Counting to Ten
Chapter 7
Jason walked along the path headed to the cabin. It was four in the morning and he was not tired at all. He and Elizabeth had sat on the balcony of her hotel room for almost four hours talking. Finally, their night HAD to come to an end.
Once he finally convinced her to stay one more day and spend it with him, Jason felt he could leave her. Even if only for a few hours. They had agreed that since she already had the hotel room paid for she really had no reason to leave. He said he would hang out at the beach with them or whatever she wanted to do.
Little did she know that he went straight down to the night clerk at the desk and bought two- three day All Park passes. One for Elizabeth and One for Cameron then had the clerk have someone send them upstairs and shove the envelope with the tickets under her door. He included a note in the envelope.
Elizabeth,
I want you to stay longer but it's up to you. However, maybe this will help make your decision. Since they have already been purchased, you can't say no to them. I had a wonderful time talking with you tonight and hope you feel the same. As we planned, I'll call you at eleven-thirty and we can set our day from there. We'll start with lunch and then maybe you and Cameron will agree to join me at Animal Kingdom.
Jason
PS: I miss you already!
Once he finished the letter, he paid for the clerk to have two dozen roses sent to her room at exactly ten-thirty so that she would not be woken too soon but would have the flowers to hopefully think of Jason and agree to his offer. He instructed the man to simply put 'Please Stay' on the card.
He had to call a car to drive him around the lake to Fort Wilderness. As he was driving away from her hotel he felt the emptiness seeping back into his body. Once they reached Fort Wiilderness, Jason asked the driver to let him out so he could walk the rest of the way.
As he walked he played the entire day over in his mind. How could this woman have affected him so much in one day? Suddenly he realized he was falling for her hard. When she had asked him if he believed in love at first sight and he responded "Today I do." She leapt into his lap and kissed him. What did that mean?
They had talked about her and Cameron and their family. He asked where Cameron's father was and at first Elizabeth tensed up but finally told him that Alexander Smith was her friend in college and one drunken night they did much more than simple friends do. Once she had told him she was pregnant, he took off and she has never heard from him again.
"That weasel" Jason spit out to no one.
Then his thoughts returned to her. She said she was going to college to study art but that had been put on hold when she became pregnant with Cameron. He found out that she was just three semesters shy of her degree but that raising a baby was so expensive, she could not afford to go back. She hoped that with her new job, she would be able to finally finish her degree with online classes that she could take at night when she was home with Cameron.
She said that her brother was a doctor and her grandmother was a nurse but that Elizabeth hated to accept their money or help. She made it a point to state that she did not want anyone to think of her or her son as a charity case. Suddenly, he panicked that she was going to be angry that he bought the tickets. 'Too late now' he thought and nervously shoved his hands into his pockets.
He found out that she was twenty seven. Eight years younger than him. Age didn't matter though. Not to Jason and she seemed unfazed when he said he was thirty five. Actually she said she would have guessed younger. He wondered how old she thought he was.
They talked about Carly and Jason explained to her their whole sordid past. Elizabeth seemed to understand how friendships sometimes got sticky and mentioned that she missed her friend Zander but not Zander, the father of her child. He agreed that his friend Carly was a much better version too. She complimented Jason on being able to rise above Carly and Sonny's betrayal so many years ago. He explained that he left and traveled for a year after he found them together and when he returned, he no longer cared. He just wanted his friends back.
She asked him where he had traveled to and Jason described all the places he had seen. When he mentioned Italy, Elizabeth lit up with excitement. She has always wanted to see Italy and the beautiful art housed and created in that country. When Jason said that it seemed like the light of the night sky was different in Italy, she said that she had read that in one of her art history books. She said that was why so many artists flocked to Venice to paint.
The only thing he didn't mention was his real job. He knew it would scare her and wasn't really sure how to tell her that he was a trained killer that worked for the mob. If anything comes from this, he'll have to tell her but for now…there's no need to let it end before it even began.
He strolled slowly along the lagoon's edge and looked across the water. He could just see the top of the castle and then to the left, he could see The Floridian. That's where sheis. That's where the most beautiful creature he had ever laid eyes on was sleeping. What he wouldn't give to be there. Holding her in his arms.
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Finally, he headed up the cobblestones to the front porch of their cabin. All the lights were out. He used his key to enter and was surprised to see Letecia and Reginald asleep on the floor in front of the fireplace. The fire was just ready to die out but the sparkling diamond that was perched on Letecia's finger that was spread across Reginald's bare chest told him that maybe the night wasn't that uneventful after all.
He bent down to tap Reginald on the shoulder. He didn't want to wake Letecia and embarrass her. He could not tell if she was dressed or not since when he saw her earlier she was wearing a simple tube top dress and now she was covered with a blanket but Reginald's bare chest had him wondering. Once Reginald opened his eyes, Jason stood back up and walked to the kitchen to give them some privacy.
"Hey, I take it going back to her room turned out well." Reginald said walking in with his cargo pants on, bare foot and still no shirt.
"Um…Reginald?" Jason looked at him questioningly. He certainly was not judging him but Michael or Morgan could have walked in on them and Jason certainly didn't like that thought. Even worse, HE could have walked in on them. That thought, his nanny and Reginald going at it on his floor, turned the bile in his stomach.
"Get your head out of the gutter Jason. Letecia and I stayed dressed the whole time. I spilled wine on my shirt and Letecia was soaking it. We did get engaged though. I just couldn't wait any longer."
"Congratulations man. I am so happy for you." Jason said as the concern left his face to be replaced by a genuine smile and he jutted his hand out to shake it. Then it struck him, "Why are you guys still here?"
"Carly called Letecia to say she met some man and wasn't coming home tonight. She called Letecia so that she would know she needed to be here in the morning when the boys woke up."
"Fuck! Carly is such an idiot. Did she say who this guy was or where she was? She could be in trouble and we wouldn't know where to find her. And leaving the boys like this. She never uses that brain of hers."
"Oookay but Jason…you did just walk in the door yourself and you spent the night with a woman you just met today. And actually, you left the boys with a stranger, on a boat no less, by themselves. Don't get me wrong, Carly is a mess but aren't you being a bit hypocritical right now?"
Jason scrubbed his face with the palm of his hand as he let Reginald's words sink in. He was right. Carly is a grown woman and had left her boys with him. He was the one that
left them alone with a stranger. "You know, I think this place is turning my brain to mush."
Reginald let out a soft laugh which prompted Jason to do the same.
"Speaking of mush...tell me about this Elizabeth."
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Cameron woke up earlier than she'd hoped but later than she expected. He slept until nine forty-five and she was grateful for the few hours of sleep he had given her.
Since he had fallen asleep last night on the boat, he hadn't taken a bath and he was grimy from the day before's events. Especially the cotton candy he and Morgan had shared during the parade. Every time a vendor walked by, if one of the boys asked for it, Jason bought it. Except for the oversized stuffed Pluto that Morgan had wanted. Jason told him it was too big but that they would find it at the gift shop and get it for him then.
"Spoiled rotten" she mumbled as she worked the shampoo into Cameron's curly locks. He had blue cotton candy in his hair and stuck to the side of his face that she hadn't noticed in the dark the night before.
"What Mommy?" Cameron asked.
"Oh, I was just thinking that Jason spoiled you kids rotten yesterday.
"I like him Mommy. He doesn't yell like Uncle Steven when I do something wrong. He's nice."
"Yes he is baby. He's very nice."
"I think he likes kissing you." Cameron laughed.
"Oh you do?" she laughed back.
"Yep! And when you were looking at the parade, he was looking at you. I saw him with my own eyes." Cameron pointed at his eyes like his Grams always did when she said that. Two fingers in the peace sign like he was going to poke his own eyes out.
"He was?" a soft smile played on her face and she looked down at her little boy so proud he had told her something she didn't know. "What do you think about Mr. Jason? Do you think he's a nice enough guy to spend all day today with?"
He jumped up in the tub effectively soaking her and nearly falling himself. "YES!! And Morgan and Michael too?"
"Well, I don't know about them. I think they are going to go to Animal Kingdom with their own mommy but Jason wanted to go to the beach or something and just hang out with us today." She said catching her son and giving him a disapproving frown for his dangerous movement and helped him as he sat back into the bath water.
"I want to go to Animal Kingdom too. I want to go to see the monkeys and elephants and giraffes." He ended with a typical four year old whine.
"Honey, I told you that we could only afford a two day pass and you wanted to go to MGM and Magic Kingdom. I'm sorry honey. Maybe someday we can come back and we'll go to Animal Kingdom then." She reasoned and he just nodded okay with his bottom lip still jutted out slightly.
Once his bath was done, Elizabeth dressed him and perused the menu for breakfast. Four dollars and fifty cents for a bowl of cereal. That was crazy. Thank goodness she thought to stop and pick up a few things before she came to the hotel. She started to walk toward the large bag that was her catch all to get the granola bars and apple when someone knocked on the door.
Elizabeth looked over at the clock and saw that it was ten-thirty. Surely it wasn't Jason. She still had an hour before he was going to call her. She pivoted on her bare heel and moved toward the door. She noticed an envelope sticking out from under the complimentary newspaper and bent to pick it up while asking "Who is it?"
"Hotel staff ma'am. I have a delivery for you." Was muffled from the other side of the door.
Elizabeth checked the safety lock on the door and pulled it open as far as it would crack with the bar placed in it's protection holster. All she could see was a huge display of roses. Red roses and the familiar yellow cap of the hotel's bellhops. She closed the door and pulled it back open fully and the man peeked around the huge display.
"These are for you ma'am and I was told to deliver them at exactly ten-thirty." The blonde headed man said.
"Thank you, hang on…let me see if I have change for a tip. You can set them on the table there." Elizabeth said as she motioned to the small table and went for her purse.
"Oh, no ma'am. The tip was taken care of already. Enjoy." And he turned and left closing the door behind him.
Cameron came in from the balcony and squealed. "Who gave us that?"
"Well I don't know Cam, let me read the card…..Please stay" she flipped the card over but there was nothing else. She didn't really need to know who had sent them though. Jason had been asking her to stay longer all night so surely this was another attempt. He
finally let it rest, so she thought, when she agreed to one more day. She knew it would cost her an extra two hundred dollars to change her ticket but she was having such a nice time with him, she finally gave in.
Turning her attention to the envelope she had picked up from the floor, she slid her finger under the flap and tugged the envelope open. Two - three day park hopper passes with another note from Jason. She smiled as she read the last line. I miss you already.
Honestly, she felt the same way. She tossed and turned before going to sleep. As soon as he left she felt the absence of his arms around her and his lips on hers. They had sat and kissed like high school kids on the balcony after he said he believed in love at first sight when he met her. Love. Is this what it feels like?
Elizabeth had never truly been in love. All her twenty seven years, that one emotion had eluded her. First because she was shy, then because she was raped, then too busy with college and then it was like she had the plague when men found out she was a single mother. No one seemed to stay around long. She had relationships before Cameron and definitely had sex but once Cameron arrived, her life changed. She had only had sex one time since he came along and that was a disaster. A one night stand that turned horrible. She thought Ric was really nice and for some reason believed him when he said he loved kids and wanted to get to know her. He was a lawyer and acted like a nice guy who wanted to get to really know her. However, once she had given herself to him that night, he took off like a bat out of hell. He practically laughed in her face as he raced out of the hotel door. That's why one night stands would never happen to her again.
She almost broke her promise to herself last night though. If Jason had tried more, she would have never stopped him. He hadn't though. He was a perfect gentleman. Never letting his hands wander where they shouldn't and never asking for more than she gave him.
Except to stay.
And here she is, two dozen roses and tickets to let her and Cameron enjoy everything Disney had to offer. The hotel was paid for two more nights so….
