Nick was halfway out the door. He turned back quickly, wondering why his stomach had done a little dancing thing when he heard the sound.
After he sent the email to Abby, he decided to go back downstairs and zone out on video games. He figured he’d leave the computer on and plug in the power cord again. That way, he wouldn’t have to go through the long process of booting it up when he went to bed. He could just check the mail and shut things down.
Nick looked at the computer. He stroked the tiny mouse pad until the cursor hovered over the mailbox. Click! It was from Abby. He read it with a smile, laughing and nodding at the ‘whining’ comment.
Nick switched on his AIM. Oh, she wasn’t there. Oh well…
Hey, Abby!
Wow! You sure are busy for someone who doesn’t work for a living! LOL! It’s all good stuff, though. Lots to do with kids. I like kids. I am one, I guess. LOL!
Yes, I know there’s a lot of stuff out there about me. Why people care so much about it is beyond me. Take notes if you want, but just be sure that you don’t leave them around for AJ to find! LOL!!!
Nick
He wondered if she would reply quickly. He waited around for a few minutes, wandering in and out of the bedroom, going to the bathroom, straightening a picture in the hall. After twenty minutes of this, he began to feel foolish, so he went downstairs and played video games until he was tired enough to sleep.
Abby read the message. It had come through quickly after her reply to him. She wondered if he wanted a reply. He hadn’t included a question. Abby pondered a couple of ways of starting and then gave up. She’d think about it in the morning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~In the morning, she was up and out before she had a chance to even turn the computer on. This frustrated her because she wanted to get some ideas down for her story. Actually, the ideas she was getting seemed to be more for a third story. That’s why she wanted to make notes. She didn’t want to lose the thread of her current story. Third story! Was she crazy?
She sat through the meeting of the Symphony Board, assiduously taking notes of the minutes, as was her job. Every so often she would lift the page and write something on the one underneath it. Two or three people noticed, but no one said anything.
That afternoon at the children’s hospital, she asked the assembled group if they would like to hear a story that she had written. The head nurse came running into the day room when she heard the children howling, “Why me?” She found the children happily ensconced around Abby and the supervising nurse leaning against the door holding her sides and rocking back and forth.
“That was hilarious,” said the nurse, wiping a tear from her eye. “I laughed so hard it hurt.”
“What?” inquired the head nurse.
“Abby told the children a story…that she wrote. It was really good.”
“Well, I hope the children didn’t laugh until it hurt,” said the head nurse, taking a careful look around. Seeing that none of the children were suffering any ill effects from the story, she smiled and left the room.
For the next week, the catchphrase on the floor was ‘Why me?’ It could be heard coming out of all the children’s mouths whenever a sticky situation or nasty medical procedure came over the horizon. But it was said with humor and helped them deal with the tough parts of their life. It was heard more than once at the nurses’ station too.
Abby wasn’t surprised to find there was no email when she got home. It was her turn to write him. She wondered what would happen if she didn’t write him today. What would he think? Well, you know what, Abby? If you want to know what he’s thinking, you’ll have to ask him! Playing cat and mouse isn’t going to help the two of you keep this story straight. And if it all blows up, guess who is going to look like the biggest loser!
She thought about it through dinner. She ate silently and deflected questions sent her way as quickly as she could.
“Well, I’m not going John, and that’s that!” The sharp tone in her mother’s voice made Abby raise her head.
“Not going where, Mother?”
“Oh, Abigail, have you not heard one word we’ve said!? Where is your head at these days?”
Abby wondered what her mother would say if she answered, ‘The Kingdom of Myopia’.
John Fremont stepped in. “Your mother doesn’t want to come to Canada with me. To Toronto. And the convention is in two weeks.”
Every two years, Fremont Corporation thanked their management staff by bringing them in from around the country for a week-long convention. Much business was discussed, but more importantly, much networking and socializing was done as well. Spouses were included in the package and there was a woman in head office whose only job for the last three months had been coordinating the ‘spouse’ end of things. She had built it around Sharon Fremont and now the Fremont Corporation matriarch was refusing to attend.
“I love Toronto,” said Abby. “Why don’t you want to go, Mother?”
“I don’t like leaving the country,” answered Sharon. “Not for Canada, anyway. It’s so provincial.”
“There are over four million people in Toronto, Sharon,” said John. “I’d hardly call that provincial.”
“That’s right, Mother. It’s a vibrant city. And it’s beautiful too. People say it’s very much like Chicago. Good architecture, lots of parkland.”
“Well, if you like it so much, why don’t you go?” snapped her mother.
Because I won’t be able to write, was the first thought that zipped through Abby’s mind. She blinked it away and turned to her father. His eager expression told her all she needed to know from that quarter. “What do you think, Daddy?” she asked anyway.
“Would you? I could get Mavis to book you a room.”
Abby turned to her mother. “Are you sure, Mother? You’d have a good time.”
Her mother shook her head. “I have too much to do here anyway. The Opera wants me to help organize a food drive for Thanksgiving.” She waved her hand at the other two. “You two go and have a good time.”
Abby smiled to herself. Now that her mother had gotten her way, she had to make herself look like the martyr. You two run along and have fun and I’ll stay behind working my fingers to the bone for the Opera charity thing which is still two months away!
“Okay, Daddy. Tell Mavis to make the arrangements. I’ll let the school and the hospital know that I can’t come in that week.” Abby ran over her other engagements in her mind. There was nothing that was pressing. Kinda sad, she thought. I won’t be missed anywhere. “I’d better tell Nick.” She didn’t realize that she had said that out loud.
“Of course, you must,” said her mother. “I’m sure he’ll want to know you’re leaving the country.”
“I’m going to Toronto, Mother, not Nepal,” said Abby, smiling inwardly at the thought that she now had a reason to write to Nick.
“Why doesn’t he ever call you, Abigail? On the phone. He’s only called that once, that I know of.”
Abby could feel the heat rising to her cheeks. “Email and Instant Messaging are free. Long distance calling is not,” she said.
“Hmm,” responded her mother with a shrug. “I guess if you can type, it’s okay.” She made it sound like a disease. Abby was sure her mother’s fingers had never touched a keyboard.
“Well, if you’ll excuse me…” Abby placed her napkin on the table and stood up.
Her father stood up with her. “I’m glad you’re coming with me, Honey.”
Abby gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and hurried upstairs to her computer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Dear Nick,
Nick wasn’t sure why he was so happy to see that he had a note from Abby. He’d been disappointed to wake up this morning and find nothing, but he’d shrugged it off. He knew she was busy and all, and he knew he’d kind of let it slide, but…well, wasn’t she the one who said that they needed to know what the other was doing? He was going to write to her again, but he wasn’t sure what to say and besides, it was her turn. And he had to go out anyway…he had to go get tortured by Luke the Terminator.
When he returned, the first thing he did was check his email. He tried to pass off the disappointment as disinterest but wasn’t totally successful. Mary came over and they had a long meeting, discussing a lot of things to do with the house and other matters. Mary skated around the topic but by the end, she made sure Nick knew that she was willing to relocate to continue being his assistant. Nick felt slightly guilty that he hadn’t even taken that into consideration. Or Mrs. Marchesa either. God, he was a selfish prick sometimes!
Dear Nick,
The cursor hovered over the message. Nick had avoided the computer all afternoon. He’d met with Mary until nearly half past three and then he’d gone down to the marina and pretended to work on his boat.
A couple of girls had wandered by and flirted with him from the dock. He’d continued polishing the railing and chatted with them, secure in the knowledge that he didn’t have to make a move…in fact, couldn’t make a move…he had a girlfriend. He was in a relationship. He was amazed by the calming effect it had on him and how much easier it made conversation. He didn’t blush or stammer or look at the ground the way he usually did when meeting real girls. Not fans. He was cool with fans. He was the calm one then. They were the nervous, jittery ones then, shaking and crying.
Nick laughed to himself as he clicked the email open. He had never actually cried talking to a girl but sometimes he’d felt like it. Especially when he’d say something wrong…some silly slip of the tongue which would take him one step closer to cementing his reputation for stupidity. Abby didn’t mind when he said silly things. He’d said a lot of them during their ‘weekend in Chicago’. She had just laughed along with him. When he used the wrong word for what he meant, she simply typed in the correct one. Nick had started a list. He couldn’t remember what happened to it. He wondered what AJ would have made of that. Maybe he would have thought Nick was dating a dictionary.
Dear Nick,
Just checking in from the Windy City. It was a cool day here, slightly overcast, in case AJ needs to know. LOL! I guess fall is in the air.
I thought I’d let you know that I’m going to Toronto (Canada) the week after next. It’s the Fremont Corporation convention. My mother has decided she doesn’t want to go, so now I’m the official hostess. I’ve been there twice before. It’s a nice place. I guess you’ve been there a few times. What did you think of it?
Take care,
Abby
Nick smiled at the monitor. She had included a little joke. That meant she wasn’t mad. He had figured she was a little ticked that he hadn’t written for a whole week, but it all seemed good now. And she had asked him a question. That was good too. It gave him a starting point. Nick always had trouble with the first line. Once he got going, he was okay. Not as good as Abby, of course, he thought, completely unaware that it had taken her nearly twenty minutes to compose her message.
Hey, Abby!
Thanks for the weather report! I guess it won’t be long before winter comes and it will really be the Windy City! LOL!
I love Toronto! I’ve been there a bunch of times, performing, recording and just hanging out. You will have a great time. Will you get much free time? What hotel will you stay at? How long will you be there?
Inquiring minds want to know. LOL!
Nick
Abby heard the ping as she was coming out of the bathroom. She was dressed for bed. The weather had turned cool, even though it was only the second week of September and Abby had dragged her flannel pajamas out of the drawer. Her mother kept the house cool at the best of times, and she wouldn’t consider turning on the heat before the middle of October.
She opened the email and read it, smiling. Lots of questions to answer. Good! And he seemed to want to hear from her. Okay, she thought, I’ll answer it in the morning. Once a day. That’s all we need. Just like before. I’ll write every morning unless something urgent comes up. And now to bed.
Abby decided to read her second story, Princess Penelope Makes a Mistake, again before bed. She liked it, she decided. She would try it out on the kids at the school and the hospital. Now the third one…Abby clicked it open. She read what she had written so far. Maybe she didn’t want that bit about the cook. It was a good scene, she thought, it just doesn’t seem to fit this story. She opened her Notes file and moved the cook into it. Then she went back to the story and played with it a bit.
Footsteps in the hall made her stop and look at the clock. My goodness! It was nearly midnight. She’d been sitting here for over an hour. Abby reluctantly shut down her computer. She wanted to keep writing, but didn’t want her parents to hear the clicking. She hadn’t told them she was writing. She didn’t want them to know. It was her own private thing and she knew her mother would find some way to wreck it if she found out.
Abby crawled into bed and closed her eyes. She drifted off thinking about her story and spent the night dreaming of a new adventure for Princess Penelope, one that involved a handsome prince. At some point, the prince turned into Nick and then Penelope was Abby. They were on his boat and they were laughing and then they were back on shore and everything got weird. It turned into one of those dreams where you look frantically for something but can’t find it. What she was looking for was Nick. And just when she’d think she found him, he would turn into AJ and say, “You’re not real. Go away.”
Abby woke up in a sweat, her heart pounding. It was only 2:48. Go back to sleep, she commanded herself, and dream something better. When she fell back to sleep, she slipped back into the same dream and tossed and turned until dawn.
