by Pepper Pace
He was shaking his head. “I’m no writer.”
“Obviously you are. Candace loves the changes you’ve written and she should know. She’s the expert.” She stared into the contents of the refrigerator. “What do you want for lunch? I can make sandwiches or I can make a box of mac & cheese, or-”
“Sophie!” She turned and looked at him. “Are you trying to punish me for writing what I did, because…”
“No!” She scowled. “What you wrote is good. But it’s your story now, more than mine. How can I be expected to just take up where you left off?” She gave him a slight grin. “You can have all of the money from the book, I don’t care about that. I just want to be done with Clarion, or better yet, I’ll co-author it with you!”
He was shaking his head. “I’d love to write with you, but…”
“But what?”
He finally smiled. “Yeah. But what?” His smile broadened. “Okay, we’ll write it together.”
She nodded. “It’s settled. You’re officially a writer. Is there something that you would like for lunch Mr. Reider? Because we need to keep you productive.”
He gave her a funny look. “Mac & Cheese is good. Put a little swiss in with the Kraft dinner, please?”
“You got it.”
Chapter 12
Sophie had purchased an oblong, wrought iron, trellis gazebo that fit perfectly in her new backyard. She put some great lounge furniture inside. It had cost an arm and a leg but it was an investment in her peace of mind which was an investment in her writing career; hers and Lucas’.
He had a laptop tray on his legs and was busy pecking away while sitting in the lounger. He wrote in the gazebo every single day. She was sitting in the opposite lounger, engrossed in the last printout that he’d given her; Ned and Toya’s first date.
She lowered the document and sighed once she had come to the end. Oh my god, it was so romantic. Ned was such a good catch. Toya would be a fool to dump him for Eric if Eric was going to end up being so wishy washy about Karen. She was going to have to step up her writing game. Lucas was giving her a run for her money. She peeked at him. He was so engrossed in his writing that he didn’t even see her looking.
How did he even know about first dates, or romance like this? He’d never even dated…well unless what he did with Tommy was considered dating. Thinking about that made her stomach feel hollow.
He looked at her and a shadow fell over his expression. “What? Did you find something wrong?”
“No. I loved it.”
He beamed. “You said the L word. You’ve never said that before about my writing.”
She became flustered. “I’ll…be sure to say it more.”
He gave her a steady look. “No. Only when you mean it.” He turned back to the laptop and continued writing.
Sophie frowned and blinked her eyes.
~***~
Lucas was a fast writer. He finished his next 3 chapters within the month even though Candace had settled for just receiving monthly updates. With Candace out of their hair, Sophie thought of ways that they could enjoy their little hiatus before they tackled the next half of the book. What would Lucas like to do?
She stood at the top of the stairs. “Lucas?” She was holding a bundle of her laundry.
“Yeah?” he yelled back.
“Can you take my laundry down?” She hadn’t been down the stairs since her accident. Lucas did her laundry now. She didn’t like asking but she literally couldn’t bring herself to go down those steps. She thought that once the cast came off then maybe she wouldn’t have the visual reminder. But no.
She saw him appear at the bottom of the stairs. He was wearing a white undershirt and cargo shorts. His hair was really long and actually ran past his shoulders now.
He peered up at her. “Sure.” Jogging up the stairs he took the bundle out of her hand. And then with a frown he placed them on the floor behind her. “Sophie, give me your hand.”
“What? Why?”
He chuckled. “Why do you always have to ask why?”
She put her hands in his. He was standing in front of her and one step below her. “Now take one step down.”
She pulled her hand out of his grasp. “No.” She shook her head adamantly.
He opened his hands again and waited patiently for her to put her hands back into them. After a moment she did.
“I got you, Sophie. You’re not going to fall because I’ll catch you if you do. One step down.”
Her breath became shallow as she remembered tumbling down those stairs and breaking her bones. “I can’t! I can’t do it.” She couldn’t catch her breath. She backed away from the stairs and Lucas followed her and soundly shut the door behind him, a look of concern on his face.
“Okay, it’s gone. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to push. No more stairs.” He had such a soothing voice, like he should be a teacher. She chuckled feeling the panic subside.
“Wow. Sorry about that. I guess I’m going to have to buy a new house.” She tried to joke. He rubbed her trembling arm.
“It’s okay. The grade on those stairs is dangerous. The builder should have added another landing. Are you okay now? Your breathing?”
She nodded feeling stupid. He immediately released her and picked up the laundry. “I’ll take these down. Be right back.” She missed the strong feel of his hands on her arms when he was gone and she shivered.
~***~
“What do you want to do?” She asked as they lounged in the Adirondack chairs out back; the sound of the pond and soft music from the speakers creating a home-away-from-home feel. Lucas shrugged.
“You decide.” He said.
She rolled her eyes. “You’re the one that put in most of the work. I want you to choose. We don’t have to stay in the city. Did you want to see…New York, DC? Maybe Disney, take a cruise-”
“The mountains.”
“The mountains?”
“I always wanted to see the mountains; stay at a chalet, hike through the woods. And since its summer the temperature should be really nice. We could go swimming.”
“Oh! No…I’m not wearing a swim suit.”
He chuckled. “You can swim in shorts. I intend to. So the mountains?”
She shrugged. “The mountains it is.”
Lucas never had the laptop far from him. “Hmmm.” He said as he pulled up the Google search page. “Where?”
“Well if we’re going to drive then it needs to be some place close. I don’t want to be doing a lot of driving at night when I can’t see.”
“Tennessee?”
“Yeah, Gatlinburg.”
He did some pecking on the keyboard. “Wow, there are a lot of chalets,” he said. Together they looked at cabin after cabin. The prices were really affordable for a three day weekend for only two people. Together they selected a two bedroom A frame cabin with a loft containing a large picture window overlooking the Smokey Mountains.
“White water rafting!” He said enthusiastically. Sophie was thinking, I damn near broke my back walking down a flight of stairs. There is no way I’m getting in a boat and going rafting down some white waters! Of course she didn’t say that. This was Lucas’ vacation and she wanted him to have fun. But Sophie thought that what a 22 year old would find fun and what a 42 year old would, was going to be totally different!
~***~
Lucas was very enthusiastic. They were able to book the cabin for that very weekend and so he went out and got the things that they would need. They had to bring their own food and personal care products. Other than that the chalet had flat panel TVs, stereos, Jacuzzi, WII game system with Kinect and 12 games. The owner of the Chalet also had a huge selection of DVD movies and CD’s.
“Maybe we won’t even need to leave the cabin.” She said hopefully as they wheeled their shopping cart down the aisles.
“Maybe.” Lucas said simply as he placed several packs of steak in the cart. He consulted his list. They had created a menu and knew exactly what they w
ould have to get. It would all go into a cooler to stay fresh while they drove.
The day came when they had the car packed for the trip. The cooler stayed in the back seat so that they could have access to it during the five hour drive. Lucas drove so that Sophie’s back wouldn’t stiffen and she appreciated that. It also allowed her to enjoy the great scenery.
The conversation was comfortable and easy. They talked about their book which led to something that she’d been wondering. “Do you want to be a writer, Lucas?”
“I think I do. I love to write and read. Maybe I’ll just be an editor.” He glanced at her. “Maybe I’ll be your editor.”
“Maybe.” She smiled at him proudly. “You can be whatever you want.”
They couldn’t check in before 1:00 and so timed their arrival after they stopped for a long lunch. When they finally arrived at the Smoky Mountains the both of them had to get out of the car, stretch and just stand there for a while doing nothing more than
taking in their surroundings.
The tall trees, the cool breeze, the blue sky and the sweet smelling air was all just too perfect. The two of them beamed at each other and headed for the rental office to pick up the keys.
An older, white haired man was sitting on a stool watching the news and he smiled when they came in. “Mrs. Baxter?”
“That’s me.”
“Hope you had a good trip.”
“It was a beautiful drive.”
“I’ll get your keys and your paperwork.” Sophie looked around the pretty decorated office. She knew that she would be pleased with the cabin when the rent office made her want to curl up in front of the fireplace in the front room.
When she turned back around Lucas was glaring at the old man. She looked from one to the other. The old man had just wiped away a nasty sneer.
“I…um, I’m going to need to see that young man’s ID.”
Sophie’s eyes shot up in surprise. What? Why would he need to see Lucas’ ID when it was she that was paying the bill? And then it dawned on her what the man was thinking. “Well, we’re not…” He thought that they were…
Wordlessly, Lucas pulled out his wallet and slid his driver’s license across the desk.
The older man picked it up and examined it closely. Sophie’s back stiffened. Did he think it was fake? Did he think that she had just lured some child out here to have her way with?! Her cheeks flamed. This old man thought that she was a pervert!
And this was the first time that it had crossed her mind; what others would think. No one had ever looked at them suspiciously when they were out together. And the reason for that made her feel ill.
The reason was because it was so out of the realm of possibility that no one would even think that an older black woman like her would be romantically linked to a white boy that appeared as young as Lucas. She could be his teacher, some authority figure. But no one would ever see them together and think that he was her boyfriend.
He finally passed the license back to Lucas but his nice smile was gone.
“Sign this.” He said curtly. “I’ll need both signatures.” She knew that he didn’t need Lucas’ signature since she was paying but she didn’t object.
He quickly explained the codes, gave them the written operating instructions for various appliances, and then he gave them fresh towels and sheets for the bed.
He didn’t say goodbye, have a nice day, or enjoy your stay, he just turned away from them dismissively.
She hurried out of the office feeling queasy and dirty. Lucas unlocked the car door.
“Get in! We’re almost there.” He was smiling happily again. She wasn’t able to shake her feeling of impropriety quite as easily.
It wasn’t easy to make sense of the cabin numbers…or to even see the cabins but the small map included in all of the printed material gave good instructions and they soon found the small cabin nestled back from the road.
By the time they drove up the narrow path leading to the house, Sophie’s mood had improved and she put the incident behind her. She was excited to take the grand tour, they both were. But first they unloaded the car and made short work of getting everything dumped in the spacious living room. Only after the food was put away into the neat kitchen did the two excitedly explore their new digs. The front room had a huge picture window. A stone fireplace sat dead center of it and though it wasn’t cold, Sophie couldn’t wait to light it.
The two moved from room to room together like little kids discovering something new and fun. It was just as the advertisement and pictures had described! On one of the outdoor decks the two of them just stood there silently absorbing the beauty of the mountains. This was absolutely perfect.
Sophie insisted on using the cleaning supplies that they had brought to wipe down everything—clean fanatic that she was. Then they selected their bedrooms. Both bedrooms had a lot of appeal. One was the loft that had the huge window overlooking the mountains. The other had a fireplace and incredible charm. Lucas took the loft since it didn’t have doors and he knew that Sophie would want the privacy.
When she was done putting away her things she went searching for Lucas to help her slip the mattress covers onto the beds. He was on the deck fiddling with the Jacuzzi. His eyes beamed when he saw her.
“Now this is what I can’t wait to do.” He gestured to the sky. “We should get in here when the sun sets and then we can look up and see the moon and stars above us.”
He painted a beautiful picture. “You got a date…um, a deal.” They got the beds made and Lucas was anxious to explore their surroundings so even though Sophie just wanted to kick back and check out the DVDs or listen to music she was right back in the car heading down the mountains so that they could check out what was going on in town.
The town was very crowded. They decided to park conveniently and then walk. Tour buses ran frequently for cheap tokens and it was the best way to get around. They got a map and Sophie oohed out loud when she saw that they had a Ripley’s Believe it or Not!
“We gotta do Ripley’s.”
“What is Ripley’s?”
“Oh my god! You don’t know about Ripley’s?” Then she explained that it was a museum of sorts, that showcased oddities. His brow went up in interest. They were there in no time and Lucas was already in love with the place even before stepping inside, just from the posters and the huge 1 ton marble ball that was suspended by water. You could place your hands on it and spin it but it would never touch the ground.
“Wow, this is amazing.” He said as he considered how it worked.
“That’s why it’s called Ripley’s Believe it or Not!”
“Well, I wonder what would happen if I stuck my fingers beneath it-”
“Um…please don’t.”
He snickered jovially. “I wasn’t going to. What do you think; I’m two?”
He grabbed her hand and tugged her inside. They looked at a flea circus, they crossed a glass bridge that had Sophie hyperventilating until a grinning Lucas gripped her hand again and pulled her across. They spent an hour exploring until Sophie complained of thirst and a need to sit. Though she hadn’t had any complaints from her back in weeks, she didn’t want to over-do it.
They left Ripley’s and Lucas looked up and down the street enthusiastically. “There’s Hard Rock Café over there.” His eyes were lit in delight as he looked at her.