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Nick pulled his shirt over his head and tucked it neatly into his khakis then sat down to put his shoes on. It was 6:20 and he was getting ready to head over to Melanie’s house to pick her up for dinner. Casting a quick glance in the mirror, he sighed when he saw his unruly hair; no matter what he did to it, his hair stayed messy. He made one last check of the room to make sure he had everything—wallet, keys, cell phone. When he was sure he had everything, he went out into the den where Winnie sat holding Madelyn on her lap, reading a story.

“Are you leaving, sweetheart?” she asked with a smile.

“Yes, ma’am,” he smiled and leaned down to give Winnie, then Maddie, a kiss on the cheek. Looking into his daughter’s innocent blue eyes he smiled again. “Be good for Gram, okay?”

“I will, Daddy,” she let her head fall back on Winnie’s shoulder as she looked up at him. “Gram said we could get pizza tonight.”

“She did, huh? Well, don’t eat too much, okay? And you know my cell phone number if anything happens,” he finished looking at his still smiling grandmother.

“Nick, stop worrying and get going. You don’t want to be late, do you?” Winnie’s eyes glimmered. “Just go and have a good time on your date tonight.”

Nick almost corrected her, saying that it wasn’t a date, but he stopped himself. It was, in fact, a date. The first he’d been on in years. He had to admit that he was more than a little nervous, but he was actually looking forward to it. The more he thought about Melanie, the more he thought this was a good idea.

“Okay, I’m going now. You two be good,” he laughed when they both grinned. “I love you.”

***

“So, how long have you lived in Sunset Beach?” Nick asked as he and Melanie waited for their dinner. They had decided on Chili’s. It had always been a good first date restaurant in Nick’s opinion; not too formal, but not too casual. It was relaxed enough for two people to talk and get to know one another. Of course, there are other places, too. Say, a small seafood place then a boat ride, the thought entered his mind and he quickly scolded himself.

“Well, I’ve lived in North Carolina for about five years now, but I was living up near the Raleigh-Durham area. I actually just moved down here last summer,” she answered almost shyly. “What about you? Are you originally from here?”

“Born and raised. I’ve never really left the area except to go up to up to the mountains or Raleigh. Just for a quick visit, ya know?” he answered with a smile. He could tell she was more nervous than he was and he wanted them both to relax and just forget that this was an awkward first date.

Looking more closely at Melanie, Nick thought she was someone he could see himself with. She wasn’t supermodel gorgeous, but she was quite attractive. She was more of your average girl than the glamorous type. Her light brown hair fell just below her shoulders and was cut to frame her face. She had fair skin with a few freckles sprinkled across her nose and cheeks. If he had to guess her age, he would say she was only about 23 or 24, but he wasn’t going to ask her. I don’t wanna get slapped, he chuckled to himself.

He continued to study her soft features as she talked. Suddenly he found himself comparing her to Elisabeth. Stop it, he heard his mind scream. Stop comparing her to someone from your past. What happened to letting go?

Nick looked away from Melanie was glad to see the waitress finally heading their way with dinner; it was a welcome interruption to his thoughts.

***

Elisabeth paced around her bedroom impatiently. She didn’t know what to do. Today she had seen a side of Ben that she had never seen before; it was someone she didn’t know at all. The events that had taken place were enough to make her doubt their entire relationship.

Question after question flooded her mind. Was this someone she could live with? Would he always treat Jacob the way he had earlier? How would he treat her after they were married?

It was all becoming too much for her, so she sat down at her vanity trying, unsuccessfully, to suppress the anguish that was taking over. It was happening again; Ben seemed to be another Joshua. How could she have made that mistake a second time after she swore she would never let it happen again?

Just then, there was a knock on her door. “Go away,” she said furiously.

“Liz, let me in, please,” Ben’s voice was heavy with emotion.

“No, Ben, I don’t want to see you right now.”

“Come on, Elisabeth, we need to talk about what happened earlier today. I’m really sorry I lost my temper like that.”

He sounded sincere, but Elisabeth couldn’t stop herself. “Are you really? Cause you didn’t seem sorry when it happened.”

“I told you, I lost my temper. It just surprised me, that’s all,” he was practically begging. “I’ve already apologized to Jake. He knows that I’m sorry; now if you would just let me apologize.”

“Ben, I just don’t want to see you right now. Is that too much to ask?” she said harshly. Listening closely, she heard him sigh in defeat as he turned away and headed back down the hall.

***

Slowly opening her eyes, Elisabeth looked around the dark room and realized that she must have fallen asleep. She yawned and rubbed her eyes as she tried to get them adjusted to the shadows of her bedroom. The bright red numbers on her clock read 9:04. She had been asleep for more than two hours. She stretched and got up, turning on her bedside lamp. Thankfully, she was still alone.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She did not want to go downstairs and have to face her mother and Ben. The last thing she wanted or needed right now was another confrontation. But I might as well get it over with, right? she groaned inwardly. Still feeling rather sluggish, Elisabeth headed downstairs.

When she reached the bottom of the staircase, she saw that the entire first floor of the house was dark. That’s strange, she said to herself as she went from room to room. No lights were on anywhere and there was no sign of her mother, Ben or Jacob. Peeking out the window, she saw Ben’s rental car wasn’t sitting in the driveway where it had been.

“Mom? Jacob?” Elisabeth called out.

After rechecking the entire house, she finally found a tiny note on the table in the foyer. It wasn’t detailed. All it said was that Abigail, Ben and Jacob had gone out for a little while and would be back soon; it didn’t say what time they left or where they went.

A flash of lightening followed by roaring thunder made Elisabeth jump slightly and she suddenly realized why there were no lights. “The power must have gone out right after I left my room,” she muttered. Looking out the window at the raging storm that was hammering down on the small beach town, she suddenly had the urge to go out. Even though she was completely alone in the house, it was becoming entirely too confining.

***

“Wow, I didn’t know it was supposed to storm tonight,” Melanie shouted to Nick as they made a mad dash for his car. After dinner they had gone to the aquarium so they would be able to continue to talk. When the storm came up, they decided to try and wait it out, but to no avail. The storm seemed to be sitting right over the town and it didn’t look like it was going to be letting up any time soon.

“Neither did I,” he said once they were safely inside the car. Looking over at Melanie, he saw she was shivering. “Here, let me turn on the heat. You don’t need to get sick.”

“Thanks,” she smiled. Glancing at Nick, she couldn’t suppress a giggle.

“What’s so funny?” he asked quickly.

“You look like a drowned rat,” she laughed again.

“Hey, don’t crack on me…you don’t look so hot yourself.”

“Well, okay, we both look like a drowned rat.” A comfortable silence settled over them.

“Well, I guess we should probably be heading back,” Nick finally said as he shifted into drive.

The drive didn’t seem to take nearly as long as it would have had it not been a good date. In fact, Nick was quite surprised at just how quickly they seemed to make it back to Sunset Beach. When he pulled into Melanie’s driveway, he cut the engine and turned to look at her. She was looking back at him, smiling.

“I had a really good time tonight, Nick,” she said quietly.

Lightening flashed somewhere in the distance illuminating the entire town. “So did I.”

“I hope we can do this again sometime soon.”

“I would really like that,” he said and reached over to take her hand in his. “Tonight was great.”

“I think we established that,” Melanie grinned as Nick began to slowly lean toward her.

“Yeah,” he smiled just before their lips finally met in a soft kiss. It only lasted for a second before it was over, and they both pulled back, smiling at one another. “Is it okay if I call you tomorrow?”

“That would be nice,” she replied as she took out a pen and a small slip of paper. Jotting down her phone number, Melanie leaned over and placed another soft kiss on his lips before braving the rain once again.

Nick had planned on walking her to her door, but she was out of the car before he could even think about it, so he made sure she was safely inside before leaving the driveway. As he drove down the street, he couldn’t help but cast a glance in the direction of 416 Ocean Breeze Drive. Before he could let himself slip into a sullen mood, he redirected his thoughts to his date with Melanie and what he was going to say when he called her tomorrow.

When he pulled into his driveway, Nick sat in the car for a few minutes. He was sure that Winnie and Maddie were still waiting up for him, eager to hear all the details about his night. He looked out the window and saw that the rain had only slowed slightly. “Oh well, what’s a little rain?” He took his time walking from his car to the porch, not caring if he got soaked. He was really happy with himself for getting out tonight; it had been a wonderful night. Just as he was slipping his key into the door, he heard a soft voice behind him.

“Nick?”

Startled, Nick turned to find a completely drenched Elisabeth standing there. “What are you doing here?”

“I…I just had to come see you.”

“You’re dripping wet,” he said as he looked her over. Surely she hadn’t walked to his house in the pouring rain. “You’re gonna be sick if you’re not careful,” he told her, rubbing her arms to warm her.

“I don’t care about that…I just…I needed to see you.”

“What’s going on?” Nick pulled back to look at Elisabeth, concern etched into his features. “Is everything okay?”

“I don’t know anymore, Nick,” she answered truthfully. “I don’t know anything anymore. I feel like I’m losing control of everything and I don’t know what to do.” Nick watched as Elisabeth pulled away and began pacing the length of the porch. After a few minutes she stopped and looked at him. “I think…no, I know that I made a huge mistake, Nick. And I don’t want to make another mistake that will just be more trouble to fix.”

“Lizzie,” his voice was soft, “what are you talking about?”

“Us…I’m talking about us, Nick.”

“What about us? You’re getting married, Lizzie, there really isn’t an “us” to talk about.”

Elisabeth sighed impatiently and broke away from Nick’s grasp. Walking out into the yard, she looked up into the sky as the rain continued to fall. “I don’t understand why I always make the wrong choices, but I don’t wanna be wrong this time.” She seemed to be talking to herself. “I just feel like everything that was normal for me is spinning out of control…and that only happens when I think about you or when I’m around you.”

Nick didn’t know what to say. She was saying things that he wasn’t sure she meant. Had she been drinking or was she just nervous about getting married again?

“You know what?”

“What?” he asked quietly.

“I hate you. I hate everything about you. The way you turn something into this big deal that shouldn’t make a difference. I hate they way you think you’re always right. I hate that you always know what to do or the right thing to say. I hate your smile. I hate they way I feel in your arms. I hate your kisses. I hate the way your hair falls in your eyes when you sleep. I hate how I feel when I hear your say ‘I love you’. I hate you because I love you so much.”

Nick stood there for a moment, letting her words sink in. He was afraid he’d imagined everything she just said; he didn’t want it to be something he’d just dreamed up.

“I’ve been ‘hating’ your for six years, Nick. I was too scared to come back and face you after what I did, so I decided to focus on all the things that I detested about you. The only problem was that there was nothing at all that I didn’t love about you. Every day I thought about coming back and telling you I was wrong. I wanted to beg you to forgive me; to forget about me ever running away and just start over. But I was too scared.”

“What was there to be scared of?” his voice shook with every word.

“I was scared that you would have moved on and forgotten about me. I was afraid that you’d stopped loving me as much as I loved you.”

“That could never happen,” Nick whispered.

“But I was too scared to think otherwise,” Elisabeth cried as her tears became indistinguishable from the rain. Taking a shuddering breath, she closed her eyes. “Every time it rains, I think about you.”

Nick stood watching as she let the raindrops wash over her. He wanted to take her in his arms and love her, but he held back. She had given no sign that she wanted that tonight. Maybe this was something she felt she had to do before her wedding; to come to him and “clear the air” so she would feel better.

“Most people don’t mind the rain, but I can barely stand it because all I think about when it rains is you. The last day we were together.”

Nick’s mind was suddenly flooded with so many thoughts, things seemed like they were spinning. Just when everything seemed to be getting back to normal for him, something came up and slapped him in the face again. Clearing his throat, he tried to find exactly what he wanted to say to her.

Elisabeth turned to look at Nick. She was anxious to hear what he was about to say.

“Look, Elisabeth, I don’t know what’s going on, but I think you really need to go. It’s getting late, and I need to get inside so I can put Maddie to bed,” he told her, trying his best to be polite even though he was growing angry.

“Don’t you have anything to say to me, Nick? I just spilled my heart out to you!”

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself. She was being selfish and that bugged him. “No, I really don’t have anything to say to you right now. I actually just got home from a date and I’d like to spend a little time with my family.”

“Please don’t walk away from me again, Nick,” her voice came out a strangled cry. She sounded more desperate than she liked.

Just when he felt himself caving in, a picture of Melanie flashed through his mind and he decided this was the time to put his foot down. “No, Elisabeth, don’t start with that crap again, okay? What happened between us was great, but it is in the past now. I can’t let you run back to me now that you think it’s okay for you; not after the way you left. I have been hanging onto your memory for far too long and I’ve finally started to get on with my life. Do you think it’s fair that timing has to be good for you before it can work for us?”

She could feel the tears rising in her eyes, but stayed silent.

“Look, I love you, Lizzie. That will never change. But I cannot just drop everything now that you’re ready. I mean, how do I know that you won’t just run out on me like you did last time?”

When she still didn’t make an effort to speak, Nick just nodded and turned to go inside. He didn’t look back as he entered the house, but he knew that she wasn’t hurrying to get out of there.

Elisabeth was dumbfounded. When she’d thought about this earlier that was not how she’d envisioned it happening. Taking another deep breath, she finally forced herself to accept the fact that Nick wasn’t coming back out. It was time for her to leave. It was time for her to move on, too.

So that’s what I’m going to do, her mind screamed. And as loud as her mind was screaming, she could still hear the whisper in her heart.

I’ve loved you too much and for too long to give up now…