coming home to check on Sir Lancelot.”
He watched the rooster peck a few times at Merlin’s shell and laughed. “I figured he’d sense Merlin was nearby and come for a visit. I just didn’t think it’d be this soon.”
“He about gave me a heart attack,” she said.
He studied her a moment. “I know the feeling.” They stood there and stared at each other for a moment. Andy took a step toward her, closing the distance between them.
Jenny gazed into his eyes, her brain and heart in confusion. What was he doing? Didn’t he just want to be friends? Wait, maybe he wasn’t the one to leave the rose on her doorstep … or he had, but she’d misunderstood … oh dear, was he going to …?
Andy gently brushed his lips across hers, took a shuddering breath and stepped back. “I have to … get back to work.”
Jenny stood and stared blankly at him. She hadn’t been expecting that at all. The kiss was so gentle, yet so … monumental. And what did it say about “joy and friendship”? Maybe that it meant more than just being friends?
“C’mon, we need to go. They’ll be fine until I get home.”
It took a moment for his words to register. “Oh yeah.”
He took her by the hand and led her out of the shed. “I’m not going to close the door all the way, so your rooster can go home if he wants. It’s not super cold out – Merlin should be fine.”
She nodded again, then glanced at their hands.
“How about I make dinner tonight?”
She swallowed, looked at him, swallowed again. “Okay.”
He smiled. “Okay.” And he led her back across his yard, through the house and to her front door.