A Treasure Worth Seeking
By: Shellie - shelliemg at gmail.com
Chapter 2"Caroline, honey, don’t put that in your mouth."
The child dropped the small plastic shovel to the ground, frowning as she tried to spit the sand from her tongue. "It dirty."
"I told you not to put it in your mouth. Come here." Lauren leaned for her bottle of water holding it out for her daughter as she approached. "Rinse it out with this." The girl sipped the water then spit again, this time on Lauren’s toes. Laughing she watched as Caroline went back to her pile of sand. All the hell and heartache had been worth that little bundle of joy. Her daughter was one of the very few things she didn’t regret about her marriage. Pushing the train of thought aside she concentrated once again on her laptop and the blank page staring back.
She’d been sitting there for two hours already and so far, the only thing she’d made progress on was her tan. Hell, if she wasn’t going to get any writing done, she might as well put the computer aside so she didn’t have a big square of white in her lap. A shadow crossed her legs and she looked up, squinting against the sun. She couldn’t make out his shadowed features, but she knew instinctively that it was the man from next door. At least this time she couldn’t stare, hell, she couldn’t see at all. Realizing her dilemma, he moved over slightly to block the sun. "Hello again," his voice was melodic and soft.
"Hi. How are you?"
He squatted, balancing in the sand on the balls of his feet. From his fingers dangled several pieces of mail. "I’m okay, just delivering the mail," he grinned at her.
She rolled her eyes laughing, "I’m really not so stupid that I don’t know my own address. The past few weeks have just been so crazy, there is no telling what I was thinking when I filled that form out. I’m sorry."
"I told you it was no big deal. Besides, it’s given me a chance to meet my new neighbors, right?" He smiled again, his full bottom lip stretching across his teeth.
Dragging her eyes away, she glanced in Caroline’s direction. Seeing the child had wandered a little further away than made Lauren comfortable, she called out, "Caroline, come back this way!" The small child turned to look at her mother and spotting their guest, hurried over, her 2 year old waddle hindered by the sand. She walked all the way up to JC’s side and stopped, looking up at him with wide blue eyes. She smiled coyly.
"Well, aren’t you just the prettiest thing."
"I’m Caroline. Whas you name?"
"I’m Joshua, but you can call me JC if you want."
"C."
He laughed, "That will work just fine." He looked back at Lauren where she sat watching the interaction between the two with an amused gaze. "She’s an angel."
Caroline was wonderful with men. Usually it only took a matter of seconds before she had them eating out of the palm of her tiny little hand. "Hmm, I’m thinking more like a devil in disguise."
"You think so?" He looked back down at the girl, watching him closely, her eyes large and flirting. She reached out, pressing her hand against his forearm and giving him a slight push. He landed squarely in the sand on his butt. With a laugh he nodded, "Yeah, I think you’re right."
"I told you. Did I get anything interesting in the mail today?"
He handed the envelopes over. "Just a Target paper and some bills. The Target paper is probably mine but I decided to give it to you as a bonus."
"Gee, thanks."
"I…I never got your name yesterday. I was too busy stammering like an idiot."
She laughed. "Were you stammering? I didn’t notice. I was too worried about the dust bunnies clinging to my hair." She flipped one of the envelopes in his direction, "I’m Lauren…remember, from the mail?"
JC rolled his eyes, blushing from his ignorance. "Strike two for me."
"Nah, I won't hold it against you, if you will tell me why you look so familiar. I got the impression that I should know who you were by your reaction yesterday, but I just can't figure it out. I laid awake half the night scanning my memory but...I can’t even remember my own address..." she grinned at him.
He laughed and sat forward extended his hand, "Let me officially introduce myself. My name is Joshua Chasez, also known as JC from NSync. Pop group...you may have heard of us..."
Lauren's mouth dropped open with surprise. "Oh my God! Duh! I cannot believe I missed that one. I even have a couple of your cds. Tells you how stupid my life has been lately. I'm so sorry."
Chuckling, he leaned back onto his hands. "No need to apologize, not everyone knows who we are. A few have managed to escape our evil plot."
"Wow, my very own pop star living right next door. Never had one of those before," she teased.
"Yeah, well, we're a dime a dozen these days."
"Not the good ones."
"That," he sighed, "is a matter of opinion. And not everyone shares yours these days."
"Screw them."
"Yeah!" he laughed but it sounded more sad than not. "I agree, wholeheartedly. So, what brings your family down to the shore? You vacationing or is this a permanent thing?"
"Oh it's permanent. I hope. Caroline and I just wanted to get away."
"Oh...so it's just the two of you then? I just assumed..."
"Nope. No husband. Well...not anymore. I've been wanting to move away from New Orleans for awhile now, but I wasn't allowed." She shot JC a look. His eyebrows rose, slightly amused. "So...we said, screw you. It's a phrase I use often these days."
"I'm seeing that. I hope it's never pointed in my direction."
"I'll try. Just don't piss me off," she flashed him a sassy smile.
"Well...and don't take this the wrong way...but if you ever need anything, feel free to come next door. I'm sure you are perfectly capable of taking care of yourself, but just the same..."
"I'll remember that. Are you by yourself?""Yeah. Hiding out. Doing one of those," he paused, "self-evaluation things. You know how those are."
"Yeah, did one of those myself not that long ago."
"Oh really? And how did it turn out?"
She looked at him pointedly, "I'm divorced."
"Ooooh. I see." They sat for a silent moment neither quite knowing what to say before they both began to laugh softly. "Well...I'll leave you to your work or whatever. I just wanted to drop the mail by."
"Thank you. See you tomorrow?"
"If you’re lucky," he chuckled as he stood and attempted to dust the sand from his hands, butt and legs.
"Oh…I see how you are," she smiled and he waved heading back toward his home.
"Bye!" Caroline called waving sweetly in his direction.
He grinned at her over his shoulder and waved back, "Bye, Sweet Caroline."
So…that’s who he was. Lauren hadn’t been lying to him when she’d said she’d lain awake half the night trying to figure out where she’d seen his face before. At first she’d guessed college, but she’d gotten the impression that he was younger than she and so that didn’t work out. She’d eventually drifted off to sleep, frustrated and still wondering. But now she knew. JC Chasez…Josh. He looked like a Josh…and not like a pop star at all. She pictured the group in her mind, yes, of course, she recognized him now. She’d always found him attractive; she liked the way he always seemed to mean the words he was singing. Passionate.
She wondered for a moment what would make someone with a life like his look as sad as he had the morning before when she’d spotted him on the beach. As far as she remembered there wasn’t a big scandal going on with the group, at least not one that was bad enough that it would be reported on television or in magazines. She snorted, wondering when the last time was she’d actually looked at a magazine. The world could be falling apart around her and she’d probably be sitting oblivious in the middle.
But if anyone knew that just because things seemed perfect on the outside didn’t mean they were on the inside, it was Lauren Thornton. She’d spent the past several years with a man she didn’t even know anymore. Always smiling, always playing the happy wife when the truth was she lay in bed each night alone, emotionally if not physically, and wondered what her life would have been like if she’d married someone else, or no one at all. But…it had been ‘time.’ All her friends were getting married; he was handsome and successful and seemed to pop into her life at just the perfect moment. It had been fate. He had been sent from God. What a joke that had been.
So here she was, a single mother starting over where she should have started years ago. What all had she missed in the past 7 years? Or even more important who? Had the man she was really meant to be with come and gone unnoticed because she was concentrating so hard on keeping the façade alive? She guessed she’d never know.
Again her thoughts drifted to Josh. He must be dealing with something personal. Girl troubles, maybe? Maybe he has a broken heart.
‘Well, damn if I’m not just the nosiest person on the face of the planet. What does it matter? He’s my neighbor, plain and simple. So what if he’s nice, and funny and beautiful, living alone in the house next to mine. It means nothing. Nothing at all.’
* * * * *
Standing inside his darkened home he watched her through the window with a slight smile. Thankfully he’d handled himself much better than the day before…well, if you didn’t count that whole…what’s your name when I have it in my hand thing. But he wasn’t going to count it if she wasn’t. Yes, today went much, much better. For a moment he wondered why it mattered.