And here it is, the start of a regular schedule for this little blog! Like already said in the announcement below, one new part, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. No more long, unnecessary breaks! If you got lost along the way somewhere, I urge you to get back into the story NOW!

AS THE WORLD TURNS

"Luke & Kevin" - Part 18

Luke sat at his usual table at Java, thinking not about how tortured his life seemed to be, but about how lucky he was, despite the various obstacles he was forced to encounter day in and day out. Reconciling with Kevin after their small argument was a good idea, he decided. It cleared his mind and he was now able to do some much-needed writing. His favorite hobby lately was sitting down at his computer and compiling all of the stories, all of the history of the two branches of his family. He knew that between the whole lot of them, the Snyders and the Walshes had the makings of a real best-seller. He felt it was up to him to get it out there. And now, he thought to himself, he and Kevin were adding their own chapter to the already overflowing story.

He had just finished typing up all of his notes on how both his grandmothers, Lucinda and Emma, were once involved with debonair doctor John Dixon when he decided to get a refill of espresso. Luke was pleasantly surprised when he got up and saw Will Munson walk through the door. "Hey, man, what's up?" Will greeted.

"Nothing much, just hanging here keeping my days busy," Luke replied. "Wishing I could go a year into the future and be through with high school."

"Ah yea," Will said. "I remember the feeling. Luckily for me, I was able to get my diploma this summer and I'm pretty much college-bound now."

"That's great!" Luke congratulated. "Sit down, join me. What'll you have?"

"Uh, just some coffee would be fine."

Will sat down at Luke's table and started to read what was written on the computer screen. Luke returned with their beverages and smiled when he noticed Will's immense attraction to what he read. "You liking what you see?"

"Yeah, this is...some really screwed up stuff here. Did you make it up yourself?" Will asked, as he backed up in his chair. "I didn't mean to just start reading your personal stuff like that, but it was just sitting here, and..."

"Oh, don't worry about that. It's nothing personal at all. As a matter of fact, I didn't have to make it up. You know the old saying? Truth is stranger than fiction? Well that's especially true here in Oakdale."

"No way."

"Yes, way. Clarice...that's my grandma Lucinda. Jessie, that's my grandma Emma. They both had the same man, Dr. John Dixon, for a little while just a couple of years before I was born. See all the fun we missed?"

Will reclined in his seat while Luke closed down the laptop. "Well I think our generation is helping to contribute to the 'fun.' Don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but..."

"I don't know. It's good because it makes me feel strong enough to go through just half of the stuff my parents and their parents went through. But it's bad because sometimes you wish things didn't have to be a certain way."

"Somehow I get the feeling you're talking about how things have been going with you. So...how have things been going with you? You still with Kevin?"

"Uh...yea," Luke said, nodding. "We're still together, but it hasn't been nowhere near as long as you and Gwen or anything like that. Just a couple of weeks."

"Well, don't act as if it's nothing. If he's the person who makes you happy, what the two of you have should be considered special."

Luke grinned. "I know, but - "

"But what? You said that you wish some things didn't have to be a certain way...what did you mean by that?"

"Very pushy today, aren't we, Will Munson?" Luke asked.

"Oh...I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be. I think I need some advice from a contemporary who isn't Kevin."

"Well, I'm all yours."

Luke looked at him and gave him a facial expression that told him that the story would be long and complicated. "So, I don't know if you've heard about it or anything, but Kevin's father passed away last week. You see, and I swear I'm not making it up, Mr. Davis lost his job and couldn't pay any of the bills. He was already an alcoholic, so all of this just made him drink more and more. Well, one day he got the bright idea to set his own house on fire, you know, to collect the insurance. Well, unfortunately for him, he couldn't get out of the fire in enough time. He died."

"Wow...I'm sorry to hear that," Will said sincerely. "That's awful."

"I know, it is, and I just wanted to be there for Kevin throughout all of this. Even in the back of my mind, I was seeing this as something that would bring us closer together and really give us something to...I don't know...conquer together. Kinda like how you and Gwen, with the baby, and..."

"Yeah," Will said.

"So I was just going to be there for him. Whatever he needed, I was going to help him out with. The last thing I wanted was for him to start drinking again just to get over it, but it turned out that that was te least of what could go wrong. His mother came back to town a few days and, well, since I don't want to waste any more of your time, I'll just cut to the chase. She wants Kevin to go back to Chicago with her, but he doesn't want to."

Will sat silent for a moment. "I don't get it...what's so bad about him going to Chicago for the rest of the summer?"

"No, no, not just the rest of the summer. For as long as he's 17, she wants custody of him, and she's obviously doing this because she doesn't like the fact that her son is gay."

"Well, do you know that for sure?"

"Do I know it for sure? Isn't it obvious, though? Why else would she be so hell-bent on making Kevin leave the only place he's called home?"

Luke tried to make Will see things the way he saw them, but Will was different. He wasn't going to just accuse Mrs. Davis of being against Luke and Kevin's relationship. Just from listening to the story, an instinct inside him developed and told him that maybe there were other reasons. "Well...maybe...maybe that's just the thing. I don't know anything about her, but I'm sure that whenever she moved to Chicago, she had to leave everything she ever knew back here. Now she has the chance to take a piece of that back with her."

"But Kevin shouldn't be treated like her security blanket! I mean, this isn't the best time for her to be playing mind games with him."

"Look, Luke, if there's anything I've learned in my lifetime, is that mothers aren't as strong as they always want you to believe. Sometimes they need comfort more than you do and just like they make sacrifices for you, sometimes you have to make sacrifices for them."

Luke finally heard Will. He could finally get what he was trying to say. Suddenly he was thankful to have a friend like him. He was definitely someone who could offer a fresh opinion we needed. "Maybe you're right," Luke let out, feeling a sense of defeat. "But something tells me that everything isn't so easy to believe."

"Nobody ever said that they were," Will replied. "It was great talking to you, Luke, but Casey's expecting me at Crash. He wants me to help him with inventory."

"Oh lord, have fun..."

"Oh, I'll try. It can't be too hard to teach Casey how to count. See you later."

Will rose from his chair. "Bye, Will," Luke said. "And thanks, thanks a lot for your advice."

"No problem," he said.

And just as he turned around and started for the door, there stood Luke's worst nightmares. "No problem, Luke, my boyfriend, no problem at all," Jimmy said, imitating Will. "Looks like we found the next big couple," he said to his friends. "I always knew there was something up with you, Will. Not only do you kill people, not only do you cheat on final exams, but now you're playing for the pink team. I'm sure your father the cop is just loving this."

"Well, well, well," Will said calmly. "If it isn't the kid who started the gonorrhea outbreak at school two years ago. How has that been going?"

Jimmy was shocked that Will would bring up such a thing. He desperately searched for a comeback. "Obviously not as good as things are going here for you and your little boyfriend," he said, turning to his friends and giving them a signal to laugh.

Will prepared to attack Jimmy again, but Luke stood. "Don't worry about them, Will. I don't think he knows about how you and Gwen are happily married. He also doesn't know about how happy I am with Kevin." He looked at Jimmy. "Kevin, that's my boyfriend," he said. "And if you have a problem with me, that means you have a problem with him, and I'm sure you've seen him fight. You don't want to have a problem with Kevin."

Jimmy, for a moment, caught Luke's eye and could see a quality in him that he had never seen before. For the first time ever, he could see that Luke wasn't hurt by his words or actions. Jimmy felt defeated, like he just lost a battle. Without a saying a word, he and his pals went to the counter to order their coffee.

"Wow, that went well," Luke sighed to Will. "Thanks for that, really."

"Oh please, all you have to do is mention the gonorrhea and the kid's on the verge of tears. As a matter of fact, I'm thinking he was more hurt by your confident little proclamation there."

"You really think so?"

"Yep. Maybe the idea of you being happy with a person while he's still pleasuring himself threatens him. Who knows? I'll see you later."

Luke laughed as he and Will shook hands. Not a minute after Will left, Luke as well. He did not see, however, the way Jimmy looked out trough the Java windows at him.

~~~~~~~~~

"What a pleasant idea," Nora said to Sheryl as they, plus Kevin, sat down to breakfast at the Lakeview. "A really...really pleasant idea, Aunt Sheryl."

"You don't have to pretend like you were looking forward to this," Sheryl said. "I know that the timing is just a little bit off, but I figured that it would be nice for us to have a nice family breakfast together."

Nora looked over at Kevin, who sat across from her. Sheryl sat at the head of the small table. "Well, I guess you're right. The fact that you're paying made it even easier to say yes."

A waiter came and handed out three menus for them all to look at. "Everything sounds so good," Sheryl said. "Western omelet, French toast, bacon, they've really stepped their game up since the last time I was here. What'll you have, Kevin?"

Kevin looked at the menu. Since their soul-bearing conversation that morning, Kevin decided to cool down his tattered feelings about his mother. He was able to believe that she was in a bad place right now and that him beating down on her was not going to help anything. No, all she needed now was to know that no matter what, no matter what bad words were said, he still loved her. "The French toast does make my mouth water..."

"All right. French toast for you, and Nora?"

"Oh, dearie, it's your treat, so I might be a while."

"Don't push it, Nora," Sheryl smiled.

Nora grinned. "Western omelet would be just fine."

The waiter returned to take their orders, leaving them time to talk. Nora could tell that the atmosphere between Sheryl and Kevin was calmer than it had been before, but she still felt a need to break the ice. "So I'm thinking that Jack and I will be heating up pretty soon."

"Jack?" Sheryl asked.

"Oh, that's right! I never told you about my boyfriend Jack. Jack Snyder, he's a cop. We've been together for a couple of months now and I really think that he is the one."

"Jack...Snyder?" Sheryl had to make sure she heard that name right. Her glance caught Kevin's for a second, but they didn't exchange words.

"Mhm. Met him one night and he was just getting through with a messy divorce, so we kept talking, and talking, and things started happening. His ex-wife is making things a little difficult, but I don't think she will be much of a problem once I have a little talk with her."

Sheryl laughed. "Don't get yourself into any trouble over some man, Nora. You're better than that."

"Oh really? Speaking of men...how has your love life been since you moved to Chicago?"

Kevin did sort of a double take when Nora asked the question. Surely she realized how it was. Even Sheryl had to stop her train of thought for a moment.

Quickly scanning the table, Nora caught on. "Oh, good lord, I'm so sorry. I'm so stupid...I shouldn't have asked that."

Sheryl looked up at her, inhaled, and smiled. "No. Don't be sorry. As a matter of fact, I have been seeing someone for a couple of months now. He's a...a really great guy, a doctor. Dr. Alex Steele."

"A doctor?! You, my friend, have hit the jackpot!" Nora exclaimed.

Sheryl smiled again. She seemed to be on to something here. "Yes, yes I have. And like I said, he's also a wonderful, wonderful guy. He's everything that I could ask for. He...um...works out of his house. I mean, he runs a private practice and the office is on his estate, his family's estate. It's beautiful there."

Kevin couldn't stand it anymore. He and his mother had a major breakthrough the night before and he thought that he'd attempt to understand her reasons for wanting him to live with her, but now he was truly confused. She seemed to pretty content describing the magnificant palace where she lived with her precious Dr. Steele. What the hell kind of name was that, anyway? Sounds like a porn star, Kevin thought. Maybe he's hot, he asked himself.

"He would have come with me back to Oakdale, but he didn't want to have to cancel any appointments with his patients. That's how caring he is," Sheryl continued, describing her new man.

"Um," Kevin began. "If I don't go pee right now, I think my bladder's gonna flood this whole room. I'll be right back," he said.

"Okay, sweetheart," his mother replied. Nora simply smirked at him. In the back of her mind, she believed that it was what he deserved. He drank himself half-blind the night before and it served him right to have to run to the bathroom every five minutes all day long.

Kevin left his mother and cousin at the table to continue discuss their love lives. On his way to the bathroom, he silently prayed that by the time he returned, the food would be there and the three of them would be too busy eating to talk. Despite what he had hoped after the events of the morning, he just knew that he still was not ready to just talk to his mother. He reviewed the facts in his head. First, she leaves him there to suffer miserably with his father when he was only 13 years old. Now, she wants to yank him out of his life in Oakdale and force him into her new life in Chicago. Was not going to happen, he repeated to himself for the hundredth time that day.

He just wanted to get away for a moment now, away from everything. He rounded a corner and immediately ran into a scene he didn't want to be in. Lily and Lucinda sat at their own table, enjoying their own breakfast. Before he could turn and walk away, he realized that it was too late. They had seen him, and unlike himself, they probably weren't going to pretend like it never happened.

"Oh, well, look who it is," Lucinda announced.

"Kevin," Lily said, with a sense of surprise. "Good morning."

"Good morning, Mrs. Snyder, Mrs. Walsh," he said. "It's...it's nice seeing the two of you."

"It's nice to see you, too, Mr. Davis. You seem to be in better spirits than you were the last time we spoke," Lucinda said.

"I am," he automatically responded, though he wasn't exactly sure how true that was. "I really have to be going to the bathroom, so - "

"Oh, by all means go! Go! Don't screw your natural systems up on account of us!" Lucinda replied, with a hearty laugh. "We'll see you later."

"Yes, ma'am," Kevin said before walking away.

Lily waited for him to be gone beyond hearing before she spoke. "Mother, why did you stop him?"

"Why shouldn't I have stopped? He is your son's boyfriend, after all."

"Oh, funny funny."

"Darling, what is so funny about that? It is the truth, isn't it? Or are you having another one of your little fits?"

"I am not having a little fit, Mother. I just don't trust the kid."

"Oh, God, here we go with this again. Lily, you seesaw between your feelings about him more than...well, more than you and Holden seesaw in and out of marriage."

"Please tell me that you did not just go there."

"I did."

"Well, I have reasons for not wanting Luke with him! Do I have to remind you that he's the one who got Luke turned on to - "

"To drinking, Lily, I know. You need not remind me. Perhaps I should remind you of something, though. As far as I know, Luke hasn't even touched a glass of anything alcoholic for a quite a while. He probably feels guilty drinking ginger ale!"

"Well, it's more than the drinking. It's much, much more than the drinking," Lily said, rolling her eyes at the thought.

"What do you mean? Is there something else?"

Lily hesitated. "Well, I told Holden. I might as well tell you too."

"Honey, what is it?" Lucinda asked urgently.

"Yesterday, Luke was involved in a little altercation at the library. Some kids were picking on him, it got a little physical, but I was able to handle it."

"What?! No. No way! Who are these kids? Do you know their parents?"

"Mother, I handled it. It's over and done with already. Why can't you and Holden grasp the fact that I've taken care of the situation for once?"

"Because, and I'm not being judgemental here, but you probably did not handle it the way it needed to be handled! Did you call the police?"

Lily felt the trap enclose around her. "...no, but I threatened to."

"Exactly. And that is why I am concerned. But I do have to ask, what does that have to do with Kevin?"

Lily scratched her forehead. "Don't worry about it."

"No, tell me. It's something far-fetched, isn't it? It's some little theory that you've concocted in your mind."

"If Luke stays with Kevin, that would mean coming out to more people, and coming out to more people would mean...well it would mean more intolerance from more people."

Lucinda softened as she extended a hand across the table to meet Lily's. "Sweetheart, you can't protect him from everything. He's bound to come across people who will not exactly approve of who he is inside, but he'll learn soon enough to just live his life without worrying what others think." She took back her hand as her voice firmed up again. "But when things get physical, you have to take action! You have to draw a line somewhere and that's where it should be. If those hoods mess with him again, you'll call me at once and I'll handle it my way."

"Fine. Fine, dammit!" Lily found herself exclaiming. Never before had she found the courage deep inside her to stand up to her mother, if only for that brief second. Lily could barely wait for Lucinda's response.

"Fiesty, aren't we?" Lucinda remarked rather nonchalantly. "Well, hopefully you'll use that fiestiness the next time those...those neanderthals attack my grandson. I'll be seeing you later, honey, I have business to tend to."

Lucinda rose and smothered one of Lily's hands in both of her own. "See you later," she said.

"I love you," Lily responded, spontaneously.

"I love you, too, darling," Lucinda said before leaving.

Lily then felt a rush of excitement flow through her veins. She felt as if she had a good life. Kids she adored, a mother she admired greatly, and a husband who loved her more than she could ever imagine. Lily smiled at the quaint thought, but soon, the smile vanished as Kevin passed by again. Instead of ignoring him, she replayed her mother's words in her mind. She knew deep down that what happened to Luke wasn't Kevin's fault. She wanted to trust Luke with the drinking, but that was a little too hard to do. Was that Kevin's fault or her own?

"Kevin," she blurted out.

The teenager turned around to face her. "Mrs. Snyder," he replied.

"I was... I was just wondering about something. You and Luke are pretty close, right?" she asked. She knew she sounded stupid, but this seemed to be the most comfortable way to get the information she wanted, no matter how uncomfortable it felt.

"Uh...yeah," Kevin said with a little laugh.

Lily quickly returned the laugh, following his lead. "Well...um...you'd let me know if he was doing something that was damaging to himself, right?"

"Absolutely," Kevin eagerly assured her, almost sitting down in Lucinda's old chair. "The last thing I want - the very last thing on earth that I want - is for Luke to hurt himself or anything like that. You have to believe me." Kevin immediately thought that Luke had told her about the wine fiasco at Nora's the night before.

"I believe you," Lily said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Kevin uncomfortably replied. What in the hell just happened here? he asked himself as he walked away from Lily's table. What was that?

Lily didn't know the answer herself. She felt as if she had wanted him to say something, but she did not know how to get what it was she was after. For that matter, she wasn't entirely sure of what she wanted to hear him say either.

Dazed and confused, she rose from her chair, leaving a tip.

~~~~~~~~~

Kevin sat back down with his cousin and mother, annoyed that his mother was still telling her tales about her new man. Now, however, the food was on the table, so maybe, Kevin thought, there wouldn't be so much talking as there was eating. He thought wrong.

Just as Kevin took a sip from his orange juice, Nora opened her big mouth and asked Sheryl about Dr. Alex Steele. "Where does his family come from?" she asked.

Sheryl seemed to be lost for a second before she let a smile go across her face. "Well, his parents and his younger brothers and sisters all live in Arkansas. He's been in Chicago for the last fifteen years."

Nora was a little confused. "But you said that he lives on his family's estate."

"I did? Well, um I meant to say distant family. A great-uncle left it to him as an inheritance, but...his parents, they didn't want to make the move and all of that, so when he decided to go to medical school up here, he just figured it'd be a load off his mind and wallet to live at the estate."

"Oh, well that makes sense," Nora said. "Must be pretty lonely, living on a big estate all by yourself. But I guess he doesn't have that to worry about anymore, now that he's got you."

"Yep. It's just the two of us," Sheryl replied. She felt a little risky and smiled at Kevin. "But, of course, that'll be changing soon."

Kevin looked up when she said that, somewhat unsure of what he heard. She smiled again, because she felt that after the morning, they were on common ground.

Nora caught on. "Oh?" she asked, turning to Kevin. "You...you changed your mind?"

Sheryl looked Kevin in the eye and half expected him to say "yes."

Kevin could feel the pressure burning him. He looked at his mother. She was in much better shape since the morning, so he figured it wouldn't hurt her too much to remind her that he had no plans on following her back to Chicago. No matter how much he had felt for her earlier, he kept it in mind that he couldn't possibly let his mind change.

But instead of being frank about it, he decided to take into consideration his mother's feelings, something he hadn't done in a long, long time. "I don't know," Kevin said. "I really don't - "

"But he's thinking about it now," Sheryl said to Nora, as if Kevin couldn't speak for himself. "It's only a matter of time before he decides to come back with me."

Nora felt the tension at the table more than ever now. As far as she knew, Kevin was deadset against anything having to do with Chicago. Why would Sheryl act as if there was a real chance of him changing his mind?

Kevin, on the other hand, was getting aggravated by the minute. One thing he could not, would not stand was somebody else making decisions and speaking for him. At seventeen years old, he felt that he was old enough to talk for himself and old enough to express his own opinions! He was not going to let his mother tell people what he was thinking, especially if it wasn't what he was really thinking.

Again, however, he decided to be nice. "Don't be too sure about that," he said, with a smile that he hoped would lighten the situation. But as soon as he said it, he began to scream "Oh crap!" in his mind. He had her believing that he was really thinking about making the move, and he figured that that would be the easiest way to go about things until it was time for her to leave...without him. But now...now new thoughts entered his mind. Now Sheryl's sense of hope for having her son with her started to fade away.

Her smile quickly turned into a look of worry. "What do you mean by that?" she asked softly, putting her fork down and looking at Kevin with honest, innocent eyes. "You...you said that you would give it some serious thought, that you'd really think about it. What...what happened?"

Kevin tried to look her in the eye, but he just couldn't. His eyes darted between his mother's and the table as he tried to work up something to say. Desperate reaching for something to say, he just started to talk, putting it together as he went along. "I...I did think about it. And I...well, I...I decided that I should just stay here and just...you know, finish out school and thn I can spend some time with you after I graduate."

"But why can't you spend some time with me now? There's still a good while left in the summer now. You can always come back for school in August," Sheryl insisted. "And I'm sure Nora would love to have her apartment to herself again..."

"Actually," Nora cut in, "I don't mind Kevin staying at my place."

At that moment, Kevin was so thankful to have a cousin like Nora. She knew just when to jump to his defense, and he felt he really needed her help now. He found it strange that before, his mother wanted him to live with her in Chicago for good, but now, she only mentioned the summer. She even said that he'd come back in August. Was she going soft just like he had done? Or were there ulterior motives? What if, when August came, Sheryl refused to let him go back to Oakdale. That thought sent him a tad bit over the edge that he had been treading throughout the whole breakfast.

Sheryl put on a fake, but warm, smile for her niece. "You're not helping, Nora," she said. She removed the smile and returned her focus to Kevin. With him, she smiled again, but it was a smile of a different breed. The desperation that Kevin had seen in her face earlier that morning returned. Her eyes were wide. "You can come to Chicago for the summer and after a while you can decide how you like it. You just have to give it a chance, Kevin, you just have to. I didn't like it at first either, but I found a way to get used to it. Once you come and you see how everything is, you're going to want to stay."

Nora looked at Sheryl. She felt bad for her. But then she looked at Kevin and felt horrible for him. She'd seem him mope around the apartment for the last couple of days and now to see Sheryl trying to unload her own needs onto her son, she was ready to stand up for her favorite cousin. "Well, it looks to me that Kevin's all but made up his mind," she said.

"Nora, please, can you just - " Sheryl began, trying to control her voice. "Can you just let Kevin and I talk? Without your little comments, please."

"Well, I'm sorry, Aunt Sheryl, but...well, Kevin's told you time and time again that he doesn't want to go, but you keep on prodding and it's making you look really bad. I...well, I kinda hate to say it, but it's making you look desperate."

Anger descended upon Sheryl in a way that neither Nora nor Kevin had seen it before. It was a subtle anger, almost unintentional. "Nora, this is between my son and I," she said, forcing another smile to make them believe that she was okay. "I don't meant to be rude to you, really, but you have to give us this moment."

The whole time, Kevin just wanted to disappear, yet again. He'd been getting that way a lot, usually around his mother. Whatever the matter, as the two of them went back and forth, Kevin just sank his seat. They were talking about him as they were not in his presence. He quickly, roughly rubbed his hands down his face.

"I don't mean to be rude to you, really I don't, but you have to give us this moment," Sheryl said to Nora.

"No," Kevin finally let out. "Nora, you stay. I'll leave."

Nora watched approvingly as Kevin stood up, but his mother looked at him as if he'd just drove a knife through her heart. "You're just going to leave me in the middle of this conversation?" she asked urgently.

"You are not having a conversation with me. You are having a conversation about me with Nora," Kevin said. He took in a deep breath, so deep he had to close his eyes.

"Your cousin keeps inviting herself into this discussion. She clearly does not understand that this is a decision between me and you," Sheryl said, shooting a look at Nora. Nora, puzzled, looked at Sheryl with examining eyes. She did not know the woman sitting at the table with her. It sure wasn't her Aunt Sheryl.

"What are you talking about?" Kevin asked. And suddenly, he was back to the way he was the day before. "A decision between me and you? If it were a decision between me and you, you'd understand why I need to stay in Oakdale. Why can't you just let me be here? Why is it so important for you to have me there?! And I don't want to hear that crap about me finding out when I get there either! As of now, I have absolutely no reason to go to Chicago! None! If you want me to go, tell me why!"

"Tell you...," Sheryl slowly faded, nearly tearing up.

"Yes! Tell me! That's all you have to do!" he pleaded with her. "Tell me!"

"I...I...I have to go to the bathroom," Sheryl said. "I have to go to bathroom." She repeated it to herself as she got up, taking exceptional care to get her purse off of the ground.

As she went away, Nora and Kevin let their eyes meet. Nora grasped for anything to make the mood better. She took a look at her watch and decided on the perfect way to spend the early afternoon. She looked at up and down at Kevin. "You. Me. Oakdale Leaf Mall. Shopping. Now. Sounds good?"

Kevin's mouth slowly formed into a smile. "Sounds good."

TO BE CONTINUED...