A Boundless Place by Pamela Stockwell

Author:Pamela Stockwell [Stockwell, Pamela]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ten16 Press
Published: 2021-10-20T23:00:00+00:00

22

Nick

July 1969

Nick stared at the moon, imagining what it would be like to walk on its surface, thousands of miles from Earth and other people. He couldn’t. Was it exhilarating? Frightening? Both? He shook his head and dropped his gaze down to Mrs. McCabe and Violet. A streetlamp illuminated Violet’s upturned face, and he felt the same electric jolt that had run through him when he first saw her. He wanted to push back a strand of dark hair that brushed her cheek. He wanted to watch her green eyes light up as they had while watching the moon landing. He could barely stop himself from stealing glances at her throughout the evening. And she seemed quite immune to him. He had become a cliché, he thought. The once-upon-a-time charmer who had now encountered and desired the one girl who didn’t swoon at his feet. Since Giulia, he had dated a few girls, but none had lasted more than a few months. These brief relationships nagged at him. He liked to think he had recovered from his early heartbreak but hadn’t met the right person yet. Still, he worried the cuts Giulia’s death had inflicted on his heart pierced too deeply and left irreparable damage. Stop. You are getting way ahead of yourself. Besides, Violet probably thinks you’re an idiot or a show-off for spouting all those facts earlier. He had wanted to cut short his explanations, but couldn’t. Nervousness made him chatty.

Mrs. McCabe tugged on his arm.

“Well, that’s enough moon gazing. Some of us need our beauty sleep.”

“Not you, Mrs. McCabe,” he said. “You get any more beautiful, and you’ll have me falling head over heels for you.”

“Oh, pish! That charm doesn’t work on me. I am far too old.” But Nick could tell she was pleased.

They crossed the road, and Violet started to say her good-byes. “Thank you, Nick, for seeing us home.”

“Where do you think you are going?” Mrs. McCabe asked.

“Um, home?”

“I need you to open my door. Nick will be busy keeping me from falling down those steps in the dark.”

“I think he can manage the steps and the door, Mrs. McCabe.”

“Think how bad you would feel if while he was unlocking the door, I fell down. Plus, you’d have to take care of me again.” She stopped walking and let go of Nick’s arm as she rummaged in her handbag. Nick noticed she wasn’t the least bit wobbly. She pulled a key ring out of her purse, separated a key from its mates, and held it pinched between her forefinger and thumb as the rest jangled. When Violet hesitated, Mrs. McCabe thrust it in her direction. Violet grabbed the key with a heavy sigh.

“I can never decide whether to leave the porch light on so I can see or if I should keep it off because of the bugs,” Mrs. McCabe said as Violet fumbled at the doorknob in the dark. Nick finally heard a click.

“I’ll bring you a bug light,” Nick said.

“Well, thank you, young man.

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