CHAPTER 18
Hooked on a Feeling
Things were perfect with Ty after my research had corroborated his claims that angelic history had been unfairly rewritten, thereby assuaging my fears of entangling my life with a demon's. And he, having shared his secret, seemed lighter somehow; the shroud of mystery that had surrounded him had been lifted. The uneasy feeling I had had about him since we met was gone, although the ambiguous nightly dreams were not. The only thing causing a small rift in our relationship now was my impending employment at the nursery. I learned quickly not to bring it up, as it only caused him to become broody.
I had been anxiously anticipating Saturday. Perhaps it was this anticipation that caused me to dream of Michael Friday night. In place of the dark dreams in which Ty was featured, there was a rerun of the perfect picnic lunch in the beautiful garden on that bright, sunny day, another scene having been added. As Michael and I were laughing, tossing malted milk balls at each other, I was jarred awake by an annoying scream, "annt-annt-annt-annt-annt-annt". I slapped the large snooze button located on top of my antiquated alarm clock/CD player. 7:00 AM. I laid in bed for a few minutes, contemplating my alluring dreams of Michael versus the real world where Ty was my boyfriend. I felt guilty because these dreams felt more like visions; they felt real, and I felt happy when I was there. But there was no more time to ponder any possible message I was supposed to be gleaning, at least not right now. Right now, I had to get ready for my first day at the nursery.
I pulled in to the parking lot about twenty minutes early. Michael was at the koi pond and, as I drove by, he greeted me with his good-natured smile. I chose the parking space furthest away from the main building and walked casually toward him, praying that I would be able to forget about my dreamy feelings and behave like a proper employee.
"Good morning!" I trilled cheerfully.
"Good mornin' to you. You're early."
"Just trying to make a good impression."
"It's workin'," he said with a grin. "Are you ready to meet the rest of my family? Except for my mama, that is. She doesn't work here."
I drew in a breath. "I'm ready," I said confidently.
Michael's dad and his two brothers were in the closest of the three outlying buildings on the property.
"You must be Essie," his father exclaimed exuberantly the moment we walked through the door.
"It's so nice to meet you, Mr. Powers. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to work here. It's a beautiful place."
"I hope you'll eventually love it as much as we do. Essie, these are Mike's older brothers, Gabe and Rafe. And, please, call me Chris."
They were every bit as handsome as Michael, as was their dad. They all had the same dark hair and beautiful blue eyes. There was no denying they were family, unlike me and my siblings.
"Hey," they both said at almost the same time.
"Hey," I responded in kind.
"Mike, why don't you take Essie and show her how to open up."
"Sure, Daddy."
As we headed toward the main building, I asked, "So, your dad called you Mike. But you originally introduced yourself to me as Michael. Which do you prefer?"
"You know, I don't really care, but I think I prefer Michael. What do you think?"
"I definitely prefer Michael. It suits you."
"Oh, yeah? Why's that?"
"You seem kind of noble and definitely respectful, and Michael sounds kind of, well, noble and respectful. Mike just sounds more like a jock name, like, 'Yo, Mike'."
He laughed. "Then, by all means, call me Michael," he said as we reached the door. He unlocked it and swung it open, held it and motioned for me to enter.
"Thank you, Michael," I said dramatically.
"My pleasure, Miss Essie," he responded in an over-emphasized Southern drawl.
I walked to the counter, the same counter where Michael morphed from beautiful dream guy to real life problem, insofar as my relationship with Ty was concerned. He met me there and showed me how to run the cash register.
"You're a quick study," he encouraged.
I just smiled.
"Are you ready for the grand tour?"
"I've been looking forward to it all week," I answered honestly.
He put his arm gently around my shoulder, and a low surge of energy coursed through me, as he led me down the first of several aisles of plants. I felt like I was on a Botany 101 field trip, with Professor Michael patiently answering every one of my questions.
Five o'clock came too quickly. I never would have imagined that I could like a part-time job so much. It seems that everyone's in a good mood when they're buying plants. Maybe it was their organic beauty. Maybe it was all the fresh oxygen they produced. Whatever it was, I was sad that the nursery was closing for the day.
After Michael showed me how to balance the register, we shut off the lights and locked the door. On the way to my car, we stopped to say goodbye to his father and brothers who had spent much of the day helping customers load their purchases into their vehicles and restocking the shelves.
"Good night, Essie. Great job today. See you tomorrow?" his dad asked expectantly.
"Of course. And thank you again for hiring me."
"Well, Mike was the one who made that decision. I reckon he knows how to pick 'em," he said with a wink.
"Bye, Daddy," Michael said, looking embarrassed.
"Bye, Son," we heard him say after the door had closed.
Michael shook his head bashfully and looked straight ahead in the direction of my car, apparently not wanting to make eye contact.
"My mother loves to embarrass me, too," I proffered, looking over at him.
Our eyes met for a brief moment and he quickly changed the subject. "Come on. I'll walk you to your car."
After the short walk, he said, "Like my daddy said, great job today."
"Thanks," I replied, reaching for the car door handle. He reached, too, and his big hand covered mine. Startled, I turned quickly to say "I got it", but I tripped over his feet and just knew that I was going to fall flat on my face. Instead, in a flash, he caught me. I'm not sure how he did it, but I ended up cradled in his arms with him on one knee, my body buzzing with electricity.
"How did you do that?" I asked breathlessly.
"Do what?"
"Catch me so quickly!"
"I'm not sure what you mean. I just put my arms out when I realized that you were going to fall."
I chose not to belabor the point, rather, I used this opportunity - still cradled in his arms - as an excuse to stare at his face, something I had been loath to do since we first met, certain he would know that I had been dreaming of him. While there was no denying that Ty was extremely good looking, Michael possessed the beauty of an angel. Which was a crazy thought, especially since I just learned that Ty was an actual angel. Now gaping, I could swear that a faint glow radiated from him.
His body felt even bigger than its 6'4" frame in this position. I continued to stare, imagining that a ladybug must feel this same way when cupped in my hands. Although I was fairly certain that only several seconds had passed, they felt as though they were passing in slow motion. Even the dust that I had stirred up seemed to be hanging in the air instead of falling back to the ground.
In one nimble move, he freed his right hand and used it to gently brush back the hair that had fallen in my face. I think my whole body erupted in chill bumps.
"Um," I gulped. "I think I'm okay now."
"Oh, sure. Here you go," he stammered, returning me to an upright position.
"Thanks," I said quickly, finally averting my eyes.
"I was wondering," he began, shyly, "if you're not busy, that is, if you'd like to come to my house for dinner. We have a big dinner party every Saturday night. You never know who's going to be there. It's very casual; you wouldn't even have to change."
"Thank you, Michael. That sounds great, but I already have plans with Ty. You know he's not happy with me working here. He'd probably have an ane
urysm if I blew him off to go to your house for dinner. But maybe another time?"
"Sure. I guess I forgot about Ty after spending all day with you. I'll see you tomorrow then. Don't forget that we don't open till 1:00, after church and lunch. By the way, I haven't seen your family at church. Do you go out of town?"
"No. We don't go to church," I answered truthfully, suddenly feeling guilty.
As if sensing my uncomfortableness, he quickly countered, while opening my door, "Well, if you ever decide you'd like to check it out, we'd love to have you. I'm sure you'd know lots of people from the high school. We have a youth group that gets together on Wednesday nights, too."
"Thanks. I'll think about it," I said, sliding into my seat. "Oh, that reminds me. Is your family related to the people that own the church?"
"Nobody really owns the church, it belongs to the congregation. But it was my ancestors who originally planted it after settling here more than two hundred years ago. Why do you ask?"
"Just curious. Is your dad the pastor?"
"No. My uncle is, though. And my grandfather was before him."
"Wow. Do you think you'll be the pastor some day?"
He laughed just a little. "It's a calling that I haven't received. At least not yet. I always envisioned taking over the nursery some day. I think this is where I'm supposed to be."
"You do seem at home here. Oh, one more thing."
"Anything," he said genuinely.
"Are you any good in math? Statistics, to be more precise?"
"Math just happens to be my best subject, and I took Statistics last year. Do you need help?"
"That's an understatement. I'm terrible at math in general and Statistics is so boring that I'm lucky if I don't fall asleep during class. Are you available for tutoring?"
"Sure. Do you want to start tomorrow?"
"Why don't we wait until Monday. I'm trying to keep my weekends free from homework, if at all possible."
"Sounds like a plan."
We exchanged smiles as I inserted the key into the ignition and started the car. I could still see him in my rear view mirror as I stopped at the nursery's entrance before turning on to the main road.
I sighed hard, thinking about being in his arms. I needed music to complete this mood. The first song that popped into my head was "At Last" by Daphne Loves Derby. It was my favorite song off of a random romance CD that Jane had found for our "No Boys Allowed Valentine's Day Party" last year, a dreamy, romantic tune that matched how I felt at the moment. "You smile, you smile. Oh, and then the spell was cast..." I pressed the repeat button.
As I was slowly coasting down my driveway, music blaring, I saw Ty's car. I immediately shut off the song.
"Crap!" I said audibly, jolted from my cozy contentment. As was his usual habit, he was sitting in one of the rocking chairs on the front porch.