CHAPTER 18

“It was so awesome,” Sarah said for, like, the hundredth time.

She slurped a strawberry freeze. We’d left Parker at Magnum Force and I’d taken her on a tour of the park, finally ending at Storybook Land. I was sorta delaying going to change into my costume to get ready for my shift.

I had nothing of interest to say to her roller coaster enthusiasm, so I kept quiet.

“I like Parker,” she suddenly said.

I jerked my gaze up from my grape freeze and stared at her.

She shrugged. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Last night you were on my case about hanging out with him.”

“That was before he made me feel better about Bobby.”

I arched an eyebrow. “When did this happen?”

“When we were on the roller coaster. It’s a long way to the top and he said that he thinks Bobby does care about the wedding, he’s just not telling me what he wants because he really does want the wedding to be the way that I want it. At least he said that was the way he would be if he was getting married. Then he looked kinda green and said he had no plans to get married any time soon.” She was smiling, wistful, looking off in the distance. “I need to get home to Bobby, wrap up these wedding plans.”

“Okay.”

She peered over at me. “After I see you in costume.”

I groaned. “He told you about that, too, didn’t he?”

“He said you’re cute in costume.”

“Cute?” I shook my head. “It’s embarrassing.”

“I promise not to laugh, but I do want to see you decked out. I’ll hang around the park today. Before you start your shift, we’ll do dinner, then I’ll head to the airport.”

She did laugh when she saw me in braids. At least, I think she was laughing at my hair. She could have been laughing at the entire outfit.

“You’re adorable!” she cried out, in between gasping for breath.

“Thanks a lot.” I felt a little too old to be adorable.

But when she hugged me good-bye to head out to the airport and back home, I really started to miss her: her laughter, her complaining, her worrying about me. And her final parting words kept haunting me:

“Watch out for Parker. He could get you into a lot of trouble.”

I was still trying to figure out how he was going to get me into trouble when my shift ended. I mean, he couldn’t get me into trouble if I didn’t let him, right? And I had no plans to let him.

My plans changed just a little when I came out of the costume shop and saw him leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. He straightened when he saw me, and I really didn’t like the way my whole body just seemed to smile because he was there waiting for me.

Just friends. Just friends. Just friends. We could be just friends. I was sure of it.

“Your sister get to the airport okay?” he asked.

“Far as I know.” I kept walking toward the park exit.

“I like her,” he said, as he walked beside me.

“I do, too,” I admitted.

“You’re supposed to say that she likes me, too.”

I peered over at him. “She didn’t say if she did or not.”

He placed his hand over his heart. “I’m crushed. I thought a ride with me on Magnum Force would win her over.”

He was being so melodramatically hurt that I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Why was it so important to win her over?”

“I have this thing about not being liked. I want everyone to like me,” he said.

“Don’t let it go to your head, but I think she did like you a little.”

“Yes!” He punched his fist into the air.

I laughed as I exited the park with him right on my heels. On the other side of the gate, he took my hand. It was dark, except for the occasional light along the sidewalk. I didn’t figure he could see my cheeks turning red.

I thought I should jerk my hand free, but it was so totally innocent. Just holding hands. Just friends.

“Let’s walk along the lake,” he said.

Not waiting for me to answer, he guided us off the sidewalk and onto the sand. I didn’t want to think about how romantic this would be if Nick was here, because it was romantic and Nick wasn’t here and I wasn’t supposed to have romantic thoughts around Parker.

Take your hand out of his. Take your hand out of his.

But my arm wasn’t listening to my brain. It wasn’t jerking away. It was leaving my hand snuggled warmly within his.

“You coming to the hump party tomorrow night?” he asked.

“Probably.” I looked over at him. I could just make out his silhouette thanks to the distant lights and the moon. “It doesn’t seem fair that you have to get to the park before it opens and you have to work until it closes.”

“I don’t work until it closes.”

“But you’re always at the park when I get off my shift.”

“Not because I’m working.”

I stumbled and he caught me. “Be careful with your foot,” he said, and I could hear the genuine concern in his voice.

“My foot’s fine,” I said. “If you’re not working till closing, then why are you at the park when I get off?”

We weren’t holding hands anymore. We were much closer thanks to my lack of coordination and near stumble. We were facing each other, his hands on my waist.

“Why do you think, Megan?” he asked quietly.

“Because we’re friends.”

“Yeah, because we’re friends.”

“Sarah says that guys can’t be just friends with girls.”

“Sounds like a suspicious woman to me.”

I thought he was going to pull me close. I thought he was going to kiss me. Instead he let go of me, took my hand, and started walking again.

“What’s your boyfriend have to say these days?” he asked.

“Nick? Nothing really,” I stammered. “Working hard. Keeping busy.” Hardly calling. I didn’t know why I was reluctant to mention the last. Maybe because it had me a little worried. Not that I was calling him every five minutes, but my plans for keeping in constant contact through some form of communication seemed to be falling by the wayside.

I had so much to keep me busy. Like walking slowly along the shoreline with Parker. If I’d rushed back to the dorm, I could have called Nick before it was too late. Or I could have even talked to him on my way to the dorm. I had my cell phone. But no way was I going to call him when Parker was here. Even if Parker promised not to say anything, I was afraid that Nick might sense—

Suddenly my cell phone was ringing, I was screeching, and Parker was laughing. I reached into my pocket, grabbed my cell phone—

“Hello?”

“Hey.”

Relief swept through me. “Hi, Nick. I was just talking about you.”

“With who?”

We’d stopped walking, and I could feel Parker’s gaze on me.

“Someone I work with. What are you doing?”

“Talking to you.”

I laughed. “Where are you?”

“Driving home from work. Had a really bad night.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, like my being there would have prevented it when I knew it wouldn’t. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Parker walk to the water’s edge. To give me privacy? Or because he wanted to get away from me while I was talking with my boyfriend?

“—a total pain in the butt.”

I realized that I’d been distracted and hadn’t been listening to Nick.

“I’m sorry. Who’s a pain in the butt?”

“Tess. The new waitress I’m training.”

Oh, yeah, he’d mentioned her before.

“Haven’t you been listening to anything I said?” he asked.

“Yeah, but I’m really tired. Sarah showed up unexpectedly last night and we stayed up really late talking, then we got up early this morning . . . it’s just been a long day. Why is Tess a pain in the butt?”

“She thinks she knows everything.”

“Does she? Know everything I mean?”

“’Course not. You probably have to be here to really appreciate how hard it is to train someone who doesn’t listen to what you say.”

“Nick, I know you’re upset that I’m not there—”

“No, Megan, I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant it’s hard to describe what a pain she is. You just have to see it.”

“You can show me when I come home in”—oh, gosh, how many days was it?—“for the wedding,” I finished, a little rattled that I couldn’t remember the exact number of days I had left until I saw him. Knowing Nick, he’d pick up on it right away and it would hurt his feelings if I tried to fake it.

“God, I hope I’ve finished training her in thirty-nine days. She really bugs me.”

Thirty-nine days. Whew. I’d thought it was forty-one.

“I’m sure you’re a good trainer,” I said, thinking how lonely Parker looked standing where he was.

“—you think? Cool idea?”

I grimaced. I’d stopped listening again. Was he still talking about the waitress or had he moved onto another topic?

“Totally cool,” I said, unwilling to admit that I had again lost track of the conversation.

“So when do you want to do it?”

I dropped to the sand and buried my face in my free hand. “I’m sorry, Nick. What is it that we’re doing?”

I heard him sigh on the other end. “Never mind.”

“Come on. I’m really sorry. So tell me again.”

“I was saying that we could both watch the same TV show at the same time and it would be like we were together.”

“Oh, that would be nice, but I’m working nights most of this week. Guess we could watch a soap during the day.”

He groaned. “No way.”

I sat there wishing Nick was with me. Wishing he could hold me. Maybe Parker wasn’t the only one who was lonely. “Do you miss me, Nick?” I suddenly asked.

“’Course I do. Do you miss me?”

“A lot.”

Then there was the silence again.

“Guess I’d better go,” Nick finally said.

“Yeah, me, too.”

“Dream about me, okay?” he said, making me smile.

“Okay.”

I hung up and just stared at my phone. This long-distance relationship thing was hard, harder than I’d thought it would be.

Parker crouched beside me. “Everything okay?”

“It sucks. Him, there. Me, here.”

Very slowly, he tucked my hair behind my ear. “I bet.”

“I don’t know if it’s a good thing for you and me to be friends,” I admitted.

“Why? I’m behaving.”

“Yeah, but it makes me feel guilty, like I’m keeping a secret from him.”

“So tell him about me.”

I laughed. “Yeah, me hanging out with a guy is going to go over really well with him.”

He hadn’t moved his hand from when he tucked my hair back. It was comforting to have his fingers against my head, his palm against my cheek. “Nick is my first boyfriend. I don’t want to screw it up.”

“You’re not going to screw it up.”

“I wish I was that confident.”

“Come on. If Jordan can have a boyfriend for a couple of years, you can, too. You’re way cooler than she is.”

Only I didn’t feel cool at all.

“Being with Sarah today, talking to Nick”—I shook my head—“I think I’m homesick.”

“I get homesick all the time.”

“Do you really?”

“Sure.”

His thumb started to stroke my cheek. It was really nice. Nick held me and kissed me, but he never just comforted me. Then I realized that my thoughts were unfair. If Nick were here and I was homesick, he’d stroke my cheek, too.

I pushed myself to my feet, feeling even guiltier, because I’d wanted to stay there longer, with Parker being so close. And that was wrong. Totally wrong.

“I need to get back to the dorm,” I said, like he didn’t know that already.

“Let’s go.”

He didn’t take my hand. Which was good because I wasn’t sure what I’d do if he did.

Only 39, 39, 39 Nick-less days to go, and counting. . . .