Page 3 of Nick

“Tell me! Tell me!”

I teased her a bit before finally telling her, “Nana and Papa are moving to America with us.”

She ran to her grandma and threw her arms around her. “Nana, that makes me so happy.” She started crying. Loraine pulled her onto her lap and hugged her.

“I would never let you move so far from me. I have to live by my little cake baker. I would die if I didn’t have you near me. Now you and your daddy will pack your suitcase. I have things to do.” She turned Julia toward Opal. “This is Opal. She helped us decide to move with you.”

I didn’t take my eyes off Julia and Opal. Opal smiled at her, and Julia smiled back. Then she walked over and sat as close as possible to Opal without sitting on her lap.

“Thank you for helping Nana. Do you live in America?” she asked, fidgeting with the cushion she’d picked up from the sofa.

“Yes, I do, so we’ll see each other there.”

“I’m glad.” Then she touched Opal’s face and kissed her on the cheek. Opal looked like she might cry.

2

Opal

Ihad never felt this pull I felt for Nick to any man. What the hell was that about? And when Julia walked into the room, my heart melted. I felt like she was mine. I know that’s crazy, but I guess I’ve always been a little crazy. Those big brown eyes. She was so tiny. She must have taken after her mommy. She had the sweetest Italian accent.

Poor baby, I knew how she felt not having a mother and being so young. She was lucky to have her grandmother. I on the other hand had my sisters. I’m the oldest sister. Ruby is the youngest and the bossy one. We always thought Ruby had forgotten she was the baby because she was always busy telling all of us what to do.

I thought back over my life growing up. When I was sixteen, I got pregnant by a boy at school. No, not just some boy. I was young and thought he’d care. How wrong I was. He didn’t want anything to do with the baby or me. I told Samuel, and he packed us up and moved all of us to Maine with Grandpa. I still remember that Grandpa thought Samuel was dead because it had been so many years since he had seen him.

Samuel was kidnapped by this horrible man when he was little. He forgot where he used to live. Then one night, Samuel had a dream about his father and mother. He looked them up online and we left in search of them. Sadly, his mother was already gone.

That was the best thing that has ever happened to us. I loved living in Maine. I never wanted to live anywhere else. I set my thoughts aside and walked outside to where Matt was waiting, leaning against the car.

“Well, tell me, what happened?”

“Nick is packing Julia’s things. The grandparents are moving to America as soon as they sell their home. Everyone is happy.”

“Well, look at that. All it took was you coming over here. Good then. I’ll go home tonight. I miss my very pregnant wife.”

“I’ll go with you. Let me go tell Nick.” I wanted one last look to see if I imagined those feelings stirring deep inside me. Feelings that have never been felt like this inside my body before. I’ve had sex with men. After all, I am a woman with a woman’s craving for a man—not a lot, every few years—but I have never felt anything like this. I felt a longing deep down inside. I wanted Nick to strip my clothes off me and have his way.

I walked back inside and asked which room Nick was in. Following the directions I was given, I found him in the middle of a little girl’s room. He held dolls in his arms, and dresses and other clothes were piled up on the bed. Nope, it wasn’t my imagination. I wanted him. He walked over to me and put the dolls in my arms. He was too close. He smelled so good I wanted him to kiss me. I had to get out of here before I did something stupid. I put the dolls down. “Umm, Nick, Matt and I are leaving. I guess we’ll see you when you get home. We already called a cab.”

“What? No. I thought you could help me pack up Julia’s room.”

“No, I can’t do that. You look like you have everything under control.”

“No, I don’t. Stay with me.”

“I can’t do that,” I said with finality. I turned to Julia, “I will see you when you get to Maine.”

“Okay,” she replied with a smile ever so cheeky.

I looked at Nick again, and his eyes looked so sad. “Goodbye,” I said to him.

“Bye.”

I walked out to where Matt was waiting for the cab. Both of our bags were already out of the vehicle. He smiled. “Why do you look so sad?”

I smiled and shook my head. “Nick looked sad when I left.”

“He’s been sad for a long time. That’s why he’s so grumpy. He wasn’t like this before he met Susan. She almost destroyed him with her drug habit. She tried using Julia against him. The best thing that could have happened was for her to overdose. It’s time he had some happiness in his life.”

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