The Carrier (The Carrier Series Book 1) (3 page)

“So, did you check your grades from last
semester yet?” my best friend from college,
Kasie
,
asked.

“Oh, are they out already?” I lied, taking a
sip from the straw in my lemonade and switching my cell to the other ear. The
evening summer sun was almost under the horizon. I loved sitting on my parents’
front porch, watching the sun dip beneath the tree line.

“Ah, yeah.
For
about a week now! How could you not have checked?”

“I forgot.” I was scared out of my pants to
check my grades. I knew in my heart what they were, so why check? “I’ve been
busy, I guess.”

“You’re a bad liar, Ava. Come clean.”

“There’s a hot new guy at work. I’ve been
distracted!”

“New guy?
Dish, girl.”

“Well, he’s handsome and somewhat mysterious.
You
know,
someone who wouldn’t go for a girl like me.”

“What does that mean?”
Kasie
paused momentarily. “You have no idea your worth, do you?”

I smiled. Best friends were the breath of life.
Maybe I didn’t know how special I was, but at least I had friends who tried to
convince me.

Kasie
sighed at my silence and then scolded me. “You haven’t seen Aaron, have you?”

“Calm down,” I teased her. “I have not seen
him. But this town isn’t too big.”

“Well, I hope he stays away. You need a break
from that guy.”

“I know.” A tiny sliver of sun was all that was
left of the day. A chilly June breeze ran up my bare legs and I tucked them
under a light blanket. “How’s work at the pool?”

“Not bad. I’m working on my tan sitting by the
pool, getting hit on by mature guys all day!”

“
Kasie
, I’ve seen the
clientele at the Stevens Point Community Pool. I think you’re mistaking mature
guys for men over eighty wearing too small swimwear.”

She laughed loudly.
“Fine!
Busted! I think I’m going to have to pick up another shift so I can pay for
tuition in the fall.”

“I’m proud of you for working so hard.”

“Thanks, Ava. Well, I should get going. It was
good taking with you.”

“Yeah, same here.”

“Hey, check your grades. It’s not too late to
sign up for a summer term online course.”

Ugh. I came home to get away from school and
relax in my beloved Dells. School was the last thing I wanted to focus on this
summer.

But instead I said, “Thanks,
Kas
. I’ll think about it.”

I hung up the phone and went right to a web
browser. I put in my student ID into the UW–Stevens Point online grade book and
hovered
my finger over the log-in button. Nerves
stirred in my stomach. I took a deep breath to calm them.

“Ava!” my mother called from inside the house.
“Your dinner’s ready!”

“Coming, Mom!” I yelled back. I closed the
browser. My grades could wait until later.

 
*     *     *     *

A
few days after Nolan rescued me from my embarrassing stunt on the hill, I was
more than thrilled when I caught sight of him in a booth called Lower One. He
was training with expert ticket agent, Suzanne, and a guy I knew from high
school, Brian. 

Lower One was one of the largest ticket booths,
complete with two ticket windows, green Astroturf carpeting, and oversized
pictures of the Dells covering the walls. It was situated at the entrance to
the grounds of the Lower Dells docks and was the best booth in town because it
was constantly populated with people.

Jack and I stood at the dispatch booth,
chatting with Rob. I could see Nolan across the way, laughing with Suzanne and Brian.
My heart jumped into overdrive and my head spun. How could his heavenly smile
get such a reaction out of me?

“Let’s go hang out in the ticket booth, Jack.”
I had wanted to thank Nolan ever since he left me stunned a few days before.

“I’m game. I’m sure Suzanne is good for a
laugh.”

My nerves rumbled around as we snuck in the
door and sat on the two captain’s chairs in the back of the tiny booth,
watching Suzanne, Brian, and Nolan sell tickets out of their windows.

Although Nolan was still in training, he seemed
to be a natural at selling boat tickets. His charm and poise enabled him to
sweet-talk anyone into buying tickets for both the Upper and Lower Dells tours.
This was known as the complete tour, or “combo” to ticket agents, and it
provided the biggest commission. Somehow, Nolan knew exactly what to say to
each kind of tourist that arrived at his ticket window. I suspected that if he
really wanted to, he could use his suavely crafted words and those beautiful
baby blues to get some unsuspecting tourists to hand over their first born.

DBT owned several booths all over town with the
intention of coaxing tourists on every corner of the city into taking a boat
tour. Sixty years ago, ticket agents would jump into the streets of the Dells
and even hang onto passing cars trying to solicit tourists to buy tickets. Now,
of course, the agents had to wait for the tourists to approach the booths, and
in order to be a good agent, you had to know how to talk the talk.

Most ticket agents were college kids who came
home for the summer to make a few bucks and have a great time partying at the
company’s summer housing. The ticket booth at Lower One, however, was
consistently inhabited by Suzanne, a veteran agent well out of college who
sported a cropped hairstyle and a taste for noticeably inappropriate jokes.

In the off-season, she spent her winters
subbing at the high school in town, although I couldn’t imagine her leading a
class full of teenagers anywhere besides down the wrong road. She was joined
daily with another agent in the booth at Lower One, and together they would
stay busy shelling out combos the entire day.

Jack and I often spent our breaks hanging out
in the booth listening to Suzanne and Brian goof around, so it wasn’t anything out
of the ordinary for us to show up on the chairs in the back. I was trying to
figure out how I could have a private conversation with Nolan in the booth
while everyone else was there. I was sure I didn’t want the others to know
about my ridiculous brush with death, but I needed to thank Nolan.

Susan engaged in conversation with us the
moment we entered, but Brian and Nolan were busy with customers. When the old
couple left Nolan’s window, he turned around, smiling at me, and walked right
over to my side. Susan continued talking with Jack; it was my one chance.

“Ava. It’s so good to see you.” His smile was
intoxicating.

“I’m so sorry about the other day,” I said
nervously. “I can’t thank you enough for what you did.”

“It was my pleasure,” Nolan said sweetly. But
then his expression changed quickly. “But it was not my pleasure believing you
were about to plummet to your death. Do you normally take such inappropriate
risks?”

I laughed loudly to cover my embarrassment.
“No. I’m not normally a risk taker, I just...” My mind raced back to that
stupid little glittery rock.
“Never mind.
It doesn’t
matter.” I smiled, suddenly lost in Nolan’s eyes.

He placed his hand on my shoulder momentarily
as if to say, “I forgive you.”

Something electric stirred inside me. I could
feel the warmth of his hand radiating through my thin work shirt.

Some more customers came up to the windows and
Nolan’s hand drifted off my shoulder too soon. Just like that the three ticket
agents were hard at work again. I lifted my hand up to the spot where Nolan’s
had just been, but Jack pulled on my elbow.

“Come on, we’ve
gotta
go sweep before our next trip.”

I reluctantly slid off the chair, unable to bid
Nolan goodbye as Jack dragged me out of the ticket booth.

*    
*     *     *

As
the days went on, I convinced Jack to hang out in the ticket booth several
times a day, but about a week later, unhappily to me, Jack revealed that he
felt the tiny booth was too small for five people and wanted us to find a new
hangout space.

I disagreed, but for some reason didn’t want to
tell Jack how I felt about Nolan, despite the truth that I simply couldn’t get
him out of my mind. 

 It was incredibly difficult to judge
Nolan’s feelings for
me,
however, because his
naturally flirty personality made it appear as though he was hitting on
basically anyone he came into contact with: elderly ladies, children, hot
twenty-
somethings
, and everyone in between.

I tried to tell myself it was all stupid,
anyway. Was I ready to jump into a relationship with someone right now? My
heart still felt like it was in a million pieces after my last boyfriend,
Aaron, was done with me and my faith in love had completely crumbled.

On the other hand, there was no denying the
jolt of life I felt every time I was within a few feet of Nolan.

Darren spotted Nolan’s talent early on and
scheduled him frequently in the best booths. Nolan had completed his training,
and I was happy to see him at work almost every day. Time made my mysterious
connection with Nolan that much stronger. With our comfortable conversations
and benign flirting in the booth, we were definitely passing from friendship
into perhaps something more. I was still cautious, but with each encounter I
started to feel a tiny flame of excitement rekindling my heart.

After the last tourist hopped off the back of
my boat one afternoon in mid-June, I waited the right amount of time for them
to head for the exit, and then I raced up the stairs by dispatch to visit Nolan
in the corner booth again. I hoped Suzanne had headed home early so Nolan and I
could spend a few minutes alone together before my last tour of the day. My
heart skipped a beat as I approached the booth and saw only him leaning up
against the counter on the opposite side of the booth. Careful not to make too much
noise, I approached the booth quietly, hoping to sneak up on him. When I got
close enough I realized he was talking on the phone, but what was that I heard?
It sounded like he was speaking a foreign language, like maybe Russian.
Curious, I slipped in the back door and sat down on a stool just as he hung up
the phone. He turned his head over his shoulder, saw me, and then flashed that
captivating smile. A pleasant tingle slid through my body, making me forget all
about the weird phone call.

“So, Miss
Ava,
can’t
stay away, huh?” he teased. This was my fourth trip to the ticket booth today.
Were my cheeks the color I felt they were? I surely looked like a fool! I tried
to wipe them inconspicuously with the back of my hand, as if that would do
something to help.

“Jack wanted to run to the bank before our 5:15
tour and I’ve already swept the top deck, so I thought I’d come up here and
keep you company. Where’s Suzanne?” I tried to nonchalantly thumb the rack of
brochures on the counter.

He backed into the corner of the
triangle-shaped booth and hoisted himself up on the counter. It looked like
something my mother would scold me for doing on the kitchen counter. “She ran
out to her car to get me the schedule for next week. She’ll be right back.”

Damn
.

“Is the 5:15 your last trip? I’ve
gotta
work until eight tonight.” He looked up at me, and I
tried not to dive into the tranquil seas above his nose, but I got lost beneath
his long eyelashes.

“Ava...
are
you
alright? You’ve got the weirdest expression on your face.”

Dammit
! Play
it cool, girl!

“Yeah, sorry.
We
had two back-to-backs, and I didn’t really get a chance to eat lunch today.” It
was only a half-truth. I did eat a snack-sized bag of mini pretzels on the way
back upriver during the last tour.

“Hold down the fort here, and I’ll run back to
the Last Chance to get you something.” He hopped off the counter that rounded
the booth and was silently closing in the gap between us.

His chest looked like the most perfect place to
rest the side of my head. To invite his arms to wrap around me like two satin
ribbons, pull me in close, and tie gently behind my back.

Like an idiot, I let out an involuntary sigh.

Oops. Did he hear that?

 
“Hey,
Queenie
!
Where’s Captain Jack?” Suzanne barged
through the door and quickly freed me from the trance Nolan was holding me in.

“Why do you call her
Queenie
,
anyway?” Nolan asked Suzanne, not breaking eye contact with me.

I pleaded with her, “Oh, no. Please,
Suzanne...” This could be embarrassing. There were some things I wasn’t ready
to share with Nolan yet. I closed my eyes.