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The next day, Elisabeth woke to find a beautiful summer-like day; the sky was clear and the temperature was well above normal. Carefully, she slid out of Ben’s embrace and walked over to her window. She stood there staring for a while before she felt his arms encircling her waist.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked as he placed a soft kiss just under her ear.

“Nothing really,” she lied. To be completely honest, she had been thinking about Nick. Wondering where he was and what he might be doing. When Ben began nuzzling the back of her neck, Elisabeth slipped from his grasp and went to her dresser. Sifting through the top drawer, she pulled out a few items of clothing and looked at Ben. He looked a little confused by her standoffishness.

“Why don’t we do something today?” she asked when he didn’t say anything. “You, Jake and me. Mom should be done with Jake before too late this afternoon, so we should all go do something. As a family.”

Ben continued to look at her before finally nodding. “That sounds like a good idea.” His smile seemed strained.

“Okay,” Elisabeth smiled. “I’m gonna go take a shower,” she said and quickly left the room.

***

Later that day, just as Elisabeth had suggested, she, Ben and Jacob went out as a family. Instead of leaving town, they decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and unseasonably warm weather. Elisabeth packed a picnic and they walked down to the beach to eat a late lunch together.

After they finished eating, Elisabeth took off her shoes and buried her feet in the warm sand as she watched Ben and Jacob toss a football back and forth. There were only a few other people out on the beach with them, so it was fairly quiet. Lying back on her elbows, Elisabeth closed her eyes and listened as her son and fiancé played what had become their version of a loud game of one on one football. Shaking her head, she laughed at how silly they looked without other people to help make up a team.

“TOUCHDOWN!” Jacob yelled as he did a victory dance in his makeshift end zone.

Closing her eyes, Elisabeth sighed. She enjoyed the warm sun on her cheeks and being in a family situation was helping to take her mind off Nick.

Suddenly, the peacefulness of the situation was broken when Ben cried out in pain. Quickly jumping to her feet, Elisabeth ran over to find his nose bloody and the football lying at his feet. Even though his voice was muffled, she could distinctly make out the string of ungodly curses that came flying from his mouth. Hurrying back over to the blanket she had been relaxing on, she grabbed a napkin and gave it to Ben.

“Calm down,” she whispered.

“Calm down?” Ben cried angrily. The area underneath his eyes and around his nose was turning a cruel shade of purple. “I think that little shit just broke my nose!”

Elisabeth immediately saw red. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. He aimed that fucking ball right for my face. What the hell was that, anyway, Jacob?”

Turning to look at her son, Elisabeth saw terrified tears glistening in his bright hazel eyes. “He did not do that on purpose and you know it.”

“The hell I do.”

“I-I didn’t, Ben. I s-swear, it was a…an accident!”

“Save it,” Ben glared at Jacob who was now looking rather traumatized.

“Go back to the house, Jake, okay? It’s okay. Accidents happen.”

Nodding weakly, Jacob took off running for the house without bothering to look back.

“What the hell is your problem, Benjamin?” Elisabeth yelled when she was sure Jacob was no where within earshot. “Who do you think you are accusing my son of doing something like this intentionally?”

“Liz, he aimed that fucking ball right for my face. What was I supposed to think?”

“You know what? Just stop, okay? I don’t need this right now.”

“You don’t need this?” Ben scoffed as he continued to mop up the blood dripping from his injured nose.

“Yes, I don’t need this. I’m going back to check on Jacob and I would suggest that you don’t come back right now. You are not the person I want to be around at the moment,” she said in a threatening tone as she picked up her belongings and headed in the direction her son had gone.

***

Nick sat, bored, in his car waiting for Maddie to get out of school. Scanning through the radio stations, he finally decided that they were not going to be playing anything worth listening to, so he turned it off and waited for his daughter in silence.

After a few more minutes, he sighed impatiently and checked his watch. Maddie got out of school at 2:45. It was now 3:05 and he had been sitting there waiting for her for almost half an hour. It seemed like it took Madelyn longer and longer to make it to the car after school every day.

Finally, Nick saw her round the corner. He groaned when he saw she was dragging Ms. Norris along behind her. “Maddie, what are you up to?” he mumbled to himself as he smiled at his daughter and her teacher.

“Hello, Mr. Carter,” Melanie smiled politely though she looked a little frazzled.

“Please, call me Nick,” he reminded her. There was an awkward silence. “How are you?”

“Oh, I’m doing well,” she smiled. Looking around to make sure Maddie wasn’t listening and she leaned a little closer to Nick and whispered, “Maddie asked me to come out here with her for whatever reason. I think she might be trying to play a little match making game.”

Nick looked at Maddie then to Melanie. He smiled a little when he saw she was blushing. “She must get that from her great grandmother.”

Melanie smiled again. “Well, I’ll let you go. I’ve got some stuff to do before I leave. It was nice seeing you again.”

“You, too,” Nick smiled and watched as she turned to leave. Then, all of a sudden, Winnie’s words echoed in his mind. Just let go. “Hey, Melanie,” he called quickly. When she turned around, he took hold of Maddie’s had and walked up to her.

“Is something wrong, Nick?”

“Uh, no,” he smiled. “I, uh, I was just wondering if maybe you’d wanna go get dinner?”

Melanie’s cheeks reddened a little more and she smiled. “Sure, I would love that.”

“Okay,” he felt himself grinning. “How about tonight?”

“Tonight sounds great,” she nodded.

“Great,” he grinned wider. “I can pick you up if you want.”

“Oh, okay. Well, I live at 413 Ocean Breeze Drive.”

Nick froze for a moment and then ignored the feeling that had settled in his stomach. “I know exactly where that is. So, I’ll see you tonight at 7. Does that sound okay?”

“That sounds perfect,” she smiled and headed back into the school.

“Yeah,” Nick said to himself. “Perfect.”