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Chapter Forty Seven – July 26

It’s surprising how fast three weeks can go when you’re insanely busy. Between meetings with the lawyer (who had managed to get $5,000 back for me), work, and missing Nick desperately, I was exhausted by eight o’clock every night.

By the end of July, it was almost like torture waking up. To make matters worse, two weeks ago I had seen no problem scheduling a program for kids at 10:30 in the morning. Now that the day had arrived, I doubted my sanity. Almost fifty kids ran around waiting for the program to begin. I sat in the story time room taking deep breaths; I felt like I was going to be sick.

“You almost ready Liv?” Lily said, poking her head in through the doors. I could see that she was holding a little preschooler back by blocking the door with her foot.

I nodded; the sooner I started, the sooner I could go hide at my desk for an hour or so. Once afternoon rolled around, I was much better. But the mornings…

Fifty boys and girls between the ages of three and seven came walking in hand in hand with their parents. The room filled up quickly; pretty soon it was standing room only.

I had on a pirate costume; it was buried treasure day.

“Ahoy maties!” I said in my best “pirate.” “Are we ready to get us some treasurrrre?”

“Aye, aye Captain!” a few little voices piped up.

I launched into a really sugary speech about how books are the best treasure. I sat down on a padded stool; the little bodies scooted close. Taking a deep breath, I felt a little acid back up in my throat. Swallowing the feeling, I launched into a story. After I was finished, I looked up. I had a scavenger hunt planned and I hoped I would be able to get enough volunteers. It would be great if I could stay in the room. I didn’t think I could run through the whole library.

“Argh, me thinks I need a few adult volunteers to take these crew members on a scavenger hunt,” I called out loudly.

Ashton and Ruby’s mom was quick to volunteer. With the amount of kids I had, I needed at least eight volunteers. A few more moms volunteered; then I roped in a few dads. I was one person short.

“Argh, I think I’ll take a crew Cap’n.”

My eyes widened. Nick worked his way up to me from the back of the crowd.

A thousand things ran through my head. I longed to toss my scavenger maps and run into his arms. Instead, I stood up and handed him a map.

“You’ve got these ruffians,” I said softly, pointing out a group.

“We’ll do you proud, Cap’n,” he said, saluting.

Five minutes later all of the groups were
dispersed through the library to collect puzzle pieces and gold doubloons. The group that came back and put together the simple eight-piece puzzle first would be the “winners.” Of course, since I was dealing with preschoolers, every team would win something.

I lifted my eye patch, wiping away some sweat. My imagination had run away with me; often times in the past few weeks I had looked around the library and tried to conjure up an image of Nick standing here. Either I had been hallucinating (and sent a group of preschoolers to roam unattended), or he was actually here. I was hoping for the latter.

Nick’s group was the first one back into the room. He was like a man on a mission; the idea of competition had him pumped up. As the kids played with the pieces, he looked over and smiled at me.

“I daresay I got a good crew, Cap’n,” he said happily. I smiled.

“I’m surprised to see you here, sailor.”

“Argh, me ship landed just paces ago. I couldn’t take being stranded alone. The solitary life’s no life for me.”

“You look good,” I said. He studied me.

“If you don’t mind me saying, you’re looking a little rough around the edges. ‘Sposin’ you look a little sea sick.”

I shook my head. “No I’m---“ The acid taste came back to my mouth. This time I knew I couldn’t swallow it back down. Covering my mouth, I ran as quickly as possible to the bathroom.

If there was one thing I hated most in the world, it was throwing up. Even worse, I hated throwing up and not feeling better by doing it. Today was one of those days. As I gargled some water and wiped my sweaty face, my stomach still felt like it was tossing to and fro.

With a big sigh, I put back on my pirate hat. As I walked back to the story time room, I realized I had been in there longer than expected. I was fully prepared for a mutiny.

I slid into the room quietly, hoping that the kids might still be putting together their scavenger hunt puzzle. I quickly realized that they had completed the hunt, yet instead of seeing little monkeys ready to climb the walls, I was surprised to see the kids sitting peacefully on carpet squares.

“One day a little blue fish followed after him. ‘Rainbow Fish,’ he called, ‘wait for me! Please give me one of your shiny scales.’” Nick read out loud to the captivated readers. It must have been the sight of a male storyteller; I had never seen so many children quiet all at once. I leaned against the wall in the back of the room. His reading had a rhythmic quality; I closed my eyes. I felt like I could go to sleep standing up if it wasn’t for my gently cramping stomach.

I wouldn’t have been aware that the story was over if it hadn’t been for the loud applause. I joined in, walking to the front of the room.

“Thank you, sailor,” I said. “Wasn’t sailor Nick a good guest reader?”

The little ones all cheered out. A few of the moms who recognized him cheered even louder.

After a rousing good time of pirate bowling, lake fishing (with empty wrapping paper tubes, rope, paperclips and magnetic fish) and a coin toss, the children colored their own pirate hat. And, because everyone was a winner, I handed out gold medallion necklaces. Everyone left happy; as soon as the last child left the room, I ran into Nick’s arms.

“It’s so good to see you,” I murmured into his shoulder. He hugged me tightly.

“It’s good to see you, too,” he said. He pulled away, holding me gently by the arms. He studied my face. “What’s wrong with you? When I came in and you were reading your story, you looked green. Then you ran out of here mid-sentence and you’re pasty white.”

“Nerves,” I explained, waving my hand in the air. “The stress of worrying over whether my program is going to be successful or not always gets at me. I’ll be fine,” I said. I walked over to the craft tables with a bucket and began to scoop crayons off the table. Nick grabbed another bucket and did the same with glue sticks.

“Well, it’s almost lunch time, right?” he asked, glancing at the clock as I picked up the Pringles can bowling pins. I nodded.

“Can I take you out to lunch?” He asked. I smiled.

“You just flew over 1500 miles to see me,” I said. “How can I say no?”

We finished cleaning the room. After a brief introduction between Lily and Nick, I punched out for lunch.

“Where to?” Nick said.

“We only have one choice,” I said with a laugh. As we walked the couple blocks to the nearby café, Nick took my hand in his. We entered the café, our hands swinging gently back and forth. I snagged a small corner table. Nick pulled out my chair for me; as I sat, he kissed me softly. The place was busy as always, but for me we could have been the only two people left in the world.

“It is so weird to see you here,” I said as Nick picked up his menu. He paused, looking at me surprised.

“Why?”

“When I think of Nick Carter I don’t think of him in Wakamata, Wisconsin.”

“Where do you think of me?” Nick teased. I blushed.

“The beach, the shower, the bedroom,” I replied quietly. His eyes darkened ever so slightly.

“Well I have two out of the three at my hotel,” he said. I smiled.

We took a few minutes to look over the menu and then placed our orders. As the waitress walked away, I took a sip of water.

“How did you find the library?” I asked.

“Well, I do have a GPS,” Nick said. “But, your mom was a bigger help.”

I choked on the water. Nick sprang up, but I held out a hand.

“You were at my mom’s house?” I asked.

“Of course,” he said. “I was hoping you would have had the day off, but your mom tells me you’re practically working six days a week.”

I tried to imagine Nick standing on the front porch and mom opening the door. It was kind of hard to picture.

“How long did you stay at mom’s?”

He laughed. “She wouldn’t let me leave without eating a cinnamon roll she baked and then she brought out a photo album.”

I groaned.

“So, I got to her house around nine, but that’s why I didn’t get to the library until after the program had already started,” he explained. “By the way,” he took a sip of water. “You were an adorable little tomboy when you were little.”

“Oh, shut up,” I said. Nick laughed. “I loved the bucket on your head and the sword.”

“Those were my early pirate days,” I said in mock indignation.

Before Nick could tease me further, the waitress set down two piping hot plates of food. I had opted for a BLT sandwich; Nick had ordered a Philly Cheese Steak.

“What happened to your macrobiotic diet?” I jested. He made a face. “I couldn’t live with myself; my stomach was a nuclear bomb.”

I laughed as I picked up my sandwich. As I brought it to my mouth, the smell of bacon made my stomach do another great flip flop.

“Oh,” I said, putting it back down on my plate quickly. Nick looked up, his fork halfway to his mouth.

“What?”

“It doesn’t smell right,” I said, pushing the plate his way. He picked up the sandwich, and sniffed it. Then he took a bite.

“Mm, it’s delicious,” he said. “It smells fine; it tastes fine,” he assured me, pushing the plate back over.

I picked the sandwich up again. Like before, the moment I got ready to take a bite the smell overwhelmed me.

“I’m going to be sick,” I said in a whisper. Clamping my hand over my mouth I headed back towards the bathroom.

As I began to heave, I couldn’t help but think that this was just how I wanted to spend time with Nick after he travelled so far to see me.

Not.