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“I’m going to head back into town now,” Uncle Joe said. “Keep working on yourself and come back stronger than ever, kid.”
“I will,” I smiled. “Thanks for always being here for me. It really means a lot. Especially now.”
When he left, I sat with my decision to tell Mia. A few times I wanted to back out and just wait and see if Nick ever found the proof he needed, but I went with what was right in the end. She deserved to know the truth of what happened that night and I had the greatest duty of telling it to her.
Mia got back later that night and she seemed to be in a good mood still. She did hint around to Nick being suspicious of me, but it went no further than that. I knew her well enough to know that meant she had left the ball in my court and expected that I would make the best decision on what to do with it.
I could have easily told her right then and there, but it wasn’t the time. I wanted to tell her when she got back from Florida and had a chance to see Trent. Just in case he wanted to tell her before me.
“How was your day?” I asked.
“It was pretty good,” she smiled. “You want to come out on the deck and watch the stars? I was going to light a fire and roast some marshmallows.”
Of course, I followed her out. Any chance I got to spend time with her, I took it with no questions asked. I felt warm in her presence; content with my life and how things were turning in my favor. If I had the chance to spend every single day with her for the rest of our lives, I would have taken the chance.
“Nick and I are leaving for Florida in a couple of days,” she said. “He's more excited about it than he was when I first mentioned it to him.”
“That’s good. I think he might appreciate some time away from Big Bear. Maybe it’ll calm him down a little.”
“That’s what I'm hoping for. He's so uptight and always thinking someone’s going against him in life. I hate that for him.”
I hated it for him too, but I understood why he felt that way. Nick was still young and very impressionable; he had a lot to learn about people and the way the world worked. But it could only be learned if he was willing to drop his ego and learn it.
“He’ll come around,” I said. “We all do in due time. Just give him some time to really settle into his journey in life and see what he makes of it.”
We talked about her upcoming trip and how excited she was to see Trent. I was excited for her. The way she talked about all the things she would tell him, and how happy she was to finally know his whereabouts, pulled me in to her even more.
Eventually, she made her way into my arms while we star-gazed. It felt good to have her so close; it always did.
“I really missed you, Mia,” I said. “Not only as my girlfriend, but also as my friend and my family. I'm happy that we can be this close again and not fight all the time.”
“Me too,” she said. “I never thought I'd see the day that we made up and were actually okay again. But I'm happy that we are. We have a special bond that no one but us can break.”
Chapter Twenty-Two ~ Mia
After two days of over preparing for our trip to Florida, Nick and I were finally on our flight. He was so afraid of the plane ride. I thought it was funny to see how tough he was on the ground but in the air, he was a complete baby.
The entire ride, he held onto my arm so tight it went numb. I was happy when he fell asleep because I was able to steal my arm away from him and get some circulation back into it. I could also use the bathroom and stretch my legs for a moment.
When we landed, we wasted no time getting over to the prison. I got a rental car and had Nick book us a room while we were on the way there, and everything seemed to be going as planned. Until we arrived at the prison.
“What do you mean you don’t have any paperwork for me? I spent hours on the phone getting everything set in stone before I got here? How can you tell me you have no paperwork for me?”
“Ma’am, I'm sorry, but I don’t see anything here for Norway.”
The clerk at the prison had a very rude and nasty attitude, and I had one even nastier. I was livid. We'd spent all that time on the plane and drove all the way there, only for her to tell me my name wasn’t on Trent’s visitor log.
“Well, what do I need to do to get my name on it so that I can see him?” I snapped. “I flew here all the way from California. The flight wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t cheap.”
“You’ll need to fill out these forms and I'll need a copy of your ID. His too, if he plans on visiting,” she nudged toward Nick. “Once you’ve filled out everything, after twenty-four hours if everything checks out, you can come back and see your loved one.”
I was so pissed that afternoon, I almost said forget it and just fly back to California. However, I spent the time needed to fill out the paperwork, again, for both Nick and I. Afterward, we went to the hotel we booked and got our things settled in.
“So, we flew all the way out here for nothing?” Nick scoffed. “I could’ve been home trying to make moves right now.”
“Nick, please. I don’t have the energy for your attitude right now. It's been a long day. We'll wait until tomorrow and see what happens next.”
“And what if we can’t see him then either? Then this trip was a waste of time.”
