Moonlight and Merlot

The continuing saga of the lives, loves and heartbreaks of the residents of Dion Valley, CA.

As with all the best things in life, this is for adults only.

*****

Zach’s roadster disappeared down the winding road back to the estates and Nick let out a breath he hadn’t fully realized he had been holding.

Lela sighed softly beside him and he looked over at her.

“Do you ever feel…?” she began, but then her voice trailed off and her eyes glazed as she stared into the distance after Zach and Phoebe. He waited for her to go on, but she just stood quietly, lost in her thoughts. “Feel what?” he asked, and touched her shoulder, giving her a gentle shake. “Lela?”

“Feel like the world is… thin.”

“What?” The tone of her voice, the faraway look in her eyes, worried him.

She shook her head and frowned at the pavement between her feet. “I can’t shake the feeling that something is very wrong, Nick. That I’ve neglected to do something important and bad things are going to happen.”

He gripped her arms and bent at the knee to look into her face. “We went over this last night. There’s nothing you could have forgotten.” He lifted her chin, touched his lips to hers. “Come on, don’t let Phoebe’s weirdness get to you.”

He didn’t know what gave him away, but her eyes narrowed as she studied him. “What do you mean, ‘Phoebe’s weirdness’?” He dropped his hold on her and tried to step back, he really didn’t want to get into stupid things he ridiculously thought he might have seen, but she griped his arm tightly. “What did she do?”

Nick shrugged one shoulder. “She didn’t do anything. She…” How could he even put into words what he thought he saw? He waved his hand in an effort to make it all go away. “Nothing. It’s nothing. She was just herself, you know? Just Phoebe being herself.”

She eyed him skeptically and he gave her his very best smile. “It’s really nothing,” he said again, and he had to wonder who he was actually trying to convince. He put his arm around her shoulders mostly just because he could and pulled her close. “Let’s go back upstairs.”

Lela laughed, the tension draining out of her face. “You seriously have a one track mind.”

Nick laughed along with her, happy to see her smiling and relaxed. He was especially happy that she had dropped the whole Phoebe line of inquiry. Just thinking about it what he thought he might have seen (but of course didn’t see because it was just plain crazy), made his skin crawl and ice form in the pit of his stomach. Not the sensation he wanted to be having now, not with Lela in his arms. He grasped her hand and gave it a gentle tug. “Come on,” he said, titling his head toward the entrance.

“You are so bad,” she said, following him into the apartment.

“You love it,” he said, sweeping her into his arms.

[Until next Tuesday…]

*****

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