Page 21 of A New Chapter in Rosewood Beach (Rosewood Beach #7)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Dean grinned at his mother as she tapped her fingers against her mouth. She was reading the instructions for putting together the diaper changing station in Alexis and Grayson’s baby nursery.

“Confusing?” he asked her.

She looked up and smiled. “Oh, it’s not too bad. I’m sure your clever brain won’t have any trouble with it. But I’m just a little distracted right now. Here.” She handed him the instruction papers.

Dean sat down in the rocking chair that was tucked into a corner of the room and began to peruse the instructions.

He loved putting things together—it was like constructing a giant puzzle.

“This isn’t too bad,” he told her cheerfully.

“I’ll just let you know what I need help with.

You can hold pieces up or hand me tools, things like that. ”

“Sounds good.” She smiled. “Thanks for asking me to help you, Dean.”

He laughed. “I should be thanking you for agreeing to help me. I didn’t want to ask my pregnant sister to do it. I’m of the opinion that all she should be doing these days is eating and sleeping and being comfy.”

Vivian chuckled. “I think she probably agrees with you. But I mean it. I’m excited to do this with you, Dean. I love being involved in getting ready for the baby, and I like that we’re doing a project together, just the two of us. We haven’t done anything like that in a long time.”

“You’re right.” He was reminded of summer evenings when he was a kid, when his mother or his father would help him put together some elaborate 3D puzzle or help him repair something that was tricky to fix.

“I’ve always loved doing projects with you, Mom.

We should start doing more projects together again. ”

“We should. This is a good place to start.” She laughed, but he noticed that she seemed a little distant, almost sad. She’d said that she was distracted, and he wondered why.

“How is tennis going?” he asked her as he stood up and started arranging the various parts of the changing table on the floor. “Are you still having a great time with it?”

“Oh yes.” She nodded, and her eyes took on a faraway look. He again got the impression that she was a little sad about something. “Hazel and I were just playing again earlier today—and then I stayed behind and practiced my serves for a while.”

“You sound dedicated. Tennis always looked so tiring to me.”

Her eyebrows lifted in concern. “Is this too much for you, after a long day of work?” She gestured to all of the pieces of the changing table spread out across the floor. “If you’re too tired, I’m sure we can do it another day. It’s not like the baby is due tomorrow.”

“No, I’m fine,” he assured her. “Thanks for thinking of me, Mom, but I’m doing great. You don’t need to be concerned about me—having Jeff working at the shop has been a huge help.”

“That’s great, sweetie. And I’m glad you seem more accepting of your situation. There were a few times when we told you that you needed to slow down and you got a little snappish,” she said gently.

“You’re right.” He shook his head. “I didn’t like that side of me—my condition brought it out at times. It was hard to feel so bad physically and so overwhelmed mentally at the same time, and I didn’t always react the way that I should have.”

“It’s okay, Dean. We knew you were going through a lot.”

“I know, and I’m grateful that none of you gave up on looking out for me, even when I didn’t have the best attitude about your care.

Between you guys and Noelle, I’ve come to realize that having people close to me that I can lean on is a gift.

I never would have recognized it so fully without my diagnosis.

It’s another silver lining of this whole thing. ”

He shared a smile with his mother, and then her expression became deeply thoughtful. He went back to his work for a few moments to give her time to think, and then he asked her what was on her mind.

“Well,” she said slowly, going to sit in the rocking chair, “what you said got me thinking. I thought that I would never find another man to depend on after I lost Frank. And it turns out that Frank wasn’t even all that dependable after all, unfortunately.

I was relying on an unreliable man for all those years and I didn’t even know it.

But what you said about your perspective changing, and silver linings—well, it makes me think of my situation. ”

Dean watched her face carefully, wondering what she was going to say next. What she’d said about finding another man to depend on intrigued him. Could it be that she’d found someone that she was interested in romantically?

His mind jumped immediately to Terrence.

For months now, the Owens siblings had been hoping that there was a spark forming between the good-natured health inspector and their mother.

They liked to discuss it amongst themselves a lot, but every time they brought it up to Vivian, she brushed it off, saying that she and Terrence were simply good friends.

He had to hold back a smile as he thought about it. Although the thought of his mother becoming romantically interested in someone other than his father was a strange one, he wanted her to be happy. He also liked Terrence a great deal, and he had a lot of respect for the older man.

“What’s your situation, Mom?” he prompted finally.

She coughed gently. “I have found myself… well, after how kind he’s been to me, I’ve started to open my heart to… to potentially allowing Terrence to be on my radar. Um, romantically.”

Dean let out a whoop and grinned from ear to ear. Vivian blinked at him, startled by his reaction.

“Dean, what is it?”

“I think Terrence is great, Mom. I’m really happy for you.”

“Oh no.” She shook her head, her cheeks flushing. “It’s not like that—I just mean that it’s something I’ve been thinking about. As a matter of fact, we talked about it earlier today, and he seems to have rejected me.”

Dean frowned, surprised. “He said he just wants to be friends?”

“Well, what he said exactly was that he needs to get back to me about what he’s thinking. He needs to ‘digest’ what I told him. But he wasn’t smiling or anything when I said it, so I think he’s just trying to come up with a way to let me down more easily.”

“Oh, no, Mom,” Dean said, standing up and putting an arm around his mother.

“That wasn’t a rejection. Maybe he’s surprised or he just doesn’t know what to say yet.

A friendship turning into a romance is a big deal.

I felt that way with Noelle even though we hadn’t known each other very long before our friendship turned into a romantic relationship.

You and Terrence have been friends for much longer than Noelle and I were just friends.

I’m sure he’s got a lot of thoughts and feelings about it—he probably has a lot of thoughts and feelings about being in a romantic relationship in general.

It can be a scary thing for anyone, no matter how much they like another person. ”

Vivian blinked at him and pressed her lips together. Dean got the impression that she liked what he was telling her but she was struggling to believe him.

“I’m not saying that Terrence is definitely going to say yes,” he told her. “But I also feel confident that he isn’t definitely going to say no. I think there’s been a spark on his end longer than there’s been one on your end. All us kids saw it.”

Vivian blushed and waved her hand through the air, dismissing the idea, and Dean laughed.

“Terrence gave you space and time while you worked through your grief over Dad,” Dean told her.

“I think he would have made a move himself sooner, but he knew you weren’t ready.

And now, you need to give him that same space and time.

Just because he doesn’t have an answer yet doesn’t mean it isn’t going to work out. ”

Vivian smiled at him, shaking her head a little. “When did you get so wise? Thank you for saying all that, Dean. It really helps me out.”

“You’re welcome, Mom. After all the good advice you’ve given to me over the years, I feel like I owe you.”

She laughed. “I raised a great son, huh?”

He chuckled, feeling a surge of gratitude for his family. “I’m only too happy to agree with that.” He winked at her.

“Come on then,” she said, gesturing to the pieces of the changing table. “Let’s stop worrying about my troubles and get to work on this.”

They got to work putting the changing station together.

Dean moved quickly, asking Vivian for the parts he needed as he worked.

Although putting furniture together wasn’t something that he did every day, he’d done it many times before, and his mechanically-inclined brain allowed him to work at the speed of a professional.

“How is it going—oh!” Alexis appeared in the doorway, wearing a comfortable sweatshirt and sweatpants, with her hair pulled back into a messy bun. Her eyes widened when she saw their progress with the changing station. “That looks fantastic! I can’t believe you’ve gotten this far already.”

Dean grinned. “Just a few more minutes and we should be all done. And we even had a conversation during which we weren’t working at all. How’s that for speed?”

“Very impressive.” Alexis grinned back. “But don’t get too excited about your skills and start putting the crib together. That’s Grayson’s job. He told me he really wants to do it.”

“Aw, I can understand that,” Vivian said.

Dean held his hands up. “I wouldn’t dream of taking that task from him. I will keep my hands off the crib.”

Just as he was beginning to notice a wonderful smell wafting in from the kitchen, Alexis said, “Would you two like some fresh blueberry muffins for your effort? They should be done in about five minutes.”

“Yes!” Dean agreed without hesitation. “I love blueberry muffins.”

“That sounds wonderful, thank you, dear.” Vivian smiled. “We’ll just finish this up and we’ll be right out.”

“Perfect, I’ll make us some decaf coffee to go with the muffins. See you both in the kitchen.”

With a cheerful wave, Alexis disappeared from the room.

“Well, that will be nice,” Vivian said, turning back to their task with a smile.

“It will.” Dean watched his mother’s face, and he noticed that after a few beats, her expression became thoughtful again. She didn’t look as sad as she had before, however, and he was glad that what he’d said to her had helped cheer her up.

I hope that things do work out between her and Terrence, he thought as he went back to work on the changing table. He’s such a nice guy, and Mom definitely deserves that kind of happiness.

He knew that only time would tell. He was looking forward to finding out what the update on Terrence’s response to Vivian would be.