A Week at the Beach (8 page)

              I glanced over at him and saw a strange expression on his face.  It didn’t look like something that he was ready to talk about, so I didn’t press.

            “Anyway, I tried changing his mind, but that never works.  In the end, he just said it wasn’t going to work out and asked me to move out.”

            “Where do you live now?”

            I sighed again, “I rent a room in a house.”

            “Do you have roommates?”

            “They’re not really roommates, per se.  I rent a room in a house, run by two sisters in their sixties, and two other people rent rooms there.  We all share the house, but it’s not like we live together.”  I tried to make sense of what I was saying, but even I was confused by the description.

            Nick, obviously, was just as confused as I was.  He was giving me a raised eyebrow.

            “When I had to move out, I needed to find a place quick.  My mom knew the sisters from her old church and she knew that they rented out bedrooms in their house.”  I glanced over to see if he was looking less confused, and he was, but I could tell that he still had questions.  “Their parents died and left them a huge townhouse in the city.  Neither of them ever married, so they decided to rent out the other three bedrooms.  I rent a bedroom, there’s another girl, and a young guy rents a room there.  Our rent pays for the exclusive use of our bedrooms, common use of the living room and kitchen, and for part of the utilities.”

            “But you don’t really live with them?” he furrowed his brow as we rode on.

            “We share a residence, and occasionally the sisters will host a sit down dinner for all of us, but for the most part we just keep to ourselves.”  I shrugged nonchalantly.

            “You couldn’t have afforded a place of your own?” he asked and pointed me towards a new road. 

            I’d been so busy talking to him that I hadn’t noticed how far we’d ridden away from the beach house.  In fact, I couldn’t see the beach at all, much less our house.  I hoped he knew where we were, because I was clueless.

            “Do you know where we are or where we’re going?” I asked nervously.

            “Not really, but I think there’s a little collection of shops at the other end of this road.” He looked over and smiled confidently.

            His smile put me at ease, but I asked with a smile, “You think?”

            He just shrugged and asked me again, “Tell me why you couldn’t just get a place of your own?”

            “My salary isn’t exactly what you’d call plentiful,” I rolled my eyes and smiled.

            “What do you do?”

            “I’m a teacher.”

            Nick smiled, “Ah!  That certainly explains it!  What do you teach?”

            “First grade,” I couldn’t stop the smile from coming to my face when I thought about all the little faces I’d worked with over the last five years.

            “You must really like your job,” he said with a short laugh.

            I looked quizzically at him, “What makes you say that?”

            “Well, for one you just broke into the biggest smile.” 

            He smiled at me and I blushed.

            “And, secondly,” he continued, “you live in a house with four people you barely know or, I suspect, even like.  If you didn’t love your job you wouldn’t stay at it and make sacrifices like your unpleasant living situation.”

            “I do love my job,” I smiled, “but the living situation isn’t that bad.  It’s just not ideal, that’s all.”

            “How long will you stay there?”

            “I don’t know.  I hope to get out of there before a year is up, but rent isn’t getting any cheaper.”

            As we rode further, I could see the outline of a few buildings in the distance.  I didn’t know how he knew there’d be shops there, but apparently, there were.  He must have known what I spotted because when I looked over at him, he smiled triumphantly.

            Nick didn’t gloat long, instead he said, “Isn’t there someone you can share a place with?  What about Chrissy?  Can you share a place with her?”

            I laughed then looked sideways at him.  “Chrissy offered to let me move in with her, but her social life conflicts with my sleep and work schedule.  Plus, she was just a few months away from being a kept woman by some married stockbroker she met at one of her mom’s dinner parties.  I don’t think he’d want me staying in their love nest.”

            Nick’s eyebrow rose at the news of Chrissy’s love life.  “I figured she was a party girl, but I had no idea she was a home wrecker, too!”

            I laughed again, “That’s what brought us here to the Outer Banks.  We normally stay at the house in the Hamptons.  Mr. Money’s wife found out about Chrissy and threw a fit.  She kind of spread the word around the Hamptons, so Chrissy figured we should lay low for the next few months.”

            “Mr. Money?” Nick asked with a smile.

            I rolled my eyes, “That’s what I call her married boyfriend.  I’ve only met him once, and he spent the entire time talking about money.”

            He smiled some more, “It sounds like you don’t exactly like him.”

            “Honestly,” I sighed.  “He’s probably not that bad, but I don’t approve of their relationship.  He’s married, and not to Chrissy.”

            “Are they in love?”

            I put my feet down and stopped the bike.  Nick skidded to a stop as well.  He gave me a questioning look.

            “It doesn’t matter if they’re in love or not.  He’s married.  He has a wife and a child.  If he doesn’t want to be married anymore then he should be man enough to admit he’s made a mistake and get a divorce.” 

            Nick nodded his head, “I agree.”

            I stared at him for a few seconds then asked, “Are you married?”

            He stared back at me, “No.”

            “Are you divorced?” I maintained eye contact with him as I asked.

            “No,” he said and smiled.  “I’m not engaged, either.”

            A smile crept to my face, “I was just checking.”

            He shrugged, but kept the smile on his face, “No problem.”

            Suddenly embarrassed by the awkward turn our conversation had taken, I blushed and looked away.  “Where are we going again?”  I got back up on the bike and started off in the direction we were heading in before.  Nick did the same.

            “There’s a restaurant up here.  I thought maybe we could grab some lunch.” He kept his eyes forward as we rode closer to the buildings.

            When I’d come down stairs to meet Nick, I had no idea what he had planned.  I hadn’t brought any money or cards with me.

            He must have read my mind.  “It’s my treat.  I owe you lunch from yesterday.” 

            Relieved, but still hesitant to agree to lunch, I said, “Do you think we can find a place that serves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?”

            He grinned, “It can’t hurt to ask.”

            A few minutes later, we’d parked our bikes on the side of a small restaurant and found ourselves seated on an outdoor patio.  It was a beautiful day and the ride had been wonderful, but I couldn’t help but be happy to be sitting still on a soft cushiony chair. 

            “Can I get you two something to drink?” the waitress asked us.  She looked to be about forty, with a mop of dark curls plastered on the top of her head.  She smiled warmly at us and waited for our response.

            “Do you have sweet tea?” I asked with a childlike smile.

            She lowered her head and put her hand on her hip.  “Sweetheart, this is the south!  Sweet tea practically comes out of the spicket here!”

            I smiled, “Good.  I’d love a sweet tea with lemon.”

            She gave me a wink and turned to Nick.

            “I guess I’ll have the same.”  He smiled at us both.  Just before the waitress walked away he asked, “You don’t happen to serve peanut butter and jelly sandwiches here do you?”

            The waitress flashed Nick a seductive smile, leaned over the table, and whispered in a husky voice, “Cutie, you can have whatever your heart desires.  It doesn’t even need to be on the menu.”

            I suppressed a laugh as the color rose up from Nick’s neck to his hairline.  The waitress tweaked his nose, gave me a wink, and walked away.

            When she was gone from view, I giggled and said, “Wow!  That was quite a proposition you just got.  Does that happen to you a lot?”

            Nick was still blushing, but a big grin lit up his face.  “That was a bit much for me.”

            I laughed at him.  “I think that if you play your cards right, you could have one hell of a night with that hot dish bringing our drinks over.”

            Nick shook his head and laughed.

            “Did you get a chance to think about what you might want?” the waitress asked when she set our drinks down on the table. 

            I grinned across the table at Nick, who was trying very hard not to blush again.  To save him, I ordered my lunch.  “I think I’d like to have the Caesar Salad, please.”

            She turned and gave me a smile.  “That’s a good choice.  I make the dressing myself.  It’s one of my favorites.”  She turned her attention back to Nick.  “What about you, sexy?  Decided what you want yet?”

            Clearly flustered, but trying hard to ignore her, Nick submitted his lunch order, “I’ll have the bacon cheeseburger, no onions, and extra pickles.”

            “Are you going to want fries with that?” she asked with a hint of sass.

            Nick nodded and handed her the menus from the table.  She grinned at him and left us alone at the table again. 

            I suppressed the laugh that was building up inside me and said, “I have to say, I’m surprised.  I never really pictured you as the shy type.”

            He shook his head, “That woman frightens me.  I think she might be serious about her advances.”

            “She seems harmless enough to me.”  I grinned at him.

            “Can we talk about something else, please?” he begged then reached for his sweet tea.  I watched him take a drink and look out of the corner of his eye for the waitress. 

            I grinned, “Fine.  You asked me all kinds of questions about my life on the ride over here, so now it’s your turn.”

            He raised an eyebrow at me. 

            “Tell me about your family.” I started with what I thought was a simple question.

            “I’d rather not,” he replied sharply.

            If the tone of his voice hadn’t been enough to deter me from the topic, the look on his face definitely did the trick. 

            After what felt like forever, he sighed.  “I didn’t mean to snap at you.  I didn’t grow up in a family like yours, so I’d really rather not talk about it.”

            I nodded and took a sip of my tea.