Chapter 5

Being Weak in the Moment

"That cake was really good. Are you ready to head back to work?" Jack had helped her put the last dish away in the cabinet.

"Of course:) Let's go!" Elizabeth was already in her bathing suit and capris, so she was ready to go. She grabbed her water bottle and thanked Jack as he held the door open for her. Since the Tasty Tidbits was basically right across the road, they didn't have far to walk and got there in no time.

"Here we are! See you later?" Jack smiled and held the door open for her.

"Absolutely! I hope that you have a good day." Elizabeth was ready to learn some new things today at work, but her heart and her mind seemed to wander as her eyes followed Jack out the door. She sounded happy, but as she heard herself wish him a good day, and it sounded like a person that she no longer knew.

"Hi Elizabeth! Are you ready to start your day in the gift shop?" Florence greeted her with that huge smile that she showed everyday to everyone. "Molly can handle the kitchen for a few hours."

"I sure am... show me everything:)" She really was excited to see all the souveniors that the park had to offer.

"It's pretty basic and straight forward. There is a register here but the register in the snack bar is able to ring the items up too, just in case they want to pay for the items when they pay for their food. Let's see. here is our rack of postcards, this seems to be our most popular product, especially in the winter month. The best thing about these postcards is that, a guest can bring in a picture they took and we can make it into a postcard, which is why they are so popular with the guests. They are either .75 or 7 for $5.00. Over there, we have lots of t-shirts and sweatshirts with many different designs, most sizes and if someone asks for something special, we can usually order it if we have enough time. We also have hats and my favorite our pajamas. Our basic items are over there, toilet paper, soap, shampoo and all the kitchen things that you would need and so much more. You will see and learn more everyday and it's about time to open, would you please unlock the door and flip the sign?" Eliazabeth did as she was asked and got to worik.

The day ran very smoothly, they sold a lot of items. She even saw the Lawson family picking up some supplies for their week of camping.

"You look like your about ready for your break.. go ahead and take your lunch break:)" Florence offered.

"Thank you Florence!" she walked into the snack bar and tried her best to fiquire out what she wanted to eat, there were so many choices.

"Hi there Molly, how is it going today?" Elizabeth greeted her friend warmly.

"Going well so far, it was busy this morning but not to bad:) What can I get for you?" Molly's face was a little red, she knew how hot the kitchen could get and it was a hot one out there today.

"May I just have an order of fries with cheese and a bacon cheeseburger please?"Elizabeth didn't realize how hungry she was until she smelled all the good things cooking.

"Sure thing, I'll go throw it on the grill, can I offer you one of our famous milkshakes? First one is on the house:) Today the special is chocolate peanut butter.

"That actually sounds fantastic, thank you:)" She watched as Molly prepared her food, and made the milkshake like a pro. She decided to take her food outside and sit at one of the little tables facing the lake. Turning her head towards all of the noise, she saw that it was the first day of the children's water olympics. There were the Montgomery children and the Lawson kids there and some single kids that were the only child in the family, Opal and Robert. All of the parents were on the beach watching their kids having the time of their lives in the water. She saw Tom on the one side of the lake and the other lifeguard, she assumed was Lee on the other side. She watched as the children did laps across the lake, they all seemed to be pretty good swimmers. She was enjoying her lunch so much out here in the sunshine. Hearing a familiar sound, she looked down at her phone. A text from her mother and 2 from Rosemary awaited her. Both of them basically wanted to know the same thing... where are you? how are you? Elizabeth was sorry to be so distant to those that cared about her... she just didn't want to be very specific to her exact whereabouts right now. She wanted to be on her own,with nothing holding her back and she knew that her family would do their very best to try. She needed to find her self, but she needed to do it alone. Answering them both back in a group message, she let them know that she was doing well and that she would let them know more about her location soon. They both replied that they loved her and hoped to hear from her soon. She smiled, knowing how happy they would be when Elizabeth let them know where she was and how happy she was.

Hearing a splash, she looked up and saw little Opal splashing in the water. She watched as she kept going under the water and popping back up. Did Tom and Lee not see her struggling in the water? Her instincts of child safety clicked just then...

" Tom!" Elizabeth yelled, but he didn't hear her. She got up out of her chair, looking on, she saw Opal go down one more time. Elizabeth wasn't the best swimmer but she just had to help Opal. " Hold on, I'm coming! She jumped in the water and swam over to all of the splashing, dove under, grabbed her and tried to pull her back to shore.

" Elizabeth, what are you doing?" Tom came over to where she was helping Opal out of the water.

"Mr. Tom, why did she pull me out of the water?"Opal looked like she was about to cry.

"Yeah Mr. Tom, how can I rescue her when the lady from the snack bar already did?"Emily asked.

"Huh? You didn't need help?" She looked at Opal, then at Emily, who were shaking thier heads. That's when she noticed all of the parents were looking in her direction as well. Elizabeth looked at Tom in question.

"The kids were practicing their rescuing drills. They pair up with a partner and take turns practicing playing the victim and the lifeguard."

"Oh no... I messed up everything." She was so embarrassed.

"Elizabeth, it's ok, you didn't know." Tom tried to reassure her.

"I ah...have to go back to work now. I'm so sorry girls." She spoke in a hushed tone, heading back towards the snack bar. She was aware of all the people watching her as she walked past them.

"How was your lunch?" Florence asked her, she was helping Molly by wiping the tables in the dining area.

"It was good...ah it's really nice outside." Elizabeth answered the question quickly hoping that her fast reaction would help her forget the incident ever happened.

"Good, you will be with Molly this afternoon ok? She's waiting for you whenever you're ready." Florence let her know as soon as she was done wiping down the booth. So she headed over to the kitchen to meet Molly.

"Hi there!" You will be helping me make lots of pizzas for later on this afternoon. Charlotte wants us to make them for all the kids and their families after the kids are done swimming for the day. Elizabeh nodded, she was excited to see how they made the famous pizza that she had heard so much about.

It seemed like hours of prep work that they had to do in order to make sure they had enough food for everyone.

"Would you please get that one out of the oven for me? I think it's just about time to take it out."Molly asked, she was still getting used to having help in the kitchen. She planned to enjoy every moment of it.

"Of course:)" She took the pizza paddle and got all ready to grab the pie out of the oven. Suddenly Molly heard a crash behind her and the next thing she knew Elizabeth was getting up off the floor.

"What happened? Are you ok? You didn't burn yourself did you?" Molly wanted to make sure that she was ok. Pizzas can be replaced but people can't. Not only was she responsible for her safety but Elizabeth was becoming a good friend and she would never want any harm to come to her.

"Oh no! I dropped the pizza all ove the floor, I'm so sorry." she felt so bad and embarrassed at the same time.

"It's ok really, as long as you didn't hurt yourself. We do have a doctor here stationed the park if you need to go see him to get checked out." Molly helped her up

"No, I'm fine... Im just a little sore, and I'm not really feeling that great today. Would you mind if I left a little early today and went back to my cabin to rest?" She was not having a very good day so far and she just wanted to be alone right now.

"Of course not, would you like me to call Jack or Bill to give you a ride back to your cabin, I know they wouldn't mind?" Molly offered right away.

"No but thank you. I'll be fine." She cleaned herself off and clocked out. She knew that she should go back to her cabin but decided a walk would help clear her head. She hadn't been hiking on a trail yet so she decided to go walk the shortest and easiest trail. She wanted to go back to her cabin to change her clothes and her hiking shoes. She had a nice pair of boots that she should wear, so that she could start breaking them in.

She quicky changed her clothes so that she could be on way. Looking at the map of the trails that Jack had given her, she found the trail that she wanted to hike on. She put the map in her pocket and grabbed her water bottle. This trail was between the cabin area and the office,so not to far awar from her cabin. Before she started, she wanted to make sure that her boots were nice and tight but not to tight. She felt ready to enjoy herself, being out her on her own, with nothing but the birds and the occasionaly crunch of leaves from a squirrel or a passing chipmunk. She was able to look and see how beautiful God's creations were in the forest. There were leaves of all kinds, different plants and rocks everywhere. She walked for about an hour enjoying the scenery, then her thoughts started to catch up with her.

"What is wrong with me today? What happened to me?" It wasn't like her to drop things at work or to totally misread a situation like she did at the beach. She was pretty sure that she knew what was bothering her, she just needed to admit it to herself. She had feelings for Jack, the other day when she fell and he held her, their gaze met... she thought that he might be feeling the same feelings but then stopped. He was such a compassionate human being, his mom had really raised him to become a good man. The story that he had told her about the only girl that he ever loved, hurt her heart. How could a person play with another person's heart like that? Jack was the sweetest guy that she had ever met and he didn't deserve to be treated like that.

She started to hear a sound behind her. This wasn't a sound that made her nervous like before, this was a calming sound. Then she realized what it was. Although calming, it was starting to rain.

Meanwhile back at the beach, Tom was getting ready to close up the beach. It had been a full day of games with the kids and all the parents were in the water too.

"Hey how did the games go today?" Jack was coming back from doing his rounds and wanted to stop to see how all the kids were doing in the water olympics.

"It was a really good turnout this year. Lots's of both boys and girls decided to compete in all of the events. No injures and you will have to double check with Molly, but it looked like the snack shop did well today too." Tom loved his family's park as much as Jack did.

Molly was outside wiping off all the tables and chairs when she heard her name."You're right, we did do very well today. I think I made at least 30 pizzas. Hey how is Elizabeth?"

"What do you mean? Didn't she work with you today?" No one had reported anything to him, he usually knew everything that happened with his staff and the family park in general.

"She did work with Florence this morning and when she came back from her lunch, she then came to the kitchen to work with me. Something about her seemed off though, she wasn't acting like her normal self." Molly explained it as best as she could, she was the one that let Elizabeth go to her cabin without letting anyone know. "It was very busy with all the pizza making, we had made a bunch already when I asked her to take the one that was ready out of the oven. She accidently dropped it as she was taking out of the oven, and she must have fallen because when I turned around she was getting up off the floor."

"Was she ok?" Alarm slammed through Jack, he knew how hard the kitchen floors were.

" She said that she was. She asked if she could go back to her cabin to rest because she wasn't feeling well." Molly explained and looked down." I'm sorry Jack, I should've called you or walked her back to her cabin. He looked at her and nodded, accepting her apology.

"Yeah she didn't seem like she felt herself after what happened here either." Tom added quietly.

"Why do you say that? What happened today at the beach?" Jack didn't know how much more he could here, his staff knew better than this.

"Well the kids were playing victim and rescuer. Little Opal Weise had jumped in and was waiting for Emily to "rescue" her. Elizabeth was up there eating her lunch, I guess she saw Opal struggling in the water and thought that she needed help. So she jumped in the water to get he out. Of course, both of the girls were upset because they didn't know what was going on. Elizabeth was embarrassed Jack, I know she was."

"Oh my, she has had quite the day. I'm going to see if I can find her and talk to her. Don't worry about today, I'll take care of it." Jack kissed Molly's cheek and pat Tom on the back.

Jack walked in the direction of her cabin. He tried to call her cell but it went straight to voicemail. It was very odd that she didn't have it on, especially that's how everyone got ahold of each here in the park. He knocked on her door, expecting her to answer even if she didn't answer her phone. He waited for about 5 minutes, when there was no answer, he thouht maybe he should search the park. He didn't want to scare anyone before they knew where she was, or it she was hurt so he thought he should keep this to himself. However when he turned around, he noticed something laying on the ground. He picked it up the piece of paper,looked at it, and saw that it was the map of the trails that he had given to Elizabeth when she started here. She must have been choosing which one to hike on, because the Flatline Trail was circled.

"She must have decided to go for a hike." Jack thought out loud. Although she did pick the easiest trail to hike, he was worried due to what he had found out about her day. He was almost to the start of the trail when he noticed something laying on the bench next to the entrance. There laying was her water bottle, she must have set it down for a minute while she tied her shoes or something. Not sure if she was going to be able to find her way out, he started down the trail to look for her. He had barely started when he felt the first rain drop. He was starting to get worried about her, being out here all alone. " Elizabeth, where are you?"

It was starting to rain harder. She didn't even think of bringing an umbrella with her or even a jacket. What made it worse, is that she got all turned around, and she had no idea which way she was supposed to go. She was scared, no one knew where she was or even left her cabin. "I wish Jack was here, he would know what to do." She decided to try her best to stay as dry as possible. She found a bunch of rocks that were just high enough and big enough for her to fit underneath them. She would wait until the rain stopped and then try to find her way back to her cabin or the end of the trail. She felt herself shudder and her eyes welled with tears.

"Jack where are you? I need you."