The Rescue - Nicholas Sparks [32]
Once he graduated, Taylor bypassed college in favor of work, hanging drywall and learning the carpentry business. He apprenticed with a man who was an alcoholic, a bitter man whose wife had left him, who cared more about the money he’d make than the quality of the work. After a violent confrontation that nearly came to blows, Taylor quit working for him and started taking classes to earn his contractor’s license.
He supported himself by working in the gypsum mine near Little Washington, a job that left him coughing almost every night, but by twenty-four he’d saved enough to start his own business. No project was too small, and he often underbid to build up his business and reputation. By twenty-eight he’d nearly gone bankrupt twice, but he stubbornly kept on going, eventually making it work. Over the past eight years he’d nurtured the business to the point where he made a decent living. Not anything grand—his house was small and his truck was six years old—but it was enough for him to lead the simple life he desired.
A life that included volunteering for the fire department.
His mother had tried strenuously to talk him out of it. It was the only instance in which he’d deliberately gone against her wishes.
Of course, she wanted to be a grandmother as well, and she’d let that slip out every now and then. Taylor usually made light of the comment and tried to change the subject. He hadn’t come close to marriage and doubted whether he ever would. It wasn’t something he imagined himself doing, though in the past he’d dated two women fairly seriously. The first time was in his early twenties, when he’d started seeing Valerie. She was coming off a disastrous relationship when they’d met—her boyfriend had gotten another woman pregnant, and Taylor was the one she’d turned to in her time of need. She was two years older, smart, and they had gotten along well for a time. But Valerie wanted something more serious; Taylor had told her honestly that he might never be ready. It was a source of tension without easy answers. In time they simply drifted apart; eventually she moved away. The last he’d heard, she was married to a lawyer and living in Charlotte.
Then there was Lori. Unlike Valerie, she was younger than Taylor and had moved to Edenton to work for the bank. She was a loan officer and worked long hours; she hadn’t had the chance to make any friends when Taylor walked into the bank to apply for a mortgage. Taylor offered to introduce her around; she took him up on it. Soon they were dating. She had a childlike innocence that both charmed Taylor and aroused his protective interests, but eventually, she too wanted more than Taylor was willing to commit to. They broke up soon afterward. Now she was married to the mayor’s son; she had three children and drove a minivan. He hadn’t exchanged more than pleasantries with her since her engagement.
By the time he was thirty, he’d dated most of the single women in Edenton; by the time he was thirty-six, there weren’t that many left. Mitch’s wife, Melissa, had tried to set him up on various dates, but those had fizzled as well. But then again, he hadn’t really been looking, had he? Both Valerie and Lori claimed that there was something inside of him they were unable to reach, something about the way he viewed himself that neither of them could really understand. And though he knew they meant well, their