| Chapter 73 Lyn woke up to the sound of someone knocking on the door. She got up and grabbed her robe as she went to answer it. She found two delivery men there, "Ms. Jackson?" "Yes," she said. "We have a delivery from The Art Store," one man said. "Oh great, bring it in," she said, letting them in. She walked through the living room to a corner by the windows, "Can you set it up here?" "Yes mame," the other said, and they got to work unpacking and assembling what they had carried in. Lyn left them to their job and went to her room to get dressed. She glanced at the clock on the wall, it was already 11:30. Man, I didn't mean to sleep this late, she said to herself. She put on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and went back out to the kitchen to make some coffee. When the coffee was done she poured herself a cup. "You guys want some?" she asked from the kitchen. "No thanks mame," they both said, continuing their work. It took them almost an hour to set everything up. Lyn looked it over, happy with the job they had done. She thanked them and tipped them on their way out. When she heard the delivery truck pull away, she walked into Nick's room. He was still asleep. She sat on the edge of the bed and watched him sleep for a few minutes, wondering what he was dreaming about. She reached over and ran her fingers through his hair, and down his cheek. Nick opened his eyes, and smiled. "Morning," she signed, "Or should I say afternoon." He looked at her, "What time is it?" "It's almost one in the afternoon. We slept late," she answered. Nick sat up in bed and looked out the windows. The sun was shining and he could see the ocean had calmed after last nights storm. Lyn reached over and turned his face toward hers, gently kissing him. "I have a surprise for you," she said. "A surprise?" Nick asked, wondering what she was up to. Lyn got up and motioned for him to follow her. Nick pulled his legs out from under the covers and swung them around to the floor. Lyn stopped him from standing up, and he looked at her confused. "I thought you wanted me to get up?" he asked. She just smiled and pulled a blindfold from behind her, and placed it over his eyes. Satisfied that he couldn't see anything, she then took his hand and led him out into the living room and up to the windows. She stood in front of him and pulled the cover from his eyes. Nick squinted, trying to get used to the sun coming through the windows. Then he looked down at her as she stepped to the side revealing his surprise. Nick's mouth dropped open and tears came to his eyes. There in front of him was a drawing table completely stocked with supplies. There were brushes, paints, pencils, art paper, just everything he would ever need or want. He looked through the supplies, and Lyn smiled as she watched. He reminded her of a little kid on Christmas morning. He finally turned around, "Lyn how did you do all this?" "When we went shopping yesterday, I stopped in and set everything up," she answered. "But how did you know?" he asked. "Remember the other night in the hospital when you said that you could draw, and thought about illustrating some stuff," she said, "Well here you are." Nick walked over to her and hugged her, "Thank you." She smiled as she walked to the kitchen and got him a cup of coffee. He had sat down and was already pulling a canvas out. She handed him the coffee and sat on the couch watching him set everything up and start painting. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Howie and A.J. had been in Roots for an hour now. "Come on Bone, pick one so we can go," Howie whined. A.J. was having a dilemma of which jacket to buy. "Well, the red one goes with my boots, but the black one is really fly too," A.J. said holding them both up and looking in the mirror. "For God's sake, get them both," Howie said, "We were suppose to meet everyone for lunch like ten minutes ago." "Oh damn D, why didn't you say something," he said on his way up to the register. "I just did," Howie said following him. The cashier seemed nervous, and the guys guessed she recognized them. "Honey, please don't tell anyone you saw us. We're here on vacation and kinda wanna keep a low profile," Howie said. She just nodded her head as she checked A.J. out and handed him his bags. They walked out onto the street, heading for the restaurant everyone had agreed on for lunch. As they rounded the corner, they heard a scream from inside the store. "Well, so much for keeping a low profile, huh?" A.J. said. Howie just laughed as they quickened their pace down the street. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I wonder where the hell those two are," Kevin said, thumbing his fingers on the table. "Well, we can go ahead and order. No since waiting on the dynamic duo to show up," Brian said. Gary laughed from across the table, "Man you guys really are like brothers." "Oh, this is tame. You should see some of their finer moments," Leighanne said. "Here they come," Tara said, seeing them walk through the door. Howie and A.J. made their way over to the table and sat down. "Don't ask," Howie said looking at Kevin. "We order yet?" A.J. asked. "No, we were trying to be nice and wait on you," Brian said. "Why Rok, I didn't know you cared so much," A.J. said flashing a silly grin. They all laughed as the waitress came up to take their order. They all ordered and were waiting on their food. "So, you guys have fun in the park?" Brian asked Leighanne. "Yeah, it's so pretty there. All these beautiful flowers, and walking paths," she said. "What'd you guys go see?" Gary asked. "We went all over downtown," Brian said. "Yeah, they have all these great little tourist shops," Tara added. "Well by the looks of the bags you guys drug in, you've had a successful shopping trip," Kevin said. "I found the greatest little outfits for Kira, and some nice bracelets too," Howie said. "Oh, and I got the two best jackets that Roots had," A.J. bragged. "Did you get anything for Sarah?" Brian asked. A.J.'s face went blank, "Oh damn, I knew I forgot something." They all laughed at him, as the waitress brought their food out. "OK you guys, after we eat I gotta go find Sarah something real quick," A.J. said. "Alex, when it comes to shopping you don't do anything quick," Tara said smiling. "I saw this little lingerie store a few blocks from here," Leighanne said. A.J. perked up, "Great, that's where we're going." "Oh Lord," Brian said, rolling his eyes. Tara laughed at him, "You can stand outside if you want, and I'll go in and help Alex find something." "Oh no, you aren't going into a lingerie store alone with him. You have no idea what he does in those stores. I'll go in with you," Brian said. Everyone laughed. "Aww, see Bri, I knew you cared," A.J. said. "Shut up," Brian said laughing. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lyn had watched Nick work for a few hours. In that time she had made them lunch. He ate at the drawing table, not even stopping to look up. She was in the kitchen, putting the dishes away when Nick walked up to her. "You wanna see?" he asked. She smiled at him and followed him over to the table. Laying on the table was a canvas, still wet. On it was a night scene of the ocean, with lightening dancing across the sky. "Nick, this is beautiful," Lyn signed to him, "It looks so real." He smiled and blushed a little, "It's OK." She looked at him, she could tell he was tired. "Do you want to lay down for a little while? I'm sure everyone will be coming in soon, and they'll be over here," she said. Nick nodded his head and walked over to the couch. He laid down and turned the TV on. Lyn took the remote from him and turned on the captions, so he could keep up with what he was watching. She handed it back to him, and went back to finish what she was doing in the kitchen. When she came back out, Nick was asleep. She pulled the afghan off the back of the couch and covered him with it, then walked up to her office to get some work in before everyone else got back. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Man, I can't believe that we spent two hours in that freakin lingerie store," Brian said walking into the house. "I have to give it to ya A.J., you are one picky shopper," Tara said. "Hey, I just know what my baby likes," he said smiling. "Yeah but God, did you have to hold everything up to Tara and look at it?" Brian said. "Hey, they're the same size. It's gotta fit ya know," A.J. said. Everyone laughed. They all took their bags to each of their rooms and put things away. Tara followed Brian into their room and sat down on the bed. "OK admit it, you where having fun the lingerie store," she said smiling. Brian faked a shocked look, then smiled, "Well it was kinda enlightening." She laughed and looked out the window. She could see Lyn standing on the balcony. Tara got up and went out, waving at her. Lyn waved back and motioned for them to come over. Tara nodded her head, and walked back inside. "Lyn wants us to go over," she told Brian. "Oh, I was wondering if we should call first before we just went over," he said, following Tara out of the room. They all gathered in the living room, then headed over to Lyn's. Lyn opened the door, "Hey guys, how was your day?" "Good," Kevin said walking in, "How's Nick?" "He's asleep on the couch," Lyn answered as the rest filed in. They all walked into the living room and found a place to sit. "Wow, who did this?" Howie asked, noticing the painting. "Nick did that this afternoon," Lyn said. Everyone gathered around to look. "That's the best one I've seen him do," Tara said. "Yeah, it seems like there's alot of emotion behind it," Leighanne said. Lyn blushed, and looked around to make sure no one saw her. They all sat back down, surfing through the channels and talking about their day. "So, did you guys make it through the storm OK last night?" A.J. asked. "Yeah, how bout you guys?" Lyn asked, getting the attention off her. "Yeah, man that thing was loud though," Kevin said. "Oh, I didn't notice," Lyn said, "Guess I'm used to them." A.J. flashed her a smile, and she quickly looked away before he could see her blush. "How long has he been asleep?" Brian asked. "For about two hours," Lyn said. As if on cue, Nick woke up and looked around. He sat up and ran his fingers through his hair, "Hey guys." Lyn was sitting on the floor in front of him, she turned around, "Do you want anything?" He signed to her that he was thirsty, so she got up and went to the kitchen to get him a drink. Tara and Leighanne went with her to get everyone else one too. When they got in the kitchen Tara looked at Lyn, "So how's he really doing?" "He's OK, he's just really tired still," Lyn answered, "He slept till almost one, then got up and worked on the painting for a few hours, then went back to sleep." "I guess it's just gonna take a while," Leighanne said. "Yeah," Lyn said grabbing some glasses and heading back to the living room. She handed Nick his, then handed Howie and A.J. one. Tara and Leighanne came back with theirs and Brian's, Kevin's and Gary's. "So when is our lesson tomorrow?" Kevin asked. "It's at ten," Lyn said, "Here." "Oh good, I was afraid we'd have to drag him out somewhere," Kevin said. "So what did everyone do today?" Nick asked. They all took turns telling him how their day went. Nick burst out laughing at the thought of Brian in a lingerie store. "Why is that so funny?" Brian asked. "Cause it's you," Nick signed still laughing. "Well, I'm gonna go start some supper," Lyn said getting up. Leighanne and Kevin followed her into the kitchen to help. "Lyn, have you noticed that he's signing alot more and talking less," Kevin asked. "Yeah I have," she said, "Even when we're here alone, he doesn't talk much." "Maybe it's just easier for him to sign now," Leighanne said. "I know he understands more when we sign to him, but I'm not sure if I want him to completely stop talking," Kevin said. "Why don't we talk to Connie about it tomorrow," Lyn said. "Yeah, let's do that," Kevin said looking back into the living room, watching Nick sign to Brian and Tara. Chapter 74 |