* Chapter 37 *

The flight from LA to Salt Lake wasn’t that long so I arrived at the Salt Lake International Airport at around 7:30. By the time I got my bags from the baggage claim and got a cab back to my apartment, it was already 8. My cell phone rang the whole way home in the cab and I finally pulled it out and turned the power off to silence the annoying ringing. After I pulled all of my bags out of the cab trunk, I slung them over my shoulders and grabbed my mail before heading up to my place on the third floor.

"Hang on...I’m coming," I said out loud while I put my key in the door.

I could hear the phone ringing inside so I hurriedly dragged my bags in and dropped them on the floor inside the door. It said ‘Unavailable’ on my caller ID so I was skeptical whether to pick it up or not. The ringing didn’t stop after like 8 rings so I reached out and picked it up.

"Hello..." I said in an agitated voice.

"Liz! You’re there," Cynth said in a relieved voice. "Is everything ok?"

"Ummm...things are ok now," I replied, careful to not give away any information. "I can’t talk for long though...I need to call the station."

"Alrighty. I just wanted to make sure you got there ok," she said.

I said goodbye before I turned my attention back to my bags. I unpacked everything and put things back where they belonged. When I was done, I didn’t really have anything to do that day so I decided to go to the station and catch up on all the work that I’d missed the last couple of days. I grabbed my ‘moon man’ award with my name on it and jumped in my truck to be on my way.

"Hi Jay," I called out to him as I passed the open door to his office before I continued down the hall to my tiny room that they called an office.

My ‘office’ was barely big enough to hold a desk, but it was all mine and I didn’t have to worry about anyone bugging me ‘cause there wasn’t any room for visitors. I put the award on top of a file cabinet that I had in the corner and sat down at my desk to get to work.

"Hey Ellz. Congrats on winning the award," he said happily from his position in the doorway.

"Thanks," I replied with a smile. "I just thought I’d come and catch up a little," I said as I started looking through the piles and mounds of papers on my desk.

"You have gotten literally hundreds of e-mails and letters in the last couple days. Have fun," he told me.

"Gee thanks."

I watched him disappear back down the hallway before I turned back to my ‘once clean’ desk. I sat there at my desk reading paper after paper after memo after paper until it was almost 5:30 that evening. A local pizzeria had brought free pizza for lunch so I wasn’t hungry at all. I glanced at the clock on the wall by the small window next to my desk and ruthlessly continued sorting through papers. There was a knock on my semi-open door.

"Come in," I said without looking up from the memo that I was reading.

I hardly paid any attention to the figure that stood in my doorway, watching me busily reading the paper in my hands.

"You look busy," the voice said.

"I am VERY busy," I replied.

My eyes slowly moved from the paper to the body of the person and finally to his face.

"What are you doing here?" I asked with an angry glare. "I thought I told you to leave me alone."

I hastily straightened the messy pile of papers on my desk before I stood up, grabbed my small bag and jacket, turned off the light, and walked out into the hallway, leaving him behind. I quickly walked down the hall towards the stairs to the parking lot.

"Night Jay," I called out as I passed his office on my way out.

"Night," he replied.

I hopped into my truck and left the building hurriedly. After stopping at Wendy’s for some food, I drove down the road towards my place. I pulled over for a few minutes when I heard my cell phone ringing from inside my bag.

"Speak to me."

"Liz...where are you?" Nick asked.

"I think I should be asking you that..."

He didn’t say anything.

"Since I know you guys are in town, I’m going to visit my sister and her family for a little while. At least I know I won’t be bothered there," I said with a sigh.

I could hear Mel say something in the background.

"Are you in my apartment?!?"

"Uh...yeah," he replied in a hesitant voice. "Melanie let us in."

"Mental note to self...change the locks..." I said out loud. "Look...I am really busy with all the stuff that I missed at work...and I’m tired...and I’m not really in the mood to deal with this whole stupid situation right now. I’ve got to go."

I hung up, turned my truck around, and headed for the southbound freeway. When I reached Provo, I pulled off the freeway and quickly went to Mel and Cynth’s place. I grabbed some of the extra clothes that I always kept there and was gone as quickly as I had come.

Traffic on the freeway going south was unusually busy as I drove into the canyon that separated the Utah Valley area from Sanpete County. I blared the ‘Dixie Chicks’ CD that was playing as I drove along the windy road. When I finally pulled into the tiny city of Mount Pleasant the familiar setting surrounded me. It was a small town that I visited frequently, mostly just to visit my sister, brother-in-law, and their two kids. They lived in a quaint little ‘storybook’ looking house that was delicately placed on one of the city’s quiet streets.

"Oh crap!" I said to myself when I remembered that my sister and her hubby were out of town on a cruise trip for a week.

The kids were staying at a neighbor’s house so I just decided to pick them up and tend them at their home for a few days to ‘relieve the neighbors’. By the time I pulled up to the neighbor’s to pick them up, Stets was already asleep and Kalee wanted to stay the night.

"She can stay for tonight, but I’ll take him with me," I said as I pulled the sleeping boy from the neighbor’s tired arms.

I took Stets home and held him in my lap on the couch until he was asleep again while I watched the TV. He looked so peaceful and innocent while he was sleeping, but I knew that while he was awake he could be a holy terror! After the local news was over I took him up to his bed before I went to bed myself.

I was at my sister’s house for two days without interruption from any unwanted people and I was actually enjoying my little ‘vacation’ so to speak. Kalee was back at her mother’s house (my sister and brother-in-law have joint custody with her biological mom) and Stets was content with watching movies all day long so it was pretty quiet on the home front...for now.