“See you then.” She flashed him a smile and walked away.
Nick stayed put. He wasn’t really in the mood to tour Graceland today after all. He’d forgotten how hot Memphis was in August, and he certainly didn’t want to fight the crowds. Besides, scheduling dinner with Suzanne was worth the fee he’d paid to park his car.
He slid into his grandmother’s gold Lexus and headed North on Elvis Presley Boulevard toward the interstate. There was one place he wanted to go today. He’d been putting it off, but he knew it was now or never.
Nick merged onto Poplar Avenue and drove for a quarter of a mile. He flipped on his turn signal and turned into the entrance for Memphis Memorial Park, one of the largest cemeteries in the city. The last time he’d visited had been the day of his parents’ and brother’s funeral, nearly twelve years ago. But he remembered exactly how to get to their final resting place.
After all, he saw it in his dreams almost every night.
Chapter Five
“You’re seriously going to meet the airplane guy?” Emily’s voice rose an octave with each word.
Suzanne grinned into the phone. Emily was her most cautious friend. That was probably what made her a good doctor, but it didn’t do much for her social life. “Nick’s harmless. We’re meeting at Central BBQ. You can’t get much more public than that.”
Emily groaned. “But you know this can’t go anywhere. He’s just some guy you met on a plane who is probably only in town for a couple of days. Why bother?”
“Because it can’t go anywhere. Because he’s cute and funny.” As far as Suzanne was concerned, agreeing to have dinner with Nick had been a no-brainer. She got to enjoy the company of a handsome, intelligent man without having to worry that he’d expect anything from her.
“We’ve been friends since undergrad and yet I still don’t understand you sometimes.” Emily and Suzanne had started out sharing a room at the University of Memphis before they figured out they worked better as friends than roommates. Suzanne had hated dorm life and moved into an apartment near campus, and Emily had moved into a sorority house, but they’d remained close friends ever since.
Suzanne pulled into the parking lot at Central BBQ. “I’m here. I’ll tell you all about it next week when we run. Three miles, right?”
Emily laughed. “Sure. Three miles. Have fun tonight.”
Suzanne put the Pathfinder in Park and cut off the engine. She glanced at herself in the mirror. Not bad. She’d had just enough time to run home and let Charlie out before dinner and had taken advantage of that bit of time to touch up her lipstick and hair. She craned her neck to see if Nick was standing at the entrance. He was nowhere to be seen.
A loud tap on her window made her jump. She glanced up to see a beaming Nick standing outside of the vehicle. She opened the door. “Sneaky, sneaky. I thought we were meeting at the entrance.” They walked slowly toward the restaurant.
“I was. But people kept looking at me funny so I went back to my car.” He grinned. “Besides, I was a little afraid you were going to stand me up.”
She returned his smile. “Oh, I never turn down barbecue.”
He chuckled and held the door open for her. They joined the line at the counter.
“So you rented a car?”
Nick shook his head. “No. I borrowed one.” He met her questioning gaze. “From my grandmother.”
Suzanne widened her eyes. “Your grandmother? You didn’t mention her the other night on the plane.”
He shrugged. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again. I figured there wasn’t any point in sharing personal details.”
His explanation made sense to Suzanne. She didn’t share such information easily either. “So that’s what brought you to Memphis? Visiting your grandma?”
Before he could answer, it was their turn to order. Suzanne always got the same thing. “I’ll have a pork plate and sweet tea.”
Nick smiled at her. “Good choice.” He nodded at the man behind the counter. “I’ll have the same.” He paid for their meals and grabbed two cups from the cashier. He held one out to her. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.” She followed him to the self-serve drink station. “I’d be glad to pay for my food. I wasn’t really looking for a free meal.”
He chuckled. “Nope. This is my treat. I’m happy not to have to eat alone.”
She furrowed her brow. “What about your grandmother?” Suzanne filled her cup with ice then sweet tea. “Doesn’t she want you to have dinner with her tonight?”
Nick shook his head. “She’s in the hospital.”
Guilt washed over Suzanne. She’d really read him wrong on the plane. She’d assumed he flew into town to sample the food and flirt with the women. Instead he must be here because his grandma was sick. “I’m sorry. I hope she gets better soon.”
Nick motioned for her to lead the way to a table. “She’s having heart surgery later this week.” They sat down at a small table in the corner. The restaurant was nearly at capacity even though it was relatively early on a Tuesday night.
“Wow.” Suzanne sipped her tea. “I hope everything turns out okay.”
“Thanks.” He smiled at her across the table. “The truth of the matter is that I grew up here. I just haven’t been back in a decade.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Seriously? You’re from Memphis?” She’d gotten the impression the other night that he wasn’t at all enamored with the city, but she’d never suspected he was a native.
He nodded. “Yeah. But I left after high school and haven’t been back since.”
“What about your family? They didn’t care? Your parents don’t mind that you’ve stayed away for so long?” Her own mother might not win any awards for parenthood, but she’d still be miffed if Suzanne didn’t come home for a decade.
He shook his head. “They aren’t here now. Just my grandmother.”
Suzanne didn’t want to keep peppering him with questions. The expression on his face told her that he would rather talk about anything besides his family. She could certainly identify. “Well then welcome back to Memphis. Will you see many old friends while you’re here?”
“I haven’t really kept in touch with them. But I’m thinking about giving my best friend from childhood a call. We text every now and then. He and his wife live in Collierville. They have a couple of kids I think.”
“Number thirty-five,” the cashier said over the loudspeaker. “Your order is ready.”
“I’ll get it.” Nick stood and walked over to the pickup window.
He wasn’t anything like she’d expected him to be. Her friends would have a field day with that revelation. They were always chiding Suzanne for making snap judgments about people without really getting to know them. Emily said it was because Suzanne was scared she’d meet someone she actually cared about. An accusation Suzanne vehemently denied, but deep down she knew there might be a grain of truth to her friend’s claim.
“Here you go,” Nick said. He placed two heaping barbecue platters on the table.
“Yum.” Suzanne grinned. “It looks great.”
Nick nodded. “I haven’t been here in ten years, and it smells just like I remember.” He placed his napkin in his lap. “Do you mind if I pray?”
She shook her head. “Not at all.”
Nick said a quick prayer, asking God to bless their food and the time they spent together.
Suzanne caught his eye when he was finished. One of the drawbacks to her haphazard approach to dating was that many of the guys she went out with weren’t Christians. That had never been much of an issue because in each instance, she knew the relationship wasn’t going anywhere. But watching Nick live out his faith right in front of her made him even more attractive. “So what do you do, exactly?” she asked.
“I’m a freelancer.”
She waited for him to offer more of an explanation, but he remained quiet. “Okay. . . What exactly do you freelance?”
He chuckled. “I write. Mostly artic
les for magazines, and I provide content for a couple of websites.” He shrugged. “I sort of fell into it. I’ve always loved writing and started out wanting to pen the great American novel. But when I lived in New York I met a guy who works as a magazine editor and we became pretty good friends. He had me submit some things to him, and from there, I got more work. It sort of snowballed into a full-time gig.”
“I don’t mean to keep on with the questions, but where do you live?” Suzanne asked.
A shadow crossed Nick’s face. “That’s kind of a tricky question.”
***
Nick hated trying to explain his lifestyle to people. Particularly someone like Suzanne. She seemed so normal, so grounded. She’d never understand. “I’m sort of a vagabond.” He grinned, hoping his dimple might distract her from further investigating his personal life.
She frowned.
No such luck. Guess my charm isn’t going to get me anywhere with this one. “I’ve lived all over the country since I graduated from college. New York, LA, Boston, Miami. . .even Europe for a little while.” Bumming through Italy and Spain had made him feel like Hemingway, bringing an odd mix of happiness and loneliness, but without the acclaimed novel. Or the drinking problem.
“Okay. So you move a lot.”
She had no idea the extent to which he went to keep his life free of complications. “Yes. I choose a city with a good public transportation system. I rent a nice apartment downtown that’s within walking distance of restaurants and night life.” He shrugged. “It’s the perfect life.”
She drew her brows together. “Are you trying to convince me or yourself?”
“I don’t need to convince myself. I move every couple of years after I’ve gotten to know a city well. I’m kind of considering DC next. Maybe I’ll slant my writing toward politics or something.”
“Doesn’t all that moving kind of hinder your relationships?”
What relationships? “Not at all. I make friends easily.” He’d been blessed with the ability to never meet a stranger.
“Maybe. But if you start over every couple of years, it seems like that would prevent you from ever being really close to anyone.”
He’d only been around her three times and she’d already nailed him. For some reason her words stung. “I’m close enough. These days with texting and FaceTime, it’s easy to stay connected.” He held up a heaping fork of pulled pork. “This is some good barbecue. Good call on the restaurant.”
She raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything about his subject change. “It’s one of my favorites. I’m something of a barbecue connoisseur.”
He laughed. “Oh, really? How exactly did you get that distinction?”
“My grandpa made the best barbecue in three counties. He even bottled his own sauce and sold it in a few shops back home for a little while. He always said I was his best helper. We’d sit out by the smoker and he’d tell me stories about his childhood.” She smiled at the memory.
Nick enjoyed watching her face light up as she talked about her family. “So where did this barbecue-making grandpa live? I take it you’re not originally from here?”
She shook her head. “I’m a Mississippi girl. Born and raised along the Delta in a town so small it’s barely a speck on the map.” She grinned. “It’s not even on some maps.”
“So when did you move to the city?”
She sipped her tea. “I went to college at the University of Memphis and just stayed. After getting a taste of city life I couldn’t imagine moving back to the boondocks. This was the biggest city I’d ever seen when I was a little girl, and I always had a soft spot for it.”
“I had some friends who went to the U of M. I’ll bet if we tried we could find acquaintances in common.” Many of his classmates had attended Ivy League schools, but there were a few who’d attended one of the colleges in their hometown.
“How about you? Where’d you go to college?” she asked.
“Vanderbilt. And I loved it. Especially Nashville. In fact, I stayed there for a couple of years after graduation.”
“I enjoy visiting Nashville. I have some friends there and go see them whenever I get the chance.”
Nick’s grandmother had been brokenhearted when he’d first moved away from Tennessee. She always said that as long as he lived within driving distance, she felt close to him. But he’d felt stifled in Nashville after a few years and had moved on. “So tell me about working at Graceland. Is that your dream job?” He always found it fascinating to hear people talk about finding their dream jobs. He liked what he did, but wasn’t sure if it was a forever career.
She cocked her head. “Honestly? I never meant to work there but sort of fell into it. I started out as a teacher believe it or not.”
“Really? What grade?” He totally could see her as a teacher.
“Elementary. Third.” She sighed. “I hated it. Except for the summers.” She chuckled. “The kids were great; it was the other side of it that drove me crazy. Some of their recesses got cut out, and things just seemed so strict. All the mandates coming down from above seemed to suck the joy out of both teaching and learning. I wish I’d been one of those people who loved teaching enough to put up with all of that, but I wasn’t. After a couple of years, I finally quit and started job hunting. That was about the time when the job market was really tight, so I pretty much applied for everything. I found an assistant event planning job at Graceland and thought it would be good until I found something I liked better.” She shrugged. “But that hasn’t happened. I got a promotion last year and haven’t really made much effort to find anything else.”
“You probably meet a lot of interesting people though, right?”
“Oh yeah. Don’t get me wrong; I enjoy what I do. The thing that makes it worthwhile is that the visitors are so happy. Some of them have waited their whole lives to make the trek to see where Elvis lived. Others make it a yearly thing and meet up with other fans they’ve met through the years. It’s like a big, international family reunion.”
He chuckled. “I guess I never thought of it like that.”
“And the weddings are awesome. The couples get a really unique experience. The fact that they choose to come to Graceland for their wedding means that they feel a special connection to the place. Lots of musicians choose to get married there. I don’t mean the big names. I mean the guys who learned to play guitar at the knee of their grandpas or uncles and started out playing Elvis songs. It’s incredibly rewarding to see those types marry at Graceland. They have Elvis music playing during the ceremony and have their pictures made in front of the mansion.” She grinned. “It’s a unique job, that’s for sure.”
He nodded. “I’ll say. But you said it wasn’t your dream job. . . . What is?”
“Eventually I’d like to work with a nonprofit and do something that I’m really passionate about. Probably helping disadvantaged kids. I think we’re all called to help people in some way. Some people do that through community outreach or volunteering. But I’d like to take it a step further and have it be my actual livelihood.” She gave him a half smile. “I guess I just want to do something that matters in some way.”
“That’s noble.”
She frowned. “I’m not trying to be noble.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean anything by that. I just meant that you have a good attitude toward work.”
“Why? Because I see it as more than a paycheck?”
He nodded. “So many people can’t see past the dollar signs.”
“No one works at a nonprofit for the money.” She laughed. “But no one teaches for it either. I guess I’m just destined to always be on the poor side. And that’s fine. There’s more to life than money.”
He liked her perspective. He’d met so many people who made career decisions solely on the pay, and in his experience, those people were never satisfied. Not with the things they bought with their paychecks or with their lives in general. But he also knew this wasn’t the time to mention his trust fund
to her. She didn’t seem like the kind of woman who’d be impressed by that anyway. Which was actually refreshing. “Sorry for all the questions. I hope you don’t feel like I’ve been interviewing you.”
Suzanne laughed. “That’s fine. I’m not usually quite so forthcoming though. Did you secretly slip some truth serum into my tea?”
“You caught me. How else do you think I get the dirt for my freelance stories?” He chuckled. “Actually, you’d be amazed what people will share over a cup of coffee. Maybe we should try that sometime, and then you’d really tell me all of your secrets.”
She laughed. “I don’t know about that. A girl needs to keep some things to herself.” She glanced at her watch. “Oh no! I’ve stayed too long. I’ve got to get back to work. We’re getting ready for the official kickoff tonight. The midnight breakfast.” She raised her eyebrows at him. “Sounds fun, huh? I might be able to get you an extra ticket, but you’d have to don a white jumpsuit and sideburns.” She grinned, obviously kidding.
“Yeah, as tempting as that sounds, I think I’ll pass.” He chuckled. “Maybe next year.”
“Whatever. Sounds like next year you’ll be in Timbuktu or some such place.”
He nodded. “True.” He didn’t want her to go yet. “This was fun. Would you like to have dinner again? I’d love the company. Maybe Friday?” Nick couldn’t remember the last time he’d had two dinners in one week with the same woman. But he’d only be here for a short time and she knew that. There wouldn’t be any harm in seeing her again.
“Friday is tricky. There’s an Elvis Week event at the Orpheum. It’s the finals of the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Contest.” She smiled. “But if you wouldn’t mind dinner downtown, I’m in.”
“Sounds great.” He held up his cell phone. “I’ll call you closer to Friday and confirm time and place.” He furrowed his brow. “Guess we’ll meet there again?”
All Shook Up Page 3