“Bye, baby. If you need anything tell Aunt Leighanne or Uncle Brian and they’ll call us, okay?” Shelby kissed Lanie’s forehead for the millionth time. “If she even feels slightly warm, call her doctor and then call me, okay?” She made Leigh promise. Leighanne hugged her and nodded.
“Shell, it’s for two days. I promise she’ll be fine,” Leighanne smiled. “If anything happens, we’ll give you guys a call.” She assured Shelby. I bent down and kissed the top of Lanie’s head.
“I love you, baby,” I smiled. “Just remember, Miss Amy is going to come by and give you your medicine every day and sit with you while you’re sick, okay?” I reminded her. We had a nurse coming in to give her the chemo while we were away and sitting with her while she was sick. We didn’t want Leighanne or Brian having to worry about it.
“Okay daddy,” Lanie smiled up at me from her position on the floor playing with her toys. We said our final goodbyes and made our way out to my black Cadillac. Shelby sighed as she buckled her seatbelt and fidgeted with her purse while I started the car.
“Shell, she’s gonna be fine,” I reassured her and placed my hand on hers as I backed out of the driveway. “Leigh and Brian know what they’re doing and the nurse will be there most of the time anyway.”
“I know, it’s just, I feel like such a bad parent for leaving her when she’s so sick, ya know?” She mumbled and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
“We’re not bad parents,” I assured her. “We need a break every once and a while, too. We can’t put all of our energy into Lanie and then not get it back from anywhere.” I explained. I hadn’t told Shelby where we were going yet. I was hoping she’d be surprised. She wouldn’t figure it out, exactly, until we got there.
“Okay,” she sighed, content for the moment. She glanced out the window and then back at me with a curious frown. “So where exactly are we going?” She asked me. I grinned.
“I’m still not telling,” I stuck my tongue out playfully. She rolled her eyes and giggled. “You’ll find out soon enough. I promise.” My hand had now moved to the gear in between us. I watched as she glanced back out the window. I figured she was partly trying to figure out where exactly we were headed, and part of her was in deep concentration. “What’s on your mind?” I asked her softly.
She smiled back over at me and shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know.” She mumbled and played with her fingers in her lap. “Lanie, the baby, us. Normal stuff.” She chuckled. I nodded and continued to watch the road in front of me.
“You still feeling positive?” I wanted to double check. Shelby and I had really come a long way so far – we were getting through this day by day; I wanted to make sure she was still okay with everything.
“Yeah,” she nodded. “Just…thinking.” She shrugged with a sigh. “I, uh, I was thinking maybe we could have a bunch of our stuff transferred from Florida over here.” She mumbled and glanced at me curiously, almost afraid of what I would think of that. Little did she know, I was very pleasantly surprised. I grinned and nodded.
“Oh really?” I smirked.
She laughed and nodded. “Yeah, I mean, I’m not sure what’ll happen when Lanie’s better. But I guess we’ll just see?” She mumbled and licked her lips.
I knew I wanted her to stay forever. I would never ask her to leave. But I also knew she wasn’t at that point in our relationship where she felt comfortable announcing that. I was hoping after tonight and tomorrow she’d feel a bit differently. “Okay, that sounds good.” I said simply. I saw her frown in my direction; she knew I never gave up that easily.
She turned her direction back to the window and frowned as we started to pass more signs directing us to the beaches. “Nick, where are we going?” She asked, again. I shook my head and smiled.
“You’ll see soon enough,” I repeated.
“Are you taking me to the beach?” She asked, getting somewhat excited. I knew Shelby loved the beach. That was our favorite place when we were together. I knew Shelby had worn off on Lanie a bit because whenever she was staying with me, she always wanted me to take her to the beach.
“Jeez, woman! Do you not know what the word ‘surprise’ means?” I laughed and so did she.
“Oh my God! You’re taking me to the beach!!” She squealed and put her hand on mine. “Nick, this is gonna be incredible! I haven’t been to the beaches out here in LA since…well…since you and I were together!” I laughed and smiled at how excited she was. I hadn’t seen her this excited or happy since before Lanie got so sick.
“Wow, I couldn’t deny it now,” I joked. “What if I was taking you to some restaurant or something and we weren’t even going to the beach?” I laughed. “Dude, how bad would that suck? I’d have to like, completely rearrange my plans and everything because you’re so excited.”
“Aw,” she pouted playfully. “You’d do that for me?” She blinked her beautiful brown eyes a few times and made the infamous Shelby James-Carter ‘puppy dog’ face that got me every time.
“Of course,” I said softly and focused back on the road. “I’d do anything.” I said seriously. She smiled and turned back to face the road as well.
“It kills me when you say stuff like that,” she said quietly. Our moods went from playful and fun to serious and quiet. She glanced in my direction and I frowned.
“Uh, good kill or bad kill?” I tried to joke. I knew ‘kill’ usually meant bad.
“I-I don’t know,” she frowned. “Just, when you say stuff like that. It just gets to me because those are things you used to say when we were together before…and I fell for them. But you didn’t mean any of it.” She mumbled.
“Shell,” I sighed and placed my hand on hers again. I tried to look at her as best as I could as we continued to drive down the highway. “Things are different now. You know that. I’ve changed so much. I swear to you I’m not the same guy I was five years ago.”
She nodded through tears and looked back out the window, and then back at me once more. “I don’t know how to believe you, Nick. I really, really want to. But it’s like I’m too broken to even try.” She shrugged and wiped at her eyes.
“I want to prove it to you,” I said simply. She nodded. “I swear I will, Shelby. I’ll make you see how much I want you, Lanie and the baby.”
I had to do something. I knew this weekend might be a good chance to prove to her I really was different and I really wanted her and Lanie and this new baby for the rest of my life.
“Okay,” she smirked a little. I pulled up to a boat dock. I was hoping this little conversation hadn’t completely ruined her attitude. It’d be really hard for me to prove how much I loved her and wanted her when she was completely not in the mood to even be around me. I glanced over and watched the corners of her lips slowly curve up in a grin. “Are you taking me on a boat?” She asked softly and bit her bottom lip in anticipation.
I chuckled and nodded. “Yeah.” I was so excited just because she seemed completely excited. It really made me feel great knowing just how much she was enjoying this already.
“You are amazing, you know that?” She beamed and opened her car door.
I grinned like a teen who had just been kissed for the first time. She called me amazing. Maybe that spark was turning into a fire now after all.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks for being patient! And thanks for reviewing!! Right now it's Homecoming week at my University so I'm involved in a bunch of festivities around campus, but I'll try my hardest to continue to update at least once every other day. Keep the reviews coming, though!! Thanks =]
