Chapter 44

Lucky kept his promise and stopped by Kelly’s during Liz’s shifts. He would sit with a drink or some fries and watch her work, trying to decide what to do about the feelings he was having all of a sudden. He had been incredibly confused by what happened on Friday, both at the carnival and afterwards. Finally, he came to a conclusion. He wouldn’t do anything until he was sure she felt the same way. He couldn’t bear to have his heart stomped on, and he kept remembering her words months ago, about how she wasn’t going to allow herself to fall for another guy. If she really meant that, then he wasn’t going to take any chances. For now, they would have to be friends, and only friends.

Liz had been touched that Lucky had come to visit her every day at Kelly’s . After what had happened at the carnival, she was unsure of her feelings, and wasn’t really sure of his, either. She was scared, and didn’t want to get hurt. She finally decided to leave it up to Lucky to make the first move. If he truly liked her, he would. If not, they would just be friends.

~*~

Monday morning came quickly. Liz sat down at her desk, feeling much trepidation over the next assignment. She couldn’t think of what was left that Ms. Kraft could throw at them, and had a bad feeling that whatever it was, they wouldn’t like it. Lucky hurried into the room, right as the bell rang, and sat down at his desk breathlessly.

“Hey,” he said, still panting.

She smiled. “Hey.”

“Okay, class, I’m sure you’re all wondering what I could possibly have left to make you do, right?” The class murmured in agreement. “Well, no marriage is without it’s problems, so the purpose of your next assignment is to see how well you handle conflict. I wanted to do this randomly, like I did with the babies, but because many problems aren’t applicable to all of you, I had to do this semi-randomly. So, you will be given an envelope which contains your problem. I did not choose these specifically for your group for any reason. They were assigned based on the results of the previous portions of your project, as well as your financial standings. If you don’t agree with what is assigned to you, tough. In the real world, problems are thrown at you every day, and you must deal with them, whether you like them or not.

“Now, I know you’re going to want to tear into these as soon as you get them, but I’m asking you to wait until class is over. This particular assignment tends to cause some arguing, which is it’s purpose, but I still have a class to teach today, so I need your attention on me, not on your projects.”

With that said, she began to pass out the envelopes, along with the previous graded assignments. Lucky and Liz were both nervous, wondering if she would be cruel enough to make losing their baby their “problem.” Neither of them wanted to have to deal with it again. Finally, she reached their desks. She smiled sympathetically.

“I’m sorry you two had to get the stillborn. You were very prepared for that child, you did a very good job, as always.” She smiled again and handed their graded assignment and new assignment to Liz, then moved on.

They both looked at the envelope, wondering what was inside. Ms. Kraft had instructed everyone not to open them yet, so they didn’t. The rest of the class seemed to drag on, but finally, the bell rang.

“Okay, let’s see what she’s doing to us now,” Lucky said, watching Liz open the envelope. She pulled out the paper and read it, a shocked expression on her face. “Well? What is it?”

She remained silent and handed him the paper. He took it from her, watching her face to see what was wrong, then looked down to read it. “What?! This is ridiculous! There’s no way this would happen!”

“Isn’t there?” Liz asked bitterly. “I mean, it happens all the time, doesn’t it?”

He couldn’t believe she was taking it so personally. “I’m sure it does, but not with us! I mean, there’s just no way that would ever happen. Never.”

She just shook her head and stood up, grabbing her books. She walked out of the classroom without another word, leaving Lucky behind in shock. “Elizabeth! Wait up!” he yelled, grabbing his stuff and their last assignment. He opened it on the way out of the room. Once he was out the door, he started to hurry after her, but she had a good head start. “Hey, Elizabeth! We got another A on the last part! Will you stop already! This is insane!”

Liz disappeared into her classroom as the next bell rang, so Lucky had to rush to his. He would have to wait until lunch to talk to her again. He just hoped she would be there.

~*~

Lucky walked quickly into the lunchroom, looking around for Liz. He spotted her sitting by herself, staring at her food, but not eating. He walked over to the table, unsure what to say, or how she would react to his presence.

“Hey, mind if I join you?” he asked quietly.

She looked up and sighed. “It’s a free country.”

He sat down and met her eyes. “Elizabeth, why are you mad? Nothing really happened, remember? It’s just a project.”

She nodded slowly and shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. I guess it just reminded me of what usually does happen.”

“Well, I’ll tell you now, there is no way I would ever do that. I would never cheat on you, I mean, on my wife. Just, don’t be mad at me, okay? I didn’t do anything, remember?”

She nodded and tried to smile. She couldn’t tell him that the real reason she was upset was because her last boyfriend in Boulder had cheated on her, and this assignment had just brought back all the old memories and feelings. She didn’t want him to feel sorry for her. “I know, it’s just a project. I guess I got too caught up in it again, sorry.”

“That’s okay. Now, what are we going to do about it?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Have your parents ever had that problem? Well, they must have, if Nikolas is your half-brother.”

He laughed. “Yeah, but they both thought the other was dead when they cheated, so it’s not really the same!”

“You’re kidding, right?” she asked in shock.

“Nope, it really happened. My dad still had a hard time when Nikolas showed up though, because it meant he had to deal with the fact that my mom had slept with someone else. I’m sure it was hard for him.”

“I just don’t get what she wants us to do? I mean, if this had really happened, I’d divorce your sorry butt!”

He tried to look hurt, but started to laugh instead. “Gee, I don’t get a second chance? What if it was a mistake?”

“A mistake? How? You just accidentally fell into bed with another woman? ‘Oops, sorry about that!’ I don’t think so. It takes two to tango, honey!”

He suppressed a smile at her calling him ‘honey.’ “Okay, fine, so let’s say I did this. Why would I?”

“How am I supposed to know? You’re the one that cheated, not me! Maybe you don’t love me anymore, or it happened when I was pregnant or something.”

“No, those won’t work. Well, maybe the pregnant one, but not the other.”

“Why not? We only knew each other for a week before we got married! Maybe we thought it was love, but it wasn’t.”

“No, it was....I mean, in the project it was, is, whatever. Anyway, she wants us to work through these things, which I’m pretty sure means no divorces, so we have to find something that can be dealt with. Maybe we should use the pregnancy thing. I’ve heard of a lot of husbands who do that, although I can’t understand why. The woman you love is having your child, that’s the most beautiful thing in the world. How can anyone even think of being with another woman at a time like that?”

Liz smiled. That was the sweetest thing she had ever heard. She couldn’t believe this was the same person she met the first day of school, who had made her want to bash his head into a wall! “Well, that’s probably the only reason I can deal with. We could say that after the baby died, I was inconsolable, and you couldn’t reach me any longer, so you turned to someone else, but it only happened once, or else I wouldn’t be able to forgive it! Even once is hard to forgive.”

Lucky nodded. “Okay, that sounds like a plan. Man, I can’t believe we have to do this. I feel like such a slimeball, and I didn’t even really do anything!”

“Don’t feel that way. I know you didn’t. But if you did, I’d kill you!” She laughed and stood up to carry her tray to the trash can. Lucky watched her leave the cafeteria and shook his head in astonishment. She never failed to surprise him.

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