It's a Love Thing (10 page)

"My grandma's. She lives around the
corner, and her health has been poor lately. My mother said
yesterday she's going to try and find a live-in aid for her. And my
mom adores you, I'm pretty sure the job is yours if you want
it."

"That would work. I'd be close to you
and we could spend all our free time together." She smiled broadly.
"Yes. This will work. Then we won't have to be apart, and you could
keep all the memories."

"Are you sure? Think about it, Tink,
how many times today did you forget you couldn't do magic and tried
to reach for your wand?"

"I'll get used to it. Pete, I want
nothing, and I mean nothing more than to spend the rest of my days
with you. I love you."

I scooped her up and we spun in a
circle, both of us laughing.

"Call Jaxton. Let's get this
started."

"No. I don't want him to know. I'll go
back as planned tonight and I'll file a petition tomorrow. I should
have the court's okay by five p.m.”

"What if they say no?" Fear gripped my
gut.

"They won't. I'll have to listen to
their lectures and they'll have me sign a bunch of forms, but the
faery's wish is usually granted in cases like this."

A small twinkle told me we were no
longer alone. "Hi, Jaxton."

"Hello. Did you enjoy your Dag som en
människa."

"Yes," she smiled. "This has been the
best day of my life."

"Good. Here are your things." He
handed her a tiny bag. "I'll send you to the boy's room so you can
prepare." He waved his wand and Tink disappeared.

"She looks well. I'm assuming you
followed the contract."

"To the letter," I assured
him.

"Ready," she said out the window. He
waved his wand and said more words I didn't understand. After a few
minutes, Tink flew out the window and landed on my
shoulder.

"Jaxton, may I say good bye in
private, please?" she asked.

"Certainly." He turned and flew over
the house.

"I'll be back around five. Don't
worry, everything will be fine." She kissed my cheek and whispered,
"I love you."

"I love you too." The love of my life
waved and flew over the house in the same direction as Jaxton. I
smiled at how lucky I was.

*****

I slept terribly, tossing and turning
all night. I got up at six and went for a jog. I cleaned the entire
house and even read a few of my manga. They weren't as good as I
remembered them.

At noon, to my surprise and delight, a
familiar twinkle entered my room and I jumped up; only it wasn't
Tink.

"Hello, Jaxton."

"Hello, Mr. Pancerella."

"You can call me Pete."

He nodded. "I need to talk to you
about Tinkle."

Panic hit me like a fist to the gut.
"Did she change her mind?"

"Oh no, quite the contrary. She's in
court right now. It looks like they'll be done by four-thirty, and
that means she'll be here at five, just like you
planned."

"We planned."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to imply you
tried to influence her," he said politely. "Pete, did she tell you
exactly what is going to happen?"

"You mean about the court and
all?"

"No. With her." I shook my head,
barely. This was not going to be good.

"Pete, a faery can only survive in
human form for a limited time."

"How long?" I dropped against my
bed.

"One year, tops. Tinkle is young, so I
imagine she'll make it to the one year mark, but the longest
anyone's survived is fourteen months."

I got up and paced over to the window,
shoving a hand through my hair. "I don't understand. Why would she
do this?"

"She'd rather have one year with you
than a lifetime without you."

That sounded just like Tink. I could
almost hear her say those exact words. "Is there any other way we
can be together?"

"No. I'm very sorry, there's no way.
If there were, I'd tell you," he said quietly.

"You would? Because I know for a fact
that you're in love with her too. For that matter, how do I know
you're not making this all up so you can have her for
yourself?"

"Because, Pete, I love her enough to
let her choose this. If it's what she wants, I will not stand in
her way. And as her supervisor, I can stop this if I
wanted."

I searched his small face, with his
eyes that were too close together and a nose that was too big,
hoping to see a lie. But no.

"You're hoping I love her enough to
not let her choose this."

"Yes."

"So you win."

"I don't believe watching the woman I
love struggle through a broken heart would be considered winning.
No one wins, Pete. But she lives. I'll take that."

"How did this happen? What about that
great computer program of yours that said there was only a point
zero-zero-zero one chance of us falling in love?" I demanded,
swallowing back the bitter taste in my mouth.

"My fault. I enter Peter M. Pancerella
and your father came up first on the computer. Assuming he was the
one, I enter his information, not yours," he admitted. "I've
changed the policy. We use full names now so this won't happen
again."

"Did you re-enter my information to
see what our odds were?" I was curious to see just how accurate
this little program was.

"Yes. Ninety-eight point seven percent
chance that you two would fall in love." He said it quietly, so
quietly I barely heard him. But I did.

I walked over to the dresser, the
dresser where she stood so many times, teasing me or laughing at a
joke we'd shared. I pinched my eyes shut, wanting to block out the
pain. "If I tell her I won't let her do this, she'll do it anyway.
She's very stubborn."

"I realize that. I'm hoping we can
come up with a way to convince her. Maybe if we both talk to her. I
need your help. I can't do this alone."

"You want the fickle teenage boy to
help you?"

He nodded humbly.

I looked at the little imp in the
yellow suit he wore today, remembering the harsh lecture he'd given
me in the hall just yesterday. It seemed like a million years ago
now.

"Wait. Fickle teenage boy. I have an
idea," I said, pacing across the room. "But I'll only agree to help
you on one condition?"

He took a deep breath and blew it out.
"Okay. Whatever you want, it's yours."

I stepped back, surprised at the
promise he offered without even knowing what I wanted. "You really
do love her." He didn't say anything. I continued with my bargain.
"It's more along the lines of something I don't want. I don't want
my memories altered."

"I can't—"

"That's my condition. Take it or leave
it." I hoped he wouldn't call my bluff. If he refused, I'd still do
whatever it took to keep Tink from giving up her life.

"You'd rather remember the pain
instead of having it erased as if it never happened." He looked at
me, confused.

"Would you want Tink erased from your
mind, no matter how painful?"

He nodded. "I understand. I also know
that if I refuse your deal, you'll still do whatever it takes to
save Tink. I had you wrong, Pete. I'm sorry." He took a deep
breath. "What do I need to do?"

"Have her here at five on the nose.
I'll do the rest." I dropped, hard, onto my bed.

"Thank you, Pete."

"I'm not doing this for you." I shut
my eyes. I was done talking to him. I just wanted him to go
way.

*****

Five minutes to five, I shut off my
cell phone and sat on the couch with a box of Spongy Crèmes at my
side. I put the phone to my ear, just in case they came early. But
they didn't. The twinkling lights were my cue. I bit into a
Spongy—it took all I had not to vomit— and began the lie that would
break both our hearts.

"Yes, Elise. I can hardly wait. I'm
excited to see you too." I paused for effect. "Me neither. It
doesn't seem like we've been talking for five hours, it feels like
a few minutes. I have to go. Talk to you later, babe."

"Tink! Hi." I smiled broadly. "Hey,
Jaxton." His name I said coldly.

"You've been talking to Elise for five
hours?" Her little arms folded over her stomach, confusion held her
face.

"I didn't sleep last night. I kept
thinking about everything and realized I'm not ready for a serious
relationship. Tink, with all our kissing, I let my hormones take
over." I had the pleasure of watching Jaxton's face burn red at my
words.

"Anyway, I got up around
six and jogged downtown to clear my head and ran into Elise. She
was grabbing some breakfast from McDonalds, so we decided to eat
together. You know how much I love McDonald's. We sat and talked
for over three hours. She had to run some errands, but she called
me at noon, and I just got off the phone with her. Tink, she likes
all the same things I do. She's at the master level on
Laser Wars
, she has an
even bigger collection of manga than I do, and get this Tink, she
loves Spongy Crèmes. Cool, huh?" I bit into the Spongy again and
grinned.

Tink stood there stunned. She didn't
speak, she just looked at me. It took everything inside me not to
confess. The only way I could do it was to picture her dead in one
of my dad's coffins. I almost threw-up at the thought.

"I know we made a lot of silly plans
last night, but after spending the day with Elise, I realized just
how dumb they were. You are the only girl I’ve ever kissed. I'm
your first kiss. Do you agree? We jumped into this way too
quickly." I then added the nail to the coffin. "Jaxton's right, I
guess boys are fickle."

"Yes. I . . . ah . . . well . . . I'd
better get going. I probably have another assignment waiting for
me." The look on her devastated little face burned into my mind so
deeply, I knew I'd never forget it. Even if Jaxton didn't keep his
word and erased my memory, that face would still be
there.

"Tink, wait," I said. Jaxton
tensed.

"I want to thank you so much for all
you did for me. I could never repay you. I do love you, as a
friend, and I always will."

"Me too. Take care," she said quickly.
And with that she left. I sank to the floor, exhausted.

"Thank you," Jaxton said. I ignored
him. "I'd better go and see if she's alright."

I shot to my feet. "If you hurt her,
I'll hunt you down. She deserves the best, and you'd better make
sure she gets it, understood?"

"Understood, and I agree with
everything you said." He turned to go then stopped and looked back.
"She deserves you." And with that he disappeared.

*****

12 Years Later

It took me a long time to ever date
again—to ever want to date again—but eventually I moved on. In my
last year of college I met a wonderful girl, Wendy Darlan, and we
married. I now had three little girls who have stolen my heart
along with their mother.

I don't regret what I did for Tink,
I'd do it again in a heartbeat, but I still think about her. Not in
a longing kind of way, but more like a dear friend. I wonder if
she's happy. Did she marry and have children? Did she regret our
time together?

It's late August again. I
stand in my back yard looking at the stars like I do every year
since that night ten years ago. Wishing, always wishing. And the
wish is the same every year.
Please let me
know if Tink is happy.
It's a small wish if
you think about it, but it's never been granted. I thought for sure
I'd found the wishing star last year. It seemed brighter and
twinkled a bit more than the others, but my wish still remained
unanswered.

I scanned the skies one last time,
picking out a few more stars and repeated my plea. I almost gave up
for another year, when I saw it. The familiar twinkling. I turned
toward it as my heart stopped beating.

"Hello, Tink."

She appeared, looking lovelier than I
remembered. "Hello, Pete. How are you?"

"Well, and you?"

"Great. I just had my second child, a
girl this time. She's beautiful."

"Like her mother."

She laughed softly. "I don't know
about that. I see the ring on your finger, do you have
children?"

"Three. All girls. I'm going to have
to get a house with more bathrooms." She agreed. "I have a degree
in nutrition and now own a health club in town. All your hard work
paid off, Tink."

"That's wonderful. How's
the
Laser Wars
coming along? Did you ever beat Simon?" She flew a little
closer.

"Yes, and the very next year they came
out with a new archenemy. I lost interest after that." I tucked my
hands into my pockets. "What about you? What’s going on in your
life?"