It took a slow moment for Amy to realize Ty hadn't heard her even though he was standing right there looking at her. She watched his green gaze drift down, her blue one following close behind. She went deaf from the sudden pounding of her heart in her head when she realized the moment they'd fallen into. The blood rushed up so fast it began to make her lightheaded. Swallowing, Amy's lips parted to match his, her breath coming out slow and shallow as she waited. Her body buzzed with nerves, unknown to her if they were rooted in anticipation or fear. Maybe a little of both.
"It's-s…"
A word finally came out, even though Ty didn't know where he was going with it. But at least it made some kind of difference to get the time moving again. He forced his eyes toward the cabinet, swallowing dryly and trying to think of another word to go with it. "The… uh, like… there's… this… roughness that… you can feel, so it's really… yeah." With the way he spoke, Ty could have been a runner-up for Miss South Carolina Teen USA 2007. He wanted to sigh out of embarrassment, but somehow kept his cool while the warm thought of Amy's closeness almost burned a hole through his clothes.
For a moment Amy was confused when Ty stuttered through his belated response to her question, then felt a little stupid for thinking something else was going to happen. Maybe she completely read that moment wrong or sent him some kind of weird mixed signal that made him suddenly uncomfortable. She hadn't meant to and now felt bad about bringing them there. She pulled her eyes from him to look at the cabinet too, sliding her hand away from his to give him back a little more of his personal space. "I guess my eye needs a little more training," she finished, trying to find a way to guide them back to more comfortable ground without making it into an even worse awkward moment. "Is this one for the Hanley place, too?"
"Yeah," Ty got some relief from Amy distancing herself from him physically and through words. It was not that he wouldn't have liked her close like that, but he didn't want to mess anything up. They got along great, she had brought a lot of light in his life, and more importantly she was making progress with Spartan. It would be unfair to the horse to risk his last chance with Ty's own personal needs. No one had gotten through to Spartan like Amy had and they were already running out of time as it was. Cleaning up some kind of a mess was not part of the plan. "I kind of want to keep it there, if the house ever gets done…" he sighed, worrying that no right buyer would ever come along.
Though she intentionally tried to recover what had turned into a very strange moment, Amy's head was still trying to figure it out and make sense of what happened or might have almost been ready to happen. She really wasn't sure anymore if it had all been in her head or not from the way Ty ran with her segue as if it hadn't, but Amy was too afraid to ask (and really had no idea how) so she went along with it too. "Things always have a way of working themselves out. Some day someone's going to come upon that listing like I did, or just happen to drive by and catch their eye and it'll be like fate brought them there. And with a little bit of strategic staging from your fine carpentry skills, they'll see what could be and won't be able to turn away. You just wait, it'll happen." Amy nodded, fully believing in her prediction. The place didn't look like much now, but the potential was there and there were people out there who would see it too and believe in it and want to see it through. "Just don't give up on it."
Ty smiled at Amy's optimism and nodded, but was left wondering if they were still talking about the house or something else. His mind seemed to have a habit of thinking things not only through Spartan and the house, but through himself as well. He had always thought that loneliness was the best way to get to know yourself, but ever since he had gotten to know Amy better, he had done soul searching worth years.
"I have some drawings here about the house, some visions," Ty said and moved closer to his sketch book. "I'm no Picasso, so don't expect much," he added and spread the sketches for her on the table. His hands were still shaking a little, so he tried to clench them to get some grip. "But then again, if I was Picasso, the chair would probably have legs pointing from the sides and limp clocks on it without any logical reason…"
Laughing softly, Amy shifted over to peer at the drawings Ty was laying out for her. "Dali," she corrected with a little amused smile, glancing up at Ty as she pulled a page closer to her. "The melted clocks were by Salvador Dali. His most famous painting was called The Persistence of Memory and it basically symbolizes a dreamscape and how time has no purpose in dreams because there's no way to keep track of it. That's why they're," she stopped when she realized she'd been ready to go off on a tangent about Surrealism and before she came off as a know-it-all when Ty could probably care less, "uh, melting. At least that-that's just how I interpreted it when I took art history in college," she stuttered and her voice faded out near the end as she forced her eyes, and her thoughts, back to Ty's sketches.
"See?" Ty sighed and blushed. "Here I try to impress you and you outsmart me…" He had already felt like Amy was way too good for him anyway, but now he had to admit she was definitely out of his league.
"Well, considering you aren't a painter I won't hold that against you," she smiled, smoothing her hands across the paper. "These are pretty good. I like this open concept idea for the dining room." She traced her finger along the pencil walls. Her head tilted to the side, taking in every little stroke of detail Ty penciled out on the paper.
An idea of her own struck her suddenly and she reached for a nearby pencil. "May I?" she asked, making her intention of altering the sketch known by gesturing toward the pencil, waiting for Ty to grant her permission before just picking it up.
Ty made eye contact, nodding a little. He was interested to see how Amy saw the house and what ideas she would have.
Leaning over the table, Amy drew careful architectural lines extending along the front of the house. "You should make that porch bigger. It's got a pretty great view of the sunset."
Ty turned himself toward her, keeping the distance between them reasonable and putting his weight on his left leg to see Amy's lines on the paper. He hummed after a while.
"Hmm, yeah. I guess I've been too focused to keep the original look that I've completely shut out the possibility that some improvements could be made outside as well," Ty spoke and envisioned himself sitting on the porch, watching as the sun was setting behind the trees. "Good one. The world has lost a good architect in you," he grinned and glanced at Amy playfully.
"Maybe I was one in another life, who knows. But really the bigger porch makes room for people to enjoy sitting out in the evening, or morning. We had a big wrap-around porch at my house growing up. We spent quite a bit of time out there." That was another thing Amy missed from home. Her apartment in Vancouver was on the third floor and only had a small balcony overlooking the parking lot. Needless to say she didn't take advantage of it for the picturesque view. But with a piece of property like the Hanley place, there was plenty to sit and admire. "And quite a bit in here," Amy said suddenly, realizing she'd been dawdling satisfying her own curiosity, but if Ty wasn't overwhelmed or put off by her nosiness then she didn't feel so bad. Unless he was just trying to be polite and raging on the inside for her to shut up so he could take her home. In case it was the latter, Amy gave him an out. "I guess I should get back if we want to get an early start." She didn't even know what time it was exactly, unsure of how long they'd lingered in the shop, but it felt like a little while. The last thing she wanted to do was to overstay her welcome, especially when Ty was kind enough to be her chauffeur over these few days.
"Yeah," Ty said, but did not make any attempts to leave. "Look, this might be a strange question to ask, and just know you don't have to say yes, but I was just thinking what's the use of driving to town, and then me driving back here, if I'm just going to come pick you up in few hours anyway? I guess what I'm asking is would you like to stay over…?"
He hoped that Amy didn't feel like she was pressured into anything, because Ty really could drive her back to her motel with no problems, but had figured she could just as well stay for the night. He had a quite a big house, so she could get some privacy for herself if she needed some time off from him. "I even have food now, unless you want to try my infamous beans," a grin crept on his face.
Amy would agree it was a strange question to ask when there were moments when Ty didn't even seem comfortable having her in close proximity. Inviting her to spend a whole night was a bold move, especially considering they didn't really know each other that well. She supposed accepting the offer to spend a night in the home of a practical stranger would be just as brave of her, or stupid. But she didn't feel any threatening vibes from Ty at all. If he had intentions of trying anything he had more than ample opportunity. Plus, his reasoning did make sense. It was kind of pointless to make so many extra trips unless he had other errands to run in town.
"Oh. Um, I guess it is kind of silly to drive back and forth. Gas can't be cheap for that truck of yours." Her hand slid away from the sketches as she set the pencil down. "I really don't mind staying. It's just that my bag is back at the motel. So I don't have anything to change into. I mean, I don't mind wearing the same outfit twice, but I'd rather not sleep in it too," she admitted as she jokingly scrunched her nose in disgust. She really didn't have any issue with spending the night except for the fact all she had with her were the clothes on her back and her cell phone.
Ty smiled at her joke and thought about it for a moment.
"Well, there might be something for you to wear." He recalled some of Kerry-Anne's clothes that she had left behind. Even if it had been a while since she had left, Ty had yet to throw anything of hers out. He had collected all her items and clothes in a box and hidden it inside of his closet. At first Ty had expected her to come back to collect her things, but after a while the box just became one of his skeletons.
Spending the night in a guy's house was one thing, but Amy wasn't so sure how she felt about wearing the clothes of one she wasn't dating. She hoped he didn't plan on giving her anything of his dead mother's. Not that there was anything wrong with that; it was just a little weird. But she reminded herself of her promise to take things in stride and figure what the hell. "Okay, thank you."
"Come on. Let's go inside." Ty arranged things back to their places and then walked over to the plate, handing it to Amy. "Here."
On their way back to the house, Ty kept mulling over Amy's suggestions about the Hanley house.
"It might seem a little strange, but I think I've pinpointed why the thought of a bigger porch never occurred to me. I don't think I've ever spent time on a porch with anyone but myself. And Remi, of course. I just never had that habit, you know. I grew up in an apartment in the city. We didn't even have a balcony. I was never part of a happy family that sits on a porch and just… relaxes. Is that sad? That I don't even have a vision of people doing so?" Ty glanced at her.
Clicking her nails lightly against the edges of the glass pie plate, Amy glanced back at Ty, slowly shrugging one shoulder. "No. We're all brought up with different family backgrounds so we see the world in our own unique ways. There's nothing wrong or sad about that." She smiled softly at him as they reached the door and Ty opened it for her. Pausing in the doorway, she turned to look back at him. "It just means that now you have something new to experience."