Take a Deep Breath (Lake of the Pines)

by Shar Dimick

  “Mine.” He stuck his foot out to stop the ball from rolling past. Brit grabbed it out from under his shoe and trotted back toward Sara.

  As soon as Sara spotted Cam, she flew into his arms. Liv glanced at Ron, bracing herself for a confrontation, but he didn’t say anything.

  “Hey there, Miss Sara. How’re you doing?” Cam asked, picking her up. Brit circled them the ball still in her mouth.

  “Great now that you’re here! I see Mom finally called you! I told her she should.”

  Cam looked at Liv. “Actually, I did try to call you Friday afternoon, but got your voicemail.”

  “You did?” Cam put Sara down and pulled his phone out of his jeans pocket. Nine missed calls. One was from Liv, five from his father and three from his brother. He fiddled with the phone a few more seconds. “Huh, I must’ve turned the ringer off by mistake. No wonder no one called this weekend.” He stuck it back in his pocket and remembered Ron standing in the foyer. He suppressed the urge to tell the man off for the way he’d treated Liv at the hospital. Instead he walked over to greet the man who’d be in his life for many years to come. It seemed best for everyone if they could all get along somehow. After all they had one very important thing in common – they both loved Sara. Ron seemed somehow humble and uncomfortable waiting to say goodbye to his daughter. He wore a pair of neatly pressed black Dockers and a gray polo shirt that he’d left unbuttoned at the neck.

  “Good morning Ron. It’s nice to see you again.” Cam offered him his hand. Ron hesitated and finally shook it.

  “Cameron. Right?”

  “Right.” Cam couldn’t think of anything else to say. He stepped aside and let Sara pass by. Ron bent down to her level.

  “Do you have a kiss and hug for your Dad before I go?”

  “You bet Daddy.” The little girl wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. “I love you Dad.”

  “I love you too.” Ron reluctantly released Sara and turned to Liv. “I’ll give you a call in a few days to set up our next visit.”

  Liv nodded okay and Ron turned to leave. As if remembering something he’d forgotten he turned back to Cam and then looked over to Liv.

  “Before I leave I want to apologize to you both. I’m sorry for the way I acted in the hospital after Sara’s accident. I was out of line. While it’s no excuse for the way I handled myself, I was out of my mind with worry about Sara. I know I let my fear and anger take over and said some things I shouldn’t have said that I didn’t mean. Anyway, it’s something I’m working on.” Ron reached for the doorknob and was outside in the sunshine before either of them could reply.

  Cam looked at Liv. She shrugged and ran after Ron.

  “What did Daddy do?” The ever-curious Sara asked Cam.

  “Nothing for you to worry about little girl. All you need to know is that your dad realized he made a mistake and apologized for it. It takes a big person to do that.”

  “Ron, wait up!” Liv called after him.

  Ron was already back in the driver’s seat with the engine idling. He lowered the window.

  “Thanks Ron. It really means a lot to me that you apologized. I just wanted you to know I do forgive you. I know you were worried about Sara. I’m sorry I didn’t call you right away when I realized she was missing.”

  Ron nodded at Liv’s apology. “I know you didn’t cut me out on purpose. You’re a good mother Liv. Sorry if I ever made you doubt that.”

  Tears filled her eyes as she accepted Ron’s second apology of the day, the second apology she’d ever heard from his lips.

  “Be happy Liv. Cam seems like a good man.” Ron glanced at the engagement ring glittering in the sun on Liv’s left hand.

  “Thanks.” Liv stood stunned, not sure what to think. Ron backed out of the driveway, tooted the horn and waved at Sara as he drove past the house.

  “Are you staying?” Liv heard Sara ask Cam as she came back inside the house.

  “Well, as a matter of fact, your mom and I have some news for you.” He smiled as he reached for Liv’s hand, drawing her closer to him.

  “Cam and I are getting married.”

  Sara squealed with delight.

  “How does that sound to you, Sara?” Cam asked.

  “All right! Now I’ll have two Dads! But Mom said you live in Chicago. Are we going to have to move?” Sara asked, becoming slightly alarmed.

  “No, Sweetie. I’d already resigned from my medical practice earlier this summer. I put my condo up for sale last week and it already sold. Last Thursday I accepted a partnership in a family practice about thirty miles from here. The other doctor wants to cut his hours back and retire in the next few years. I start in two weeks.”

  “Really?”

  “Really. And, I just put a security deposit down on an apartment not far from here.”

  “I want you to live here.”

  “After the wedding, I will or we can all move to a bigger house nearby. Whatever you girls want is fine with me.”

  “You have it all planned out,” Liv said, amazed.

  “I didn’t want to leave anything to chance. You two are too important to me.”

  “Thank you, Cam. Thank you for not leaving anything to chance.” She pulled his head down to her and kissed him.

  “Do you have to kiss?”

  “Come here, Honey.” She and Cam both wrapped their arms around the little girl and held each other. A cold nose pressed against Liv’s side as Brit squeezed her way into the middle of their circle and dropped the drool-soaked ball in the middle. The little dog maneuvered her head under Sara’s hand as if to say, “Pet me! I want in on the love too!” Sara scratched her behind her ears and stroked the fur on the top of her head. Brit licked Sara’s face and wagged her tail, wiggling her whole body at the same time.

  “Okay Brit. Settle down! It looks like Brit is excited about us being a family too!”

  “Brit?” Cam questioned.

  “Yeah, Cam, that’s what I named her. It’s just like you said, she named herself!”

  Cam thought for a moment, trying to determine the significance of the name. “I get it! Because she likes chipmunks so much, right? Pretty clever!”

  Sara beamed from ear to ear. “Right!”

  “I like it. Did you see the new Chipmunk movie yet?” Cam patted Brit on the head.

  “Not yet! But, I have the first two on DVD!”

  “Cool. The first one is my favorite.”

  Liv looked at Cam trying to decide if he was just humoring Sara or if he actually liked the movies.

  “Mine too! Do you want to watch it now?”

  “Maybe later. Right now, I’m starving. How about we get some food first?”

  “Can we go out to eat?”

  Cam glanced over at Liv. She nodded her head okay.

  “Yippee! Can we go shopping for a dress for the wedding afterwards? I do get to be the flower girl don’t I? I want to wear a blue gown.”

  “Of course you’re going to be the flower girl,” Liv and Cam answered in unison.

  “But,” Cam continued. “Your mom and I haven’t talked about a wedding date yet. So it might be a little soon to buy your dress now.”

  “That’s true Sweetie. If we bought your dress now and you grew a lot before the wedding, the dress might not still fit.”

  “Ohhh…” Sara moaned disappointed. “Wait, I have an idea! Why don’t you get married next weekend! Then, I wouldn’t have a chance to grow!”

  Cam chuckled at the girl’s ingenuity. “As much as I would love to marry your mother next weekend, that’s a little fast to plan a wedding.”

  “Plus, I was kind of hoping we could have a small, simple wedding at Lake of the Pines next summer,” Liv put in.

  Cam smiled. “That’s perfect Livvy.”

  “I’d love to have the ceremony at the lookout at the top of the Big Loop trail, but it’d be kind of hard to get all the guests up there,” Liv reasoned.

  “What about in Grandma’s backyard?” Sara a
sked.

  “That’s sounds nice,” Cam agreed.

  “Yeah, it’s just that I’m not sure if Gram would be up to all that work. I know she’d be out there planting flowers and doing things she shouldn’t…”

  “Whatever you girls want, you just tell me what you need me to do, where to be and when!”

  Liv laughed. “Well we don’t have to decide today. I’m sure once both our families find out we’re engaged, we’ll get more advice on the wedding than we can handle or want!”

  “True enough…” Cam knew his mother would have more than one idea on the whole affair. He’d heard wedding planning horror stories from colleagues and college buddies and hoped they could avert that scene.

  “So what about my dress?” Sara circled back to her original question.

  “Well, in the nine months or so between now and the wedding you could grow, but it probably couldn’t hurt to look…”

  “Really? Awesome!”

  Cam looked at Liv and cocked an eyebrow at her. “Shopping? Well, we better get some food first. I know I can’t handle a shopping expedition with my two best girls on an empty stomach!”

  Sara went to find her shoes and put Brit out in the back yard.

  Cam slipped his hands around Liv’s waist and pulled her close to him. Her breath quickened as he lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her.

  “What was that for?”

  “For agreeing to be my wife, for giving me a wonderful daughter, and for making me the happiest man in the world. I can’t wait to spend my life with you and grow our family together.”

  “You want to have a baby?”

  “Or two. Don’t you?”

  “More than anything.”

  “When can we get started on that?”

  “I’d say right now, but Sara’s in the other room. And we should probably wait until after the wedding …”

  Cam thought a moment before replying. “Are you sure you want to wait until summer to get married?”

  Liv laughed. “Yes. I’m sure. In the meantime, though, we can practice...”

  “I like your thinking – I imagine we’ll need a lot of practice to get it right.”

  “Are you going to have a baby?” Sara bounded into the room, ready to go.

  “Were you eavesdropping on us?” Liv accused.

  “No, I just heard someone say the word, ‘baby.’”

  Liv should have known better than to talk about anything important with Sara in hearing distance. The child could hear through a brick wall. “Don’t worry, we’re not having a baby right now, Sweetie.” She didn’t want to throw too much change at her daughter in one day. Liv knew that getting married to Cam would be a big adjustment by itself.

  “Ahhhh. Too bad. I was really hoping I’d get a new baby sister or brother. I would make the best big sister ever, you know! I could babysit and teach her how to do stuff like ride a bike or swim!”

  Cam and Liv looked at each other and smiled as Sara continued to make a case for them to have a baby.

  “Okay, you sold us!” Cam said. “Your mom and I know you’d make a great big sister. And we do want to have a baby someday, but first we want to spend time together as a family – just the three of us – before we do.”

  Liv couldn’t stop smiling. Cam always knew the right thing to say. He held the door open and Sara skipped ahead of them down the sidewalk toward the car. Liv stepped out into the warm sunshine, took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Cam locked the front door and draped his arm over Liv’s shoulders. He dropped a kiss on the top of her head.

  “I love you, Livvy.”

  “I love you too, Cam.”

  “Are you guys coming or what?” Sara called from the car.

  “Coming!” Cam and Liv answered together. They laughed as they climbed into the car and drove off to start the first of many adventures together.

  Thank you for reading Take a Deep Breath

  Dear Reader,

  I hope you enjoyed Liv and Cam’s story in Take a Deep Breath. If so, I would appreciate it if you would help others enjoy this book too.

  Review it. Tell other readers why you liked this book by reviewing it on Amazon, Apple iBook store, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, Good Reads, Library Thing or whichever website from which you purchased it.

  Recommend it. Help other readers find this book by recommending it to your Facebook friends, Twitter followers, readers' groups and discussions boards.

  Lend it. This eBook is lending enabled, so please, share it with a friend!

  The next book in the series, Take Your Time, is Maddy and Mason’s story and is due out in February 2013. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the following excerpt from it.

  P.S. I love to hear from my readers. Connect with me online!

  Email: shardimick@gmail.com

  Twitter: www.twitter.com/@shardimick

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/SharDimick

  My Blog: justwords41.wordpress.com

  Excerpt From Take Your Time

  Shar Dimick

  © Copyright 2013.

  All Rights Reserved.

  Chapter 1

  Maddy blew at the hair hanging in her eyes as she rode her Schwinn cruiser toward the boardwalk and Jenkins Old Fashioned Ice Cream Shoppe. She’d pulled her dark-brown hair into a small pony at the base of her neck, but her bangs weren’t quite long enough to catch and kept falling out – no matter how many bobby pins she used. The awkward, growing-out stage was taking much longer than she’d hoped. Maddy’s lean, tan legs pedaled hard against the wind. Her breathing was labored and a trickle of sweat ran down one side of her face. What was I thinking? She asked herself more than once on the four mile trek from her sister’s summer cottage to the boardwalk.

  “Come on Aunt Maddy! You can make it! We’re almost there,” her young nephew called from up ahead of her.

  Where does he get his energy? She wondered as the ten-year old disappeared momentarily in a small dip in the road. Seconds later she spotted his red helmet bouncing along as he sped toward their destination.

  “Slow down James!” Maddy called. “Your sister and I can’t keep up with you.”

  Maddy glanced behind her to make sure her little niece was keeping pace. Lena smiled a toothy grin and rang the “Tinker Bell” bell affixed to the handlebar of her shiny green bike. At six this was the first time she’d gotten to go on a real bike ride.

  “How’re you doing back there, kiddo?” Maddy asked.

  “Great, Aunt Maddy!” Lena responded.

  “OK! Make sure you let me know if we need to slow down or rest.” Maddy silently willed the young girl to request a rest.

  “I don’t need to rest Aunt Maddy. Can we do this again tomorrow?”

  “We’ll see,” Maddy yelled back, adding to herself, if I can still walk in the morning. Up a head James had pulled off to the side of the road and stood under the shade of a big oak tree, waiting for them to catch up. Maddy coasted to a stop. She reached into the side pocket of her backpack and pulled out a bottle of water. She took a long swig of the cool water and then passed it off to James.

  “I want some too!” Lena cried.

  “Wait your turn,” James snapped.

  “Aunt Maddy, James is going to drink it all gone,” Lena complained.

  “I am not,” James shot back.

  “OK, OK, you two. That’s enough of that. James share with your sister. We’re almost to the ice cream place anyway,” Maddy mediated. James took one last swallow of the water and handed the bottle off to Lena with less than an inch left.

  “I told you! It’s not fair!” Lena pouted.

  “Come on! Let’s get going. I’ll buy you another drink when we get there,” Maddy appeased her niece and stuffed the empty bottle into her back pack. James was already on the move again. Maddy eased in behind him and Lena followed her.

  Ten minutes later they rode up the boardwalk and parked their bicycles in the bike rack in front of the ice cream parlor. After peeling off her helmet an
d hanging it on her handlebars, Maddy did her best to fix her hair, but knew it was a lost cause. It was mid-afternoon on a Tuesday in early June. The tourist season not yet in full swing, the beach was mostly deserted. Maddy scanned the area and didn’t see anyone she recognized. An older couple walked along the edge of the water in bare feet, their pants rolled up to their knees. Occasionally the woman brushed a stray strand of her silver hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear with her free hand. Her other hand was entwined in the man’s. He smiled down on the woman and drew their joined hands to his lips. Maddy reached behind her into her backpack, groping for her camera. She flicked it on and focused on the couple below. She rapidly pressed the shutter capturing their images as the continued their walk along the beach.

  “Aunt Maddy!” James called, breaking her trance. Maddy turned toward her nephew and frowned. The couple walked past and Maddy lowered her camera. She knew she was there to treat her nephew and niece to ice cream, not take photographs. She couldn’t help herself though. She lived to capture those simple moments in life. She always had her camera with her as she never knew when that fleeting moment would pass.

  “Sorry James,” Maddy answered as she let her camera hang around her neck. “Sometimes I just get lost in a moment.”

  James shrugged and rolled his eyes at her “You do that a lot Aunt Maddy!”

  Maddy nodded. She liked to be behind the camera, an observer, a recorder…that’s where she belonged. That’s what she did best. She could hide in the shadows, obscure and unnoticed. That’s when she got the best shots; caught the candid moments that captured the true emotions of her subjects. Lena grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the ice cream parlor.

  “I’m thirsty, Aunt Maddy,” she whined.

  “OK, OK! Let’s go inside.”

  The bell above the door jingled as she opened and held the door open for her nephew and niece. A blast of cold air and the smell of baking waffle cones greeted her as she followed the children into the ice cream parlor. The air-conditioned breeze from the twirling ceiling fans felt good against her warm skin. It took a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the dim light. The shop hadn’t changed one bit over the years. The scarred wood floor still creaked under her feet. The framed black and white photos of various shops and restaurants along the boardwalk taken a century ago still hung hauntingly along the white-washed walls. As a child, Maddy remembered asking her grandpa who the people in the photos were. They looked so sad and serious standing in front of the ice cream shop and the general store. Their mouths all formed straight lines across their faces. No one smiled. She’d asked him why no one looked happy. He’d thought about it a moment and told her they probably just got tired of waiting for the photographer to snap the picture. Studying them now, it made Maddy feel a little nostalgic. She wondered about the stories each person had to tell. They were all long gone by now; their stories along with them.