Delayed (12 page)

He’d said I love you that night, meaning every word of it. He loved Rita. The way she took studying so seriously, and the way her words could stir a room about. She had a certain amount of courage he knew he would never possess.
 

“It’s not love,” Mimi told him once, “It’s admiration.”
 

Nick didn’t think about it that way, at least, not until recently.
 

The surprise party awaited him inside. There were more people than the ten he had counted missing. Rita was among them. She walked over to him, after his family members dispersed.
 

“You knew about the surprise party?” he asked her.
 

She nodded. “I guessed. Since you’re coming to my graduation dinner, I thought it would only be fair it I stopped by. I didn’t know your family owned a beach house. I got the address from your Abuela.”
 

Nick didn’t know why, but there was a small pulse of anger beating through him. Rita wasn’t supposed to know about this place. She wasn’t supposed to be here. This was his mom’s memory, and Rita barely liked to talk about his mom.
 

“She’s gone, Nick. It’s wrong to hold on to the dead,” she’d said once, when Nick had to miss a debate meeting to spend his mom’s birthday at the beach house.
 

“You’re happy I’m here, right?” she asked.
 

He waited, longer than he should of. “Yeah. I just didn’t think you wanted to be here.”
 

Before she could answer his family began to gather around the two of them, and soon it came time for him to open a present from his Grandma Joan and Grandpa Felix.
 

His Grandma handed him a tiny box.
 

“Open,” she said gently.
 

Nick could feel Rita watching him, over and over again. He pulled open the box, recognizing the key immediately.
 

“Why are you giving me a key to your house?” he asked, too surprised to look up.
 

His grandma pressed the key into his palm, “It’s yours.”
 

“What?” he asked, not sure he was processing the words correctly.
 

“For the summer,” his grandpa corrected. “Joan and I are going to spend three months in Peru. We need someone to house sit. All groceries and plane tickets will be paid for though. And you get to use our car.”
 

Nick laughed at his grandpa’s brisk words. That sounded more like the truth. The present was still wonderful. He had three months to spend in Shepton, vacationing, away from his impending responsibilities.
 

“Thank you guys. I love it,” he said, kissing each of his grandparents.
 

His Abuela broke apart the embrace. She handed Nick an envelope.

“It’s not a house, but I think you’ll like it.” She had no patience and tore it open for him.
 

“A plane ticket,” Nick read the print, “to Mexico.”
 

His Abuela hugged him before he offered her the embrace. “You should get to know a little about your heritage. I don’t want you to become full gringo yet.” She smiled as she said the words.
 

More family members gave him presents, and the few minutes he had planned on staying, turned into two hours. Rita pulled him aside.
 

“Ready to head to my dinner?” she asked. Her tone was cold.
 

“Yeah. Let me get your present.”
 

“Don’t bother. Give it to me later. We’re going to be late.”
 

He nodded. “Hold on. Let me just say bye to everyone. I have to thank them.”
 

He turned but Rita walked away, and he had no choice but to follow her outside.
 

“Rita wait. What’s wrong?” She kept walking. Nick stepped in front of her way. “Wait. Why are you running off?”
 

She rolled her eyes. “Because I feel like the piece of the puzzle that doesn’t belong. Your family barely talks to me.”
 

“My family loves you. You’re the one who doesn’t like coming over to our dinners,” he said.
 

“Because I feel like an alien. Like today,” she said pointing to the gifts in his hands. “I don’t understand why they would give you all that, when all you’ve done is graduate. Your GPA was barely above a 3.0.”
 

“They were just being nice,” he defended. “It’s what families do.”
 

Rita shook her head. “No it’s what your family does. My family barely gave me a pat on the back for being Valedictorian. My mom even said I had sped through my speech. She said I should have practiced more.”
 

“Your parents are just more demanding,” Nick said.
 

“No. They just don’t coddle me. They don’t want me to be mediocre.”
 

He paused. When she said the last word, Rita looked right him.
 

“You’re saying I’m mediocre?”
 

She nodded, without any hesitation. “I used to think you were different Nick. I liked you because even though you had stage fright you joined the debate team. And you spent hours studying to get your SATs scores up. You never seemed to settle. But this year, you showed me I was wrong.”
 

“How?”
 

“You settled for Glensford College instead of NYU. You quit the debate team. You didn’t care about looking for more scholarships or internships.”
 

He tilted his head. “I didn’t settle. Glensford College is a great school.”
 

“Of course it is,” Rita scoffed.
 

For the first time, Nick didn’t let her have the upper hand. “Maybe if you weren’t so pretentious you would see that.”
 

Her eyes widened. “What did you call me?”
 

He bit his lip. “I’m sorry. It came out wrong…”
 

She shook her head. “No. You said what you’ve been thinking all this time. I’m actually glad you didn’t follow me to New York. Then I wouldn’t have been able to say what I needed to.”
 

“And what is that?”
 

Rita shrugged. “We’re done Nick. I need a fresh start and you’re in my way. Maybe in a few months, we can be friends again. I don’t know. But right now, I just need space.”
 

He found himself nodding at her request. “Okay.”
 

That made it worse. “Okay? Does our relationship mean that little to you?” Her voice rose.
 

“You know I love you,” Nick said softly. “But I won’t hold on to someone who doesn’t want to be with me.”
 

She shook her head, water welling up in her eyes. “I did want to be with you Nick. You’re the one who didn’t want to be with me.”
 

Then with that she turned and ran to her car. Nick remained standing, letting the gusts of salted air fill his nose. For the first time in a year and half, he felt at peace. And it pained him, but a part of him knew Rita had been right. He still kept the palm tree in his nightstand, for whenever the day might come. Olivia wouldn’t walk away this time. He would tell her what the kiss had meant.
 

14

June 18, 2008

Olivia had almost hoped that her flight would be delayed. It was the first time she was returning to Shepton in over a year. Her flight had arrived on time, no repairs, or loss of fuel. It had gone too smoothly, and so it came as no surprise, that a thunderstorm was a part of her welcome to the town.
 

The clouds were thick and puffed together in dark clumps. They waited, blocking the usual summer sun, ready to unleash their mightiest forces. She hadn’t even brought an umbrella.
 

Olivia had come on short notice. Her mom had planned on making the trip down to Florida with her, but the growing magazine she ran demanded her attention. The two were going to go through the last boxes that remained in storage, mostly Olivia’s things. After that, they were going to vacation in Orlando for the week.
 

“I really wanted to go,” her mom had said after graduation. “This was supposed to be my graduation present for you. The two of us, for one last hurrah.”
 

She didn’t want her mom to feel guilty. The plane tickets were already purchased though, so Olivia decided to use hers. It would be a quick trip, less than two days. She planned on going through all the boxes in storage, cleaning them out, ending the rental contract, and returning to Glensford.
 

“What name is the rental under?” the man behind the rental counter asked her. It was one of the many counters in the Shepton Airport’s pick up terminal.
 

“Olivia Hayes,” she said. The man typed away on his computer, before finally looking up at her.
 

“Ah yes. Well you made a very last minute reservation. Most of our fleet is gone, but we do have a few, older models.”
 

She nodded, but became suspicious of his tone. “Sure. Whatever you have is fine.”
 

He nodded. “There will be an extra insurance charge since you are only eighteen.”
 

“I know,” she said. Boy did she ever. It would have been cheaper to lease a new car. Maybe not, but her mom was paying for the rental, so she didn’t mind.
 

The man typed away for the next few minutes. He had her sign a few agreements and papers, and then he handed her the keys. Olivia thanked him and ran out to take the shuttle to the actual rental lot. The bus was full of eager tourists. She squeezed her way through and took a seat next to an elderly woman.
 

The ride was smooth, and picking up the car, which turned out to be a rusting white Toyota, went even smoother. She stuffed her small suitcase into the trunk and mapped the route to her hotel out. It would take her fifteen minutes to get there and she was already starving.
 

Olivia decided to make a detour at the little gasoline station that had once been right across her mom’s apartment. She drove in silence. Her mind was filled thoughts of her graduation. And of Simon. He had taken her to his prom, and they’d gone on a few dates, but nothing was official. He wasn’t the type of guy who liked titles, and it was killing her. They hadn’t talked in a week. He was probably busy with his summer classes. She’d be joining him in the fall.
 

Then there was the strange situation that had played out at her graduation. Olivia’s parents hadn’t seen each other, at least not face to face, in over two years, so she hadn’t known what to expect. Would her mom start crying? Would her dad start yelling about the whole custody dispute? Not that it mattered since she was already eighteen.
 

But they hadn’t fought. Olivia had watched her mom greet her ex-husband in a perfectly civil manner. They weren’t friendly, but they weren’t angry either. They even managed a bit of conversation at the graduation dinner afterward. The weirdest part of the night though, had come when her mom congratulated her dad on his recent nuptials. He and Jocelyn had tied the knot in a small ceremony that Olivia hadn’t attended. Why would she?
 

Watching her parents interact so normally, it completely shook her sense of loyalties. How could she excuse her anger at her dad, when her mom wasn’t even mad at him anymore? How could she forgive a man who had cheated on her for so long?
 

The smell of smoke began to fill the air. Olivia looked around the highway; there were barely any other cars around her. She took a whiff of air again. It held the scent of burning rubber. She looked down at the dashboard, realizing now her car was the source of the smells. A red warning light was on. She considered pulling over, but reconsidered when the rain began to pour.
 

Olivia decided to risk it. She forced the burning car to drive for another four minutes, chugging it along to the gasoline station. Surely, they would have some sort of repair service.
 

She climbed out, turning the engine off. The front of the car wasn’t smoking, but the smell was penetratingly strong. The rain soaked her clothes as she ran inside the convenience store. They’d expanded, and had added on a small car wash to the side of the building, along with a smoothie shop.
 

For some reason she expected to see the same teen who worked the counter, but in his place was a new employee, younger, but just as bored.
 

Olivia wiped rainwater off her eyelashes and cheeks. She would get something to eat first, and then decide what to do about the malfunctioning rental. Insurance would have to cover the repair. She had literally been driving it for less than a half hour.
 

She walked through the maze of junk food filled aisles, picking out a few snacks at a time. Then she stopped by the coffee area and wiped herself dry with napkins.
 

“Are you sure the credit card’s not working?” a voice asked. It was deeper than it had once been, but just as soft and familiar.
 

Olivia froze in place. She squatted down behind an aisle, and began to inch her way forward, hoping to confirm her suspicions.
 

The clerk said something and tried to slide a credit card again.
 

“It’s not your card,” he said. “The storm’s knocked our internet out.”
 

“I really need gas, though,” the familiar voice said.
 

Olivia held her breath and leaned forward, finally getting a look of the man’s face.
 

Nick stood in front of the counter, hands in pockets, tall as ever and tanner.
 

Seeing him again, after two years, it felt surreal. Like she had found a missing person off of a milk carton.
 

One of the snacks fell out of her hand, the bottle of tea. It bounced against the tiled floors, catching the attention of both the cashier and Nick.