by Harmon, AJ
*****
Once back at Nic’s house, the rest of the day was spent putting all her furniture and boxes in the U-Haul truck. She had picked it up at the rental center that morning and just driving it the few blocks home had been insane. She hadn’t made one right-hand turn without the back tire driving over the curb. She was just grateful there hadn’t been any pedestrians around. Once on her street, she’d thought she’d done an okay job at parking until she walked around to the curb and saw she was at least two feet from it, but she wasn’t going to re-park…her nerves couldn’t take it.
Nic kept a backpack of stuff she would need tomorrow and Paul left her mattress and some bedding and a quilt for him to sleep on. Everything was loaded and tied down ready for the move the following day.
They ordered a pizza and sat on the floor with paper cups and a bottle of root beer. Nic was exhausted. She wasn’t used to that kind of physical exertion. She leaned against the wall and rubbed her thighs.
“You look like you just stepped out of a GQ magazine,” Nic frowned. “And here I am, dried sweat on my face, my hair looking like medusa and my legs aching.”
Paul grinned at her. “You look beautiful, a rustic charm,” he said as he leaned forward and pulled a piece of lint from her hair.
“Well,” she blushed, “thank you. But I’m obviously in need of some kind of fitness training.”
“I could help you with that.”
Nic looked up at Paul. He appeared serious.
“I will continue my routine. I’m not gonna let myself get all flabby,” he chuckled. “I wouldn’t have a shot finding a wife if I did.”
“Oh, I think you’ll do just fine there,” she blushed again.
“You think so?”
“Yeah, you won’t have any problems.”
Paul pulled another slice of pizza from the box and they ate in silence.
When it was time to call it a night, after Nic scrubbed the kitchen and bathroom and Paul had vacuumed all of the floors, Paul threw the quilt on the floor, lay down and shoved his backpack under his head for a pillow.
“You can’t be serious!” Nic choked.
“What?”
“You can’t sleep on a blanket without a pillow!”
“Why?”
“Because…it’s not…comfortable!”
“Oh this is like the Ritz compared to some of the places I’ve slept!”
“Really?”
“Oh yeah,” he said as he sat up. “I’ve slept on the side of the road in full gear, in the partial shade of a Hummer in the middle of the desert in the middle of the day in the middle of summer. This is paradise compared to that!”
“Wow,” she whispered. “That sounds awful!”
“Well when you are that tired, you can literally sleep anywhere…and I have.”
“I feel terrible. I have a mattress and sheets and pillows, and you’re here with…with a backpack.”
Paul laughed. “I’m perfectly fine. Really. Now go to sleep.”
“Good night then,” Nic surrendered and walked down the short hallway to her room. She closed the door behind her and changed into clean shorts and a tank top. Lying on the mattress, she wondered if she’d be able to sleep. The morning’s events at the airport had blind-sided her. The body contact, the kiss, his breath blowing across her skin had awoken something buried deep inside her, something she was completely conflicted with.
Nic stared at the ceiling and contemplated her goals. Beyond being a kindergarten teacher, she didn’t have any. The realization made her sad. She’d never thought of herself getting married. Her deep-seeded distrust of men, a gift from her mother, had kept them all at arms’ length…until now. Paul was the first man she had established a friendship with. He was the first man she felt comfortable with, until the airport this morning. And Paul was not just the first man, but the first person she had confided some of her childhood experiences too. And Paul was the first man that had awoken her body in a sexual way. She hadn’t set out to remain a virgin, but there hadn’t been any men that she would have even considered sleeping with.
To say she was conflicted was an understatement. She liked Paul…but as a friend. And he seemed to like her…as a friend. He hadn’t made any passes to make her think otherwise. Maybe she was getting worked up over nothing. Maybe he wasn’t at all interested. Maybe she should just go to sleep.
*****
By the time Nic had showered and gotten dressed and made her way into the kitchen, Paul had already put his belongings in the truck and had gone and picked up bagels and coffee for breakfast.
“Mmm,” she smiled. “Smells good.”
“Eat then,” Paul insisted.
She did as she was told and slathered cream cheese over a blueberry bagel. Paul disappeared and ten minutes later he re-entered the kitchen and finished his coffee.
“All we need is your bag and we’re ready,” he stated. “Mattress and bedding are loaded, the back of the truck is all locked up and we are ready for the first day of the rest of your life,” he grinned.
“You are efficient,” she chuckled, swallowing the last of her breakfast.
Paul smiled and shrugged. “I try to be useful.”
Nic disappeared down the hall and returned a few moments later with her two bags in hand. She gazed around the room, the bittersweet moment upon her. It was interrupted however as Evelyn burst in.
“Hey! I’m here!”
“Morning,” Nic sighed.
“I brought you your money. I think I’m overpaying but you’re a friend so I won’t complain.”
Paul walked out of the kitchen and Evelyn stopped mid-step. “Well hello Navy boy. What brings you here? Or shouldn’t I ask?” Evelyn leered at Paul and then turned her attention to Nic, her eyebrows raised in question.
Slightly ruffled, Nic blushed. “Paul has generously offered to drive the moving truck to New York, that’s all!”
“Sure he did,” smirked Evelyn. “Anyway, here’s your money. Where are the keys?”
Nic took the envelope filled with cash and handed Evelyn her car keys and the title to her car.
“Thanks!” Evelyn grinned. “Bye! Have a good life.” And she left as quickly as she came.
Nic walked to the kitchen and placed her house key on the counter. She picked up the garbage from breakfast and turned off the light.
“That’s it,” she said. “Let’s go.”
15.
In less than thirty minutes, Paul and Nic were on Highway Thirteen heading north. Nic stared out of the window at the Atlantic Ocean, the sun almost blinding her.
“You okay?” Paul asked.
“Yeah, fine,” she smiled at him. “It’s weird you know?”
“What?”
“I’ve lived in Norfolk all of my life. I’ve been to Florida…once…for the cruise…that was my only airplane ride by the way, and I’ve been a few places on the east coast. So basically, I’ve been a hermit,” Nic laughed. “And one would think that I’d be nervous about this massive change but I’m not. I’m really not.”
“One would, would they?” Paul teased.
Nic grinned at him. “Yes! One would!”
“There’s no reason to be nervous. This is obviously meant to be.”
“Hmmm.”
“Something else in that pretty little head of yours?”
Nic looked at Paul, curious at his choice of words, but amazed that he was starting to read her. That was a tad unnerving.
“My mom told me my father’s name.”
“Really? Now you can find him.”
Nic didn’t respond.
“That is good, isn’t it?” Paul questioned.
“I’m not sure. Do I really want to meet a man that left my mother without a word? Why would he do that if he knew she was pregnant?”
“Did he know?”
Nic didn’t have an answer for that. She’d spent the last couple of weeks thinking about it over and over again, wondering how much of her mother’s versi
on of events were true. Maybe she should find him.
“Paul?”
He turned to glance at her briefly before returning his attention to the road.
“You were pretty high up in the Navy right?”
Paul chuckled. “No. Why?”
“Well, if my father was in the Navy, you could find him right? Or at least know someone who could find him?”
Paul snuck a quick glance at her and pondered her request. He knew people. He could get the information. And if it helped her come to terms with her past so she could move forward and think about her future, then he would help her. He would do anything for her.
“Yeah, I know some people.”
Nic nodded and turned back to the ocean.
*****
To Nic’s amazement, Paul managed to maneuver the moving truck through the streets of Manhattan and onto Eighty-Ninth Street, her new home. The brick apartment building was pre-war and full of wonderful detail. Maureen had sent pictures but it wasn’t nearly the same as seeing it in person. The lobby had a checkered black and white tile floor and the stairs had their original bannister. She found her mail box, noting the name was blank. She would need to fix that. It wasn’t a large building. It appeared to have about forty apartments. She would need to meet her neighbors. The thought made her smile.
“Happy?” Paul asked.
“Yes,” she grinned. “I feel positively giddy!”
“Good.”
Paul had texted his brother Tim who arrived to help haul the contents of the truck into Nic’s new apartment. She pulled the key from her pocket and after a brief re-introduction to Tim the three of them headed up in the elevator to the fourth floor and walked the few steps down the hall to apartment 4-C. After unlocking the door, she stepped through the doorway and had a quick look around before the two men disappeared back downstairs.
Nic wandered through the living room and dining room, into the small but perfectly perfect kitchen, and then into the two bedrooms, each with an attached bathroom. In the closet off the kitchen were a stackable washer and dryer and off the living room was a tiny balcony that two people, if they were both really skinny, could stand on. The apartment was much smaller than the house she’d just left, but she was already in love with it. It had character. She loved the parquet floor and the tall windows and high ceilings. Once her furniture was inside it would be home and she would begin her new life; one with unlimited possibilities.
*****
Within two hours, Paul and Tim had the truck unloaded and had left to return it to a rental center. Nic had sincerely thanked Tim for his help and the two men headed off. Paul had just texted Nic to say he’d be back in an hour or so and he’d bring dinner with him. She smiled as she read the text. He had been an enormous help. She doubted she could have done any of it without him.
Having wandered around, and through, the maze of boxes, Nic decided to start in the bedroom. She had been conscientious about labeling each box with its contents and Paul and Tim had done a fabulous job of delivering the correct boxes to the right rooms. They’d even put her bed together before they’d left, so the first thing she did was unpack all the bedding and make the bed and then she unpacked all her toiletries and put them in their new homes in the bathroom and hung all of her clothes in the walk-in closet. If she could shower and wear clean clothes and sleep in her own bed, all would be well with the rest of the mess until she got completely unpacked and settled. The buzzer went off just as she was putting the last of her shoes in the bottom of the closet.
It was Paul. She buzzed him in. She suddenly felt like a New Yorker…and she liked it!
*****
Nic had moved to Manhattan three days before she would start at St Luke’s Prep School, and then she would have four days to prepare her classroom before twenty-five kindergarteners became her charge for the next nine months.
For two days she worked all day and into the night getting her new home in order. It would be a different lifestyle now. Her kitchen was so small she did not have space to keep a week’s worth of groceries in it, but just a couple of blocks away was a small grocery store that appeared to stock almost everything she would need. And it was on the way home from school, so she could stop and pick up bits and pieces whenever she needed to. On Monday evening, she sat on the sofa and looked around. She’d hung pictures and arranged her furniture and she was content. She downed a bottle of water and sighed. She’d been busy and she was tired, but she was happy with it.
Her ringing phone interrupted her thoughts. It was Paul.
“Hi,” she smiled into the phone.
“Hey. How are you?”
“I’m good. I’m unpacked and sorted and feeling really good.”
“Glad to hear that. I wondered if you’d like an escort in the morning. I’d be happy to walk with you.”
“That’s sweet,” she replied. “But I’m good. Thanks.”
“Okay,” Paul said, a little disappointed she hadn’t taken him up on his offer. “Call me when you get home so you can tell me all about your day.”
“I will. Bye.”
Nic hung up the phone and decided she should get a good night’s sleep. She wanted to be her best in the morning. So she locked all the locks on the front door, turned off the lights and crawled into bed.
16.
Paul sat at the dining room table in his parents’ home and talked to Ed on the phone.
“His name is Greg Wilkins, and from what Nic has told me he would have been about nineteen years old in the early eighties. Like around 1982.”
“Based in Virginia?” Ed asked.
“Yeah. She doesn’t know much…just what her mother has told her and I don’t think we can assume any of that is accurate. But if he was in the Navy, you’ll be able to find him for me.”
“Well, I’ll get Frank on it right now and I’ll call you back as soon as I know anything.”
“Thanks, Ed. I appreciate it.”
Paul ended the call and put the phone on the table. His mother came and stood beside him.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he smiled. “Just having Ed find out some info for me.”
“Well come and have some lunch. I’ve made a giant spinach salad and your father is grumbling because he wanted a cheeseburger. Come help me convince him that salad is good for him.”
Paul chuckled and followed Maureen.
****
Nic loved her new classroom. The store room was filled with supplies that she had used to turn her room into a wonderland. Even Father Todd had been impressed with the magical transformation.
“The more we can spark their imaginations, the more we can encourage them to learn without them knowing it,” Nic had told him.
All she needed were some big floor pillows and her room would be complete. She sat on the ‘magic carpet’ in the back corner of her room and searched on her phone for a place to purchase them.
“Is anyone in here?” a voice came from the doorway.
“Back here,” she replied while getting to her feet.
“There you are,” smiled Maureen.
“Hello,” beamed Nic.
“Oh my! I feel like I’ve just stepped inside a Disney movie,” Maureen gushed as she took in the amount of work Nic had done. “This is fabulous!”
“Thank you!” Nic grinned. “I hope the kids like it.”
“Oh, they’ll love it!” Maureen encouraged her. “I’m sure of it. Here.” Maureen handed Nic a big bowl of apples.
“Oh how kind of you. Thank you.”
“Maureen?” asked a male voice.
Nic’s eyes moved to the doorway as an elderly gentleman appeared.
“Come in Peter.” Maureen turned back to Nic. “This is my husband Peter and this is our beautiful granddaughter Ella.”
Nic smiled at Peter and said hello, then dropped to her knees as Ella walked towards her, clinging to her grandfathers’ hand.
“Hello Ella. Those are the most beau
tiful sandals I have ever seen. Can I try them on?”
“No, siwee,” Ella laughed. “You’re too big.”
“Oh that’s too bad. I wish I had some like that.”
“My momma got them for me at the big store. You can get some in your size.”
“That’s a very good idea. You are so smart Ella.”
Ella let go of Peter’s hand and closed the distance between her and Nic. She stood right in front of her and touched her hair.
“I wike your hair,” she smiled.
“Thank you. I like your hair too. You have brown hair and I have brown hair.”
“My daddy has brown hair just wike me.”
“And blue eyes?”
“Uh-huh,” Ella grinned. “Momma says I am just wike him.”
“I bet you are.” Nic looked up at Maureen who was just beaming like any proud grandmother should.
“She does look just like my son,” Maureen nodded in agreement. “He’s the one who owns your apartment building.”
“Oh Maureen. How can I ever thank you for helping me find that? I love it and I’ve been told I got it at an unbelievable price. I don’t want to…”
“Oh never mind that!” Maureen snorted. “My son owns half of Manhattan! He doesn’t need, or want your money.”
“But…”
“No more discussion!” Maureen demanded. “I’m just thrilled you’re here…with us…at St. Luke’s. You’ll have Ella in your class in just two short years you know.”
“I would love that,” Nic smiled.
“Come on Ella, let’s go.”
“NO!” she frowned. “Wet me stay here, pease?”
Maureen chuckled and looked at Nic. “You’ve made a friend.”
“I’m honored,” Nic grinned. “Ella? I have a special book I’m sure you’d like to read. Maybe you can take it home and read it with your daddy and then when you don’t want it anymore, you can bring it back to me. Would you like that?”
“Oh yes,” Ella clapped. “I wuv books.”
Nic pulled a book from the shelf and handed it to Ella. “Now promise me you’ll take care of it. It’s a very special book.”
“Thank you. I pwomise,” she beamed. Then she took her grandfather’s hand and the two of them turned and left the room.
