by Joy Penny
Now… She was out of reach. Forever.
His heart ached at the thought and he shook his head, dragging his feet toward the Starbucks line. It wrapped around the corner, but he knew they moved fast. Besides, he had nowhere he needed to be. His dad had never texted to say he’d meet them for dinner after all. He probably thought it “bad” enough he’d be stuck with the kids on his own the next day. Heaven forbid he actually care about spending time with all three of his children and not just with the little two. Nolan was good for cash flow and taking screaming kids off their dad’s hands. He knew what his dad thought of him well enough.
His breath caught painfully at the thought as he reached the end of the line and stepped in place behind two bubbly women who were mid-conversation.
“I should have you drive us both to the beach tomorrow,” said the older woman, a redhead with short hair. With her sandals and a sunhat worn even inside, she looked about ready to head to the beach now.
“I want to practice the route to Tildy World first,” said the other woman—and at those familiar two words, Nolan snapped to attention just as she happened to look around and catch his gaze. It was Lilac, the pretty new assistant manager at the resort.
“Oh, it’s you! Hi!” Lilac positively beamed and Nolan looked over his shoulder for the person she must have recognized.
Laughing, Lilac grazed her fingers against his upper arm to get his attention. “You! Nolan, right?”
Nolan stared blankly for a second. How did she remember me? We only met the one time out of costume. “Yeah,” he croaked out eventually. “Hi. Lilac.” He nodded as if confirming her own name to her.
Stupid, stupid…
Cocking her head, Lilac chuckled. “You almost made me think I’d just acted like an idiot with a complete stranger,” she said. “But I guess it’s hard to forget a face after you nearly slam into it.” She pointed to the woman beside her. “This is my aunt, Frankie.”
“Hi,” said Nolan, taking hold of both of his backpack straps. Then he thought better and extended his hand toward the woman—she didn’t really look old enough to be this beautiful young woman’s aunt, but she had a funky “eccentric aunt” vibe about her regardless. “Nolan Gregosky.”
“He works at Tildy World, too,” said Lilac. She chewed her bottom lip and Nolan had to drop her aunt’s hand like a hot potato to stare down at his feet. It seemed necessary to stifle the unexpected raging fire that shot up from his groin at the sight of Lilac looking contemplative. “You’re Silly Sandgrouse, right? I never did ask for sure. Well, I don’t think I saw you again after that disaster in the hallway—”
“Disaster in the hallway?” asked Frankie. “Intriguing. The mysteries of the corporate world, I tell you…”
Nolan snapped his eyes back up to find Lilac’s aunt sizing him up and down, almost like she knew what was going on in his mind right then and there and she found it amusing. Or even… attractive. She was plenty attractive herself and could make a good cougar—he had always been drawn to women just a bit older than himself, but just a bit older than himself. He hated to imagine what people would think if he started dating someone the age his mom would have been. Like he had mother issues buried deep down inside him.
He shuddered. No, he liked sophisticated and slightly more world-weary young women like… Like the gorgeous blonde in front of him. Just standing there, doing nothing in particular, she left his high school girlfriends in the dust.
Lilac’s face seemed puzzled. “Sorry, is that some secret the Tildy Scouts are sworn not to tell? Oh my god, I just realized I might have been asking you to break a cardinal Tildy World rule.”
Nolan laughed as he snapped back to the present. “No, sorry, I just… I didn’t get much sleep.” He yawned and stretched, as if to prove his point. Really, he was trying to still his rapidly-beating heart. “I’m usually Tent Tildy Silly, yeah. At least during the day Sundays through Thursdays.” He scratched the back of his neck as they all moved forward a couple of steps and a few more people got in line behind him. This was him trying to remain casual, trying to remind his treacherous organ that he had no time for dating and little chance with a girl as hot as her. Maybe pre-accident Nolan would have been up to the challenge. Pre-accident Nolan had had game, if he did say so himself.
“I thought my kid brother and sister already spilled the beans on that one anyway,” he said, shrugging. “You’re not supposed to talk while in character, you’re not supposed to go on social media telling the world there are actually people inside of those fluffy mascot suits, as if no one on Earth could have figured that out for themselves, but no, there are no Queen Animaliao’s guards who sweep in at malls miles from the park to arrest me for leaking that info. Although if anyone asks, my official position is that I’m Silly Sandgrouse’s ‘friend.’” He winked, rubbing both hands up and down his backpack straps.
The aunt laughed and nudged Lilac, who’d gone scarlet and stared down at her feet, clutching her hands in front of her. “Lilac believed they were real long after she got the memo about Santa Claus being fictitious.”
Nolan guffawed, loud enough that the people in front of Lilac and Frankie turned to look at him.
When Lilac’s face darkened even more, he realized Frankie hadn’t been kidding.
“I-I knew,” said Lilac, suddenly more childlike than he ever imagined her being. Even on her day off in casual clothes, she looked like a curvy fashion model made flesh. “I just… loved Tildy and I didn’t want to believe the truth.”
Nolan laughed, more gently this time. “Who can blame you there?”
That brought Lilac’s head up from studying the decorative pattern on the linoleum tiles on the floor. She smiled and Nolan actually stumbled a little, leading him to turn around to apologize to the guy he’d banged with his backpack.
“Thank you,” said Lilac quietly. “Most people tease me endlessly for that.” She glowered at Frankie, who laughed.
Nolan suddenly wanted to be different than everyone else. He made a note to never tease her about Tildy. “Is that why you got a job at the resort?” asked Nolan, trying so hard to keep things casual. Even the presence of her aunt and the endless crowd around him wasn’t doing much to quell his aching heart. No, he told himself. Bad heart. Stop it.
Lilac beamed. “Yup.” She exchanged a knowing look with Frankie, who shook her head and then turned around as the barista called her up. Lilac studied Nolan then, staring him up and down. He could feel himself shrink under her eyes, but she wasn’t looking at him hungrily, he was sure of it. More like… deciding what to make of him.
“Li,” said her aunt over her shoulder, and she rushed over to add her order.
Nolan ordered after them and felt like an utter idiot when it came time to pay. Ever the smooth operator, he pulled his wallet out of his pocket and coins went everywhere, some rolling under the lip of the counter, others scattering to a stop at people’s feet. Both Lilac and Frankie joined in the crowd of people who helped him gather it all, and he thanked them as his heart beat wildly and he rushed to pay the barista to put the whole stupid stunt behind him.
He shuffled over to the pick-up counter beside Lilac and Frankie and clutched his backpack straps tightly, willing the eyes around him to stop staring at him. Eventually, they did—except Lilac’s.
Nolan cleared his throat. “So, tourist or native?”
“Huh?” asked Lilac.
He exchanged a nod with Frankie then, like she got it. Native? he wondered about the aunt. “You loved Tildy World as a kid, right? Were you a tourist or did you grow up around here?”
“We both grew up in the Midwest,” said Frankie then, reaching across them both to grab her drink and a cardboard cup sleeve. “A few hours from Chicago.”
Lilac glared at Frankie then, like she’d betrayed her somehow by sharing that information. Frankie must have at least been a long-time resident, though.
“Thanks,” said Lilac to the barista as she grabbed her own drink. A bright
pink tea. She’d waited that long in line at Starbucks for a tea?
He was surprised that they both lingered even after getting their drinks.
“But I went to Tildy World all the time,” said Lilac quickly, as if eager to “defend” herself, from what, Nolan didn’t know. His own triple-shot espresso came up and he thanked the barista before stepping away. “We visited Aunt Frankie a lot,” said Lilac, falling in step beside Nolan.
“That was just an excuse,” said Frankie. She peered at them over her coffee cup. “She really wanted to visit Tildy.”
Nolan made his way back to the table overlooking Kidz Cool School and to his amazement, Lilac and Frankie came with him. He put his bag down by his feet as he sat down and they both sat across from him.
He didn’t know what to think. Lilac clearly wasn’t hitting on him with her aunt there—or maybe the aunt was hitting on him and using her niece as a wingwoman? She did keep staring at him, a mischievous smile on her face. He cleared his throat as he sipped his drink, a jolt of caffeine shooting straight down to his toes.
“We got season passes,” said Lilac proudly. She actually seemed proud.
“Despite living in Chicago?”
“Near Chicago,” said Lilac before sucking on her straw. “You’ve never heard of it,” she said through muffled lips before he could ask more. The scarlet of those lips popped against the green of the straw, the sensuous curve of them as she puckered and sucked demanding his attention.
Okay! Okay, calm down, boy. Mall. Aunt. Kids over there. Nolan stuffed down his feelings until he felt they might burst. But at last they were down, good and down, and they wouldn’t jump back up to the surface to bother him again. Nope. He took a jittery sip of his drink.
“But a season pass is only worthwhile if you go at least five times a year,” said Nolan. He remembered the days when he’d begged for a pass from Tildy World—from all the parks. But his parents had insisted he’d get tired of the parks if he went that often. He’d applied to work there part-time as a teen almost to prove them wrong. But sure enough, seeing one of them daily had certainly made the place lose its luster.
“We usually went that often,” said Lilac.
“Each year?” Nolan hadn’t meant to sound so accusatory.
Lilac shrugged, but something flashed over her eyes and Nolan wondered if she felt he was attacking her for it.
“That’s awesome,” he said quickly, although he was still shocked he was sitting across from someone who could afford to fly there that often.
But it had been the right thing to say. Lilac brightened immediately and put her cup back down in front of her.
“So are you staying with your aunt?” asked Nolan.
She nodded and Frankie beamed, reaching into the small purse Lilac had strapped across her shoulders to pull out a set of keys. “And starting next week, I’ll only be her host, not her chauffeur,” she said. “We just got Lilac her own car today. A beautiful, brand-new hybrid.”
“Wow,” said Nolan, and he genuinely meant it—on so many levels. He was envious to be sure, but something unexpected also jumped up from inside him. Five vacations a year—and that was just the ones he knew of, to Tildy World of all places. A brand new car. He knew Lilac probably had a decent salary at her job—if she lasted, as Earl’s assistant managers almost never did—but he doubted that was the reason behind the shiny new car.
Cradling his cup, he thought of the fifteen-year-old clunker with its rust spots and shoddy transmission that awaited him and the kids outside. Of course his dad had taken the new car. And by “new,” he meant bought five years ago and used even then.
There was no way anything was happening with this girl. No way on so many levels.
He took another sip.
“Landon!” screamed a high-pitched voice, followed by a quick, “Hey! Stay inside! You can’t—”
But Nolan turned around to see Landon outmaneuvering one of the Cool School workers to slip under the velvet rope they had to keep kids inside.
“Landon, you know you can’t leave until playtime is over—” started Nolan, but the little boy made a beeline for Lilac instead, hugging her and nuzzling his face against her breasts.
Lucky kid, thought Nolan sheepishly. “Landon, don’t hug people without asking.”
“It’s all right,” said Lilac. The slightest smile made her lips curl as she looked down at him and began stroking his head. She looked like a diva in a painting. Beauty personified. Nolan had to look away—fast.
“Sorry,” Nolan said to the Cool School worker who’d followed Landon. “He can be slippery.” He looked at the clock posted atop a pole in the middle of the food court. “But it’s about time we get going anyway.”
The Cool School worker stared at him wearily and grabbed Landon’s hand. “We have to check him out there,” she said. “Protocol.”
Nolan understood. The place took photos of the parent or guardian who’d brought a kid to the center to make sure that was the same person they sent the kid home with—unless other arrangements were agreed upon ahead of time. “I have to get my sister, too, anyway,” said Nolan, standing and sliding his backpack back on. He watched as Lilac ruffled Landon’s hair and smiled down at him. It struck him in that moment why Landon might have kept calling her “Mommy”—he’d heard about his behavior the day before at the Ballroom. She was maternal, this sexy fashionista who had the whole world in front of her. Way better suited for the job he’d been saddled with than he was.
“It was so nice to see you again,” he said, his voice cracking halfway through. He glanced at Frankie. “And to meet you.” He paused, thinking of what to say. “I… Come on, kiddo.” As he grabbed for Landon’s hand, the Cool School worker took the boy’s other one, as if ready to engage in a tug-o-war for control of the kid if Nolan turned out to be less-than-savory. “Well, I’ll see you at work,” he added to Lilac.
Lilac locked her eyes with his and just about melted him into a puddle at her feet. “See you soon!” She waved at his brother. “Bye, Landon!”
Landon hesitated, clearly wavering between putting up a fight to stay near Lilac or just giving up before the battle began. Nolan squeezed his hand to remind him what would be the easier choice.
Just then a flurry of activity drew Nolan’s attention. He looked up. Through the glass wall, he saw Willow standing there, practically smacked up against the glass, the long hair of a girl next to her threaded tightly around both hands as she yanked and pulled.
There goes Kidz Cool School as an option.
Chapter Seven
Lilac sipped on her tea and stared at Nolan through the glass wall of the oddly-named Kidz Cool School. It resembled a playground more than a school, though she could see a lot of interactive exhibits she imagined were intended to stimulate learning. But they looked more like games than anything.
Her hometown mall certainly had nothing of the sort—no daycare of any kind that she knew of, let alone one like a miniature theme park. She wondered if it was a metropolitan thing or more specifically a theme-park-town thing. She’d yet to uncover the non-touristy area of Orlando, assuming there was such a thing.
“He’s cute,” said Aunt Frankie, swirling her stirring stick, though she had to be finished with her coffee by now.
“Hmm…” Lilac’s eyes flitted back to Nolan specifically. She struggled to remember why she’d found him so irritating when he’d bumped into her. She’d been frustrated after a tense first day. That had been the crux of it, really. At least it seemed he’d gotten over how bitchy she’d acted. His backpack looked heavy as he stood there, a sibling in each hand, a grim look on his face as the mother of the other girl seemed to be shouting at him while an employee of the Cool School tried to play referee. She mostly faced the irritated mother, who clutched her crying daughter to her side, but every few minutes she looked over her shoulder at Nolan, eventually guiding him toward the exit.
“He could probably use your help,” said Frankie. “Rodney said
you’re a wonder with kids. I always thought you’d make a good teacher…”
Lilac pinched her lips into a straight line. No. You’re not thinking about that now. This is what you wanted. This is a good thing.
“Oh, sorry,” said Frankie. “I almost forgot—it’s just… You always used to ask me if there were any good jobs at Tildy World. I’m surprised you didn’t do one of those educational programs where you work at the park while taking classes and get some college credit.”
“That’s Disney,” said Lilac. “And I didn’t have time. I was too busy getting accreditation… Spain was the only semester I could afford to take off.”
“Well, as much as I love Orlando, if the choice was between here and Spain, you made the right one.” Frankie brought her phone out of her purse and scrolled through the screen.
“Why did you settle here?” asked Lilac. “I don’t think I ever knew.”
Frankie looked up from her phone and gazed off dreamily. “The heat,” she said. She cocked an eyebrow. “That and the distance from your grandmother.”
“But there are plenty of warm places far from Grandma Violet,” said Lilac. “Spain has a pretty nice climate, for one.”
“Yes, but your grandmother would love to visit Spain. She’d love to visit just about anywhere. Except Orlando. She finds it touristy and gauche.” She laughed and set her phone down, standing before grabbing her coffee. “You done?” She motioned toward Lilac’s empty cup.
