Ruth Scofield - Love Came Unexpectedly

Sunny was silent a moment, staring at her glass. Then almost as if she didn’t want to ask, she did. “Did you ever meet my dad?”

“No.”

The single word seemed to send her into stone. He was sorry he had nothing to tell her, but Johnny hadn’t been in the picture when he’d come into Nathan and Shirley’s life. Nathan hadn’t talked of Johnny much. Shirley spoke of her son on occasion, but very little. His death seemed to cause her too much pain for long discussions.

Sunny shook herself, and smiled. “Will you have some ice cream?”

The garage was huge, but the only vehicle in there was the shiny black truck, Ol’ Winnie. Sunny stood and stared a moment. Her granddad really liked Ol’Winnie; the care he’d given the truck showed.

Was this really hers? Just a gift from the blue?

Not really from the blue, but it was another gift from a grandfather she had never known. Imagine…a truck!

“Wahoo!” She let out a shout. A truck would solve her most pressing problems.

Grant let out a chuckle. He observed her carefully, but she didn’t care. Elated at finding a working vehicle, Sunny hoisted herself up and into the seat. She turned the key, starting the motor. It hummed like a top.

Her granddad must’ve enjoyed a good running engine, she mused. From habit she looked over her shoulder to make sure the drive was clear, then carefully backed Ol’ Winnie out of the garage. Ol’ Winnie, hmm… Secretly, she found her granddad’s whimsy amusing. Naming the truck—it was an aspect of the old man she hadn’t suspected.

She parked it, hitting the brakes a bit too hard, jerking her forward in her seat. Uh-oh. This truck would take some adjusting to.

“Wonderful! I’ll have to get a pillow to put at my back,” she crowed, looking at all the instruments on the panel in front of her. “And learn what all this means. Will you drive into town with me to return the rental car?”

She’d asked the question spontaneously, as though he had nothing better to do than help her. Glancing up at him from the seat, she held her breath.

“Sure,” he said and nodded. The corners of his mouth twitched, and his eyes sparkled. It made her want to smile in return, but all she could do was stare at the corners of his mouth. “But we’d better do it this afternoon because I have things to do tonight.”

“That’s great timing,” she caught her breath to say. “Then I can do some more grocery shopping.”

She patted the steering wheel, then with resolve, got out of the truck. The rest of the garage was filled with tools, laundry equipment and the discarded treasures of a lifetime.

Turning her attention to the garage, she inspected the washer and dryer, whistling under her breath. “Boy, these are old. I suspect I’ll have to replace them soon.”

He watched her wander to the push lawn mower. “I suppose this is still okay…” She pushed it a few inches in its place. “And there are plenty of garden tools. I won’t have to purchase anything new here.”

Against the back wall was the work counter with cabinets beneath. Parts of boat engines, old life jackets, and a collection of various old license plates lined the wall. Didn’t her grandfather ever throw them away?

She ran a hand down the counter. Her fingers felt the polished wood. A fine sand filled the corners. Her grandfather spent a lot of time out here, she thought.

She’d have a job to clean it up, but it would look tidy by another month, she vowed.

While she looked around, Grant lounged against the hood of the truck watching her. She tried not to notice, but she caught a quick, appreciative gleam when she turned to him.

Over the years, she’d dated a few men who’d openly admired her, yet she hadn’t fallen in love with any of them. She hadn’t had time, what with school, work and her church involvement.

Yet she didn’t mistake Grant’s gaze. She hardly knew what to do with it. Before now, her goal had been to grow up, study hard and make something of herself before getting involved with anyone. That drive had been constant.

The Larsons’ influence had solidified her thoughts, too. Boyfriends could come and go if she wanted them, but the Larsons had encouraged her hard-working habits. They’d said that steady work, a solid career in something she was good at and her church would ground her.

And there would be no hopping from place to place, city to city for her, Sunny privately thought, not like the kind of life she’d led with her mother.

Her co-workers knew enough to keep their relationships just friendly. She’d keep this friendly, too, she decided.

She cleared her throat, then asked tentatively, “All right…can you go into town now?”

“I suppose so. Let me make a phone call, and I’ll be set.”

“Okay, you can use the phone in the office.”

“I’ll use my cell phone.”

Of course. Most people had cell phones these days. Only Sunny, always saving money, did not. She really didn’t need one, she thought, being so busy with work and with only a few friends from her work or church she could call on any available phone. Only her foster family mattered to her, and she called them most evenings from her apartment, assuring herself they were fine, that little Lori was fine.

That reminded her. She’d have to close her apartment. Could her foster father Mark do it for her? She owed him and Jessica so much already that she hated to ask him. Neither Mark nor Jessica were well these days, and they needed the money they got from caring for foster children. But she had no one else to ask and she couldn’t leave the resort to take care of the matter herself.

She couldn’t go on paying the expense of an empty apartment for a whole year, either. She’d have to trust someone to close it, like Mark and Jessica.

Grant used his phone while Sunny collected the paperwork on her rented car. It took all of five minutes.

“All set?” he asked from the doorway.

“You bet!”

Sunny drove the twenty minutes into town, with Grant following, and then the five minutes down the side street to the car rental at the side of the new-car lot. Grant turned off his motor and waited while she turned in the car. When she came out of the car-rental office, practically skipping, it made him chuckle.

“I never saw anyone so happy about a truck. Except your granddad, maybe, when he got it new.”

“Well, a truck! I mean, I’ve never owned such a big vehicle before,” she explained. “It’ll take a lot of abuse, won’t it? And I suspect it’ll make it over these rougher roads just fine. A lot easier than that car did. And it will be big enough to haul washing if I have to take it into town. I’m not too sure about those machines.”

He laughed. “I suspect old Nathan did that on more than one occasion. I’d see him sometimes, hauling his laundry around. Said he’d take it to town where he could drop it off at the Lite Laundromat, and he’d pay to have it done. Saved him some time and effort, I guess, especially if the housekeepers didn’t show up. These last years he’s been lonely without Shirley, and he…” he paused to run his tongue over his lips “…he sometimes liked the entertainment in town.”

“Did he?” She grew quieter.

“Yeah….”

They were almost at the resort when he made a suggestion. “Sunny, I know you want to reopen the resort as soon as possible—”

“Yep, I have some people coming in tomorrow. It seemed foolish not to open it.”

“Yeah, well, that’s good. It’s only good business sense. With reservations to honor and all, it shouldn’t be too hard to fill it up.”

He slowed his car, pulling into her drive, then stopped. “But why don’t you give yourself some time about what to think…I mean, about your granddad? Whatever you do, don’t make any quick judgments about your granddad, will you?”