Secrets of the Tulip Sisters

“No. Sorry.”

“It’s okay. We’ll figure it out.” Penny handed over the deposit check. “You’ll let us know when you start construction so we can drive up and see the house?”

“Absolutely.”

“Thanks.”

The young couple left. Griffith walked back to his office. The Kerrs weren’t the first clients to want help with their tiny home. While some clients had a clear and detailed vision, more often than not, they expected direction from him. A problem that wasn’t going to be solved today, he told himself.

He’d barely settled in his chair when Ryan burst into the room. His brother waved a piece of paper as he stalked over to the desk.

“What’s this?” he asked. “Do you think it’s funny? You’re an asshole, Griffith. I can’t believe you did this to me.”

Griffith leaned back in his chair. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“My paycheck. Where’s the rest of it?”

So Leo had taken him at his word, Griffith thought. Good. Ryan needed to learn a lesson.

Griffith stood and faced his brother. “You were paid the hours you worked. Simply being in the building isn’t enough. You take ninety-minute lunches and show up late. When you do work, it’s half-assed most of the time. If you weren’t my brother, I would have fired you already. Consider this a warning.”

Ryan glared at him. “You can’t do that.”

“I can and I will. You’ve always had it easy. Grades, girls, baseball, but you never learned consequences. The lesson is coming late, but I’m hoping you’ll figure it out.”

Ryan took a step forward. “You’re a sanctimonious bastard. I know what this is about. You’re jealous. You’ve always been jealous. I had everything and you had nothing. You’re just some guy. I was the star. You can’t let that go, so you’re punishing me.”

His sympathy faded in the face of his brother’s inability to take responsibility for his decisions. While his shoulder blowing out hadn’t been Ryan’s fault, everything after had been of his own making.

“Whatever story you have to tell yourself to make it through the night, kid.” He pointed to the door. “You see that out there? It’s a successful business. My business. I started it from nothing. I have a good life, Ryan. I get you’re still dealing with what you lost, but it’s time to suck it up and move on. Baseball is over. That’s unfortunate but you can still be—”

“Fuck you,” Ryan screamed. “I hate this crap town and this job and you and everything. I’m not supposed to be here. I’m not supposed to be like everyone else.”

“Too late. You are. Now figure it out. You want to get paid, you need to work. If you don’t, then quit. Whatever you decide, spend some time thinking about your next act.”

“Go to hell.”

Ryan turned and left. Griffith noticed his brother was careful to take his paycheck with him.

He settled back in his chair and wondered which way things were going to go. Ryan could either get it and move on, or he could spend the rest of his life being a has-been. There was no way to know. The irony was Griffith was just as guilty as his brother, only his weakness didn’t show.

Ryan had lost his baseball dream and couldn’t cope. Griffith had failed at marriage and decided to turn his back on the institution. If he couldn’t be good at it, he wasn’t going to try again. Having found Kelly, he didn’t have to. He could have it all—or at least as much as he could handle. He supposed that made him lucky.

But even as he had the thought a part of him wondered if instead he was being lulled into a false sense of security. If fate was somehow simply waiting for him to get complacent before jumping up and biting him in the butt. Only time would tell.

*

By ten the next morning, Helen knew that Jeff wasn’t going to be coming into the diner. Actually she’d known at five forty-five that morning, but had kept hoping that someone would burst in and say that the roads had all washed out and he couldn’t get to the café, or that he’d been beamed up by aliens, but had left her a lovely note. Instead there was only the usual morning rush that kept her running and a growing sense of dread in her stomach.

Once the regular post-breakfast, pre-lunch lull started, she slipped out back and sat on the rear steps in the watery sunlight. She honestly didn’t know what to do or what to think. She’d told him what she wanted and he’d disappeared.

They lived in a small town—there was no way to avoid him. Did he pity her? Would he not want to be friends? What about their singing and their mornings together? She didn’t know if everything was lost or what was going to happen next.

“I shouldn’t have said anything,” she whispered.

What if he started telling people what had happened? What if everyone knew and then laughed and pointed? While she wanted to believe he would never be cruel, she was scared and hurt and—

“No regrets,” she whispered. It wasn’t wrong of her to like someone, to tell him. She’d been honest and polite. He might not share her feelings, but she wasn’t a bad person for what she’d suggested.

She wrapped her arms around her midsection, as if to hold in all the emotions swirling inside of her. She breathed in and out to the count of ten, then rose and walked back into the cafe. Whatever was going on in her personal life, people would be expecting lunch. The world kept turning and there was absolutely no way for her to step off.





16

Olivia spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to figure out what to wear. She wanted to look pretty without being overdressed. Plus, it was Tulpen Crossing—not exactly the fashion capital of anywhere.

She settled on white crop pants, a lightweight boatneck sweater layered over a matching tank, and flats. Her makeup was natural, her hair wavy. She grabbed a straw clutch, then walked down the hall and found her father sitting in the kitchen, a magazine open in front of him. In that split second before he noticed her, Olivia would have sworn he was incredibly sad. But before she could say anything, he looked up, saw her and smiled.

“You look nice. Going out?”

She grinned. “I am. I’m meeting Eliza. She and I went to high school together.”

“I’m glad you’re hanging out with your friends again.”

She didn’t correct him. She knew he assumed she’d been with friends that first night, because she’d said what she was doing. She was also lying about her mother and her job and seriously, she needed to come clean at some point. Just not today.

“I won’t be late,” she called as she walked to the back door.

“Have fun.”

Eliza was waiting for Olivia when she got to Tulip Burger. They got a booth by the window and sat across from each other.

Eliza wrinkled her nose. “You look really nice. Ignore the cat hair all over me. I was leaving work when there was an escape from the boarding area. I had to help with the roundup.”