Pepper Lane Sweet Shoppe (Pepper Bay #14)

18

Tyler

‘Hey, Erin. I’ve found something,’ Tyler called down the stairs.

Erin came up from the shop and followed him into the almost empty bedroom.

‘Look,’ said Tyler, sitting on the floor. ‘I was clearing the wardrobe and found this box.

Erin sat to his side. ‘Ooh, looks like someone sat on it.’

‘Yeah, it’s crumpled all right, but the contents are fine.’

‘So what have you found?’

‘More info about your grandad’s brother. I’ve got a couple of letters, some postcards from Australia, photos, and a business card with contact details.’

Erin picked up the card. ‘Upholstery?’ she questioned.

Tyler shrugged. ‘Adam Masonville. Might be Ezra’s son.’

‘My family is growing.’

He smiled, then opened one of the letters. ‘This feels a bit intrusive.’

Erin took the letter from him. ‘If it tells me about my family, I have a right to look.’

‘Who’s it from?’

‘Oh, it’s from Ezra. He wrote to my grandad. Yep, they’re definitely brothers. Ezra is explaining how he was adopted.’

Tyler was speed-reading over her shoulder. ‘I wonder why.’

Erin pointed at a line. ‘Says their mum couldn’t cope.’ She turned to Tyler and sighed. ‘That’s sad.’

Tyler flipped over a postcard of Australia. ‘Might be how he ended up over there.’

She glanced at the picture of a map of the country. ‘My family live in Australia?’

‘Seems that way.’ Tyler quickly looked over the other letter. ‘Ezra is inviting Chester to his home.’

‘Do you think that’s where my grandad went every December?’

‘It’s looking that way.’

She frowned at him. ‘Well, wasn’t that a clue?’

‘What do you mean?’

Erin flapped a postcard of Perth. ‘It’s summer out there in December. Didn’t he come home with a suntan every year?’

Tyler shook his head. ‘He hated the sun. Always wore a hat when he stepped outside. So, no, he never had a tan. Ever.’

They sat in silence for a while, reading the letters over again, building the relationship between the two men.

‘Ezra is telling him about his son, Adam. I wonder if my grandad mentioned he had a daughter. Do you think they know about her? About me?’

‘I don’t know.’ Tyler held up the business card. ‘But you can send an email and find out.’ He watched her recoil. ‘Or not,’ he quickly added.

‘I wouldn’t know what to say. What if they don’t know about me, or my mum? It’ll be a bit of a shock, and they’ll wonder why my grandad hid that from them. I mean, they didn’t exactly reach out to me, did they? So I’m thinking they don’t know about me.’

‘Maybe they didn’t know where to find you or your mum. Perhaps Mr Masonville was told by your mum not to contact her.’

Erin grinned. ‘Did you always call him that?’

‘Yep. Habit. I started working for him when I was a teenager, and he told me to call him that.’

‘I’m still getting used to calling him Grandad.’

They went back to staring at the business card until Tyler picked up an old photograph of a small boy holding a baby. He flipped it over to show her the scribbled writing on the back.

‘Chester and Ezra,’ she mumbled.

Tyler picked up another picture. ‘I’m guessing this is Ezra and his family.’ He flipped it over. ‘Doesn’t say anything on the back, but the old man in the photo looks like your grandad.’

Erin took the picture. ‘They look happy. That must be his wife and Adam, and those kids could be Adam’s. Oh, goodness. I really do have a family.’

Tyler shuffled back to the wardrobe to see if there was anything else he could uncover in amongst the clutter inside. He found it weird that he was feeling a tad sad about Erin’s news. She had something she had always wanted, that much was obvious. Her eyes came alive each time she discovered she had family, but it concerned him, as she might leave to go find them, just as her grandfather had done.

‘I wonder if he did try to find his daughter,’ she said, browsing a letter. ‘He went all out to look for his brother.’

‘Perhaps he did, and she told him to get lost. Who knows?’ Tyler tugged a box loose, causing some old shirts to fall on his head. ‘Here,’ he said, turning. He straightened his hair as he opened the box. ‘This one looks the same as that.’

Erin cooed as she peered inside. ‘It’s my mum.’ She showed him the photograph. ‘This must have been taken not long before she left home. She only looks about sixteen.’

‘More letters,’ said Tyler, taking the top one from the pile.

‘That’s my mum’s handwriting. See what it says.’

Tyler opened the yellow envelope and read quietly to himself until Erin nudged his arm. ‘Oh, this letter is heartbreaking.’

Erin frowned and took the letter. ‘How bad is it?’

‘Your mum’s telling him to leave her alone. She hated him, Erin. Really hated him, as you can see.’

‘Yeah, and now I can see why?’

Tyler moved closer to her side. ‘What did you find?’

‘Seems my grandad liked a drink, then an argument. She’s not letting him make excuses, but to be fair, he does have a reason for being a rotten drunk. According to this, he changed after his wife died, and my mum suffered for it.’

‘Didn’t she ever tell you?’

Erin shook her head. ‘She wouldn’t talk about her childhood.’

Tyler was dumbfounded. ‘He was always so nice, and I’d never seen him so much as tipsy let alone sloshed.’

‘He sobered up after she left. I guess the drinking was just because he couldn’t handle losing his wife.’

‘Bloody hell, Mr Masonville.’ Tyler looked at the ceiling. ‘I had no idea you had so much pain in your life.’

Erin lightly touched his knee. ‘Why would you? You said he was a private man.’

Tyler nodded. ‘Oh, he was. He didn’t even talk about his wife.’

Erin pulled a wedding photograph out of the box. ‘That must be her.’

They stared at the happy couple, and Erin sniffed.

‘You okay?’ asked Tyler.

‘It’s all so sad.’

Tyler wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to his chest, where she seemed happy to rest her head. He felt her deep sigh and knew how she was feeling, because he too felt sad for the life his old boss had lived.

I can’t imagine what it must have felt like for him to lose the one he loved so much .

He placed his mouth on Erin’s hair and closed his eyes for a moment.

‘What do you think I should do, Ty?’ she whispered.

‘I think it will play on your mind until you get answers, so I think you should email this Adam bloke and tell him you’ve just found out about him and Ezra, and let’s hope they already know your grandad’s dead, otherwise that’ll be a shock.’

Erin pressed into him. ‘I wish I had a family like yours.’

Tyler breathed out a quiet laugh. ‘We’re not perfect. No family is.’

‘Yeah, but you’re close, and you all talk to each other. My mum hated her dad, my grandad lost his brother to the adoption system, and I’ve spent years thinking I was alone in this world.’

Tyler sat her up so he could look her directly in her eyes. ‘You are not alone, Erin. With or without the Masonvilles, you will never be alone again now you have me on your side. And my family.’

Her smile held gratefulness, which warmed him. ‘You really are super-kind.’

‘No, I’m just…’ He shrugged. ‘Oh, I don’t know. I guess I don’t see you as alone.’

Erin held his hand. ‘I’m glad you’re here with me. I won’t lie, I probably would have gone back to London with Harvey if you hadn’t shown me what real happiness looks like.’

Tyler glanced at her lips before looking back at the correspondence before them. The last thing he needed was to start thinking about kissing her again. The show for Harvey was bad enough. Erin’s hands had been wrapped so tightly around his cheeks, he was surprised he hadn’t melted into a pool of slush right there on the doorstep.

He glanced her way, wishing he could kiss her again. Wishing it could be real. ‘Erm, we could put the wedding picture up behind the counter,’ he said, needing a subject change from the doom, gloom, and his aching heart.

Erin beamed as she pulled another photo from the box. ‘Or this one.’

Tyler smiled as she held out one of the best photographs he had ever seen. Mr Masonville was standing in the doorway of Pepper Lane Sweet Shoppe, looking straight at the camera. ‘How brilliant is that?’

‘We’ll pop over to the gift shop and see if they have a frame.’

‘And we need to get a photo of you in the same spot.’ Tyler splayed his arms. ‘The new owner.’

Erin giggled. ‘You have to be in it too.’

‘Why me? It’s your shop.’

‘This place has been part of your life longer than it has mine. We should both be in the picture.’ Erin jumped up. ‘Come on, let’s get one done now.’

Tyler laughed as he stood. ‘Wouldn’t you prefer one when your arm is out of the cast?’

‘Nope.’ She raised her wound. ‘I want the picture to represent exactly how things are right now.’

He followed her down the stairs and over to the door. ‘We’ll need to find someone to take the photo.’

Erin motioned to the street. ‘Look, there’s Nate. He’ll do.’

Tyler laughed as they stepped outside into the bitter cold. Poor Nate was just about to head inside the pub, but Erin had him standing in the road, guiding his hand.

‘I told him to make sure he gets the sign in the photo,’ she said, sprinting back to Tyler’s side.

‘You sure you want me in this?’

Erin raised her chin a touch as she shuffled closer to him. ‘Yep, now say cheese.’

They both burst out laughing as they remembered Nate made cheese at his farm and had promised Erin a platter for Christmas.

‘Now one where you both just smile,’ said Nate.

Tyler winked at Erin, then posed as professionally as he could.

Nate came over and gave them back the phone. ‘Right, I’m off.’

Tyler hurried Erin back into the warmth of the shop. ‘Blimmin’ heck, I bet our lips look blue in the pictures.’

‘Let’s see.’ Erin scrolled through Nate’s shots, snorting at the one of them doubled over with laughter. ‘I’ll send them all to you.’ She did, then he told her to go back to the one of them standing still.

‘I like that for the back of the counter. What do you think?’

Erin bit her lip and grinned. ‘I love them all.’

Tyler quickly looked away from her mouth. It was getting harder to stay in the friendzone. ‘We should think about dinner.’

Erin nodded. ‘Pub?’

‘Yeah, then we can drop off those hampers on our way home.’ He gestured to the small pile by the tree.

Erin’s smile faded. ‘You know, I think my grandad found some sort of happiness after my gran died. I think this place might have helped him.’

Tyler smiled as he looked over at the till. ‘Yeah, I think so.’

‘Maybe it’ll be my happy place too.’

Or maybe it’ll be in Australia once you’ve spoken to your family .

He went to say something else but she cut him off.

‘Although, your house has become a rival for that.’

And just like that, all his worries disappeared, as once again Erin Mason had made life better.