by Wende Dikec
“You could do that, or you could just face him now.” Maura wrinkled her nose at me. “Seize the moment.”
Jess nodded. “Carpe diem.”
Maura scowled at her. “Which is just a fancy Latin way to say ‘seize the moment,’ right?”
“Hey, I was agreeing with you. And this is about Lily, by the way.” Jess handed me my robe.
Zoe pulled me aside. “Karma isn’t just about destiny, you know. It’s about taking action. You did something selfless when you sacrificed yourself for Nick. According to the laws of karma, something good will happen to you because of that.”
“I didn’t do it for a reward.” I wrapped my robe tightly around my body and pulled the belt.
“That’s the point, Lily. You’re a good person. I knew it the first moment I saw you.”
“That isn’t true. You didn’t like me. I annoyed you.”
Zoe shrugged. “Yes, but I knew you were a good person. You helped the ghosts and you helped Nick, and you’re helping him now. He needs to remember, for his sake as well as your own. If he doesn’t, he’ll spend his life walking around feeling like there’s a hole in his heart. Do you remember how he was when he couldn’t remember his name?” I nodded. “This is just as bad. It isn’t just about you, Ginge. Now get out there and fight for him.”
I squared my shoulders. “Fight.”
“Wait. Don’t forget your fighting shoes.” Jess scurried up, carrying my white-feathered mules. Zoe made such a face that I laughed out loud. I held up my foot so that she could get a better view of my slipper.
“Those are your fighting shoes?” She made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a snort.
“I don’t need combat boots for this battle.” I gave Zoe a saucy wink, and she grinned at me.
“Go get ’em, Tiger.”
My newfound confidence dissolved as soon as I reached the door to the private party room. Nick was on the other side, which scared me. I had no idea how he might react to all this, but at this point, I had to try. Sink or swim.
I opened the door and blinked as my eyes adjusted to the darkness. The room, decorated with dark wood and rich colors, had an intimate feel to it. Small tables were set up with candles on them. The candles, and a dim lamp over the bar, provided the only light in the room. I walked over to a table in the center of the room, sat down, and waited.
A few minutes later, a door opened and Nick came through. With the door ajar, I could see bright lights and hear noises from the kitchen. As soon as it shut, the room fell completely silent again. It took a few minutes for Nick to notice me.
“Lily?” He walked over to my table, looking around. “What are you doing here?”
He wore the same black t-shirt and jeans from earlier, but now he had a pencil behind his ear and an order pad tucked into his back pocket.
I nodded, biting my lip. “Sit down, Nick.”
Nick’s brows pulled together as he frowned. I knew that look well. The sign of an oncoming storm. “Is this some kind of a joke? I have to work. I have a party at seven.” He looked down at his watch. Seven on the nose.
“I’m the party.”
Nick took the pencil out from behind his ear, pulled his order pad out of his back pocket, and tossed both onto the table before sitting down in a chair, his arms folded across his chest. “What’s this about, Lily?”
“It’s about remembering.” I looked down at my nails. Café Forgot gleamed up at me, telling me to give up. I curled my fingers into my palms. I wasn’t going to back down that easily. “Do you mind?”
Nick shrugged. “It’s your party, princess. I am kind of wondering why you’re wearing a robe, though.” He leaned sideways in his chair so that he could see the entire ensemble. When he noticed the feathered slippers, he raised one dark eyebrow at me. “And I’m wondering about your choice of footwear too. Very interesting.”
I could feel the blush creep into my cheeks. Nick watched me closely. I had his complete attention. Now or never. I took a deep breath. “It all started with a bad manicure....”
I proceeded to tell Nick the story of us. I took off my robe and showed him the pajamas I’d been wearing the first night we talked. I ran to the back and changed clothes, even putting on my daisy-covered headband to remind him of the day he bothered me in calculus. I went through each day, nearly each hour, of our time together. When it got to the moment when I told him I loved him, Nick looked at me in surprise.
“You told me you loved me and then walked away?”
“You made me angry. You’re very good at that.”
Nick leaned forward in his chair. “What happened next?
I swallowed hard. “You followed me into the kitchen.”
“Ti amerò fino al giorno dopo per sempre.” Nick sat back, a shocked expression on his face. “I said, ‘I’ll love you until the day after forever,’ didn’t I?” He shook his head. “Tell me more.”
By the time I got to the part about our trip to The Zone, Nick started remembering more on his own. I hurried to the back room to get dressed. “It’s time for the big guns,” I said to Zoe.
She grinned at me. “Literally.”
When I walked back into the private party room in my biker bimbo getup, Nick almost fell off his chair. He jumped to his feet, taking in the leather bustier and the tight pants. I’d lost weight, but I still filled out that bustier. Nick studied me so closely, I felt a full body blush rush over me. I was on the verge of exploding.
“Now, this...I remember.” Nick ran the back of his hand up my arm. His eyes, so dark and hot, made it a little hard for me to breathe. Although the tight bustier didn’t help either.
“You do?”
“I wanted to touch you so badly that night, but couldn’t.” He reached down and took my hand, his fingers intertwining with mine.
“You can touch me now.”
“And I’m going to do something I think I’ve wanted to do for a very long time.” Nick’s face was next to mine, his voice was husky and deep.
My brain had stopped working completely. “What?”
I sounded weird, like someone doing a very bad Marilyn Monroe imitation. Nick didn’t seem to notice. His dark eyes focused entirely and completely on my lips.
“This.”
He leaned forward and kissed me. Not like the brief, chaste kiss he’d given me in the parking lot after the concert. This kiss was hot and hungry. I kissed him back with all the love and hope and fear inside me.
Suddenly, the earth quivered and shook under our feet. We pulled back and looked at each other in surprise.
“Did you feel that?” I asked.
He nodded. “Was it an earthquake?”
I grinned, remembering Mrs. Chang’s words. “You needed a little shake, I guess. Now everything is how it should be.”
Nick sank down into his chair, pulling me onto his lap. He wrapped his arms around me and nuzzled my neck.
“Tiger Lily.” His voice was throaty whisper right in my ear. I put both of my hands squarely on his chest and pulled back so I could see his face.
“You remember?”
Nick shook his head, pulling me close to him again. “Not everything. There are still some fuzzy parts, but one thing is very clear.”
My nose was almost touching his. “What is that?”
Nick kissed me gently and sweetly, his hands on my cheeks. “The fact that I love you.”
I covered his face with little kisses, his eyes, his cheeks, and the line of his jaw. My hand slid up his arm. “There is something I’ve been wondering about all this time.”
“What?” Nick asked, a bit distracted.
“I have to see what this is.”
I reached over and pulled up the arm of his t-shirt so that I could look at his tattoo. As soon as I saw it, I started to laugh so hard tears began sliding down my face. I didn’t even worry about the effect those tears might have on the eyeliner Zoe had painted on me. I was too happy to care.
Nick looked down at his tattoo,
the Chinese character inked in black on his bicep. “Why are you laughing?”
I kissed the tip of his nose. “Because of this.” I held up my jade bracelet so that he could see the Chinese character dangling on it, an exact match for the one on his arm.
“Karma,” he said, with a grin, as he pulled me down for another heart-stopping kiss.
“Karma,” I repeated. And just before I closed my eyes to kiss Nick back as thoroughly as he deserved, I saw a little black fuzzy shape spin around the room in a happy dance before disappearing into the ceiling.
“Bye, Rosie.” I whispered the words softly, but Nick heard me just the same. He’d been looking up at the ceiling too.
“I saw her,” he said. “Finally.”
As he began to kiss me again, I heard the faintest echo of a baby’s laughter and caught the sweet scent of roses in the air. I smiled against Nick’s lips. Rosie was saying her final farewell.
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Chinese Proverb
Chapter Twenty
The guests began arriving at Nick’s surprise party at around nine o’clock. I had time to change back into my own clothes before everyone came. I don’t think my father could have handled seeing me in the black leather again, but that wasn’t the only reason I changed. I’d grown to like that outfit, and the effect it had on Nick, but it wasn’t really me. Instead, I slipped into a jade green strapless dress I’d chosen myself. Sexy, but not overwhelmingly so, and it matched the necklace and bracelet Mrs. Chang had given me. I let my hair hang down, and slipped into a pair of very high heels.
I watched as Nick milled around the room, talking to everyone. I could tell he remembered more and more with each face he saw, each story he heard, exactly what I’d hoped would happen. Our eyes met from across the room, and I knew he’d remembered the one thing that truly mattered—how we felt about each other. That was enough for me.
The Fortuna Brothers played onstage, and we danced and sang and had a great time. Uncle Johnny was the consummate showman. Uncle Danny, the master of the guitar. Maria hung out with her brothers’ wives and a host of cousins, nephews, and nieces. She’d given me a warm hug and a kiss on both cheeks when she came in, and had known, just from our faces, that all was well again. My parents had never looked happier, and even Miss Lin seemed to be having a good time. Her cheeks were bright pink, and she openly flirted with Nick. Mr. Wan winked at me as he told her to sit down and leave the young people alone. She called him a silly old goat, but from her it was almost an endearment.
Nick pulled me into his arms for the last slow dance of the night, and I sighed. I rested my head on his shoulder and he sang softly in my ear. The song was the old Fortuna hit from the eighties, “The Lucky One.”
“What’s this song about?” I nuzzled Nick’s neck then looked up at him.
Nick kissed my forehead. After weeks of not being able to touch each other at all while he was in his shadow state, now we couldn’t seem to stop.
“Well, you know our last name means ‘lucky’ in Italian.” I nodded. “My grandfather arrived in this country with nothing but the clothes on his back, but whenever anyone would ask him about it, he would say ‘I am lucky.’” Nick grinned. “That happened to be the only sentence he knew in English. He’d memorized it because he found out Fortuna meant lucky. He was just trying to tell people his name, but it turned out to be the truth. He faced a lot of hardships, but he had a great life. My uncles learned that lesson from him. They’ve been lucky all their lives.”
I watched as the Fortunas sang and played onstage, happy to be here, sharing this moment and playing their music. Other people might see a group of middle-aged rockers with day jobs, but I could see the pure joy in their faces. They loved it. “They are lucky.”
Nick gave me a sweet, lingering kiss before pulling me close. “But I am the luckiest one of all,” he said softly into my ear.
The next morning, Nick had orchestra rehearsal. I planned to meet him afterward for a picnic by the lake. It might have seemed a little strange to have a date where I once died, but if I hadn’t driven my car into Lake Eugene, I never would have met Nick.
But before the picnic, I had something else to do. I went to Wan Fine Lady for my scheduled appointment. Mrs. Chang sat there, sipping a cup of hot tea. She gave me a friendly wave as I walked into the shop. Mr. Wan and Miss Lin did not look nearly as perky. They looked positively hung over.
“Your father gave us too much beer.” Miss Lin held a cold compress on her head. “Why did he do that?”
Mr. Wan answered before I could. “He didn’t do that to you. You did that to yourself.” He winced, rubbing his temples. “Same as me.”
“A good party, Lily. Everyone was happy. Your handsome Mr. Lucky remembers you now.” Mrs. Chang lifted her teacup to me. “Cheers!”
Mr. Wan shook his head, and then looked like he regretted that action. “No more cheers. It’s time to paint Lily’s nails now.”
I followed him to our usual spot under the tiger painting. Mr. Wan seemed strangely quiet as he removed Café Forgot. I was glad to get rid of that color. I wondered what he would choose for this week. When he pulled out the bottle, I gasped in surprise. It looked a lot like Pretty and Pink. I yanked my hands off the table and folded them on my lap.
Mr. Wan seemed less than pleased. “What is the matter with you?”
I shook my head. “No way. I know that color.” I wore pink today, probably what put the thought in Mr. Wan’s head. I adjusted the belt on my cotton candy pink mini dress. I had on pink slip-on Keds and a headband with pink flowers. I felt pretty and I didn’t want to ruin it with gaudy car accident-provoking nail polish.
“This is not Pretty and Pink. I am not stupid. I don’t want you to drive your car into a lake again. I wouldn’t make that mistake twice.” Mr. Wan glared at me, so I uncurled my hands in my lap and put them back on the table.
He began painting my nails in quick, even strokes. The color was beautiful. After he put on a second coat, sealed it, and shoved my fingers into the nail dryer, I held up my hands, admiring his work.
“This is my new signature color. What do you call it?”
Mr. Wan smiled at me, his eyes twinkling behind his thick glasses. “It is called Happily Ever After. It suits you, Tiger Lily.”
It started with a bad manicure and came full circle to a nail polish that fit me perfectly. Happily Ever After. My new color.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Wende Dikec writes Young Adult fiction with romantic elements. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, Three Rivers Romance Writers, Pennwriters, The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and Mindful Writers. She is the author of TIGER LILY and STARR VALENTINE, and writes adult romance under the pen name Abigail Drake. She can be found on the web at www.wendedikec.com, www.wendedikec.blogspot.com, www.facebook.com/wendedikecwriter, www.wendewrites.tumblr.com, www.instagram.com/wendedikec, www.twitter.com/wendedikec.
Wende lives in Beaver, PA with her husband, three sons, a puppy named Capone, and a very well used espresso machine.