Page 83 of One Sweet Day I Found You

Twenty-Two

Five long days had come and gone since Nick had talked to Courtney, when Nick finally woke to a day without six thousand things to do. It was the Fourth of July, and although his shop wasn’t closed due to the large number of tourists in town, it would close early today. Still, he had a little more seniority there than most. He’d been one of the few employees to be given the day off.

No tours were going out today, since the parade and fireworks would be keeping most visitors in town. The Fourth was a huge celebration in Heritage Bay, and probably ninety-five percent of its residents and visitors, as well as those from neighboring villages, would be in attendance, filling the restaurants, bars, beaches, marina, parks, and streets. He was almost looking forward to the holiday, in spite of his current state of gloom.

Like clockwork, however, Nick woke up at the break of dawn. He glanced at the time, groaned, and rolled over to grab another hour or two, eyelids-down.

At eight, Nick woke again, this time to the aroma of sizzling bacon. He threw off the covers and made his way to the kitchen, where he found Tom creating a masterpiece out of a few basic breakfast ingredients.

There’d been little mention of Courtney for a few days. Tom had pried into his life just enough to learn that something had happened and that they weren’t speaking right now, but Nick hadn’t offered much more.

Whatever the case, Tom must’ve sensed that Nick wasn’t taking the situation casually. Tom knew Nick well enough to understand he’d talk when he felt like it, and not a minute sooner. And that was good, because, frankly, Nick had barely taken a moment to stop and really think things over since the day it happened.

Work had been nonstop crazy for over a week. He’d been handling the problem with Courtney bynotthinking about it.

“Nice bed head.” Tom said when Nick came into the room. “Hungry?”

Nick scrubbed a hand through his hair, pushing the longer strands back. “Starving.” He poured himself a cup of coffee from the pot and allowed his brain to register the daylight. The sun was out. He checked his phone for the day’s weather. The forecast was good.

There was a voicemail from his mother. When would he come home for a visit—this summer? She and his father missed him and were looking forward to his decision about the fall.

Kenny must’ve told her what Nick had told him recently, about the chance that he’d move back.

Great. He hadn’t made any actual decisions yet and she was probably already searching for apartments for him. Right now, it was enough effort just to focus on one day at a time.

Tom turned off the stove and plated up the goods. Nick took it gratefully and scarfed down his first few bites of scrambled eggs, bacon, and two pieces of buttered toast. “Best roommate ever, dude.”

Tom kept a straight face. “Don’t get too excited. You’re doing the dishes.”

Nick laughed. “All right.”

With a grin, Tom grabbed a seat and dove into his mini mountain range of eggs. “So, we’re still doing this barbecue thing tonight, right? It’s at Marcy’s this year. Apparently her complex has a good view of the water so we’ll be able to see the fireworks better than last year. I heard it’s supposed to be goin’ off. You’re in, right?”

Nick shrugged. “What if I say no?”

He wasn’t up for wholehearted celebration despite having the day off, but he wasn’t opposed to a good distraction. Otherwise, this was going to be a very long day.

“If you say no, I’ll be dragging your sorry rear end off the couch and throwing you in the trunk of my car.”

Nick squared his jaw and looked up from his plate, fork in hand, then grinned. “Fine. I’m in.” He took a long swallow of his coffee and went back to his plate.

“Cool. Get your red, white and blue on by five o’clock. I’ll drive.”

“Deal.”

* * *

Courtney gazed down Main Street.It seemed the whole town had decked itself out in stars and stripes this morning. Banners, flags, patriotic bunting, and balloons garnished the storefront of every building on Heritage Bay’s charming main drag, including the Visitors Board.

She scanned the crowds of people lining the sidewalks. She even spotted Beecham standing on the elevated porch outside the office. He’d have a great view of the parade.

Kira had insisted the girls wear patriotic colors. She’d brought accessories for all seven of them—little flags to wave at the floats, sparkling red, white, and blue bracelets, and beaded necklaces to chum it up.

Kira needed footage of the parade, and she wanted to feature her friends in her video, so they’d wholeheartedly agreed to wave the flags and cheer emphatically front and center along the parade route.

Courtney studied the crowd, waiting for the festivities to begin. Would Nick be there? Or would he be at work on the Fourth of July? She’d never even had the chance to ask him. She hoped he’d been given the day off. She’d waited tables on many a holiday last year—it was always such a bummer.

Courtney checked the time on her phone. Ten o’clock. She looked up as the first of the floats appeared and some patriotic tunes rang out from the floats’ speakers. Soon pick-up trucks, golf carts, bicycles, and motorcycles, all laden in blazing red, white, and blue, streamed down Heritage Bay’s Main Street.

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