Leaving Town

Chapter 11- A Day With Meredith

"Okay, so, you want to date me, you need to pass a little test," Haley said, as she got up from the counter in her hotel room.

"What kind of test?"

"Well… you should spend the whole day with Meredith to see if she likes you."

"You'll be there… right?"

"No, I've got a meeting with my lawyer today."

"Well… how will I know what to do with her?"

"I don't know, you'll figure it out. Taylor will be here in a half an hour to drop her off," Haley said, grabbing her coat.

"She's gonna spend the day with me?"

"No, she has to work this weekend, she's only dropping her off."

"So… I'll be completely alone with her?"

"Yes… is that a problem?"

"No… I'm just surprised you're so ready to trust me with her."

"She's a five-year-old with a cell phone that Aunty Taylor got her… and an attitude… added to a great set of lungs that could probably be heard up to a mile away. I don't think I have anything to worry about," Haley said laughing, "Now I need to get going," she said, and kissed his cheek and walked out.

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Within a half hour Taylor was there to drop of Meredith. She didn't care about leaving her with Nathan or anything… she needed to get back to go to work.

Nathan sat on the back of the couch, looking at the little girl, who stood in the doorway with her backpack on her back, and her bag of things next to her. She seemed so innocent, like a little angel.

"You want to read a story?" Nathan asked, looking at her.

"Not really… can't we go outside? Is there a park nearby? Aunty Haley promised swings if I came. I want swings," she said, stomping her foot.

"Yeah, there's a park just across the street with swings… you want to go there?"

"Yeah!" her face lit up.

"Okay then… to the park it is, do you want to leave your backpack here?" Nathan asked, seeing it on her back.

"Okay…" she said and dropped it, "Can we go now?"

"Sure," Nathan said and opened the door to go outside.

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"Do you need me to push you?" Nathan asked, as Meredith climbed onto a swing.

"I can do it myself," she said proudly.

"Okay," Nathan said and sat down on the swing next to her. He wondered how long it would last before she got tired, and they had to find another activity to do. He watched her go back and forth, going higher each time, then it hit him… what if she was afraid of heights and started screaming? He didn't know anything about her, and yet Haley trusted him to do the right thing. "Aren't you going a little high?" he asked.

"No! Going high is the fun part, silly, I like going fast," she smiled.

"Okay, let me know when you get tired."

"I don't get tired," she said giggling, "I never get tired. I'm like the Energizer bunny… I keep going and going and going."

Nathan was afraid of that… with his luck they'd be out here on the swings until it was dark. It was easy enough, but at the same time… he really didn't want to spend his whole day watching a five-year-old swing. Then, she stopped.

"I thought you said you didn't get tired."

"I don't. I get bored, let's do something else."

"Okay, what do you like to do?"

"Can we bake Aunty Haley cookies? She taught me how."

"I know someone who can help you bake Aunty Haley some cookies… but I'm no good at it, my cookies always burn… or are hard… or don't taste very good."

"Oh… maybe you forgot to add the special ingredient."

"What's the special ingredient?"

"I can't tell you… silly."

"Okay, well, let's go see Karen… I'm sure she'd love to help you bake cookies." He picked her up and started walking to the café.

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"Hey Karen, you wouldn't happen to need an extra chef… would you?" Nathan asked, walking in, giving Meredith a piggy back ride.

"Why, who do you have in mind?" Karen asked, as he took a seat on a stool at the counter.

He put Meredith on the stool next to him, "Miss Meredith here wants some help baking Aunty Haley some cookies."

Karen looked around the café, it was a slow day, her helping a five year old bake some cookies wouldn't affect anyone, "Sure I can, Deb, you can handle it out here… right?" she asked her business partner.

Deb looked up from her magazine she was reading the corner with her coffee, "Yeah sure, oh, hi Nate, how have you been? I haven't seen you in a while. I heard you won your last game. Congrats."

"I've been good mom. And, yes we did win."

"All right," Karen said, "Meredith, come on, we're going to bake cookies, you like chocolate chip?"

Meredith smiled, "Yes!"

"Okay, good, come on, we can wash our hands and get started."

"Okay," Meredith said and hopped off the stool to wash her hands.

Nathan sat on his stool, figuring if it got back to Haley that he left… he might be in big trouble, besides the game was on T.V. in the café anyways. It was a win-win situation, at least in his eyes.

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"Look! Cookies!" Meredith said, running out from the back when they were done, carrying the plate of cookies.

"Wow," Nathan said, trying to be as excited as the little girl was about the cookies. After all, they were just cookies. He looked at his watch, it was already five 'o' clock, "You want to go back and wait for Aunty Haley? We could watch some T.V… have a snack… what do you say?"

"Okay," she smiled, "bye Karen," she said waving as she left.

Nathan walked with the little girl back to the hotel room. She was so energetic and eternally happy… it was actually kind of scary.

"Okay… you want to watch some basketball?" Nathan asked when they got to Haley's hotel room, plopping down on the couch.

"Okay," she said, nodding, "But I don't know what that is."

"Come here, I'll teach you," Nathan said, opening his arms to let the girl sit on his lap.

Meredith walked over to him and sat down, "Who do you want to win? The ones in the white? Or the ones in the blue?"

"The ones in the white," he said, shaking his head.

"Do you like the cheerleaders?"

"What?"

"The cheerleaders. Aunty Taylor says you like cheerleaders."

"What else did Aunty Taylor tell you?"

"She says that you're easy to annoy a lot."

"Oh did she?"

"Yes she did."

"Anything else?"

"Uh-huh."

"Can you tell me?"

"Yup."

"Well, what is it."

"That Aunty Haley loves you and you love Aunty Haley, but you're both too stupid to do anything about it."

"Really," Nathan asked, smiling, knowing Haley still loved him.

"Yup. Don't tell Aunty Haley, she'll be mad that I saided something."

"Okay… our little secret," Meredith said as Haley walked through the door.

"Hey Nate, Meredith, how was your day with Nathan?" she asked, kicking off her shoes and throwing down her coat.