The Meant to Be Collection

by Claire Highton-Stevenson

  The loud, incessant banging on the door woke Lucy abruptly from the dream. She could still feel the soft fingers in her hair as she shook herself awake. She felt confused, more confused than usual when thinking about Nicole.

  “Yes, I’m awake, what’s up?” Images of Nicole and then Paul Nixon clashed in her mind. She sat up instantly, feeling apprehensive.

  “Lucy, you have to get up, Mom said you are supposed to go to town.”

  She sighed and relaxed at the sound of Storm’s voice and ran her fingers through her hair. “What time is it?” Lucy shouted back. The dream had completely thrown her for a loop.

  “It's 6:20.”

  “6:20?” Lucy mumbled to herself as she got up. She stretched her leg, bending her knee a few times to loosen the joint before she walked to the door in her PJs. Pulling it open, she found an adorable grin staring up at her. “Storm, it’s not even 7 a.m. Where is your mum?”

  “In bed,” she answered thoughtfully, still smiling adoringly at Lucy, who was unable to be angry with her for waking her up so early, not to mention in the middle of that dream. Maybe that was actually a godsend. It wasn’t a good idea to start developing a crush on her new roommate. It wasn’t a good idea at all.

  “So why are you waking me up at this god-awful hour?” she asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

  “Well, I was up and—” She was cut off as Lucy broke in.

  “You were bored and thought I would be fun to play with?”

  Storm smiled and nodded.

  “You do know I am going to be grumpy all day now, don’t ya?” Lucy threatened, but she couldn’t help smiling. She felt pretty good; how many 8-year-olds thought an adult was so cool they had to wake them up to spend time with them?

  “I made you breakfast,” Storm said sweetly.

  “You did? What ya make? It might earn you some bonus points.” Lucy reached for her robe and pulled it on as they wandered out into the living area.

  “Toast, with peanut butter and jelly.”

  “What flavour jelly?”

  “Grape.”

  “Good choice,” she said, moving to the kitchen and struggling to wake herself up properly. It amazed Lucy how resilient kids were. Here was a kid who, until just a few weeks ago, wouldn’t have dreamed of waking anyone up in the house she lived in through fear of what her father would do. She wouldn’t have even attempted to make anyone breakfast or even smile the way she was right now. In just a few weeks this little girl had come a long way, as had her mother, Lucy thought; as had she. There were still times when Nicole flinched or apologised when she had no need to, but on the whole, she was more confident and happier than Lucy had ever seen her. And Lucy was forgoing her hat now in the house. She spoke openly and easily with Nicole, and she made more effort with people when she was in town. Life was changing for the better.

  They sat together, quietly eating their toast while the twins and Nicole continued to sleep. Storm talked about her impending day at school and Lucy offered to help her with any homework she had later. It was a nice moment, just the two of them. Lucy tried to remember if she had ever wanted kids. They were too young to have even thought about it, but she was sure maybe one day, Nicky and herself would have talked about it. Now though, she sat with someone else’s little girl and she liked it, a lot.

  She made a pot of coffee ready for when Nicole did eventually wake and got some juice and cereal organised for the twins while Storm washed up their plates. They made a good team as they worked around each other in the small kitchen.

  “Lucy?” Storm’s voice was quiet and unsure as she spoke.

  “Yes, Storm?” Lucy answered gently, expecting a question with a difficult answer.

  “Who is the lady in the picture?” She turned to face the mantle, making it clear she was speaking about Nicky. But Lucy didn’t need to turn to know who she was talking about. There were no other photographs in the room.

  “Her name is…was Nicky.”

  “Was she your girlfriend?” Lucy looked at her, an eyebrow raised at the question. “What? I’m 8, I’m not a kid, I know about stuff.” There was that word ‘stuff’ again. The all-encompassing word for everything.

  “Uh huh. Does your mum know about the stuff you know about?”

  Storm shrugged. “So, was she?”

  “Yes, Miss Noseypants.”

  “I thought so, she’s pretty.” She nodded, more to herself than Lucy.

  “Yes,” Lucy agreed, sipping her coffee and moving to sit on the couch.

  “Do you think my mom’s pretty?” came the next question, which caught Lucy by surprise considering what she had been dreaming not more than 45 minutes ago. She took a moment and considered the young girl before she answered. Storm was standing in front of her, the picture of innocence. She couldn’t lie to the kid.

  “Of course, she is very pretty, don’t you think so?”

  Storm took a seat next to Lucy before she answered.

  “Yeah, I think so, but I wanted to know what you thought,” she said, moving about on the couch until she was facing Lucy.

  “Why?” Lucy asked, unsure as to where this conversation was leading, but it was certainly leading somewhere.

  Storm shrugged again. Lucy narrowed her eyes at her and gave her the stare, which Storm only managed to throw back at her. But then, she seemed to come to a conclusion of her own and asked, “Do you like my mom?”

  “Of course I like her.” Lucy could feel the heat of a blush appearing and wished she had her hat to hand.

  “No, I mean, do you like her!”

  “Storm… okay, look…your mum she is…” She had a flashback to her dream, the t-shirt rising up. She shook her head and pushed those thoughts from her mind. “Not everybody likes each other that way, ya know?”

  “I know, but I think my mom likes you,” she said, causing Lucy to cough and take a deeper breath than before to calm herself. This was not the way she had envisaged this morning going. However, she was now intrigued.

  “What makes you think that?” Lucy probed, trying to look and sound nonplussed and feeling as though she were failing considerably.

  “I dunno.” She shrugged again. “Don’t you ever see her look at you?” she offered like a wise old sage who couldn’t believe nobody else had noticed what she had. It wasn’t like it wasn’t obvious, as far as Storm was concerned.

  “No, can’t say I have,” she said, picking up a book and pretending to be extremely interested in the first page.

  “Uh huh, and you definitely don’t like her that way?” Storm asked once more, for clarification.

  “Uh huh.”

  “Hey, what’s all the noise?” said a sleepy Nicole as she walked into the kitchen in her dressing gown, picking up a coffee cup and filling it with the hot delicious brew that Lucy had made. She thought she would be forever grateful to wake up to such delicious, freshly brewed coffee, but lately just the smell was enough to put her off completely.

  Lucy decided to throw caution to the wind and end this idea of Storm’s right there, fully expecting Nicole to clarify for her daughter just how wrong she was about this so that the subject would be dropped.

  “Storm thinks you like me,” she explained, without looking up.

  “Lucy!!” Storm shrieked, absolutely horrified that she would be so open about their private discussion and embarrassed that she had told her mom. Lucy grinned at the reaction.

  “What? We don’t have secrets in this house,” Lucy reminded her as Nicole stared wide-eyed for just a second before getting herself together. It hadn’t gone unnoticed by Storm, or Lucy.

  “Yes, and I think Lucy likes you too,” she said to her mom before pulling a face at Lucy and watching as they both blushed and pretended to do other things. Jeez, it was so obvious, why wouldn’t they just admit it?

  “Right, so are you going to wake your sisters up?” Lucy said, trying to change the subject and noting that Nicole was yet to deny anything.

  “Yes, are you going to tu
rn that book the right way around?” Storm asked, pushing her glasses back up her nose as she jumped up to go and wake the twins. Lucy looked at the book and then put it down.

  Storm poked her tongue out, and then she laughed as she went running from the room and into her own bedroom to wake up her sisters, singing K-I-S-S-I-N-G.

  Lucy and Nicole looked at each other, neither knowing quite what to say to the other with regard to Storm’s little outburst, so Lucy solved the awkwardness by departing to get dressed, leaving Nicole to take a seat at the table in the kitchen, wondering where the heck that had come from, and to actually contemplate what her daughter had just said, and why it was that every cup of coffee made her feel violently ill lately.

  ~E&F~

  Neither woman mentioned that morning’s conversation as they both sat quietly together on the shore watching the girls play. However, they were both thinking about it.

  Lucy had to admit she found Nicole attractive, but that didn’t mean she was attracted, did it? Nicole was a good person, fun and easy-going, and it didn’t hurt that she had a particularly nice backside. But so did a lot of women Lucy noticed, and she didn’t want to sleep with any of them. So why had she had that dream?

  Just thinking about the dream and the way Nicole sauntered into her room was enough to make her blush and feel a stirring in a region where she rarely felt anything these days. She told herself that it didn’t mean anything; it was just a dream, and lots of people had dreams like that, didn’t they? They were spending a lot of time together, and so it was obvious Nicole would invade her subconscious thoughts; she just hadn’t expected them to be quite so vivid or so intimate. She glanced across at Nicole. She was sitting with her face to the sun under a ridiculously large sunhat that she had gotten from Rita. Lucy chuckled internally; even in a stupid hat she was gorgeous.

  Nicole had also spent the morning considering if her daughter’s comments had any validity, and worryingly, she had to confess to herself that they possibly did. It had never occurred to her that she might be attracted to Lucy like that. But now that Storm had said it out loud, she had to confess, to herself anyway, that she was. Lucy was…what was she? Nicole wondered. She was just Lucy, and there was something strangely adorable about her. She was strong and contemplative, but she was also kind and chivalrous; she was everything she had thought Paul was, and look how that had turned out, she reminded herself. When she knew Lucy wasn’t looking, she risked a fleeting glimpse of her. She was frowning, but somehow serene. Yes! It was just a crush, she decided. Jesus, she had been a pop idol of her teenage self; it was just a crush, nothing to worry about.

  But, what if? Lucy thought. What if I really do like her? Then what? What about Nicky? Would she understand? I’m not meant to love again, that’s not in the stars for me! I can’t allow it. She was frowning, concentrating on trying too hard to understand her feelings. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I wanted them to stay for the company and because I like the children. I wasn’t meant to fall for her, and I’m not going to, it’s just out of the question.

  A sudden thought entered Nicole’s mind. I feel like I want to kiss her and then… Why am I even thinking about sex with Lucy? This has to stop, right now. She is your friend, and she has been good enough to allow you and your three noisy and messy children to invade her home, her life, and Oh God I love her for that, that’s what it is, I am grateful and my feelings are confused because I am lonely and she gives me warmth and understanding.

  Storm was sitting in her spot holding a book in her hand. To all appearances she was reading, and she really was, only not the book. No, she was reading the two women in front of her, both sitting together in silence and giving each other quick glances. She shook her head and smiled to herself as she went back to her book.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  With the onset of June, a lot more of the cabins nearby were full of tourists and vacation homeowners arriving for the summer sun. A lot more people were milling around the forests and lakes, the shops were fuller, and restaurants and bars that were closed during the winter or on shorter hours were now in full swing. It was usually the time of year that Lucy dreaded the most: inquisitive people with nosier kids finding their way onto her property while they rambled around. Going into town had become almost a no-go zone until the very last minute before Rita closed up. But things were changing rapidly for Lucy now that she had responsibilities.

  Nicole was halfway through her shift at the store. For several days since Paul’s visit, she had been on edge. Lucy had done everything to make sure that she and the girls where never on their own.

  When the girls all strolled into Rita’s, it was with a squeal as the twins ran straight past Nicole to the candy aisle. She always felt better when she had eyes on them, even though she trusted Lucy to keep them safe. She watched them run straight past without a hello or a wave, and had to chuckle at the sight of them so excited.

  As usual, they had managed to convince Lucy that they absolutely had to go to the store today and get some chocolate. It was chocolate after all, and who could deny three smiling, adorable little faces the taste of something as wonderful as chocolate? Not Lucy! Getting to see Nicole just three hours after she had dropped her off at work wasn’t the reason for going at all.

  “Oh, seems like I am not required for hello kisses then?” Nicole laughed at the retreating figures that now sat huddled together on their haunches discussing which bar was the best to get.

  “Hey Mom, Lucy said we can have chocolate, and they’ve been kind of excited about it the whole way here,” Storm explained, giving her mom a quick kiss on the cheek as she too passed on her way to join Rain and Summer in choosing some candy.

  “Uh, I think it was more a case of you all demanded chocolate and threatened to ruin my peaceful afternoon with noise if I didn’t bring you here and buy you all chocolate.” Lucy winked and laughed at Storm.

  “Yeah, well that too.” She smiled back from her spot by the Hershey bars. “Anyway, you said chocolate was the cure for everything.”

  “Uh huh, I did, however, what do you need curing of?” Lucy asked, narrowing her eyes and waiting expectantly for something cheeky to pop out of Storm’s mouth.

  “I’m too shy,” she said with a shrug, walking back toward Lucy with her chosen item.

  “Shy?” Lucy scoffed, “Are we talking about the same person? Nicole, did Storm get taken by the Pod People!?”

  “Shut up, I am shy!” She laughed and playfully slapped at Lucy’s arm.

  “What are you shy about, baby?” Nicole spoke gently to her daughter, who was blushing slightly at the topic of conversation. Lucy was right; Storm was definitely not shy at home.

  “Ms. Arnold wants me to sing at the pageant when we go back to school after vacation.”

  “Yeah, so?” Lucy said, not seeing the problem.

  “I can’t.”

  “You can’t? Sing?”

  “I don’t know, but I can’t do it in front of other people. And she wants me to sing in front of the whole school and I just can’t do that,” Storm said.

  “Oh sweetie, you’ll be fine, and once you’ve done it you’ll wonder why you were so worried,” Nicole said, clutching her daughter to her as two overly excited 4-year-olds scampered back down the aisle to them.

  “We got it!” they shouted in unison. “Mommy, we gots chocolate.” Their small arms were filled with bars of different delicious chocolate.

  “Oh wow, so I see, that’s so nice of Lucy to bring you here to see Mommy too.”

  “No Mommy, just to get chocolate, we can see you later,” Rain said. The sight of her smiling her big cheesy grin up at her would be one of the images Nicole would store forever in her memory.

  “Ah, well I guess you told me!” Nicole laughed and smiled at Lucy. Her eyes had a sparkle about them today, Lucy noted. They were usually warm and maybe a little distant, but today they held something else. Hope?

  “Your teeth will rot if you eat all of that,” Lucy joked
with the twins. “Maybe you can put some back for another day?” They stared up at her with raised eyebrows before scurrying back down the aisle and putting everything back except for one large bar each.

  Nicole turned back to Storm and added quietly, “We will talk about this later when I get home. Try not to worry about it.”

  “Right, Gale Force, let’s see what you all got!” Lucy said to the girls as each of them placed a chocolate bar on the counter.

  “Gale Force?” Nicole asked inquisitively.

  Lucy blushed at the question. “Uh, yeah…well. Summer, Rain, Storm. They kind of all fit together, so I call them Gale Force, ya know, it’s all weather-related, and well, they are kinda like a hurricane once they get going.”

  “I see, I never thought about it that way, we – well I just liked the names,” she said with a smile, but the sparkle that had been shining brightly now left her eyes as she thought about her husband. “But you’re right, they do fit,” she said, suddenly realising something special about them that she hadn’t put together before.

  “Yeah, good strong names, and especially when you add your name in too,” Lucy added.

  “My name? How does that fit?”

  “Well, it means ‘victorious people.’”

  “Really? And how do you know that?” Nicole asked, smiling more now, the sparkle starting to return as she watched Lucy’s cheeks redden at her admission.

  “Uh well, I looked it up. Storm was showing me her laptop and how to use it, and so—”

  “So? The first thing you did was look up the meaning of my name?” she asked. Lucy wasn’t sure, because it had been a long time since it had happened, but she thought maybe Nicole was flirting with her.