Nurse to Forever Mom

“Thanks for the omelet.”

“No problem. You got the extent of my culinary skills. And my refrigerator. You were lucky I had eggs and cheese.”

“I noticed things were kind of sparse in there.” He took her plate and set it on top of his.

She laid her head against his upper arm. “I’ve never kept much because I don’t cook for myself often and since I’m leaving tomorrow I was trying to use up what I do have.”

A lump formed in his chest. There went his happiness at the reminder she was leaving. Cody watched her. Could he let her go? Did he have a choice? What if he asked her to stay? Would she? He studied Stacey a moment. She looked so amazing with her disordered hair, her make-up-free face and dressed in what he’d learned was one of his T-shirts. He was such a lovesick calf. “Have you ever thought about staying in one place?” He held his breath, waiting for her answer. Maybe, just maybe she would answer as he hoped.

“I did one time but it didn’t work out.” She stated it as a fact, lacking emotion.

His heart fell. “What happened?”

“My fiancé left me for his old girlfriend a month before the wedding.” Her voice sounded hollow, devoid of all emotion. Would she speak of him that way one day? That idea cut like a knife.

Now he had a better idea of why she moved around so much. She’d been hurt. Badly. They were more alike than he’d given her credit for when they’d first met. He’d run from his troubles in California and she was running around the world to hide from hers. “It was his loss.”

Stacey stood and looked down at him in the dim light. “Thanks for saying that. A girl likes to hear things like that. Okay, no more talk about the past or the future. Right now is all I’m interested in.”

He sighed. He could refuse her so little. He’d been kidding himself for days. This had to come to an end. It might kill him when Stacey got on the ferry but he wouldn’t give up what time they could still share.

She clasped his hand, tugged him up and led him into the house. This time her eyes shone bright with seduction and desire. She led him to the bedroom he couldn’t find earlier. They removed the few clothes they wore, saying nothing, just looking into each other’s eyes. Their lovemaking was deliberate, delicious and passionately deep. Everything about it said they were aware this would be their last time together.

Sometime later Stacey asked while Cody was dressing, “May I come over and say bye to Jean and Lizzy tomorrow? I’m planning to take the midafternoon ferry off the island. I don’t want to just disappear on them. I had that happen to me more than once and I won’t do it to them.”

He looked at her, indecision obvious in his eyes. “Why don’t you come for a late breakfast?” Cody asked as he buckled his belt.

“I don’t think that would be a good idea.” It would surely make it more difficult for her.

“At this point nothing about this is going to be easy.”

She couldn’t disagree with that statement.

“The girls would really like to be with you for a while one last time.” What he left off was how he would feel about it.

He put his hands on each side of her where she lay on the bed and gave her a long tender kiss. “I’ll say my goodbye now. It has been nice knowing you, Stacey. Good luck.”

Stacey didn’t like the sound of finality in his voice. Cody was already distancing himself. She didn’t want that. Not yet. She reached around his neck and tried to pull him down to her but he stayed propped on his palms above her. He gave her one more searching look. As if he were memorizing her. He straightened. She groaned her complaint.

“I’ve got to go. I still feel guilty about lying to the sitter.”

She stretched like a cat in the sun, arching her back so that her breasts were thrust high into his chest.

Cody muttered a word under his breath that wasn’t repeatable in polite company. “You aren’t playing fair.”

Stacey pretended to giggle, trying to lighten the mood. “Is there a problem, Doc?”

“Yeah, there is.” With that he turned on his heel and left.

Her smile dropped and she looked at the empty doorway. She had a problem too. Oh, yes, she would leave part of herself on Maple Island. A part she was sure she would never recover.

* * *

When she arrived at Cody’s the next morning she was confident the idea of her having a meal with his family was a wrong step but she’d agreed to do it and wouldn’t turn away. For once in her life she was willing to chuck out her major rule in life and not make sure she had said her goodbyes. It would have been so much easier to just get on the ferry and not look back. But she couldn’t bring herself to do that.