Chapter 120 How Many Bird Feeders Do You Need?
“I missed you,” Byron said, “I thought maybe you’d run off on a business trip so you could have a break from me. So I decided to surprise you for your return.”
“I am surprised,” Emily admitted. Looking around at the farm house, she counted at least nine hummingbird feeders hanging from every possible place.
“I hung two at our house,” Byron said, “and then I thought why not add some to the animal sanctuary. Angie and Susie were happy to help, and I’m paying them extra to keep these refilled with sugar water for the birds.”
“What a way to spend your hard-earned money,” Sylvia grumbled.
“I love it!” Emily said. She had always liked watching the tiny birds whirring about, their wings moving so fast they looked like a blur. “Now it’s also a hummingbird sanctuary. They need the extra nectar, especially in the fall and winter when they don’t have many other food sources.”
“So you’re not annoyed with me?” Byron asked, searching her face with his tender gaze.
“No, why would I be? I’m just glad you’re up and about, and no longer upset about Teddy,” Emily said. “What happened?”
Byron shrugged. “I just got over it. If he doesn’t care about me, that’s fine. There are plenty of other people in my life who love me.”
“But he does care,” Emily said warmly. “I’ve just been to see him and his family.” She tried for a cute smile so that Byron wouldn’t be angry at her for telling him it was a business trip…
“Oh, so that’s what your ‘business trip’ was about?” Byron grinned, and it seemed he wasn’t mad at her for the deception.
“Yeah, I didn’t want to tell you I was going to see him. I knew you would try to talk me out of it. But… before I go on, I should probably tell you there’s some bad news.”
Emily told them about Teddy’s illness, and Byron listened intently. Sylvia was shocked and saddened, even though she had spent many years avoiding her ex-husband. Emily went on to tell them everything about her visit, including most importantly that Teddy wanted to invest that money he borrowed in his children’s education.
“I thought Teddy would keep going forever,” Sylvia said. “In his own blundering way, he seemed pretty strong.”
Byron looked grave, his eyebrows moving a touch closer together. “I’m going to go see him. I can’t believe I made this all about me when he was just trying to leave some money for his kids.”
“You couldn’t have known,” Emily said. “Teddy should have said something, but he’s trying to be tough.”
“Still, I feel terrible. I’m going to go home now and book my ticket to California.”
Emily was thrilled that her trip had actually produced some results. Even though it was under sad circumstances, Byron might be able to finally reconcile with his father.
“I’m going to go home and change,” Sylvia declared.
“I wish I could stay and enjoy the hummingbird feeders you’ve set up for me,” Emily said tiredly, “but I’ve got to get back to work. Ruby did her usual trick of sabotaging me while I was away.”
“I can’t believe she’s still trying to interfere with your work,” Byron said. “You should let me deal with her.”
“It’s okay,” Emily said. “I’ll take care of it. Ruby is really her own worst enemy.”
She couldn’t believe she had almost forgotten to ask him about the ‘compromising’ email that Ruby sent out.
“You didn’t get any weird emails lately, did you?”
Byron shook his head. “Even if I did, I deleted them all. Teddy has been sending me so much junk that I just go through my inbox and delete any message I get.”
“That’s one way to have a clean inbox,” Emily said. This day was just getting better and better. She was glad that Ruby had failed in her stupid scheme. It also occurred to her that maybe in some way Byron had not given up all hope of reconciling with Teddy. He could have marked Teddy’s messages as ‘spam’, but he obviously didn’t, allowing his inbox to be flooded with messages.
Everyone went inside the barn to say goodbye to Angie and her daughter Susie, who were taking care of an orphaned baby donkey. The donkey was adorable, its big dark eyes filled with affection.
“If you’d like to stay for dinner,” Angie said, “You’re more than welcome.”
“I wish I could,” Emily replied, “but I have to rush back to work. I’m very sad not to be able to spend more time with you ladies, and see how the new hummingbird feeders are doing.”
“If it’s any comfort,” Angie said, “I think the hummingbirds will take a day or two to discover the feeders and tell their friends. When you come back in a few days, it’ll be much busier around here.”
Emily hoped she would have the leisure time to come back here soon, and not be scrambling to save her company after what Ruby had done.
