Glancing at his watch Nick saw that it was nearly 12:30. His 7:30 breakfast was long gone and now his body was beginning to protest. “Okay, okay,” he mumbled to himself and stood up, stretching his tall frame.
“Did you finish your work, dear?” Winnie asked with a pleasant smile when Nick emerged from his “office”.
“Eh…no, but I’ll finish it after lunch. Gabe will be here with me, so you don’t have to stick around here all day,” Nick smiled and placed a kiss on his grandmother’s forehead.
“Now, Nicky, you know that I don’t mind sticking around here. The only thing I love more is spending time with Maddie,” she replied with a wink. “But if you don’t want me here, then that is precisely what I will do. So, you won’t have to worry about picking her up from school.”
“See Gram, it all works out perfectly,” he grinned. “But since it’s lunch time, what do you say we close this place down and get some grub?”
“Why don’t you go pick something up and come back here? I’ve got a few errands to run before this afternoon.”
“Okay, sounds like a good plan to me. What do you have a taste for?” Nick asked as he picked up his car keys.
“Anything really,” Winnie answered as she grabbed her purse and headed for the door. “Surprise me.”
“Okay, I can do that” he said with another grin.
***
“What is it Mother?” Elisabeth asked without looking at Abigail as she stood in the doorway.
“I just came to see how the invitations are coming,” she answered and stepped into the room.
“They are coming along perfectly. I have a few more to do and get mailed out and I will be finished. Since the wedding isn’t going to be that large, it hasn’t taken too much time to get them written out,” Elisabeth said and placed the pen on the table. “Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing at all,” Abigail smiled. “I just came to check on you and see if there is anything I can help with.”
“Actually, if you want, you can finish these up while I go get something to eat. I am starving and I’m in the mood for pizza,” she looked at her mother and stood up so she could have her seat. “Is that okay with you?”
‘Sure darling,” Abigail replied. “You go have lunch and I’ll have these in the mail before you get back.”
“Okay, thank you. Do you want me to bring anything back from anywhere?” Elisabeth paused in the doorway and waited for Abigail to answer.
“No, thank you, I had lunch already. You just go and enjoy yourself,” she smiled brightly.
“All right. I’ll be back later then.”
***
Nick sat in his car in the Pizza Hut parking lot as he sorted through his mail. “Bill, junk, bill, letter from Mom,” he murmured to himself. Coming to a fancy envelope with fancy lettering, he paused. Looking it over, he found no return address which he thought was a little odd. “Well, let’s find out what it is…”
As soon as he ripped open the ivory envelope and pulled out the even elaborate contents, his heart dropped. Looking down at the mail, he could feel the familiar sting of tears in his eyes.
The elegant script was inviting him to something he never thought he would have to see…
To the wedding of
Ms. Elisabeth Walker
To
Mr. Benjamin Hyatt
On
The Twenty-sixth of September, Two Thousand Nine
With blurry eyes, Nick angrily threw open his car door and stalked inside the restaurant. Now’s not the time to do this, Carter, he silently scolded himself as he furiously wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. He would have plenty of time to sort through this later. Right now all he was worried about was his lunch date with his grandmother.
***
Elisabeth sighed to herself and checked her watch; it seemed like she had been waiting much longer than she actually had been. Looking around the small, cozy eatery, she remembered one of the last times she had been here. She had been seated just a few feet away with Greta when Nick showed up out of nowhere.
“Oh, good,” Greta said and handed her menu to the man standing at the end of the table. “We’ll, have the-”
“Oh, no, I’m sorry, I’m not the waiter,” Nick smiled and motioned toward Elisabeth. “I just wanted to say hi.”
“Hi,” Greta said sarcastically.
“Nick,” Elisabeth looked up and felt herself smile. “How are you?”
“I’m okay,” he returned her smile and watched as she nervously tugged her hand through her hair. “I’ve been better.”
“Oh, where are my manners? Nick, this is my best friend Greta Henderson; Greta, this is a friend… Nick Carter.”
“Nice to meet you,” Greta smiled and curiously watched the exchange between the two “friends”.
“Uh, I was wondering if we could talk? I was on my way back to my table when I spotted you and well, my friends can wait,” Nick said as he jammed his hands in his pockets.
“Well…” Elisabeth started to protest.
“Go ahead, Liz. I’ll order for us, don’t worry. And take your time,” she winked at Nick.
Elisabeth took Nick’s hand and let him help her out of the booth before they headed out to the patio area of the restaurant. “So,” she said feeling a little awkward.
“I just wanted to apologize for the other night,” Nick’s voice was soft. “I don’t know what got into me and I shouldn’t have taken things that far.”
Sitting down on one of the cement benches, Elisabeth smiled and shook her head. “Nick, you weren’t the only one there that night and it’s not your fault. It takes two to tango; you didn’t force me to do anything against my will. I’m sorry, too. We were just caught in the moment.”
Nick smiled in relief and took her hand in his. “Lizzie…you’re all I can think about.”
Elisabeth looked into his eyes, shifting uncomfortably. Why did he have to say that? her mind began to scream. “Nick…”
Before Elisabeth could be rational with him, Nick took her face in his hands and seized her lips with his. He gently began to trace her lips with his tongue, begging her to open up to him. When she finally parted her soft lips, he slid his tongue into her mouth, entangling it with hers. After a moment, he was kissing her jaw line and down to the hollow of Elisabeth’s neck, setting her soul on fire. He followed the flushed trail back to her mouth before pulling away to look into her eyes.
Elisabeth looked deep into the gentle blue eyes that seemed to be questioning her. She could deny it no longer—there was something between them that she could not ignore.
Nick reached over and ran a hand through her mahogany hair; it felt like silk gliding through his fingers. He leaned in for another brief kiss before he picked up Elisabeth’s right hand and placed it on his chest over his heart. “Lizzie…I…you are all I think about anymore. Two weeks ago, I was a single guy with nothing to worry about and then I met you. There isn’t a second in the day that you don’t cross my mind.”
“Nick…” her voice was soft and she tried to pull her hand back, but Nick wouldn’t let her.
“Lizzie, please don’t push me away. You feel it too, I can see it in your eyes,” he said and pressed her hand back to his chest. “Here…can you feel it?”
“Feel what?” she asked quietly, tears stinging her eyes.
“That’s me, falling in love with you.”
Elisabeth was pulled from her thoughts when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. Realizing her order was ready she quickly stepped forward and paid for her lunch. Just as quickly she turned to leave when she collided with someone sending the person, herself, and her lunch hurdling in different directions.
“Oh my god…I am so sorry…” she began to apologize profusely.
“No, no…it was my fault. I wasn’t paying attention,” he answered.
Hearing his voice, Elisabeth froze; it couldn’t be. She was a little scared to look because she was afraid it would just be her imagination playing tricks on her. Slowly, Elisabeth looked up and her breath caught in her throat. It was him, but he was busy picking up her belongings to realize just who he had crashed into.
Finally, Elisabeth was able to regain her voice though it only came out a choked whisper. “Nick?”
Suddenly, his body became rigid but he didn’t look up.
“Nick...” Elisabeth said almost pleadingly. It was almost as if she needed it to be him. After what seemed like hours, Nick finally raised his eyes to look into hers and she could see the pain deep within him. “Nick…I…”
“Here,” said and angrily shoved her things into her arms before stalking off.
She sat there momentarily stunned, but she was able to rapidly regain her composure when she realized he was leaving very quickly. Rushing to her feet, Elisabeth hurried out the door and followed Nick to his car.
“Why are you following me?” he questioned impatiently without slowing his pace.
Elisabeth struggled to keep her things from falling to the ground as she tried to keep up with Nick. “Wait, Nick, can we talk please?”
Nick stopped abruptly at Elisabeth’s question and turned to face her, causing her stop suddenly to keep from running into him once again. She finally lost a grip on her possessions and they scattered across the asphalt. “Why should we talk?”
Elisabeth couldn’t help but cringe at the animosity that tinged his voice. “Because…Nick i-it’s been…six years,” she stuttered lamely. She had never stumbled over her words this way before.
“Oh, yeah, it’s been six years,” he nodded. “Well, who’s fault is that?”
She winced as he raised his voice. She tried to think of something to say…anything to say, but nothing good enough came to mind. Why had she not expected him to be angry? Of course he would be! It was almost as if she had imagined things would be the way they were before; that maybe they would fall right back into one another’s arms as though no time had passed at all.
“Nick, I-I had to leave. I just didn’t think you would understand and-”
“Just stop, Elisabeth,” he interrupted angrily. “I dunno why you think that we should talk about things; it’s obvious you’ve moved on and I guess you thought you needed to be polite and invite me to the wedding. Really, what would your mother think about your ex-lover showing up?” Nick’s sarcasm was thick, but his anger was still very evident.
“What are you talking about?”
“Stop playing dumb Elisabeth. Look, you don’t have to explain anything to me, okay? You’re getting married…congratulations. But I’m sorry if I don’t seem terribly excited about the big event.”
Elisabeth’s brow furrowed in utter confusion as he started back toward his car.
“Nick, wait, please…” she began to plead, her voice desperate. “Don’t walk away…”
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Nick did indeed stop, but he didn’t turn to face her. “Don’t walk away,” he repeated cynically. “You know what, Lizzie? It’s funny you should tell me not to walk away; you’re telling me not to do the exact same thing you did to me six years ago.”
“You just don’t understand.”
That sentence broke Nick completely. Turning to stare into her desperate brown eyes, his were shining brightly with unshed tears. “You know what, you are absolutely right. I don’t understand. I don’t understand why things played out that way, I don’t understand why we met, I don’t understand why you broke my heart completely, and most of all I don’t understand why I love you.”
Elisabeth stood shocked as hot tears began to spill onto her cheeks. She didn’t know how to respond, and Nick grew more agitated by her silence.
“Yeah…” he mumbled more to himself than anyone. “Well, congratulations…I hope you have a great life with,” he paused to look at the invitation still clutched in his fist. “Have a great life with Benjamin.”
Still unable to speak, Elisabeth watched as he tossed the small piece of paper to the ground and got into his car. By the time she found her voice again he was pulling out of the parking lot leaving her to stand there to stare after him. She never even realized the rain begin to fall as she as she sat down on the sidewalk and watched his car disappear around the corner.
