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Chapter 6

Lance and Sarah slowly pushed their way through a crowded airport as they tried their best to delay the inevitable. Sarah was a ball of mixed emotions. In the year she’d spent there, San Francisco had become as much of a home as Whitmore Lake. There were several things that she was going to miss terribly, her aunt, the big city life, good clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl, and the ocean, oh how she was going to miss the ocean, but most of all Sarah was going to miss Lance. She and Lance had become as close as two people could. She smiled nervously at him as they reached the security gate. Lance moped as if every step brought him a few inches closer to his ultimate doom.

Sarah looked up at the ceiling as her flight was announced over the intercom. There was no more delaying it; it was time to go. She took a deep breath and set her keys in Lance’s hand. “That’s me.” She sighed, “Now remember, no wandering eyes while driving past the beach! I don’t want to see a scratch on her when I come back this fall.”

Lance gripped the keys to the mustang as if he intended to guard the car with his life. He slipped them into his pocket and then pulled an expertly wrapped gift from his bag. “What’s this?” Sarah asked as he handed the box to her.

Lance held back a few tears and said, “Something to remember me by.”

Sarah tore off the paper and smiled at their prom photo in a fuchsia picture frame. A few tears fell from Sarah’s eyes and she kissed Lance on the cheek. “Don’t have too much fun without me.” She said and then stepped through the metal detector.

**********

The sun beat down relentlessly on the Whitmore Lake High School class of 2006. A clear blue sky hung above their heads undisturbed until hundreds of hats were whisked into the air with a roar of cheers. Nick slowly made his way through the crowd finding his girlfriend among the sea of matching gowns. The two then made their way to Nick’s parents. After surviving his mother’s hugs and kisses he was greeted by Brian. Brian hugged his little brother and the two posed for a few pictures to appease their mother. As soon as he could Brian headed for the parking lot but Nick quickly caught up. “Yo Bri! You headin’ out?”

“Yeah man. I got some stuff to take care of.”

“Do you have time to give me a ride to the shop? My baby’s finished!” He said excitedly.

Brian laughed. “Do you ever think of anything but that car?”

“Sometimes I think about my girlfriend.” Nick teased back.

Brian looked around suddenly surprised to see Nick solo. “Speaking of, where is your better half?”

“I dunno. She said she had some crap to take care of. She’s pretty preoccupied right now. She leaves for New York in the morning.”

“Oh that’s right.” Brian said, “How you gonna survive a whole week without her?”

“Well I’ll have my baby back so maybe I’ll take her for a nice long drive or something.”

“You know your obsession with that car is borderline sick.” Brian laughed but then agreed to take Nick to the shop.

As they reached main street Nick’s car came into view. It sat out front of the shop looking good as new. Nick’s eyes lit up but he frowned when Brian stopped a block shy of the shop. Brian looked in the window of the vacant building he was parked in front of. The for lease sign had been removed. Nick turned to his brother with a bit of a pout. “Why’d we stop? And why are we staring at an empty building?”

Brian grinned. “It’s not just an empty building, it’s our empty building.”

“What?” Nick asked not understanding what Brian was getting at.

“What do you think? I heard from the bank yesterday and our business loan was approved. If all goes according to plan we could open by the end of the summer.”

Nick looked at the building and then back to his brother realizing finally that Brian had pulled the crazy scheme off. “You didn’t!” he said impressed.

“I did.”

“Wow.” Nick said. Part of him never actually believed they would do it but here he was looking at what was going to become his future business. “That’s great Bri. You really did it. It’s really done?”

“Almost. We have to get Deanna to sign the final partnership agreement, but other than that you’re looking at the new home of Harper Priceless Rentals.”

“That sounds easy enough. Deanna will be back in time for the party tonight.”

“Perfect. She can sign it before she leaves for the wedding.”

Nick cringed at the mention of the word wedding. “I’m so sick of all the talk about weddings!” He began to grumble. “It’s turned Deanna into some kind of monster. You know she has ours planned down to the very last ice sculpture.”

“I can imagine.” Brian chuckled. “So has she talked you into getting her a ring yet?”

“Not for lack of trying.” Nick moaned. “I mean I know we’ve been together for a year and all but we’re only 18. If we’re still together in like 5 years then maybe, maybe we’ll talk about getting engaged.”

“What do you mean if? I thought you two were a done deal.”

Nick released a tiny sigh. “I know. I’m not planning on breaking up or anything, its just all the wedding talk lately, it’s creeping me out. And that damn dog! It’s like it’s our kid or something. The whole situation is just way too grown up for me.”

Brian burst into laughter but Nick didn’t appreciate it. “It’s not like you can talk!” He argued, “If you would take the time to go on a date once, let alone actually get into a relationship, you might understand how scary it can be.”

Brian shrugged and gave in. His brother did have a small point. Brian quickly changed the subject before Nick tried to set him up on another blind date. He glanced down at his watch. “The real estate guy should be here any minute to hand over the keys. You want to take a look inside?”

Nick looked up at the vacant building and then up the street but a big van was now blocking the view of his car. “I’ll see it later.” He said, “This has been the longest two weeks of my life and I want my baby back.”

Up the street the airport shuttle van drove away leaving Sarah standing on the curb in front of the shop. Everything about her had changed, her hair, her clothes, her confidence... All remnants of that shy confused girl were gone and in her place stood a beautiful young woman who was a perfect picture of style and sophistication. She set her bags down at the front door of the shop and was disappointed to see a sign in the window saying: back in ten minutes. Sarah glanced at the café across the street and smiled to herself.

Just when Nick reached his car he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Sarah step to the curb. He’d never seen such a beautiful stranger in all his life, but to see one in his little town was even more thrilling. Sarah looked both ways as if she were going to cross the street when her eyes caught Nick’s and he flashed her his most charming smile.

Sarah could hardly believe that the first person she saw when she returned home was Nick Harper, the boy she’d spent her entire life fussing over. Surprisingly she’d hardly thought of him the past year but now that he was standing right there in front of her the butterflies in her stomach slowly began to flutter. She was happy to see him again and to see him smiling at her in such a way made all of those old, all but forgotten feelings rise to the surface again. “Hello.” She said with a smile every bit as charming as his.

The greeting surprised Nick. He knew she was talking to him but it was almost as if she knew him. The beautiful stranger intrigued him. “Hi there.” He answered walking up to her instead of the car.

“I should have guessed you’d be around here somewhere.”

Sarah laughed when she saw Nick’s look of confusion. She pointed to the corvette in the driveway. “Where there’s one, there’s always the other.” She teased.

Sarah was amused by the way Nick seemed to be fumbling over himself at the moment. It wasn’t that long ago that Sarah couldn’t string together a single thought when Nick was around but it seemed now that the tables had turned. It was obvious that he hadn’t recognized her and Sarah wondered how he would react when he found out. “You don’t know who I am do you?” she said with a giggle.

“Should I? It appears you know who I am, but I’m sure we’ve never met. I would remember someone as pretty as you.”

“Same old Nick. Always such a charmer.”

“So we have met.”

“Many times.” Sarah laughed.

Nick was dying now. This girl was casting a spell on him with her playful nature. It was driving him crazy that he didn’t know who she was. “Well we obviously never got that well aquatinted all those other times so what do you say we head across the street and get to know each other better over lunch?”

Sarah couldn’t believe that Nick was asking her out. Seeing his face again was like stepping through a time capsule except now he was paying attention to her, flirting even. It was like a dream. She wanted desperately to say yes but she had not yet seen her father and as much as her heart went thump, thump over Nick, she loved her daddy more. “Oh God Nick, you know I’d love to catch up, but I just got here and I’ve got a ton of things to do right now.”

Completely enthralled by the girl Nick couldn’t take no for an answer. He tried desperately to think of something else that might entice her to stay. His face lit up when he remembered his plans for that evening. “My mother is throwing a graduation party for my brother and I tonight. Why don’t you come?”

Sarah was a little surprised by the invitation but it made her heart flutter. She tried her best to keep cool and hide her excitement by simply smiling. The smile faded though when she realized exactly what he’d said. “A party for both of you? You mean Brian graduated?”

Sarah was surprised to hear that Brian was graduating but her reaction was a nervous one as she remembered her final night in Michigan over a year ago. Nick looked curiously at Sarah noticing the tension. He was now truly baffled because Brian had hardly even spoken of girls. The thought popped into Nick’s brain that maybe Brian had taken this girl out once or something but within seconds Nick laughed the idea out of his head. Even if his brother had gone on a date without him knowing there was no way he would have gone out with a girl like this. “Yeah,” he finally said answering Sarah’s question, “He finished a year early. So, just how well do you know Brian?”

“About as well as I know you.” Sarah replied honestly. In actuality Sarah had been around the Harpers her whole life and yet she’d never really spent much time with any of them.

Nick laughed at the way she seemed to be dodging all of his questions. “You have to come tonight.” He said, “Eight o’clock. Promise me you’ll come.”

Sarah smiled but never got the chance to answer because Brian had finished with the real estate agent and caught up to his brother. Once he was close enough he took one look at Sarah and his eyes grew wide. “Sarah!” he nearly gasped in shock.

Sarah forced a smile. “Hello again Brian.” She said politely.

Nick looked at his brother and then to Sarah. “Sarah.” He repeated glad to finally have a name. It sounded familiar and yet he still couldn’t place her.

“Wasn’t sure we were ever going to see you again. How was California?”

“It was nice.”

Nick watched them curiously. Everyone there seemed to be very well acquainted, except he had no idea who this girl was. “Sarah?” he said again trying desperately to figure it out.

Sarah shot a smile Nick’s direction trying not to laugh at the poor guy and at the same time she was so nervous being face to face with Brian. Brian however didn’t seem uneasy at all to her so she thought maybe he didn’t remember their goodbye. “Your dad must be thrilled to have you back.” Brian said again trying to make conversation, “I know he missed having you in the shop.”

“He actually doesn’t know I’m here yet. I took an early flight.”

Nick’s eyes nearly popped out of his head as he finally made the connection. “Sarah Thompson?”

Sarah finally broke out into laughter and nodded confirmation. Brian gave his brother a strange look. “Oh my god!” Nick said, “I wondered what ever happened to you. Now I see.”

Sarah blushed briefly as Nick looked her over until she heard the bell attached to the café door. She looked up and saw her father coming out of the café. “I’ve gotta go. It was good seeing you again.” She said to Brian and Nick both and then dashed across the street and into her father’s arms. Nick continued to watch her shaking his head in disbelief until he felt his brother’s gaze. “What?” he shrugged as innocently as he could but still sounded guilty.

“What was all that?”

“We were just catching up.” Nick said as a suspicious grin spread across his face.”

Brian put a firm arm around his brother’s shoulder. Nicholas Gene Harper, don’t you dare.” He said playfully.

“What?” Nick replied innocently.

Brian looked at Sarah who was now headed back toward the shop with her dad and became serious. “Don’t even think about it.”

“But I was just-“

“No.”

Brian waited around with his brother while he picked up his car. He couldn’t believe the difference in Sarah, the change was impressive to say the least but she was still the same old Sarah in the fact that she was obviously smitten with Nick, and Nick wasn’t helping the situation any flirting very subtly and insisting that she come to the party that night. Brian couldn’t help but feel like he wanted to knock some sense into both of them. But he wasn’t too worried about it because if she did come to the party, she would meet Deanna and the problem would be solved. Sarah was bound to give up when she learned that Nick had a girlfriend for over a year now and Nick was bound to remember that he loved his girlfriend of over a year. Brian would make sure of it.

Once the boys were gone Mr. Thompson took Sarah home and helped her get her luggage up the stairs. As he entered her bedroom carrying two extremely large and heavy suitcases he had to step over a back and a purse just to get to the bed, which he had to clear in order to make room for the bags. He looked down at all the luggage and stared with a smirk at the pile. “I didn’t realize suitcases could breed.” He laughed.

“Not a whole lot different from rabbits actually.” Sarah joked.

The two laughed together and Sarah picked up the back pack removing the picture of her and Lance. She smiled to herself as she placed it on the stand next to her bed. “I’m glad to see you’ve made so much progress.” Mr. Thompson said pointing at the picture.

“Progress?” Sarah repeated somewhat confused.

“I guess it’s safe to say you’re not still pining over Nick Harper. You finally found yourself a real boyfriend.

“Lance?” Sarah screamed bursting into uncontrollable laughter.

“He’s handsome.” Mr. Harper said unsure of what was so funny.

“He’s gay.” Sarah said trying to control her laughter.

“He’s what?” Mr. Thompson gasped blushing. He was stunned speechless and his jaw dropped to the floor.

“It’s quite common in San Francisco.” Sarah replied as if it were second nature to her now.

“I see.” Mr. Thompson said still feeling a little foolish. “So, no boyfriend?”

“I dated a couple of people but no real boyfriends, no.”

“And Nick?”

Sarah sighed. “I don’t know. I guess we’ll see. He invited me to a party tonight. I thought I was over it I hardly thought of him the whole time I was in California but when I saw him today…”

Sarah’s voice trailed off as her mind began to wander and Mr. Thompson frowned. “Sarah, Sarah, Sarah.” He sighed, “I guess some things never change.”

“But it has changed.” Sarah said in all seriousness, “I’ve changed.” Mr. Thompson gave his daughter a challenging look but she didn’t budge. “I’m not afraid anymore.” She said.

Mr. Thompson stood there a minute wondering how on earth his precious little baby grew up so fast. He stared admiringly at the young woman in her place. “I’m glad you’re back.” He finally said fighting back his emotions.

Sarah smiled and then jumped into his arms. “It’s good to be home.”