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Chapter Forty Two – July 1

I woke up early in the morning to the sound of a very distressed puppy. Nick grumbled as I moved his hand from my thigh. I stood up and padded down the hallway towards the noise.

As I neared the staircase, the noise grew louder. My eyes were bleary. I had spent a great deal of the previous afternoon going over my credit card statement. Hunter had a field day with my credit card; from restaurants to shopping he had spent with a vengeance. The whole mess way going to take weeks to sort out and I had a bad feeling I’d have to get face to face with Hunter before everything was all over.

I looked down the stairs, thinking perhaps Bitsy had given up dangling and jumping from step to step and was whining to get picked up. The stairs were empty. The noise was close; I looked around in confusion. My eyes widened when I spotted her.

“Oh!” I exclaimed. The little pup had gotten her head stuck between two narrow bars on the stair landing.

I leaned down, my fingers trying to squeeze between the bars and wiggle her neck. This only increased the whining to a heart-wrenching screech.

“What’s going on?” Nick said with a yawn. His hair was pointing in every direction; his boxers were half hanging off his rump.

“Bitsy got her head stuck!” I said. I touched the front of her face, pushing gently. She snorted and drooled, but her head didn’t move an inch.

“Oh my god,” Nick said. “What do we do?”

I looked at him panicked. “I don’t know!”

Nick’s brow furrowed. Then he snapped his fingers.

“We bought butter!” he said, running down the steps. I heard the refrigerator open and bottles being shifted around. Moments later Nick was running back up the stairs.

I took the butter. “Oh, she’s not going to like this,” I said. Dipping my fingers into the tub I liberally grabbed a hunk of butter. Slowly I massaged it around her neck. She began to turn her head this way and that, her back legs kicking out in annoyance. As I reached in to grab yet another handful, I saw her butt give a great wiggle and her head slide out.

“Yes!” I cried in triumph. Bitsy took off like a caged animal set free, but Nick was just a little bit quicker. With a war cry, he held the wiggling buttery piglet over his head. I held up greasy fingers; we looked at each other.

“Bathtub,” we said in unison.

I took Bitsy from him; Nick ran the water in the tub. He slid a baggy over his cast.

“Are you ready for us to leave yet?” I teased.

“Well, it’s not often I wake up at 8 a.m. when I have nothing to do,” Nick said. He laughed. “But truth is, I’m going to be miserable when you leave.”

I smiled.

A few minutes later he reached out. “We’re ready.”

I handed Bitsy over and ran to get the puppy shampoo I had bought the day before, thankful for the good timing. Getting butter out of a dog without shampoo would have been a nightmare. I came back and poured it liberally, Nick rubbed it in. Bitsy closed her eyes. She was a lucky dog; not every pup received a sensual Carter massage.

Once she was washed and rinsed, I grabbed a fluffy towel. She buried into it, snorting in glee as I rubbed her dry. It was one of the good things about Boston Terriers; their short fur allowed them to dry in no time at all. I set her down and she ran off to explore; I was positive she wouldn’t be attempting to look through the staircase bars anytime soon.

I was watching her run back and forth by the door. I assumed Nick was emptying the tub; I was wrong.

“Oh, Livvy,” he said sweetly. I turned around.

“Wha---“

A huge pile of bubbles flew in my face. I shrieked.

“Nick!”

He took my moment of distraction to scoop me up. I heard the shower turn on.

“It’s your turn, miss butter fingers.”

He set me down, sliding the door closed behind him. In seconds my PJs were soaked completely through.

“You,” I said, wiping watery suds from my eyes, “are crazy.”

“Am I?” he asked sweetly as he slipped off his boxers. He reached towards me.

“I don’t know about this, Nick,” I said. “We’ll be slippery.”

“Uh-huh. Your point?”

“I don’t want you to fall and break your other hand!”

He slid my pajama top over my head.

“I’m not worried.”

As the warm water rushed over his shoulders, I succumbed to temptation. Nick poured body wash in his hands and with slow circular movements started at my shoulders, working his way down. My head fell back, the spray cascading down through my hair. He continued his downward descent, sinking to his knees. Expert fingertips sent my legs aquiver.

“Nick,” I moaned as I braced my hand against the tile wall. Under the gentle spray, the body wash was washed away only to be replaced by kisses and a dutiful tongue.

My body was like a coil. As Nick continued his thorough cleansing, I felt myself growing tighter and tighter until I couldn’t contain myself. Nick took the cue and standing back up, his mouth met mine with urgency. Leaning against the wall for support, I wrapped my legs around his waist. I had never made love in the shower; Nick certainly changed that. It was the best shower I had ever taken.

As he wrapped me in a big fluffy white towel, he held onto the openings, his eyes traveling down my body. I was already red from the water, but I felt myself growing warmer.

“I don’t know how I can do this,” Nick said with a sigh, tucking the towel to my body.

“Do what?”

He looked at me; his eyes spoke volumes.

“I don’t know how I’m going to be able to say goodbye to you in three days.”

“I know the feeling,” I said. I ran another towel over his shoulders, watching the beads of water soak up into the soft cotton.

After more than a month of seeing Nick every single day, the thought that I would have to wake up and not be able to talk to him or touch him killed me.

I prayed that time would slow down.

-----------------------------------

That evening we took Bitsy on her very first trip to the beach. At first she pounced and jumped, barking gleefully as the waves rushed on shore and the seagulls swooped down from overhead. After awhile the newness of these objects wore off. Deciding sand would be much more fun to eat than to walk on, she took a large bite.

“Ew,” I said. Nick laughed.

The look on her little face was priceless. Her tongue flew in and out of her mouth rapidly; she worked hard to get the granules off of her tongue. Eventually she realized that by licking her legs, the sand would move from her tongue to her appendages. As the last of the sand escaped her mouth, she flopped down exhausted.

“So much for that bath this morning,” Nick said.

We sat down on either side of Bitsy. I slid off my flip-flops, squishing the sand between my toes.

“Liv,” Nick said. “I didn’t want to ask, but I won’t feel good if I don’t. Do you have enough money for when you get back home?”

I blanched. I had hoped he wouldn’t ask me that question.

“I’ll be fine,” I answered. “I’m going to stay with my mom, so I won’t have rent. More than likely, my car will be going bye-bye, but I can borrow my mom’s. Plus, I’ll have two paychecks before I meet up with you guys in Washington.”

“I could give---“

I cut him off. “Nick, seriously, I’ll be fine.”

“Well maybe you could use one of my lawyers---“
I shook my head. “Mom’s got good legal connections; I’ll be okay.” He sighed.

“If you need help, will you ask?”

I looked at him. I couldn’t lie to him.

“No.”

He grinned. “You’re stubborn.”

I returned the smile. “Yes, I am.”

We were quiet for a few seconds; Bitsy began to snore.

“Hey Liv?” Nick asked quietly.

“Yeah?”

“You talk about your mom a lot; I was wondering, what happened to your dad?”

I picked up a handful of sand. I watched as it sifted through my fingers. My eyes grew misty.

“He had a heart attack about a year and a half ago,” I said in a voice barely above a whisper. “It happened all of a sudden; one minute we were at a cookout, and the next minute…” I trailed off. My voice cracked. “He was gone.”

Nick’s hand touched my arm.

“I’m so sorry.”

I nodded, blinking back tears.

“I was a daddy’s girl…well I was a mommy and daddy’s girl. But God,” I closed my eyes to stem the flood of tears. “I miss him so much.”

Being careful not to squish Bitsy, Nick scooted closer to me, wrapping a comforting arm around my shoulders. He kissed my temple.

After my tears subsided, I looked up at Nick. He was watching me quietly.

“He used to get so annoyed when I put your music on replay; one day I think I listened to Drowning about nine hundred times,” I laughed. “Still, I think he would have liked you.”

Nick smiled. “Anyone that played a part in bringing you to Earth has a dear place in my heart.” He kissed me softly. I kissed back then raised my eyes heavenward.

The stars lit up the night sky; the brightest one reminded me of the twinkle in my dad’s eye.

I knew I was right where I needed to be.