The Summer of Bells: The Essences Saga - Book #2

Summer: Chapter 17

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Chapter Seventeen

Less than two hours later, the men devoured the lasagna like they hadn’t eaten home-cooking in years, and the girls finished off the peach cobbler.

Nick helped me with the dishes, which I tried to deter him from. “Now, where I come from, the cook never does the dishes.”

I smiled. “I bet you’ve washed a fair share of pots and pans in your life.”

He shared my smile. “Every damn night…oh, sorry.” He glanced through the kitchen door to the living room where everyone was huddled around Seth and Ashley playing the video game again.

I waved off his curse.

“I’m really sorry,” he persisted. “I’m not used to being around girls. I’m an only child myself.”

“Same here.”

We washed and dried the last plate. “Listen,” Nick began, “Seth and I were going to walk down to the park around the block. There’s an outside movie showing. It’s supposed to start in about twenty. You think you and your girls would like to join us?”

“That sounds like fun,” I said. “I miss drive-in movie theaters. I think the girls will like it, too. Do you know what’s playing?”

“Some old movie. Flight of the Navigator, I think. You ever hear of it?”

“Yes. It’s a real classic,” I smirked. “And I doubt the kids have seen it.”

“Shall we go, then?”

“I’ll ask, but I make no guarantees.”

I don’t know why I bother sometimes. The thought of sitting in the dark, watching a movie under the stars with Seth brightened both Mae’s and Amber’s day. “Can I invite Holly?” Ashley asked, her fingers already dialing the phone.

I should have just said, “Hey, let’s go. Everyone out the door.”

Shortly after finding a few quilts for sitting on in the linen closet, we were all walking down the sidewalk to the park.

“Listen, Min,” Nick said as Ashley skipped ahead to meet Holly, and the love-triangle trio meandered behind, “I’m sorry about what I said earlier. I’m…kind of thick sometimes.”

“I’d forgive you, but I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

“The compliment thing. I thought you were kidding.”

“Oh, that. No, I wasn’t kidding.”

“Well, I’m sorry.”

I turned to look at him. “You apologize a lot, you know that?”

“Yeah,” he laughed. “I guess I do. I tend to stick my foot in my mouth all the time, and then with this other thing of mine…I sometimes can’t control it. Like now, I can see you. I can see everything, and if I let my guard down, I’m afraid I’ll do something that you won’t like. I’m always afraid of that.”

“Nick,” I said and put a hand on his arm, stopping him. The trio came closer. I lowered my hold, and they passed, not noticing a thing. “What exactly do you know about what you can do?”

“Not much,” he shrugged. “When I was little, I discovered than when I saw the colors, I could make people do things I wanted.”

“The colors?”