Early July
As the days flew by, Elizabeth and Nate's friendship grew. They met on her deck almost every night. Mostly to play Scrabble but some nights just to talk.
Nate showed up about 8:30 as usual one night, but Elizabeth wasn't waiting on the deck.
He knocked on the sliding door. After a few moments, she appeared, her eyes puffy and red.
"Hey. Bad night?"
"Something like that."
Her tears overflowed her eyes so he opened his arms. She paused and then accepted his hug.
"Wanna tell me?" he asked, secretly loving that with his height, she fit perfectly under his chin.
"Six years...he's been gone six years today."
"Oh. I'm so sorry, Elizabeth." He felt slightly jealous of Jack Thornton right then. The man was obviously wonderful because even in the grave, he still had Elizabeth's love. He knew now at this point, she wasn't ready to move past the friends stage with him.
She pulled back and shook her head, grabbing a tissue. "After this long, I don't usually cry this much but...with Vi.."
"There's no time frame where its inappropriate to cry after losing someone."
"Thanks, doctor," she chuckled with sarcasm and slight annoyance. "I'm sorry. I'm not good company tonight. Can we play tomorrow night?"
"Sure."
As he turned to go, she stopped him. "Thanks for the hug, Nathan."
"Anytime."
When Elizabeth came downstairs to start her coffee the next morning, which she needed badly, she was surprised that Evie was there, making breakfast.
"Evie?"
"Morning, Aunt Beth. Please take a seat."
Elizabeth gave her a kiss to her temple and chose the counter.
"This is nice. Having someone make breakfast for me. What's the occasion?"
"I...heard you crying last night. I thought maybe I hadn't been helping enough so I decided to just do it."
"Sweetheart, you do a lot. And last night...well, I was crying because it was six years ago that I lost your Uncle Jack. That with missing your mom...it made me upset."
"Oh. Uncle Jack was a great uncle," she said with a smile. "I know he loved you a lot."
"I loved him a lot too."
"Do you think...nevermind."
"Go ahead, sweetie."
"Well, I know you and Dr. Grant are friends. Do you think...maybe you and he will ever be more than friends?"
Elizabeth blushed and smiled as she put cream in her coffee. "You're right. We are friends. I don't know what will happen in the future though."
"He's pretty handsome."
"Yeah. He is," Elizabeth admitted.
"And Allie is fun and we all get along great."
"True again."
"So I think you should go for it."
Before Elizabeth could answer, the other kids came down and their quiet morning wasn't so quiet, but Elizabeth wouldn't want it any other way.
At work that afternoon, she received a gorgeous bouquet of wildflowers from Buds, the florist in town. The card read, "Our BUDding friendship means the world to me. I'm sorry if I messed it up. See you tonight. Nate."
She smiled at his pun and pulled out her phone to take a picture and to thank him.
She texted a thank you, complete with a heart emoji and then promised a challenging game of Scrabble later.
Evie's suggestion was on Elizabeth's mind all day. Especially after she received his flowers. He did say the word friendship...so maybe he didn't want more. But, he said budding also...so maybe he hoped for more.
She had no idea. She did know a few things for sure. They had a lot in common, he was adorable and she wanted to talk to him about their relationship.
After the kids were in bed, she took an extra few minutes for herself, putting on a nice blouse with a cute skirt rather than wearing jeans and a tank top like usual.
Then she let her hair out of its ponytail and used her fingers to loosen the curls.
Finally, she added a bit of pink lip gloss and a smile. "Not bad," she whispered.
In the kitchen, she grabbed a bowl, pouring pretzels into it and adding queso to another bowl.
She paused her preparations when her phone buzzed. It was Nathan. "Hey. You on your way?"
"Uh...well. No."
"Its okay if you're late. Everyone is asleep here."
"I'm sorry, Elizabeth. Can I take a rain check?"
"Oh. Sure. No problem." She fought to keep the disappointment from her voice. "More pretzels and cheese for me," she teased.
"I...Allie is going through something right now."
"She's twelve. Almost-teen girls go through things regularly."
"Yeah. She's pretty moody and cries a lot. Tonight she's just not feeling good."
"Has she...well, is she on her period?"
"I have no idea," he said, laughing.
"Should I ask?"
"No. Definitely not. My guess is she's never had one before. You would know because you'll have to buy her some items…"
"I don't know how to do that! I...I've never been married, Elizabeth. My mom always took care of my sister...or at least I assume she did."
"Its nothing to stress about but I'd prepare yourself."
He groaned, making her giggle.
"Uncle Nathan?"
"Gotta go, Elizabeth."
"Let me know if you need help."
Nathan looked at his niece. "What's up, Al?"
"I think I need you to go to the store for me."
"Sure. Need some chocolate?"
"No...well...I need some tampons."
Her face turned beet red and then she started crying.
"Okay. I'll go right now." He gave her a hug. "Love you, Al."
"Thanks, Uncle Nathan."
As he wandered down the tampon aisle, he realized again that he was completely clueless. So he called Elizabeth.
"Hey. So, there's heavy flow, medium or light. There's like five different brands and some say sport…"
"Do you see the ones that say teen on them?"
"Teen...teen teen...yes! How many boxes should I get? And does she need like chocolate or something? Girls like chocolate I think. Yeah. Like ice cream and hot fudge."
"Nate, slow down," she said with a laugh. "Do you have a heating pad? That's a lifesaver for cramps, trust me. And children's Motrin too."
Nathan left the store with lots of items to help Allie and he felt a bit more confident than before, thanks to Elizabeth.
Allie was watching TV when he got home. "Okay, Al. Come see what I got."
She paused the TV and came over. He took everything out of the bag and smiled. "According to Elizabeth…"
"You told her? Uncle Nathan!"
"Al, I'm clueless! I didn't know anything about what you needed. What did you want me to do? Do you know how many choices of tampons there are?"
She wiped her tears. "I wish Mom was here."
"I know. Me too." She wrapped her arms around his waist and cried, dampening his shirt.
"Thank you, Uncle Nathan."
"You're welcome. I'll do anything for you, you know that."
"I know." She stood on her toes and kissed his cheek. "I'm pretty lucky."
The next day, William and Grace showed up for a visit. They lived south of Lansing so it wasn't a long drive.
As always, William carried in bags of presents, as if he never saw his grandchildren or something. When in reality, it was a monthly visit with video chats in between.
Evie immediately ran to Grace's arms and sobbed while Kendra and JJ rushed to William. Julian hung back and waited.
"You okay, Julian?" Elizabeth asked him.
"I guess," he said with a shrug.
She kissed his temple. "Go say hi."
Grace let Evie go for a moment and wrapped her arms around Julian. "Hi, sweetheart."
"Hi," he said, tears rolling down his cheeks.
Apparently the twice weekly appointments with Dr. Grant were helping him let go of his emotions and not internalize them as much.
The kids dragged William out back to the beach, leaving Elizabeth with her mom.
"How are you doing, dear?" Grace asked her.
"Some days good. Some days not. What about you?"
"Same. How is the therapy going with the kids?"
"Very well. I think just talking it out helps."
"Are you talking to someone too? You and Vi were so close."
"I talk to Dr. Grant too." She left out the part about him coming over almost nightly and talking over Scrabble and snacks.
"That's good. Dating anyone?"
"Mom…"
"Its a fair question, Beth. Its been six years."
"I don't know if I'm ready."
"Life's short. Take a leap, Beth."
Life was short, she knew that all too well, but she took care of four children and had little time for other things. Did she have time for a boyfriend?
If she were honest with herself, she'd thought about kissing him more than once and when he hugged her, it sure felt right. Not to mention the power he held behind his crooked grin and beautiful blue eyes.
She felt her cheeks heat. "What are you afraid of, Beth?"
"Losing him."
"So there is someone?"
"Yeah. His name is Nathan Grant. He's the kid's therapist and our neighbor."
"Sweetheart, don't throw away the possibility of loving someone completely just because you're scared."
The pain of losing Jack had been almost unbearable at the time. She had fought for JJ's sake though. She survived for him.
Now, as she ate dinner with her family and did the dishes with Evie, her heart yearned for someone to comfort her. To be next to her when she went to sleep and when she woke up. To tell her dreams and worries to.
Was that Nathan Grant? She thought so but what if it wasn't and she lost him as a friend?
After dinner, William suggested that they take the kids home with them for a few days. So after getting them all packed up and watching them leave, her house was quiet. Too quiet.
Her phone buzzed. "Hi, Faith."
"Hey. How are you?"
"Alone. For the first time in months."
"Wow. Whatever will you do? Oh wait, its almost time for Nathan to come over."
"Yeah."
"How's that going?"
"I want to kiss him."
"Good. Its about time."
"Faith, I haven't kissed anyone in over six years."
"Its just like riding a bike."
"What if it ruins our friendship? What if I lose him?"
"Elizabeth, you won't. Just let yourself love him. It could be amazing. 'What ifs' don't help anything."
Those 'what ifs' played in her mind as she took her hair down and changed into the skirt she wore the last time. Then the thought of his lips on hers made her blush as she brushed her teeth and put on lip gloss.
"Like riding a bike," she told herself.
As she walked to the deck, he knocked on the door. She let out a breath and opened the door.
He stepped past her, looking so good in his khaki shorts and black t-shirt and smelling just as amazing.
"What's going on?" he asked, his eyes traveling to her skirt and back up.
"You look nice."
"Do you hear that?"
He turned his head a bit. "No. I don't hear anything."
"Exactly."
"Kids asleep?"
"At their Grandparent's house."
"Oh." He ran his hand through his hair and shuffled his feet. "Maybe we should do something other than Scrabble then."
"Like what?"
"Maybe watch TV or something?"
"Popcorn too?"
"Yeah. I mean, I have a big screen at my house and we always hang out over here."
"Do you have popcorn?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, let's go then."
As they walked over, he thought about what he perceived to be signals from Elizabeth. He wasn't an expert on women by any means, but her hair was down, she had pink lip gloss on and a skirt instead of jeans or shorts. It seemed reasonable to conclude…
"Nate?" He looked at her. "Are we going to go in?"
He chuckled. They were standing outside his sliding glass door. "Yeah. Let's go in. And can we maybe talk while we make the popcorn?"
"Yeah. Talking is a good idea."