Chapter 15
FIFTEEN
ANABELLE
“Coach Lucas!” Nolan yells, running through the grassy field of Maple Creek Park.
What’s Lucas doing here? I have a rare Saturday off, and Nolan begged me to go to the park with him to feed the ducks.
Lucas is dressed in a t-shirt and athletic shorts, like he’d just come from practice. He’s carrying a large remote-control car. We’re supposed to be more discreet, but no one seems to be around. Anyway, it’s not like we planned to meet him here.
“What’s that?” Nolan asks when he catches up to him.
“This is a Traxxas Maxx.”
“Cool, is it fast?”
Lucas smiles. “It can go about sixty. Maybe more. I’ve put a lot of upgrades into it.”
My mouth falls open. “Miles per hour?”
“Yep.”
Nolan bounces around in the grass. “What? That’s so awesome. Can I try?”
“Is that safe?” I say incredulously.
Lucas smirks. “Not if it crashes into you at full throttle.”
Nolan is really bouncing now. “I’ll be careful, Mom. I promise.”
“It’s up to you,” Lucas says to me.
“What if we took it to that big field over there, and you start slow and have Lucas stay right by you?”
Nolan hops from one foot to the next. “Yes!” He pumps a fist into the air.
So much for keeping things professional.
Nolan’s spinning donuts in the grassy field near the baseball diamond, shouting at the car and laughing hysterically.
“See if you can do a jump off that tree root over there,” Lucas suggests when he starts getting closer to the woods.
Nolan speeds to the root, and the Maxx launches into the air.
Now that was impressive. My stomach did a little flip-flop watching that.
“Yeah!” Nolan cheers. “I did it!” He’s getting braver now and ramps up the speed.
Lucas wasn’t kidding. The beast is crazy fast. Nolan guns it so hard the Maxx flips over three times before landing upside down.
“I can’t believe you have a Saturday off,” I say.
“Just a break before the big one,” he says. “If we win next week, we go to the Atlantic Cup Championship.”
Nolan runs after the car and turns it over atop the little hill where he crashed. But he doesn’t come back, and Lucas is still next to me. He drives the Maxx toward us.
“Whoa, buddy. Better slow down,” I say.
But he doesn’t react. He swerves the rig away from us, thank goodness, but then he’s racing it down the hill, and it’s picking up speed fast toward the duck pond.
Lucas jogs toward Nolan to take over the controller, and Nolan slams on the brakes right before hitting the water. But instead of stopping, the car cartwheels into the water.
Lucas changes course from Nolan to the pond and chases after the RC car that’s quickly sinking in the slimy water.
I run to Nolan and take the remote from him. “I think that’s enough for one day.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to!” Nolan says, his eyes mournful.
“You should say that to Lucas.” I don’t know anything about this car, but I hope he didn’t break it just now.
We head over to where Lucas is retrieving the Maxx from the muddy water. The same pond where Layla fell face-first into the mud before she married the town’s police chief. I know because she likes to tell that story all the time.
Lucas’s feet and legs are covered in mud. And so is the Maxx.
Nolan’s voice is small. “Did I ruin it?”
Lucas shakes his head. “Nah. We’ll have to clean it off and take out the battery so it can dry out, but other than a few tweaks, it shouldn’t be too big of a deal. You can help if you want.”
“Okay.” Nolan looks so eager to please Lucas. It’s like he worships him. Lucas is Nolan’s example of how to be a good man. Something my boy needs desperately. Too bad we can’t make a relationship work out. It could have been such a positive thing for Nolan.
“Yoo-hoo!” Mrs. Wheaton approaches in her favorite wide-brimmed hat with orange flowers. Aubrey wears a black tank top and leopard print shorts with her red hair down in loose waves. Sunglasses cover her eyes, and she waves over at us.
“What are y’all doing?” Aubrey asks as she approaches.
“We had a little accident,” Nolan says. “It was my fault.”
“And we can fix it together,” Lucas promises. “I have extra parts in the toolbox in my truck.”
Nolan brightens. “Okay.”
Aubrey eyes the mud caked on the Maxx. “What a mess.”
“And the boys don’t seem to mind,” Mrs. Wheaton says with a high-pitched chuckle.
“Not at all,” I agree.
“I’ve just gotten some news!” Mrs. Wheaton lowers her voice like it’s top secret.
“The Maple Creek Antique Mall is for sale. It’s a prime location.
From what I understand, the owner is retiring and wants to travel the world.
The place is huge and already comes with twenty vendors selling their wares. ”
My location is so out of the way I can hardly get any traffic. This could be the solution to all my problems.
Lucas stops talking to Nolan and stares at Mrs. Wheaton.
“Can you imagine having the money to do all that traveling? Mr. Wheaton never had enough from his teaching retirement for that kind of luxury. Don’t get me wrong. We do okay for ourselves. But not like that!”
“Their antique mall must have been quite profitable.”
“Oh, yes!” Mrs. Wheaton crows. “Those antique malls are all over the place from here to Roanoke. Folks around here snatch those antiques up. It’s a huge moneymaker.”
Lucas rubs his chin thoughtfully. “You don’t say.”
“You thinking of buying it?” Aubrey asks him before shifting her gaze to me.
“It’s an option.”
“We have a lot of older homes, and folks like to fill them with furniture from the time period,” Mrs. Wheaton explains.
“Some people want to refinish the furniture themselves,” I add.
“Like what you did with the shelves in your shop,” Aubrey says.
“Yes. There’s a lot of money to be made in flipping furniture. Many of those antique malls are full of brightly colored furniture people picked up cheap,” I say.
“My favorite antique malls are the ones where they have handmade goods as well as the older furniture and books and dolls.”
“Like your shop,” Mrs. Wheaton says to me.
Could I expand my boutique into an antique mall?
After Aubrey and her mom wander off and Lucas and Nolan have done all they can to the RC car for now, Lucas and I end up on the park bench by the playground.
Nolan plays happily, swinging from the monkey bars.
This day has felt more natural than anything has in a long time.
The more time I spend with Lucas, the more he makes sense.
“Thank you for being there for Nolan today,” I say.
“My stepdad was like that for me. He was there for me when my dad left. We’re still really close.”
My heart aches to think this won’t last. Lucas will get picked back up by his old team and move back to Atlanta.
In the meantime, it looks like I might have a few ideas of how I can boost my business in a big way. And that means staying in Maple Creek. I could never ask Lucas to give up on his dreams.
Nolan rushes up to us. “Lucas, can you be my real dad?”
“You already have a real dad. And I’m sure he loves you very much,” Lucas tells him.
“But he doesn’t live here anymore, and he doesn’t want me to come see him this summer,” Nolan explains.
“Life can get complicated, but you have to have patience for the people who love you. Sometimes they’re still learning.”
“You should be focused on your game,” I say. “Isn’t the championship around the corner?”
He shrugs. “This feels more important.”
Lucas is better with him than I am. I probably would have said all the wrong things.
I stand. “Time to go, Nolan.”
“Aw, I wanted to run the RC car again,” Nolan protests.
“Maybe next time,” Lucas promises. “Today it needs to dry out more.”
Will there be a next time? Whatever happened to keeping the relationship to mentoring only?
But deep down, I don’t want Lucas at arm’s length. I want more days in the park like this, feeling the breeze, laughing, and bonding with Lucas. Running my fingers through his dark hair, letting his stubble scrape against my cheek.
But for everyone’s sakes, I have to keep that my little secret.