Walker Bride (15 page)

All Pearl could do was shake her head. Yes,
her mother’s taste in everything had always been exquisite.

As Pearl closed the door and locked it, she
noticed that Lydia’s car was gone. A small pain shot through her
chest. Tyson had to have dropped her off, yet neither of them
stopped to say hello—or goodbye.

It wasn’t worth getting upset about. She knew
how things were. It had only been a week of involvement with Tyson.
She couldn’t expect him to check in with her all the time. And
again, there came the disappointment with getting involved.

~*~

Tyson pulled up in front of the restaurant
cursing the fact that he’d even agreed to show up.

His mother should have told him she was
seeing someone. There were responsibilities when you had children.
It didn’t matter if she was nearly seventy years old. She should
have told him.

Tyson parked his truck and sat in its quiet
for a moment. He couldn’t blame his mother. Tyson had been a real
ass with his attitude about heading into town for years. There were
sometimes weeks, maybe even months, when he hadn’t even driven to
town. He was more comfortable wallowing in his solidarity in his
barn.

Then there was the fact that he too had his
own secret.

An open mind was needed when he walked into
that restaurant. His mother deserved her happiness. And he deserved
his.

It might be just the right opportunity to
mention that he was seeing Pearl. In fact, he’d been interested in
Pearl for a long time, so maybe it was a little more in depth than
interest
.

Just because his mother didn’t mix business
and personal feelings didn’t mean he couldn’t. It wasn’t as if he
was going to spend all day in their
wedding mecca
. In fact,
he didn’t even care if he ever got his money back for the
investment. He’d have given the money to Lydia no matter what.

He climbed out of his truck, and his step was
light as he walked toward the restaurant.

As he walked inside, he noticed Lydia right
away. She waved him toward the table where she sat with their
mother, and a man whom he could only assume was Les, the man his
mother was going to marry.

The last time he was nervous was the morning
he walked into Pearl’s store. The butterflies that were attacking
his stomach were nearly equal to the moment Pearl ran her hand over
his body while measuring him for the tux.

The man stood as he approached. That was a
good sign, he thought.

Tyson walked directly to his mother and
kissed her on the cheek.

“Oh, you’re right on time. I’m glad you
joined us,” she said as if he were given a choice.

Tyson kissed her on the cheek. “Of course,
I’m here.”

His mother reached for his hand and gave it a
squeeze. “Tyson, this is Les Watson, my fiancé.”

The man next to her held his hand out to
Tyson. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I have heard a lot about you,”
Les offered.

Tyson shook his hand. “Nice to meet you.” He
certainly couldn’t offer the same pleasantries as he’d only heard
of the man earlier that morning.

As he released Les’s hand, he pulled out the
chair situated between his mother and his sister. Before he took
his seat, he gave his sister a gentle squeeze on the shoulder.

Tyson ordered a beer and a steak then sat
back and listened to wedding banter. It seemed to be a theme in his
life right now.

A half hour later, he’d decided that he
enjoyed the man his mother had chosen. He wasn’t sure if that was
the man himself, or the look in his mother’s eyes when she looked
at him.

“I think I’ll stop into that little bridal
shop of Pearl Walker’s,” his mother said as she sipped her wine.
“Lydia speaks highly of her.”

His sister grinned. “She’s the best at what
she does,” she said. “Mom doesn’t want anything traditional. Pearl
has an excellent selection non-traditional. Just classy.”

Tyson only nodded.

His mother patted his hand. “I’m going to ask
Susan, Eric’s fiancé, to cater at the wedding.”

“I can’t see that you’ll be disappointed,” he
said.

“I know, this must bore you,” she smiled at
him.

“Are you buying my dinner?”

“Of course.”

“Then I can be humored,” he joked, and she
laughed. That made him happy. His mother deserved to smile and
laugh.

~*~

Donald was an expert at many things and
picking out fine wine, and excellent restaurants were one of them.
He’d asked for a booth with good lighting and in a corner so they
could work. Pearl was fairly sure he just wanted to scope out the
restaurant, but all she cared about was the plans he’d drawn up for
the store.

He set his drawings in the middle of the
table.

“You will have so much light,” he said as he
raised his hands in the air. You’ll have two
banks
of
windows. Not just one big one. Natural light is going to be an
amazing addition to what you can offer.”

“It looks like there is one less dressing
room.”

“There is. Personal touch, sweetheart. Do you
need four dressing rooms? Work with three and then it won’t seem so
crowded. I like what you have in your store now. The little sitting
area. Grow on that, honey.”

She liked it. “What is this corner?” she
asked as she pointed to the area he’d put a crown on and added
glitter.

The smile on his face could have lit the room
when she’d asked. Donald scooted out of his seat and around to her
side. He draped his arm over her shoulders and put his head against
hers. “Darling, that’s the tiara corner.”

“Tiara corner?”

“Okay, the veil section, but, honey, you need
more tiaras. Every girl wants one.”

The man was an adorable genius, she thought
as she pressed her hands to his cheeks and kissed him quickly on
the lips.

Donald flipped the page of his sketchbook and
pointed out his design for each dressing room.

“Pearl, what are you doing here? I never saw
you walk in.”

Pearl looked up and saw Lydia standing at the
table.

“We’re going over the drawings for my new
store. This is Donald Jefferson, my interior decorator.”

Lydia held out her hand to shake his. “Nice
to meet you. Lydia Morgan. Pearl’s business partner.”

“The building is magnificent,” Donald beamed.
“Sit. You have to see what I’ve done.”

Lydia smiled and took the seat where Donald
had originally occupied.

Pearl took a moment to look around. “Who were
you here with?”

“My mom and her fiancé.”

“Your mom is getting married?”

Lydia nodded. “Tyson had never met Les. So it
was time.”

Pearl felt the blood drain from her head.
“Tyson was here with you?”

“Yeah. He just left.” She shook her head.
“He’s such an ass sometimes. He’s more like my grandfather than I
think he’d like to admit. One minute we’re having a nice meal and
then once the check was paid, he all but bolted out of here.”

Pearl clenched her hands under the table. Had
he seen them and he didn’t stop? She grit her teeth. She hated
drama in relationships—if that’s what it was. Why didn’t he talk to
her? Then she looked at Lydia, who was listening to Donald speak of
the store.

They had to tell her. They couldn’t go on
like this anymore. It wasn’t fair to any of them. Really, would
Lydia make that big of a deal about it?

She sat back in the booth. Maybe right now
wasn’t the time. It would be better to be established in her store
before she got into her first big fight with her partner.

However, she did need to talk to Tyson. If he
did see her, why didn’t he stop and say hello?

The moment Tyson hit the county road, his
foot pressed down on the gas.

What in the hell had he thought was going
on?

One minute he’s having a meal with his family
and the next he’s watching the woman he’d just slept with kissing
some other man.

He wasn’t going to have it. That was that.
Pearl Walker had a reputation and damn it if he didn’t walk right
into his own heartbreak.

He slammed the heel of his hand against the
steering wheel. What had he been thinking? He knew what she was
like. He knew her reputation.

She was all business on the outside, but she
was a Walker—Byron Walker’s daughter. That alone should have had
him running from day one. No, he took her out for drinks. He let
her feel him up while she measured him. He kept showing up at her
doorstep.

Tyson knew he was the idiot. He’d gotten to
that age where he shouldn’t even give a crap about wanting someone
in his life. Damn it, he was there. He’d been there for years.

Women were just trouble. And now, here he
was, thinking more about a woman than he should have. He’d gotten
involved, and it pissed him off that he’d even thought there was
more to it than there was.

He’d had moments in the past week where he
missed her. It had ached—he’d missed her so much when he wasn’t
with her.

Hadn’t he even told his mother, he’d been
thinking of moving to town? That was all because of Pearl.

She’d brought out things in him he thought
were long dead. Feelings had been resurrected—and now stomped on.
When he had her wrapped in his arms, and she gently smoothed her
fingertips over his skin, there had been a moment where he thought
he could have stayed there the rest of his life. He hadn’t wanted
to leave. He’d have married her at that moment if he’d thought to
ask.

Tyson’s truck tossed him in his seat as he
flew over the first cattle grid. It was then he reminded himself to
slow the hell down. What good was it going to do to kill himself on
a dirt road? No woman was worth that.

It shouldn’t be a big deal. So, he had a
fling with his brother’s cousin—his sister’s business partner—his
business partner. It happened.

They were both adults. No need to get all
bent over what he’d seen or what she’d done.

They’d had a few hot times. They’d had a few
sweet times too.

Sure they’d cross paths for the rest of their
lives, but who didn’t have at least one awkward moment during
family events?

His foot lifted from the gas pedal more, and
his breathing began to calm. Maybe it was time to think about
taking a date to Eric’s wedding.

The house was dark, as usual, when Tyson
pulled up to it. He’d grown up in that house, but it certainly
didn’t feel like home. He wasn’t sure it ever had.

He rubbed his eyes and ran his hand over his
unshaven chin.

Tonight he’d begin to make changes, he
thought. He’d worked to have the perfect setup in the barn, and
that might as well be his home from now on.

He drove past the big house and out to the
barn wondering if his grandfather would even notice that he hadn’t
returned to the house. How many days would it take him?

The barn was dark too, but it didn’t seem
cold as he pulled up in front of it.

Tyson parked his truck and climbed out.
Walking toward the door, he pushed it open. That felt like
home.

He flicked on the light switch and suddenly
he swore he could smell her. He winced. Of course, he could. They’d
been intimate in nearly every corner of the room. It should be a
good memory, and he was going to store it in his brain as such.
There wasn’t any reason to dwell on it.

Throwing his keys on the table, he kicked off
his boots and then fell onto the couch. Pulling his cell phone from
his pocket, he turned it off. No need to be disturbed for the rest
of the night. He didn’t want to think again until the sun came up
the next morning.

~*~

Donald loved to talk. He was full of ideas
for everything, and he’d engaged Lydia in a deep conversation about
the building.

They had sat at the restaurant for nearly
three hours discussing new plans. He had a few ideas for the garden
room as well.

But somewhere, mid-presentation, Pearl just
wanted to go home.

Checking her phone every five minutes wasn’t
helping her anxiety either. She wanted to talk to Tyson, but it was
nearly ten o’clock, and he hadn’t called or texted. Maybe he just
went home.

As they were wrapping it up, she excused
herself to the bathroom and texted him. If she didn’t have to be at
work in the morning and didn’t have a fitting at nine o’clock,
she’d drive out to his place.

That too, was a bad idea. Lydia would
certainly know what was going on if she followed her all the way
out of town.

She’d just wait for his call.

~*~

The morning had attached itself to the night
before. Pearl hadn’t slept at all, and as she passed in front of
the trifold mirror, she realized it showed.

She smiled at the mother of the bride that
sat on the small sofa drinking a cup of coffee. Her professionalism
wasn’t about to be displaced by the bags under her eyes.

When the bride came out of the dressing room,
Pearl saw the tears well up in the mother’s eyes.

“Oh, honey, you look beautiful,” the mother
cried.

“I like this one, Mom. It’s like yours.
Look.” The woman in the dress showed her mother an intricate piece
of lace embedded in the dress and that had sent the woman into a
full cry.

Pearl gracefully picked up the box of tissues
and handed them to her.

“Thank you. Oh, to see your daughter get
married…” she dabbed at her eyes. “This must be old hat to you, to
see such beautiful women each day.”

Pearl smiled. “It’s what I love about my
job.”

And she did, but every once in awhile a
mother, much like the one to her side, got under her skin.

It wasn’t that the woman was now a babbling
mess, it was that hers wouldn’t be. Oh, her mother would have
opinions on what she should look like, sure, but she wouldn’t be
emotional in the least.