Touch of Heartache

by Joy Penny

  Only to repeat it all the next day. And the next. Well, not quite all of it, thankfully. She’d steered clear of any hallway catastrophes, but she’d always felt one wrong move away from disaster. She’d been hugged by her little friend, Landon, more than once when she’d stopped by Tildy’s Tots—Tanya had even said he’d kept asking for her—and she’d asked where his sister was, but she’d gone back to school. She hadn’t asked about his brother, although every time she saw Silly Sandgrouse around Tent Tildy, she wondered… The comical creature did seem to recognize her, waving at her broadly with his wing, but all the mascots waved at her. That’s what they did. Child or adult, Tildy and her friends welcomed you with open arms.

  Still… She’d been too flustered to appreciate what he’d done for her in the moment—in fact, she was pretty sure that at the time, she’d mostly just been annoyed that he’d shined a spotlight on it—but the more she thought about it, the more she appreciated what Nolan had said to Earl. He looked sixteen, she swore, but he had to be at least eighteen since he worked during the school day, but regardless, he was certainly too young to be totally to her tastes, though she had to admit she’d found herself considering that he was good-looking more than once since she’d met him out of the suit. Whatever his exact age, she couldn’t believe someone so young had had the balls to do that to the resort manager. But it had worked. Earl seemed to keep a wary, if still brittle, distance from her in the days since, though there was a time or two he’d hovered uncomfortably close behind her and reached a hand around her shoulder to show her something on her monitor or on a table.

  But that was just how men were, according to people like her Nana Abigail. Especially men from an older generation.

  Not the silver foxes in her head, though. Lilac imagined the man of her dreams—a lifelong bachelor, tired of traveling the world alone perhaps—coming in one day to sweep her off her feet. His eyes would stay glued to her hers, his hand would stay appropriately coy on the small of her back whenever they danced or he escorted her inside, he’d ask her to share her experiences living in Spain… And he’d never tell her how beautiful she was until she was certain he valued her as a person first.

  But she knew she was deluding herself. Men like that didn’t exist. And how many men that age weren’t fathers or at least ex-husbands? If they weren’t, they weren’t the type to suddenly seek commitment, either. She didn’t know if she was prepared to take all that on—and she didn’t like being teased for her tastes. So to anyone but Gavin, the idea of dating someone her dad’s age was a big, fat no. It was easy to deny her “Electra complex” as Gavin sometimes called it—which, ew, no, it was not about her own daddy—when her options seemed limited to someone like Earl. Even if he weren’t married, she shuddered to think about it.

  So far, Lilac wasn’t sure there was such a thing as a decent boss out there. Both Earl and Gabriel, the surprisingly-young Chicago marketing firm CEO, had served as fodder for countless texts throughout the week with Gavin—though Lilac continued to fluff her side of things off as an annoyance rather than an obstacle.

  “I’ve got a surprise for you,” said Earl on Friday, clapping his hands together as he entered their shared office and startling Lilac. He clearly seemed to be waiting for her to respond, so she swiveled in her chair to face him, fighting her own lips to force a smile on her face.

  That seemed enough to satisfy him. “You’re walking over to Queen Animaliao’s castle today—or you can take the shuttle out front of the resort if you want.” He held up the keycard hanging from a lanyard around his neck and slipped it off, handing it to her. “Since your card is still being issued, use this to get in through the employees’ entrance and go talk to Gyu-ri—she’s in charge of the place. Tell her I sent you and I need the specs on the last few years of the Tent Tildy/Queen Animaliao’s ball crossover event.”

  Lilac’s heart thudded as she gripped the keycard in her hand. There was no way she was going to slide his sweat-soaked lanyard over her own head and she had no pockets in her dress pants and blouse to speak of. “There was a crossover event?” she said, letting her Tildy fangirl self fly. She’d never visited the park during such an event before.

  Earl seemed to have noticed her genuine excitement bubbling to the surface because the grin he gave her was strong enough to ooze invisible slime. “We stopped a couple of years back. It required too much staff to be on duty, with people needed here to run the place and our own Tildy Scouts needed there to turn the Ballroom into a campsite.” Clasping his hands together, he leaned one elbow on a filing cabinet. “But we’ve been talking about trying it again this fall. And you might be just the organized, productive assistant manager I need to get it all done.”

  Despite the just barely tangible ick factor of the messenger, Lilac felt something like pride shoot through her entire body. If she were being honest with herself, despite the rose-colored vision she’d painted for Gavin and Brielle when she’d continued to check in with them, she’d felt more like an assistant than an “assistant manager,” and she supposed in some ways, she’d expected that, especially this early on. But wasn’t the job supposed to entail some responsibilities? This was her big shot.

  Queen Animaliao’s ball had always been her favorite part of Tildy World. True, Tildy was always her favorite, but Queen Animaliao herself had been so beautiful, so poised, so regal. Unlike those other beloved women characters across the way, she was a queen, not a princess. And now, for the first time since she’d started here, Lilac would be able to set foot in that magical place.

  “Okay,” said Lilac. She smiled broadly. “Thank you. I’m excited to look into this!”

  “Good. Good to see some initiative. Just don’t dawdle,” said Earl, crossing the room and leaning over her to snatch his empty, brown-stained mug off his table. His tie caressed her cheek and his armpit wrapped around the back of her head.

  Lilac’s insides went cold as she scooched out of reach.

  Earl laughed at her as he straightened up and cradled the mug against his shirt pocket. “I need you here,” he said, as Lilac scrambled to get up and push her chair under the table so she could be on her way. “But I sure as hell love watching you go,” he added, just as she turned the corner.

  Lilac could have gagged.

  Since Lilac’s shoes, though gorgeous, were not the best shoes for walking, she hopped on a resort shuttle headed toward the castle. Sure, there were a few extra stops along the way, but despite what Earl had said, despite what she knew the professional businessperson would do in her situation, she was in no rush to get back.

  The Tildy Scout driver was hilarious, and although she swore she caught his eye more often than anyone else in the go-cart, she had no concrete evidence he was doing anything more than taking a look. She supposed she could live with that, especially since he was charming enough, if not more than “cute.” When she arrived at the castle, with the footmen and women there to offer the go-cart passengers “assistance” disembarking their vehicle, Lilac felt, for just a moment, like a princess or visiting queen about to dance the day away. She stared slack-jawed at the grand entryway, which was smaller than she remembered, even if she’d been here as a tourist just last summer, and found herself swaying just a bit in place to the classical-style music echoing out from the Ballroom.

  “Lilac!” squealed a high-pitched voice.

  She turned around just in time to be preschooler-body-slammed by Landon, who wrapped his arms around her thighs and buried his face against her legs.

  “Landon?” she asked, unsure why she was running into him here and not at Tent Tildy.

  As if to answer her question, Tanya came jogging over from a group of small children lined up across the room against the wall. “Landon!” she said. “What did I say? Everyone has to get in line or no one is going in to the ball.”

  “I don’t want to go to the dumb ball,” mumbled Landon from Lilac’s legs.

  “Hi,” said Tanya to Lilac as she approached. She glanced at
the keycard in Lilac’s hand. “Employees’ entrance is over there.” She pointed to a nondescript door with a keycard slot next to it, again painted to look like a part of a mural—this one of Tildy, Silly, and Leah dancing in their dresses and tuxedo. Tanya smiled. “I know newcomers can have a hard time finding it.” She bent slightly to grab Landon gently by the arm. “Come on now. Leave Miss Lilac alone. She has work to do.”

  “No,” said Landon, squeezing tighter.

  Lilac laughed. She hadn’t expected to make a lifelong friend with one small act of kindness. “What’s wrong, kiddo?” she asked, patting his head.

  “Nolan isn’t Ball Silly,” said Landon, pulling his head back to gaze up at her. “He’s almost never Ball Silly.”

  Lilac wasn’t exactly sure what that meant, but she nodded and exchanged a look with Tanya.

  “He means he’s usually in the regular Silly Sandgrouse outfit and isn’t often posted here at the ball,” said Tanya quietly. “But Friday’s his day off, so he’s not here at all today.”

  Lilac frowned, wondering why Landon had to go to daycare even on a day when his brother wasn’t working.

  “He has classes all day on Friday,” said Tanya, as if reading her mind, but it was Landon she was talking to. She crouched beside him. “You know that, Landon. You have to let your brother to school.”

  “Why?” asked Landon.

  “Your sister goes to school too—and you will too when you’re big enough.”

  “No, I won’t.” Landon stuck out his tongue at Tanya and buried his head back against Lilac’s leg. Tanya sighed and stood up, signaling to her fellow Tildy Scouts to go on without her. They led a bouncing line of children into the Ballroom.

  “Everyone else is going to the ball,” said Tanya. “That sure looks like fun.”

  “It’s not,” spat Landon. “I want to go home!”

  “Your brother or dad will get you later,” said Tanya. Her nerves were clearly getting a little frayed. She grabbed for his hand. “Now come.”

  “No!” He pinched Lilac’s legs tightly and she actually let out a small gasp.

  “Landon!” said Tanya, grabbing him by the torso and pulling him away from Lilac. He held tightly as long as he could, but eventually, she peeled him away. “No pinching!”

  “Nooo!” screamed Landon, and then he shrieked. “Mommy!!” He reached both hands toward Lilac.

  Lilac stood, frozen, not sure what to do. She’d known it was common for some kids to call teachers and other women “Mommy” on occasion, but it was usually on accident. This child seemed desperate—desperate—to believe it was true.

  Tanya grabbed his hands and pulled them down. “Do you want to go to time out?” she asked, sternly, but not without patience.

  “Nooo!” he shrieked again, this time kicking at Tanya.

  “Timeout,” she said and started walking away. She stopped suddenly and looked over her shoulder, letting Landon shriek and kick and slap at her, almost without being fazed at all. “Sorry about that,” she said. “He’s worse on Fridays when he knows his brother isn’t here.”

  Nodding, Lilac bit her lip. “No problem.” She watched as Tanya navigated through families who stared at the shrieking kid and took Landon outside. He kept shrieking, “Mommy!” and reaching toward Lilac whenever he could.

  Once the echoes in the entryway died out, for some reason, Lilac drew the stares of all the tourists. As if she actually were his mommy and had dumped him on a daycare worker to deal with during his tantrum.

  She straightened out her blouse, smoothing the wrinkles Landon had made there. She loved kids—she did—but she was more confident than ever that she’d made the right choice in opting not to spend her days being shrieked and kicked at.

  But there’d been something in that boy’s eyes that had made it clear this was no mere tantrum.

  By the time Lilac plopped herself down in her room at her aunt’s after dinner, she was in a good mood. Gyu-ri had been so nice, so excited at the idea of working with Lilac to plan the event again. She’d spent over an hour talking to her about it before loading her up with all the data about costs and attendance for the previous events and then she’d had another funny Tildy Scout driver on the shuttle ride back and when she’d gotten to the office, she’d been told by the administrative assistant they shared with a few of the other offices that he’d had to go home early—his wife had had a flat tire.

  Lilac had never thanked the skies for someone being inconvenienced by a flat before, but she did it then. She wrapped up her other tasks for the day and even spent an hour poring over the documents Gyu-ri had given her and starting a draft of a proposal for changes to keep it all under budget this year.

  Aunt Frankie had surprised her by telling her she was going to take her to get her new car tomorrow and they’d eaten out at a seafood restaurant that was beyond divine—Lilac wasn’t sure even the places she’d been to in New England could beat its maple-glazed salmon. It had been Aunt Frankie’s treat to celebrate her first successful week of work.

  Utterly relaxed in a wicker chair with a plush paisley-patterned cushion in Frankie’s guest room, Lilac logged on to video chat with her phone, calling up Gavin and then tagging Brielle and even Pembroke into the chat. May as well check in with them.

  “Hey!” said Gavin, grinning like a chocoholic kid on Easter.

  “Hey…” Lilac cocked her head. “What’s gotten you in such a good mood?”

  “I went on a date.”

  Lilac almost dropped the phone as she resettled it on its stand on her desk. “What?? With who?”

  “Hmm… Maybe I should wait until I don’t have to repeat myself.” Gavin looked at the “dialing” screen calling Brielle and Pembroke. Pembroke didn’t connect or she rejected the call or something. Brielle’s kept dialing.

  “Fine. Be coy,” said Lilac. “I can fill the silence just fine. I was saved by a flat tire today.”

  “You were… huh?” Gavin leaned back against the couch in his roommates’ apartment. “Did some handsome grease monkey save you and sweep you off your feet?”

  “Very funny,” said Lilac. “It wasn’t my flat tire. Earl had to go home early to deal with his wife’s flat and I had almost the entire afternoon blissfully Earl-free.”

  “Wow, a whole few hours without that creep breathing down your neck.”

  “He doesn’t breathe down my neck,” said Lilac, frowning. But dour thoughts weren’t going to ruin the day’s good mood. “But I mean… Okay, he is a massive pain.”

  Brielle joined the video call and Lilac decided to dump her right into the midst of it. “Bri! Help me!” She smooched the air as if in greeting.

  “Miss Big Bazongas is being harassed by Earl,” said Gavin. “Like that’s such a big surprise.”

  Brielle looked to be sitting on a park bench on a sunny day—though it was early evening, Lilac supposed. Brielle squinted as she stared at the phone. “Earl?”

  “The guy I work for at the resort. He’s this close”—she pinched her fingers together in front of the camera for emphasis—“to like dropping a pencil in front of me and touching my butt when I’m bent over to pick it up, I’m telling you.” She wouldn’t tell them that she’d been halfway there—picking up markers she’d dropped herself and feeling him leering at her exposed tramp stamp area.

  “Gross,” said both Gavin and Brielle at once.

  “But he’s like… He’s walking that line perfectly. Making me feel uncomfortable without ever giving me anything I can actually complain to anyone about.” She sighed. “And actually, I don’t even know who to complain to since he’s my boss and I don’t know who his boss is.”

  “Tildy Tapir,” said Gavin. He was such a smartass.

  “I’ll be sure to file my complaint to Ms. Tapir, right before I hop over to Disney World like a traitor and tell Gaston how my best friend back home first thought he might be gay when he fell madly in love with his two-dimensional six-pack.”

  Lilac reached behind her
for her metal tumbler she’d filled with raspberry-infused water and took a drink as Gavin and Brielle debated the merits of his unabashedly romantic love for a sexy cartoon.

  “Gav always has the worst taste in men,” said Lilac, raising an eyebrow at him.

  “Says Earl’s new girlfriend.” Gavin gestured toward the screen with both hands as if to prove his point.

  “Don’t even.” Lilac felt bold then, even cheeky. “Besides, if I’m going to be anyone’s new girlfriend, it’s going to be the guy in the Silly Sandgrouse suit.”

  Okay, so she hardly knew him. And she’d kind of been a bitch to him the one time they’d talked—but that had been all her. He’d caught her at a bad time. But in any case, he wasn’t her type. Then again, he was clearly fatherly with his siblings, which kind of made her heart melt. And she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about how he’d stood up for her to Earl, even if she knew she’d failed to show him her gratitude. He was so baby-faced and he had to be younger than her if he was still in school (barring it being graduate school), but he was cute.

  And Lilac was in a silly mood, so she thought of her Silly Sandgrouse in shining armor.

  “You’re joking, right?” Brielle asked. Leave it to Brielle to let out all the air in Lilac’s fun balloon.

  She laughed anyway. “Only half-joking. He’s pretty hot once you get that doofus head off.”

  “There are actual live Gastons walking around the much better park next door,” said Gavin, holding a finger up to stop Lilac’s automatic defense of Tildy World as the superior park before she could start, “and you’re telling me Silly Sandgrouse is hot. Reality check, Li.”

  “So how’s your love life, Gavin?” asked Brielle, shifting gears. Lilac drank from her tumbler again. That was fine with her. Lilac wasn’t in the mood to get all defensive about Tildy World again.

  “Don’t ask,” she said, snorting. Gavin never had any luck with guys, so she was quite sure even this “date” he’d hinted at having wouldn’t lead to much.