Page 57 of Embedded
“Oh, yes,” June sighed, “she was eyeing up Nicole like her next meal.”
“Better you than me.” He bent and tickled Chase. “All right, ladies, where to next?”
“I think we could use some fresh lemonade and a walk in the park,” June suggested.
I unclipped Chase and gave his diaper a quick check. “That sounds perfect.”
“Lemonade and a walk it is.” Mark flipped the stroller closed with one hand and placed it in the truck. Talk about a pro.
Mark shared many Christina stories and had us laughing so hard my sides hurt. Chase joined in a few times, which filled my heart to the brim. I hoped the energy we showed around Chase would help his mental health. I knew he was still young, but some of it had to rub off on him.
“Okay, ladies and gent,” Mark added with a quick ruffle of Chase’s hair once he got the stroller all set for us, “I’ll park over there, and you two can do the circuit.” He waved to Zack, who was talking to someone on the street near his restaurant. I followed his gaze.
“Zack’s a really nice guy, isn’t he?” I took the handle of the stroller.
“Salt of the earth.” Mark shooed us off with a hand movement and went to park the truck.
I pushed the stroller and knew June wouldn’t be able to walk very far, as she’d purposely left her cane in the car. She said she’d be damned if she was going to look like an old cripple. I had to laugh; she was one feisty lady. Mark was right when he told me it took a certain type of woman to handle their world, and feisty was differently a requirement.
“I just love this time of year.” June breathed the cool Montana air with a happy smile on her face. She was old enough to be my grandmother, but in spite of her cane, she was quite spry. She leaned down and tucked the blanket around Chase. Her eyes held so much love and happiness that I found myself mimicking her expression. “Abby and I used to walk this park every fall. She said she loved to watch the trees as they changed color, but I was dedicated to the walk because the college football team practiced here.” She grinned. “Everyone says Keith’s nan is the dirty one, but my God, they had no idea what was going through my mind half the time.” She winked.
I laughed. “Is that the trick to staying so young?”
“Yes, ma’am, that and the fact that someone invented tight clothes. I had quite a figure once.” I choked on my lemonade and laughed harder. “Well, that and falling in love as many times as you need to.”
I wondered what that really felt like and if it was different with each person. “Have you ever been truly in love, June? Like one man for the rest of your life kind of love?”
“No,” I thought her smile would fall, but it didn’t, “my heart belongs here with my sister. My first love lived in California. He couldn’t imagine living away from the ocean, and I couldn’t imagine living anywhere but here.”
“And the other?”
“There were two more, and they both have my heart equally and are still very much in my life.” She stopped to warm her face in the sun. “Marcus and Cole. Those boys won me over years ago, and the thought of being anywhere they weren’t just didn’t work for me. I tried,” she chuckled, “but I always came back, and then I stayed. What’s life without the people who fill your heart to the brim?”
I spotted Mark in the parking lot with a book in his hands, but I knew he was watching us.
I looked away and thought back on my own life. It was empty and lonely. I tried for years to convince myself I was making a difference, but lately I’d started to question that.
“You can always look back and do the shoulda-woulda-coulda game, but it’s only the future you can change. Only you can make yourself happy.” Chase dropped his bunny, and she slowly bent to pick it up. “Don’t think you don’t deserve love, Nicole, but love doesn’t always mean a ma?—”
Whack!
Tires screamed against the pavement, and I saw June’s body lift off the ground, flung up like debris in a storm, her body weightless for a heartbeat before it crashed back to earth. The bunny flopped at my feet, leaving me breathless.
I held the handle of the stroller in a death grip, frozen in panic as Chase screamed in fear at the loud sound. I desperately tried to focus on the car as it sped away but only got a glimpse of the back of it.
My vision started to glitch, like I was watching a movie, and everyone was running around me as I stood there stuck in place. People’s mouths moved but I couldn’t hear them, just the sounds of my own breathing and Chase’s cries. Mark was suddenly there. I could hear his voice and see him bent over June, but I couldn’t focus.
Then someone touched my arm, and I slow blinked to see Zack, the man I’d met only an hour before. His eyes were wide and glossy, and he was trying to get me away from what just happened.
June!
Like a light switch, everything turned back on, and I shook myself and saw that Chase was all right. He was just upset.
“Get her out of here!” Mark yelled, and I saw blood on his hands.
“Nicole, you need to come with me.” Zack tried to pull my hands from the stroller, but I refused to let go.
I did follow his orders, and he rushed us down the street and into his restaurant where lots of people were on their feet staring out the window. Police and ambulance sirens were deafening as they rushed to the scene.
