My One and Only

“Well, in some ways, yes,” he said. “Mostly because it’s a library. What happens here is generally positive, you’d hope, anyway. Better than a parking garage.”

“I’m glad you showed me, Nick,” I said as we stopped near the fountain. “It’s beautiful. I’m…I’m proud of you.” My cheeks prickled with heat. Great. I was blushing.

Nick looked at me somberly for a minute. “Thank you.” Then he flashed his smile, and I smiled back, relieved that he didn’t tell me what a dork I was.

But we couldn’t stay here forever. I glanced at my watch, and Nick lurched back into gear. “Guess you want to get to the airport,” he said.

“I probably should.”

“Right.”

It was a very quick ride to the Bismarck Airport. Nick pulled up in front of the terminal, popped the trunk and towed my suitcase inside. We waited at the counter, a little awkward now, smiling at each other, then looking away.

“So you’re looking to get to Boston?” the ticket agent asked. Her name tag read Suzie, and she gave Nick an assessing glance. He was wearing the blue-tinted sunglasses, a close-fitting black T-shirt and faded jeans—the king of cool, in other words, and Suzie smiled brightly. “Just you, ma’am?”

“That’s right. As soon as possible, okay? I got tangled up in that mess in Montana.”

She dragged her eyes off of Nick. “What mess was that?”

“The software glitch? Grounded the fleet for a few days at all the little airports in Montana on Sunday?”

She frowned. “Oh, that. That only lasted a couple hours, hon. You’d have done better to stay put. They were flying later that same day.”

I blinked. “Oh.” Glanced at Nick, who shrugged.

“All righty, then,” Suzie said. “Well, it’s a little tricky, since you’ll have to change planes a few times. You’ll go from here to Denver, and from Denver you can go directly to Boston, but you’re gonna have to wait five hours. Or you can go on to Dallas, and from Dallas to Atlanta. Quick layover in Hot-lanta, and then on to Beantown. That’ll get you to Boston at, let’s see, 10 a.m. tomorrow morning.”

Twenty hours of hell, in other words. I glanced at Coco, who stared back.

“Are you staying in Bismarck?” Suzie asked Nick. “We have some super-duper restaurants, if you need a recommendation or two. I get off at—”

“And how much will that be?” I asked, just a bit tightly.

“Okeydokey, let me just check there…” She typed for the next minute or so. Clickety clackety clack. Click. Clack! Clickety click. I sighed, she paused, gave me a look of thinly veiled tolerance, flashed a supersunny smile at Nick, who returned it, I noted with irritation. “Suzie? Any time would be great,” I said sweetly.

“Well, now, I’m working on it, don’tcha know. I’m sorry if it’s not going fast enough for you, ma’am,” she said with an equal dose of saccharine. She gave Nick a sympathetic smile. Gosh golly, isn’t it just so awful that we both have to deal with her? Clickety clickety clack. For God’s sake! Was this her novel? Emails to her BFF? Hey there, Lorna, you should see this bitchy redhead I have to take care of, she’s not even letting me flirt with my future husband, which is so unfair, don’t you know, when I’ve gone to all this trouble and named our kids and everything!

Finally, she gave me a perky and very phony smile. “Well, with the fee for your little doggy and yourself, that comes to $2,835.49.”

“Holy testicle Tuesday!” I exclaimed.

“Oh, my,” Suzie chided. “Well, it takes all types, I guess. Shall I book that for you, then? We accept all major credit cards, of course.”

I gave her my best lawyer stare, then opened my wallet.

“Harper,” Nick said. He took my arm and pulled me a few paces away. “Listen. I’m heading…I can take you to Minneapolis. It’s a straight shot, maybe seven hours.” He paused. “I bet you could get a better flight from there.”

The possibilities flashed in red through my mind. Seven more hours with Nick. Seven more hours revisiting the past. Bickering. Fighting attraction. Bone-marrow harvesting.

Laughing. Talking. Maybe we could find another church festival.

Seven more hours of falling back in love with Nick.

It had taken me years to get over him. Years. The case could be made that I wasn’t over him yet.

His dark eyes were waiting for an answer.

“I better just get going, Nick,” I said.

His gaze dropped to the floor. “Okay. Sure. That’s probably a good idea.” He folded his arms across his chest and nodded.

“I just need a driver’s license, ma’am,” Suzie said. She was really starting to wear.

“You don’t need to hang around, Nick,” I said.

He looked up. “Okay. Well. Safe home, Harpy. See you around.”

“You too, Nick.” My throat hurt. “Thank you for driving me.”

He gave me a very brief hug, and my cheek brushed his neck, and I breathed in his clean, lovely smell, but before I was even able to get my arms around him to hug him back, he’d stepped away, then bent to pet my dog. “Bye, Coco,” he said as she licked his hand with her fast little tongue. He straightened up, looked at me and stopped time. “Take care,” he said, his voice soft.

“You too, Nick.”

I watched him walk away, and it seemed as if a chunk of my heart went with him. Coco whined.

“Didja want that dinner recommendation, then?” Suzie called after him, frowning fiercely. Nick didn’t answer, and in another second, he was gone. Suzie huffed. “Okeydokey, then,” she muttered. “Can I have a credit card and your license, ma’am?”

“Sure.” I opened my wallet.

The little blue Montana flower Nick had picked for me fell out, flat and creased after two days. Still pretty, though. I picked it up and stroked a petal.

“Your flight to Denver leaves in forty minutes, ma’am,” Suzie informed me tightly. “And as you might know, they like you to get there a little early.”

I ignored her. Looked back toward the entrance of the airport, and before I knew I’d made a choice, was towing my suitcase behind me, Coco leaping along beside me.

“Oh, that’s just great,” I heard Suzie say. “A complete waste of my time.”

The sun was so bright outside that for a moment, I couldn’t see. But then I could, and there he was, leaning against the red Mustang, hands in his pockets, looking at the ground. He looked up, saw me, froze for a second…and then his lightning smile flashed, and I realized I was smiling, too. Coco barked and jumped.

“Land of Ten Thousand Lakes, here we come,” I said, and Nick’s laugh made my heart swell in a painful, wonderful way.

Maybe I needed closure. Maybe I needed something else. Whatever it was, I wasn’t ready to say goodbye just yet.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

BUT OF COURSE, IT wasn’t quite that straightforward.

“Okay, there’s one thing I didn’t mention,” Nick said as we headed away from the airport.

“What’s that?” I asked, pulling the Yankees cap back on.

He took a deep breath and held it for a second. “You know the library I just showed you?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, I have a meeting with the dean of the college. They’re thinking about a new engineering building, and they wanted to talk.”

“Oh.”

“It’s not a big deal. Just an hour. Maybe two.”

“Right. Okay. Sure. Maybe we can find a Laundromat or something? I didn’t plan on being away this long.”

“Sure, sure.” He glanced over at me.

“What time’s the meeting?”

“Two. I had to reschedule it from yesterday, after you ran over the antelope.”

So. A meeting that just happened to be in Bismarck, North Dakota. I should’ve remembered. As carefree and meandering as he may have wanted to seem on our little jaunt from Glacier, Nick rarely did anything without a plan.

An hour and a half later, I sat in the BubbleNSqueak, watching my laundry through the porthole of a washing machine. For some reason, I was feeling vaguely…tricked. Not that Nick had owed me any explanation; he’d done me a huge favor by driving me here. But still.

“Snap out of it, Harper,” I said aloud. A woman about my age gave me a look, then glanced down to make sure her daughter was safe. “Talking to myself,” I explained.

“Oh, you betcha. I do it all the time,” she said kindly. Midwesterners. So bleepin’ nice.

Time to return some phone calls. I had the usual slew of messages. Tommy, Theo, Carol, BeverLee (my heart clanged at the thought of poor Bev; I hoped the divorce wouldn’t drag out), Willa and ah! Kim. Just what I needed. A girlfriend. I hadn’t talked to her since Sunday night, which felt like an eon ago.

“Kim, it’s me.”

“Who’s me?” she asked. “Gus, stop biting your brother! Stop it! Stop! Thank you! Hello?”

“Hi. It’s Harper.”

“Well, holy ovaries, Batman, it’s about time! Where are you?”

“I’m in a Laundromat in North Dakota.”

“Fascinating. Is your ex around?”

“He’s at a meeting, actually.”

“And tell me, what would Dr. Freud say about the fact that you two are still together? I mean, sure, you’re in the middle of nowhere, but there’s got to be a plane somewhere, right?”

“Actually, I’m in the capital city, and it’s quite lovely.”

“Yeah, yeah. But you’re still with what’s-his-name.”

“Nick.”

“Right. Gus, do I have to put you in a cage or something? Because I will! Don’t push it, mister!”

“As an officer of the court, I feel obliged to speak up and tell you that child imprisonment is against the law,” I said.

“Right. Well, then, I’ll take that as your offer to babysit all four of my precious angels when you get home.”

“Then again, cages can be very comfortable,” I said and smiled. Kim was all talk. She could barely stand to have the kids lose dessert, let alone shut in the dog’s crate (which, it must be noted, the boys used as a fort).

“So, back to you. Have you done it yet? You and the hot ex-husband? Nick?”

“How do you know he’s hot?” I asked.

“Isn’t he?”

“He’s…um…yes,” I admitted, rolling my eyes. “But no. Nothing’s happened yet.” Then, hearing myself, I quickly added, “And nothing will. We’re just…see, the flight was really—”

“Right, right, no need to make excuses. So what are you doing with him?”

I sighed. “Not sure.”

“But you want something from him, or you wouldn’t be washing his shorts.”

“I’m only washing my own stuff, just for the record.”

“God, you’re a master of evasion, Harper! You called me. Spill. Make it quick. The twins are gnawing on each other.”

“I’m just…I have no idea what I’m doing. I’ll bring the boys something sharp as a souvenir. Gotta run.”

“Bye, you coward,” she said amiably.

My next call didn’t go through—Willa was out of range. I had a momentary pang of anxiety, remembering my brush with the grizzly bear. Why people camped was beyond me. But Willa’s last call had been this morning, when Nick and I were out in Harold, so chances were good that she was still alive.

Next on the list of people to call: BeverLee. “Sugar baby, how are you?” she answered.

“Hey, Bev,” I said. “Where are you guys? Still in Salt Lake City?”

There was a pause. “No, sweetheart, we…we came home.” Another pause. “Listen, Harper, darlin’. I’m real sorry to tell you this over the phone, but your daddy and me…looks like we’re partin’ ways.”

Her voice was steady and gentle. Horribly so. “Bever-Lee, I’m so sorry,” I said, my voice surprisingly husky. “You okay?”

“Well, now, of course I am! You know me! Land on my feet, that’s what I do.” But her usual exuberance was muted.

“Sure. Right.” I bit my lip. Where would she go? Would she want to stay on the island, a displaced Texan in the heart of New England? What about money? “If you need anything, just say the word,” I offered, immediately disgusted with the lameness of my words.

“You bet, sugarplum. You wanna talk to your daddy?”

“Um, that’s okay, Bev…oh. Hi, Dad.”

“Harper. Everything okay?”

“Oh, sure. I’m just…taking the circuitous route to the airport, seeing this great country of ours.”

“Nice.”

“So Dad…everything okay there?”

“Yep.”

“BeverLee doing okay?”

“Yep.”

“And how are you, Dad?”

“I’m fine.”

How could he be fine, divorcing his wife of twenty years? And people thought I was emotionally constipated. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree. “Okay. Take care, Dad. Hey, have you heard from Willa?”

“Here. I’ll put you back on with BeverLee.”

There was some whispering on the other end, then BeverLee’s voice once more. “What’s up, sweet knees?”

“Just wondering how Willa’s doing.”