[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
Nick stood at the kitchen sink washing the breakfast dishes while Winnie and David bustled around the house packing. Every June they would drive down to Charleston to spend a week and they were leaving in the next hour. He smiled to himself when he heard Winnie scurry through the kitchen.

“Are you sure you won’t come with us, sweetheart?” she asked as she re-entered the room with her suitcase.

“I’m sure, Gram. You and David go and have fun,” Nick smiled and wrapped his grandmother in a warm hug.

“Okay then,” she smiled and kissed his cheek. “You know where to call if you need anything.”

Nick nodded and smiled at David as he appeared behind his wife. “Everything is going to be fine.”

Nick told them goodbye a final time and David practically had to drag Winnie away from him. Even if he was 23 years old and had lived by himself before, she often forgot that. She was always making sure he was okay and asking if he needed anything. A true worrywart.

Because the hardware shop wasn’t open this week while David and Winnie would be gone he would be working around the house, so Nick finished up the dishes and decided to head outside to wash the cars. As he was filling up his bucket, he heard a car horn out front. A few minutes later Graham, Chase, Joylyn and Dee-Dee rounded the corner of the house.

“Look at you…the perfect little housewife,” Chase called out causing his girlfriend to giggle.

Nick rolled his eyes at Chase’s bad joke and resumed filling up the bucket. “What are you doing here?”

“Just thought we’d stop by and see how you are,” Chase grinned from ear to ear as he sat down on the steps. “Can’t friends check up on one another anymore?”

“Not when they don’t want something,” Nick joked and began to spray down the truck. “That’s the only time I ever see you.”

“Oh, puh-leeze,” Chase scoffed.

“Hey, Dee-Dee,” Nick offered a friendly smile when he noticed she hadn’t taken her eyes off him.

‘Hey,” she responded quietly and quickly looked away.

“So, what are you doing tonight?” Chase asked when everyone was quiet again.

Nick just shrugged and continued on with his chore. Realizing Graham had not spoken a word the entire time he’d been standing there, he shut off the water and turned to face his friend. “What’s the matter with you? Are you sick or something? I know something’s got to be wrong if you aren’t talkin’.”

Graham smiled and shook his head. “Nah, nothing’s wrong.”

“He’s got a hot date tonight, so he won’t be out with us,” Chase said loudly causing Nick to grin.

“Well, it’s about time,” he joked as Graham shot him the finger. “Who’s the hot date and where are ya takin’ her?”

“Paige Harrelson. We’re probably going to get pizza or something local,” Graham answered with a shrug of his shoulders.

“You comin’ out with us?” Chase interrupted.

“Nope,” Nick answered quickly and he saw Dee-Dee’s face fall. “I’ve got a lot of shit to do.”

“Oh, well, your loss,” he replied and pulled a weed from beside the steps.

“You can’t be that busy,” Joylyn spoke up, sending a cold glare toward Nick.

“Actually, I don’t just go out and get drunk all the time. I have stuff I need to do before Gram and David get back,” he retorted ignoring Joylyn’s attitude.

“Okay, well, I think we are gonna leave so you can get your shit done,” Chase said and swatted Joylyn on the backside. “We’ll get up with ya later, Nickolas.”

Nick nodded and rolled his eyes. He knew why Joylyn had such a problem with him so suddenly; Dee-Dee told her what was going on. Before long, everybody in this damn town is gonna know…

***

Elisabeth stepped out of her bathroom feeling oddly refreshed. When she got home the night before, Joshua was gone. He had come home shortly after she walked out of the restaurant and decided he would stay in a hotel nearby.

Pulling on a pair of khaki shorts and a t-shirt, she went downstairs and found her mother making breakfast as Kaitlyn sat at the bar, pouting. “Good morning,” she greeted as she took the orange juice out of the refrigerator.

When no one answered Elisabeth turned to find her mother and daughter both staring at her. “What’s wrong?”

Kaitlyn rolled her eyes and left the kitchen without saying anything, but Abigail kept staring.

“What is the matter?” Elisabeth asked, growing frustrated.

“Nothing,” she answered and turned back to the pan of bacon.

“Okay,” Elisabeth replied and finished her glass of juice before leaving the room. Picking up the keys to her mother’s Denali, she smiled. “I think I will go see Nick.”

***

Was that someone at the door? Nick asked himself as he shut off the washer. When he heard the knock again, he dropped the laundry basket and went to see who was at the door. “God, I hope it’s not Dee-Dee.”

Before he went to open the door, he grabbed the telephone so he would be able to get out of her visit if need be. Nick put the phone to his ear and, reluctantly, opened the door. “Lizzie,” he smiled forgetting about the phone.

“Uh, if you’re busy I can come back later,” she said when she saw that he was in the middle of a phone call.

“Oh, no,” he smiled sheepishly and put the phone on the counter as he stepped aside to let her in. “I had that in case it was Dee-Dee.”

“Oh…okay,” she laughed and walked up to him, wrapping her arms around his waist and placing her head on his chest. “I’m sorry I didn’t call yesterday.”

Nick pulled her closer and smiled as he took in the heavenly scent of peaches that seemed to envelop her. “That’s okay, I know you have a family.”

Elisabeth smiled as Nick lifted her chin and placed a soft kiss on her lips. She could feel herself melting in his arms and then remembered what she had to tell him. Breaking the kiss, she let out a short sigh. “Can we talk?”

“Sure,” he answered as a mixture of worry and confusion appeared in his eyes. Taking her hand in his, he led them to the den. “Is everything okay?”

“That depends on how you look at things,” she said before biting her bottom lip. “Joshua’s in town.”

“He is?” Nick’s eyes widened. “Well, do you think you should be here?”

“Honestly, no, I shouldn’t be here. He knows about us, Nick,” Elisabeth said truthfully. “I don’t know how he knows about us, but he knows it all. The night on the beach…at the Inn…at Hurricane. He’s very well informed.”

Raking his hands nervously through his hair, Nick let out a worried sigh. “How could he know what’s going on between us?”

“I have no idea how he found out but he knows everything.”

***

Nick sighed contentedly and rubbed Elisabeth’s back as the lay snuggled together on his couch. Brushing her hair away from her eyes he kissed her forehead and wrapped his arms around her tighter. “Stay here tonight.”

It was more a request than a demand, but it nevertheless caught her off guard. “What?”

“Spend the night here. Gram and David are gone until next week and I have this place to myself.”

“I don’t know, Nick.”

“I know Joshua is here, but how will he know? I can pick you up from somewhere later; we can go get some things to make for dinner and I can cook for you. What do ya say? Spend the night?”

Elisabeth began to chew her bottom lip as she thought about what she should do. Deciding that she really had nothing else to lose, she nodded. “Okay.”

“Great,” Nick grinned. “We can have a romantic night in.”

***

Nick walked through the grocery store picking up the essentials for a nice, romantic dinner for two. He decided to make a chicken dish that Winnie had taught him years ago. He would admit that he was no Emeril, but he could make a mean Chicken Parmesan.

“Candles…” he mumbled heading to that aisle.

“You have a hot date, too?” Dee-Dee’s soft voice came from behind him.

Damn it. “I wouldn’t say that,” he chuckled and picked up a few candles.

“Could’ve fooled me,” she replied eyeing the contents of his shopping cart. Half a dozen long stem red roses, white wine, candles…looked like a steamy night planned.

“Well, I’ve gotta get going,” Nick said as he started to push his cart toward the front of the store, leaving Dee-Dee standing there.

As soon as Nick got to the truck, he checked his watch. 4:52. He had just enough time to get home and shower then set up and start dinner before he had to pick Elisabeth up at 6:30.

He was almost giddy at the thought of the night ahead of him. It was as if he were spending the night with her for the first time in his life; his stomach was one big knot. It is the first time she’s ever stayed with me at home, he reasoned with himself trying to find an excuse for his nervousness.

***

“This is wonderful, Nick,” Elisabeth smiled up at him. He had picked her up, roses in hand, and taken her back to his home. The room was lit by candles and there was soft music playing.

Nick snaked his arms around her waist from behind as she stood staring into the dining room, a smile on her lips and tears in her eyes. “Is this okay?”

“This is beautiful,” she tried to find the right words to describe the setting. “No one has ever done anything like this for me before. Thank you.”

“Well, get used to it,” Nick smiled and pulled a chair out for her. I’m gonna go get dinner.”

Elisabeth propped her head on her hand and looked around the room. There were candles everywhere and a vase of wildflowers were at the center of the table. She could tell Nick had put a lot of work into getting all this ready for her. She smiled at Nick as he came back into the dining room pushing a cart with the food.

“Where did you get that?” she laughed referring to the cart.

“Gram has had it a long time and I decided it would come in handy tonight,” he grinned. Clearing his throat, Nick tried using a posh British accent that didn’t quite come out right. “Dinner is served, Madam.”

Elisabeth burst out laughing as he impersonated a stuffy butler. “Nick, you don’t have to go that far.”

“Okay, okay. The accent is a bit much,” he leaned down and kissed her forehead before placing her plate down in front of her. Taking his seat he lifted the bottle of white wine and filled their glasses. “I hope all of this is okay?”

“Are you serious?” she asked as she took a bite of her chicken. “Okay, this is perfect. You are really too good to be true.”

Nick smiled and felt a slight blush creeping up his neck onto his cheeks. “Nah.”

After they finished eating dinner, Nick loaded all the dishes onto his cart and pushed them back into the kitchen with Elisabeth following closely behind.

“Let me help you with those,” she said as she picked up a plate.

“Don’t you dare,” Nick swatted her hand away. “I’m just gonna put these in the dish washer and be done with them. I have an idea. Why don’t you go take a nice warm bubble bath while I do this.”

“Are you sure?” she asked not wanting to leave him to do all the work.

Nick turned to Elisabeth and put his index finger on her lips to keep her from saying anything else. “I’m positive. Now, go take a bath and relax. Don’t come out until you’re good and ready.”

Smiling, she stood on her toes and kissed Nick’s soft lips. “Definitely too good to be true.”

Getting the last of the dishes in the dish washer, Nick put away everything and blew out all the candles. As he was moving the candles off of the table, he stumbled over something on the floor. He bent down to see what he had kicked over and saw that it was Elisabeth’s purse. “Woops,” he said to himself and bent to pick it up, dropping the contents on the floor. “Shit.”

Scooping everything up, he lifted it so he could put it back in the bag. He didn’t want Elisabeth to come back in the room and assume he was going through her stuff. “That would be great,” he grumbled as he dropped something on the floor. Bending down once more he saw he dropped some pictures. “So, this is Elisabeth the family woman.” He smiled as he flipped past a picture of Elisabeth with her two children. There were many pictures of Jacob and Kaitlyn and a couple of Elisabeth with her parents. The last picture was of Elisabeth with her husband and children. He brought the wallet sized picture closer so he could see it better. Staring back at him was a man he had seen before. He’d seen him the day before with Graham.

After getting a chocolate cake, Nick rounded the corner to find the lighter fluid and ran into Graham who was talking to an older man. “Hey Graham,” he smiled and gave a polite nod to the man who simply looked at him with disinterest.

“Hey, bud,” Graham smiled and patted Nick on the back. Glancing at Joshua he motioned to his friend, “This is an old friend, Josh.”

“Nice to meet you, man,” Nick said and extended his hand.

Blowing off the handshake, Josh cocked his eyebrow and sized Nick up before directing his attention back to Graham. “Remember what we talked about. I’ll see you around.”

Nick watched, slightly amused, as Josh stalked off towards the front of the store. “What the hell was that about?”

“Nothin’,” Graham laughed. “He’s uptight sometimes.”

“Yeah, I noticed that.”

“So, what are you doing here?” Graham asked, changing the subject. “Thought you would be on a hot date with Elisabeth.”

“That son of a bitch,” Nick said angrily as he grabbed his car keys. “No wonder Joshua knows about Lizzie and me. There’s a fucking weasel in town.”

***

“Hey man, what are you doin’ here?” Chase asked as Nick pushed his way inside. “You want a beer or something?”

“Where’s Graham?” Nick asked as he looked around the small living room of Chase’s apartment.

“What?”

“Where the hell is Graham?” he yelled.

“He had that date tonight. What’s wrong?” Chase questioned.

“Where did he take her?”

“What? Man, what the hell is wrong with you?”

“Are you stupid or something? Where did Graham go on his date?”

Chase scowled at Nick as they stood toe to toe. “Banana Joe’s.”

Wasting no time, Nick was out the door again and on his way to Banana Joe’s to “talk” to his dear friend.

It only took Nick ten minutes to get across town to Banana Joe’s and once inside he immediately spotted Graham and his date. They were nice and cozy in a booth away from everyone; very happy looking. Yeah, I’m gonna give you something to smile about, asshole…

Graham looked up just in time to see Nick’s fist coming straight for his face, but he didn’t have time to react. “What the hell is your problem, Nick?” he yelled when he tasted blood in his mouth.

“You are,” Nick yelled and grabbed the collar of Graham’s shirt and jerked him out of the booth.

Graham tried his best to free himself from Nick’s grasp, but it was no use. Nick was much taller and bigger and he soon found himself being thrown against the wall. He heard Paige yelling for someone to come get Nick off of her date, but it seemed like it was taking forever. Everything was going in slow motion.

“You are one sorry bastard,” Nick yelled as he delivered one punch after the other to Graham’s aching stomach. “I can’t believe you could even call me your friend. You know how much I love her and you ratted us out to her husband.”

Before Nick could say anything else, he felt a pair of large hands pulling on his arms. It’s gonna take more than that to move me, he thought with another adrenaline rush as he began to furiously fight against the man tugging at him. He was throwing blind punches at Graham, but he knew that no matter where they landed, they were doing the damage he intended. Finally, Nick felt two more men pulling him away from Graham and he decided he wouldn’t fight them this time. He’d done enough; Graham was curled up on the floor with a bloody nose and lip and he was holding his stomach.

“You need to come with me,” the manager said in a frustrated tone. “You’re gonna take a little ride to the police station.”

“Sure thing,” Nick said nonchalantly. Turning slightly he looked down at Graham with a smirk. “I hope you got my point.”