Quilting 101

Tiffany was chewing and had to cover her mouth then reach for her drink so she didn't choke.

"I loved that guy!" Tiffany said.

"So you've watched Back to School?" Nick asked.

"Oh, maybe a time or two. Or three or four...or more," she said, sporting a very happy smile.

Nick smiled back then said, "You're beautiful when you smile."

Tiffany's smile melted away in an instant as her heart rate climbed again.

"I, uh...I have that movie," she said as she tried to avoid the way his compliment made her feel.

"Let's break it out then!" Nick said. "It's G or PG, right?"

"Oh, Ella's seen it with me a couple of times at least, right, honey?"

Ella laughed then said, "Why don't you come see me when you have no class?" using a line out of the movie that Nick immediately recognized.

"You know movie lines?" Nick asked before throwing one at her. When Ella gave the correct reply, he told Tiffany her daughter was a genius.

"Don't I know it," she said as Ella jumped down to put in the DVD.

The three of them sat there watching, laughing, and commenting.

"Oh, here it comes!" Nick said before Dangerfield said, "I can't get no respect," for the first time.

"He's funny!" Ella said whenever the comedian opened one eye really wide the way he often did.

Nick was sitting between them and at one point, Ella scooched over and sat right beside him. He looked down and when she smiled at him, he put his arm around her and she snuggled right up with him. Tiffany was on the verge of tearing up but managed to keep from crying when she saw her daughter was enjoying Nick's company and affection so much.

She'd never brought a man home with her since her husband died, and had Nick not made such a positive impression her, she' have never allowed it today. Also, he wasn't there as a date, so it wasn't quite the same thing. Still, she had to be concerned Ella might get attached to him, so she would need to be very careful. For now, it was so sweet it touched her heart.

During the last few minutes of the movie, Ella drifted off to sleep, and Nick quietly asked, "What now, Mom?"

"Oh. Don't move. I'll come around and get her."

Tiffany got up and walked around Nick's legs then picked her daughter up. She woke up for a brief second and said, "Nick? Can you come tuck me in?"

"Honey, Nick doesn't have to...."

"Of course," he said as he stood up immediately to follow them to her room.

She was out again, but Nick found himself enthralled with just seeing this beautiful child sleeping so peacefully; something he wouldn't have cared about even a short time ago.

"You've done a really good job with her, Tiffany," he said quietly as they both stood there for a few seconds.

"Thank you. It's been so hard raising her by myself, but I wouldn't trade her for anything on earth."

"Well, she's more valuable than anything on earth," Nick said in agreement.

"Oh, I still have to take you back to the shop for your car!" Tiffany said once they were in the hallway.

"No. You're not driving tonight. I'll give my mom a call."

"But it's late, Nick," she said.

"It's 9:30, Tiffany," he told her as he tried not to laugh.

"Sorry. I'm on 'Mom time'," she said. "I'm usually in bed by 10 o'clock because I have to get up at 5:30 to be ready for Ella when she wakes up."

"I thought I got up early at 6:15," Nick said.

"That's early. I just get up...crazy early."

Nick went to call his mom when Tiffany said, "You don't have to run off unless you need to go."

Before the last word was out, a wave of self doubt washed over her, and she regretted saying it.

"My mom rarely goes to bed before 11 so let me call her and I'll have her come over around 10. Is that okay?"

"Sure. That'd be nice," she said, feeling relieved. "Can I get you anything else?"

"No, I'm fine. Talking with you is more than pleasant enough," he told her as he smiled that warm, friendly smile of his at her.

They sat down and Tiffany suddenly couldn't think of a single thing to say. The silence was deafening, so Nick finally asked her a question.

"Have you dated much since, you know...."

"Oh. Um...no. Not much at all," she said.

"Is it still too soon?"

"No, I don't think so. It's more a matter of not having any desire to have to go through the whole 'get-acquainted' routine. You know, you meet someone, it's awkward, then you talk, go out once, feel each other out to see if anything's there, then maybe date a while only to have it end. Just thinking about it makes me...ill."

She smiled then said, "Not physically."

She paused then changed her tune.

"Okay. Maybe a little bit physically."

Nick laughed, and as he looked right at her said, "That's a shame. I mean, I understand how you feel, but you're a very attractive woman, Tiffany. And Ella is the sweetest thing ever. It really is a shame to think another man won't get to find that out."

This time, Tiffany's cheeks didn't flare up, but her tummy (or some other part of her body) reacted to his kind words.

"It was hard enough when I was young-er and pretty-er," she said. "Now it seems almost impossible."

"Hey. Hold on a minute," Nick said. "You're still young and still pretty. No 'er' about it. About either one."

Tiffany smiled happily then said, "If only you were ten years older, Nick."

"Or maybe if I were ten years younger," she added with a smile.

"Wait. So if you and I hit it off. If we really got along and had a lot of stuff in common, are you saying you wouldn't even consider me?"

"What?" Tiffany asked, suddenly very confused.

"No. Seriously. Would you not even give me a chance to see if we were a good fit just because there's an age difference?"

The way he was looking at her was making it very hard to think, and Tiffany was stuttering and stumbling when she tried.

"I...well...are you saying.... I mean, is this just, you know, a hypocritical...er...sorry...a hypothetical question?"

"Maybe. But let's say—hypothetically—it isn't. Would you really not even give it a try due to a few years difference in our ages?"

Tiffany's eyes got wide before saying, "A few years? Nick, I'm...well...I'm a lot older than you. It isn't just...a few years."

"But what if you missed out on the chance to be happier than you've ever been?"

Finally getting some control back, she turned it around on him.

"Okay, let me ask you something. Would you throw away your youth on a woman who's...let's say...hypothetically...more than ten years older than you?"

Without hesitating he said, "If I loved her, I wouldn't be throwing anything away. In fact, it would be the best decision I could ever make."

Tiffany was knocked off her high horse so fast and so hard she couldn't respond. In fact, she couldn't even look at him for several seconds.

"Look. All I'm saying is you have so much to offer, Tiffany. You shouldn't be afraid to get back out there and try. And there's nothing wrong in looking in areas you might not normally look. Sometimes you find the biggest surprises in the most unusual of places."

She'd glanced at him a time or two while he talked, but she still couldn't look at him.

"Am I right?" Nick said, lowering his head to get her to look up at him.

"I...I suppose you are," she said. "It just doesn't make it any easier."

"No one ever said life was easy, right?" Nick said gently.

He smiled at her and waited for her to look at him again.

When she did she stared for a moment then smiled, too.

"You, see. I was right," he said.

"About?"

"You're beautiful when you smile."

Nick saw a slight spreading of red in her cheeks just as the doorbell rang.

"Oh. That must be your mom," Tiffany said, grateful for the distraction.

She got up and answered the door, and Kathy immediately said, "I am so sorry I rang the bell. It's late and Ella's asleep, and I wasn't thinking and...how's your head? Are you okay?"

Tiffany momentarily forgot all about Nick and their conversation.

"No, it's fine. And Ella sleeps like a log so no worries. Come on in."

"I don't want to be a bother."

"You're not. Come in."

"Hey, Mom," Nick said as his mother stepped inside.

"Hi, honey."

"Thanks for coming to get me."

"Sure, but is Tiffany really going to be okay?"

"I think so," he told her.

He looked at Tiffany then said to his mom, "At least where the bump on her head is concerned."

Tiffany understood the comment and managed a small, shy smile.

"Thank you for the pizza, Nick," she said as she walked them back to the door.

"And the conversation."

"I meant what I said," he told her as he opened the door for his mother.

"Don't give up, okay?"

"No. I...I won't," she said without conviction.

"And everything was my pleasure. Especially watching the movie with you and Ella."

"Oh, right. Well, it's hard to get any respect around here," she said, causing Nick to laugh.

"So...we're sew...ing again tomorrow?"

"Right. Yes. Tomorrow. Sewing."

"See you there," he said.

"Goodnight, Tiffany!" Kathy called out quietly.

"Goodnight, Kathy. See you soon!"

On the way back to get his car, Kathy said, "It sounds like you had a nice time."

"Yeah. I really did, Mom. Tiffany is really nice, and Ella is just the sweetest little girl."

"I agree on both counts," his mom said.

Nick could tell there was something more she wanted to say, so he asked her to say it.

"It's nothing, really. I was just wondering if tonight was maybe more than just...."

She looked over at her son then asked him, "What exactly was tonight?"

"What do you mean?" he asked respectfully.

"I was just curious to know if this was you know, a...."

"A date?" he said.

"Well, since you said it, yes."

"Would it bother you if it was?"

"You know I love Tiffany to death. Ella, too."

"But?" Nick asked knowing the 'but' was coming.

"But she's in her 30s, honey. That's all."

"It wasn't a date, Mom," he told her.

Before she could reply he asked her again, "But if it was, would that bother you?"

"Tiffany is wonderful, but you're only 22, and you have your whole life ahead of you," she said.

She reached over and squeezed his hand and said, "That's all."

"Mom?" he said as he looked over at her.

"Yes?"

"I really like her."

There was a very long pause.

Finally, Kathy said, "As a friend, right?"

"I'm not sure. I mean, yes, I do like her as a friend, but there's something special about her. And Ella, too."

"Just be careful, okay, honey?" his mom said.

"Of course. And maybe you could try and be open to me thinking of her as more than just a friend?"

His mom didn't reply because it was late and she didn't feel like getting into a lengthy discussion about the pros and cons of her son dating a woman Tiffany's age who already had a child. She knew he was a smart boy with a good head on his shoulders, and she felt confident this 'thing' would soon pass. Or maybe she felt more 'hopeful' than confident.

Things were different the next afternoon when Tiffany came back to the shop. She was still friendly and courteous, but she seemed much more guarded and formal. Ella could sense some kind of tension, and only spoke a few times during the lesson. Nick tried joking around with Tiffany by asking her if she'd run into any good countertops lately, but she'd only smiled and told him 'no'.

As they were finishing up, Nick asked if he could talk to her.

"We've been talking, Nick," she said without looking at him.

"No. You've been teaching and I've been asking questions. But unlike yesterday and last night, we haven't been talking."

"Maybe it's better this way," she said quietly as she continued getting ready to leave.

"For whom?" he asked.

"For me. For you. For Ella," she replied.

Nick stood up after turning off his machine and putting everything away then moved closer to Tiffany and asked her, "Did I somehow offend you yesterday?"

"Offend me? No. Of course not," she said in a way that told him something had happened.

"Did I make you angry?" he asked as she kept moving away from him to off the lights.

"Ella? Come on, honey. It's time to go."

She went to set the alarm, but Nick gently reached up and stopped her by taking her hand from the side.

"Nick. What are you doing?" she asked without turning toward him.

"I'm trying to get you to be honest with me," he said as politely as he could.

"I've been honest," she insisted. "You didn't offend me or upset me."

"Then why are you treating me so differently?"

"I'm ready, Mom!"

Ella was now standing right next to them, and again, she could tell something wasn't quite right.

"We...we need to be going, Nick," she said as she carefully removed her hand from his.

"Okay," Nick said knowing he couldn't have this discussion with Ella there.

He walked out with them and helped Ella get in her carseat in back, then went to open Tiffany's door.

"I can open my own door, Nick," she said. Her voice was edgy, but Nick could tell it wasn't anger.

"I wasn't implying you couldn't," he said quietly.

Tiffany didn't open it herself, even after Nick took his hand off the door handle.

"I'll uh, I'll see you tomorrow then," he told her before stepping aside, allowing to reach the handle.

"Yes. See you tomorrow," she said.

Tiffany didn't look at him again, and as much as he wanted to try and get her to be honest with him, he didn't say another word.

He walked back to his car, got in and started it up, then headed for home. As he drove, this sudden and dramatic change was eating at him until the obvious hit him. It was possible it was something else; something completely unrelated. But that seemed very unlikely, and by the time he got home, he was quite confident he was right.

"How was your lesson?" his mom asked cheerfully.

Nick knew why she was asking but pretended the sewing was all she cared about.

"Great. I learned the rest of the stitches, and I'm kind of getting the hang of it," he told her.

"So...is Tiffany okay?"

"Oh, sure. She's fine. She said it only hurt today if she touched it, so it's a lot better."

"That's good," his mom said.

"Yeah. That is good," he agreed hoping she wouldn't bring up the issue that was percolating just below the surface.

Then, for some reason, Nick did just that.

"She was a little...frosty...this evening."

"Frosty?"

"Yeah, it was like yesterday never happened. We had such a great time together—other than the 'bump', and then, today, you'd think we'd never even talked."

"I see," Kathy told him.

She knew Tiffany was too kind and too sweet to be angry, and she knew her son well enough to know he'd never give her a reason be angry. The 'obvious' jumped out at her, too.

Like her son a moment ago, she didn't want to say it, but it just came out.

"She likes you, Nick."

"What?"

She turned to face him then repeated herself.

"She clearly likes you. And that she does is bothering her."

Nick didn't respond so his mother kept talking.

"I understand why. Lord knows you're a catch. You're smart and kind. You're funny and very handsome. So by being so nice to her yesterday, she's confusing that with, you know, someone with whom she could actually have a relationship."

She smiled then said, "It makes perfect sense."

Not yet ready to say he'd arrived at the same conclusion, Nick said, "Why couldn't she have a relationship with me?"

Kathy took her son's hand, smiled then said, "Sweetheart. She's in her mid-thirties."

"And?"

"And? What do you mean by 'and'?"

"Why does it matter how old she is?" he asked directly.

"Well...because it...it just does," she told him.

"I can see where that's a factor; something to consider for sure, but I don't see it as anything decisive," her son said very gently.

"I know she's a very sweet person. And yes, she's a very attractive woman. Just don't...don't jump into anything without thinking it through very, very carefully, okay?" she said, repeating her admonition from the previous night with a little more force.

"I always do, Mom," he told her with a smile before hugging her and kissing her on the cheek.

"Yes. Yes, you do," she admitted because he did always think things through.

Now satisfied she'd made a point, Kathy felt incredibly guilty for having made it.

She turned to Nick and said, "Have you told her how you feel?"

Surprised and heartened by her question, Nick said, "No. Mostly because I'm not sure how I feel. I sort of hinted around about it but mostly in terms of hypothetical scenarios. But she's a smart woman, and I'm sure she realized my not-so-subtle hints about not ruling someone out due to age were code for her and me and not just a general-purpose statement."

"I guess you'll never know for sure unless you tell her."

"I'd kind of come to that conclusion," he finally said with a warm smile.

"I just want you to be happy, Nick. Listen. There's no guarantee any marriage will last. Half end in divorce regardless of their relative ages. Of those that don't, not all of those are happy or even fulfilling. But it seems to me the more you have in common the better your chances are. When you're separated by ten or fifteen years, well, that's a lot. Or it can be."

"I can't argue that point," Nick said. "But people can still have all kinds of things in common even when separated by...several years."

"If it really was just 'several', I'd be setting you up with her," Kathy told him. "But if you really like her, I can think of many people who would be much less compatible with you for many other, more valid reasons. I'm not dismissing the age difference between you, I'm just admitting it isn't necessarily insurmountable."

"She may not even have those kinds of feeling for me," Nick finally said.

"Um...we already discussed her feelings, honey. Trust me on that. She may decide to deny those feelings or push you away because she can't see a way to get past the age issue, but she has feelings for you."

And that's when Kathy realized that she might be a part of the 'problem'. If Tiffany was going to be basically running the shop after Sylvia left and seeing Kathy all the time, it might be very uncomfortable for her. At a minimum, she probably felt like it would be uncomfortable.

"Mom?" Nick said, interrupting her thoughts.

Kathy looked at her son who smiled and told her, "You're the best."

"Come here!" she said as she hugged him close.

"There is one advantage if you were to start seeing Tiffany," she said.

"What's that?"

"She has a ready-made family, and I do so love that little girl!" his mom said as she rested her head on his broad shoulders.

"Yeah, I could see myself having a daughter like that."

Kathy wanted to say something else like how her son was much too young to be saddled with a child at his age, but then again, what if being an 'overnight father' turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to him? It seemed unlikely, but just as with trying to know which marriages would last, she realized she had no idea which way that might go.

Rather than mention her concerns she only said, "So let her know, and see what happens, okay? I'll be here for you no matter what."

He kissed her on the cheek and told her he loved her and she said, "I love you, too. Just follow your heart, and you'll be fine."

Kathy needed to go to the shop the following day, and even though she promised herself she wouldn't say anything, when she saw Tiffany, she knew was about to become a 'meddling mom'.

Sylvia was out talking with a retirement planner, and Tiffany was running the shop by herself.

Kathy said 'hi' to her, and Tiffany said 'hi' back but didn't look at her. Had she and Nick not talked, she'd have no idea why, but they had and she did.

"So I hear the sewing classes are going well," Kathy said very cheerfully.