Twist of Fate (A Holiday Romance Novella) (9 page)

Ty liked looking at the world through her eyes.

He got out of the car and caught up to his mom. “Hey, question for you,” Ty said as he held the door open for her. “If you were asked to talk to a bunch of third graders about computer programming, how would you go about it?”

WHEN TY WALKED into his apartment, smells of cinnamon and ginger immediately brought back memories of decorating gingerbread houses as a child. His mouth watered. No one could make gingerbread like his mom.

Square and rectangular gingerbread pieces on wax paper covered his table—enough to make one very large house. She’d even cut out windows, filling it with melted jolly ranchers to make it look like stained glass—exactly like she used to do when he was younger.

“Wow, Mom. You’ve been busy.”

She looked up from the bowl of frosting she was whisking. “I couldn’t leave without decorating gingerbread houses with you. Oh, and I invited Kenzie. I hope that’s okay.”

As if on cue, Ty’s cell buzzed with a text.

Tell your mom I’m so sorry, but I can’t make it tonight either.

His heart sank. Would this be how it was from now on? Her constantly avoiding him? Probably. All because of him and his stupid inability to take things slow. Ty held out his phone so his mom could read the message.

She squinted at the screen and put on a pair of reading glasses that hung from around her neck. She squinted again, shaking her head. “Kenzie works too hard. Doesn’t she know when to quit and have some fun?”

Ty eyed his mother. He’d seen that look before—every time his dad had called saying he needed to stay a little late. Ty bit back a smile. “I completely agree. She does work too hard. Sometimes I worry she’s stressing herself out way too much.”

“And at Christmas time, too,” his mother added with a sigh.

Ty nodded. “Her favorite holiday.”

His mother set down the bowl with a clang. “This won’t do at all.” She brushed past him, and walked out of the apartment. Once the door shut behind her, a slow smile made its way to Ty’s face. He dipped his finger in the frosting and brought it to his mouth, licking it clean. Who knew his mom’s opinionated nature would someday work in his favor?

Ty picked up the bowl and whisk and went to work on the frosting. Ten minutes later, the door opened and his mother breezed back in with Kenzie in tow. She looked nervous and hesitant—ready to bolt. Ty mustered an impassive expression.

“My mom thinks you work too hard,” he said.

“So she said.”

His mother nodded. “I convinced her to take a break.”

Ty’s lips twitched as he glanced at Kenzie. “So I noticed. Don’t worry, Kenz, she only does it because she cares. Right, Mom?”

“That’s right. I’m glad to see you’re finally beginning to understand.”

Huh. Not exactly the point he was trying to make. Ty frowned, while the corners of Kenzie’s mouth tugged up. He suddenly felt like they were on a teeter-totter with his mom doing the pushing. Up, Ty, down, Kenzie. Then up Kenzie, down Ty.

But Kenzie was here, in his apartment—a place she obviously didn’t want to be.

Up, Ty.

It didn’t take long for Kenzie to warm up and get caught up in decorating his mother’s homemade gingerbread house. She ooh-ed and ah-ed over the stained, hard candy windows. Laughed at the story of Ty wanting to use candy corns and pumpkins as decorations one year. And used her artistic abilities to make the coolest gingerbread house ever. She lined the roof ridgeline with Hershey Kisses, rolled out gumdrops to make her own version of a wreath, and made a flagstone walkway out of broken candy wafers.

After she’d added the last frosting icicle to the roof, they all sat back and admired their efforts.

“That has to be the coolest gingerbread house ever,” said Ty. “I feel like we should put it on display in the foyer or something. Seems like such a waste to leave it here.”

His mother walked to the kitchen, pulling down mugs from the cupboard. “Kenzie, I know you only have a few days left of school, but would you like it for your classroom?”

“I was about to suggest the same thing, LouAnn,” Kenzie said. “The kids would love that.”

His mother beamed. “I was hoping you’d say that. I even made an extra batch of gingerbread cookies that I put in Ty’s freezer. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind dropping by Monday afternoon during his lunch break to bring both the house and the cookies for the kids.” She shrugged. “And if you twist his arm, he might even bring some of those computer games he works so hard to create. I’m sure the kids would get a kick of actually
playing
them.” She shot Ty a meaningful look.

Some of the apprehension from earlier reappeared on Kenzie’s face. “Oh, he doesn’t need to do that. I can take the cookies and the house.”

“I don’t mind,” said Ty.

She eyed him with a nervous expression. “Okay,” she finally said. “That would be great.”

At least she didn’t say no.

Ty glanced at his mom, not in the frustrating way he’d so often looked at her in the past, but in a grateful, how-did-you-do-that way. Not only had she managed to get Kenzie to spend the evening with them, she’d found a way for Ty to make up for his failure of a presentation.

Thank you, Mom.

In that moment, he realized something. In his mom’s mind, it wasn’t that she always had to be right. She sincerely believed that she knew what was best for Ty. And sometimes she did. Maybe if he tried to look beyond her controlling ways and discover what motivated them, he’d be able to understand her better. Maybe he’d even start to think of her as quirky instead of frustrating—the way Kenzie did.

As his mom worked to clean up the kitchen, Ty caught Kenzie watching him. She quickly looked away and stood to help his mom, but for a few seconds Ty saw something that went beyond like and friendship. He saw longing.

It made his night.

TY’S MOM WRAPPED her arms around him in a tight squeeze near the security section of the airport. “Don’t be a stranger now, you hear?”

“I won’t,” he promised, patting her back before letting go. “Thanks for coming, Mom. Believe it or not, I’m really glad that you did.”

She smiled, blinking quickly to hide the moisture pooling in her eyes. She reached to take her overnight bag from Ty. “I know you think I’m too opinionated for my own good, but whether you like it or not, I’m still going to leave you with one last piece of advice: Don’t let Kenzie slip away. She’s perfect for you.”

For once they agreed on something. “She’s engaged, Mom. The wedding is set for the end of January, which you already know.” Although they’d come a long way in the past week, Ty wasn’t about to tell her the truth about Kenzie’s fiancé—not when he couldn’t be sure she’d stay out of it.

Her lips pursed for a moment before she said, “Let me tell you something I learned when I started dating your father. I’m not sure I’ve ever told you this, but he had a girlfriend at the time. She was away at school, and he’d promised to wait. But then he met me.” She smiled. “At that point, I learned a valuable lesson: Here and now is better than there and then. You’re here. You’re now. And you’re so much better.”

Ty smiled. If only he could get Kenzie to believe that as well. “And what if she wants Brad to be the here and now? She did say yes, after all.”

His mom patted his cheek and gave him a knowing smile. “I’ve seen the way she looks at you. It’s you she wants—you can trust me on that.” She followed the pat up with a kiss on the cheek, and then headed for the security line.

Ty watched her go, wishing he could be as confident. But if Kenzie felt for him even a part of what he felt for her, she could never go through with that wedding. Yet the date was still set. The church still scheduled. The caterer still booked.

And the ring still on her finger.

“THEY WERE FUNNY things, those snowmen,” Kenzie read aloud to her class from one of her favorite picture books. “When it snowed, they grew. When the sun came out, they melted. And when the kids showed up to play, they smiled. For those were the moments that—”

“Look!” Treven’s voice called out. The rest of the class began talking, murmuring, and pointing fingers.

Kenzie followed the fingers to the door, where Ty stood, balancing their beautiful gingerbread house in one hand and a large plate of frosted gingerbread cookies in the other.

Her heart skipped a beat. Maybe even two.

“Who wants cookies?” Ty said to the kids.

They all squealed and jumped from their seats, rushing toward him. “Whoa.” Ty’s eyes widened as he quickly lifted both the house and the cookies above their heads.

Kenzie laughed and raised her voice. “Only those students who are sitting quietly in their seats will get a cookie.”

The throng buzzed back to their seats in seconds, staring at Ty expectantly.

“Impressive.” Ty walked to Kenzie and handed her the house, which she held up for her students to see.

“Isn’t this awesome?” she said.

The kids nodded and called out their approval.

“I think so, too. And because Mr. Ty’s such a nice guy, he’s going to let us display it in our classroom.” Her hand rose to quiet all the excited talking. “But, do we touch displays?”

“No,” they chorused.

“Do we break displays?”

“No.”

“Do we look at and admire displays?”

“Yes,” most of them said. Treven was on a roll with the “no’s.”

Kenzie set the house down. “That’s right. I’m going to put this over here for now, and then during our free time later, you may get a closer look. If you’re really good, then maybe tomorrow, before you leave for Winter break, I’ll let each of you pick a few pieces of candy to take with you. How does that sound?”

“Yay!” came the calls.

Kenzie smiled. “In the meantime, Ty also brought us some cookies. And do we eat cookies?”

“Yes,” came the shouts. Even Treven got it right this time.

Kenzie moved to help Ty pass out the cookies. His mom had outdone herself. There were gingerbread men, houses, Christmas trees, stars, and drums—all about the same size so that none looked bigger than another. Kenzie made a mental note to call LouAnn later and thank her.

“Do you guys remember when Mr. Ty came to our class to tell you about computer programming?” A couple of students responded with unenthusiastic “yes’s.” Kenzie held back a smile. “Well, today he asked if he could bring in a couple of those games so that you could play them. Would you like that?”

From the sounds of all the cheering, Ty had just made her students’ day.

He left the room and returned moments later carrying a large box with wires snaking out the top. In no time at all he had his laptop connected to the projector so everyone could watch the game. Then, one by one, he let each student come up and take a turn.

From her desk in the back, Kenzie studied the game. Although Ty had told her about some of the projects he’d worked on, she always pictured them to be like the free computer games on the internet with mediocre graphics and lower capabilities. She should have known better. What Ty had done amazed her. He’d camouflaged learning as fun by creating different skill levels that forced kids to use reasoning skills to unlock doors, piece together puzzles, and find hidden treasures—exactly the type of game she’d love her school to incorporate into their computer curriculum.