PART 5

"Nan?" Joseph opened the door to Nan’s bedroom.

"Yes, Father," she answered. She was sitting at her desk with a book on the desk in front of her.

"You have a visitor."

"Visitor? Who?"

"Aaron Hunter. That young man you were talking about at supper."

"What’s he doing here?" she wondered, more to herself than her father.

Here father answered her, though, "To call on you, Nan. I told him that it was up to you."

"Me?" Nan didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t tell her father to tell Aaron to leave. Aaron was nice and all, but she didn’t know if she wanted him to call on her.

"Yes, well, what do I tell him, Nan?"

Nan decided to be friendly to her guest, "Tell him I’ll be right out."

"OK," her father shut the door.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Nan walked into the parlor. She had straightened up a little bit and brushed through her hair, but she didn’t really know why. It’s not like they were courting or anything. Aaron stood up when he saw her walk in. "Hi, Nan," he gave her a crooked smile.

"Hi, Aaron," she replied, "Uh, please sit back down," she said to him. He sat down and she sat in the chair opposite him.

"I hope you don’t mind me coming to see you."

"Um, no, of course not."

"Something wrong?" he sensed that she was uncomfortable.

"Oh, no," she stopped. "It’s just that I just met you today. I guess I’m surprised to see you here," she admitted.

"Oh, that’s all. That’s OK. We’ll get to know each other."

"I guess," Nan was still uncomfortable about it, though.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Nat walked out of his bedroom. He had just finished a short story for one of his classes, so he decided to rest his hand and go to the kitchen for a glass of milk. To get to the kitchen, Nat had to walk by the parlor door.

As he came up to the parlor door, he heard voices. He looked into the parlor. What he saw surprised him. It was Nan, and she was talking to that Aaron guy that he saw with her in the lunchroom. Nat didn’t know what to do; so he just stood there. Nan and Aaron weren’t facing the door, so neither of them saw Nat standing there watching them.

Nat turned and headed for the kitchen. He wasn’t going to let this bother him, he told himself. Nan wasn’t his; she had a right to see this Aaron guy. Nat still couldn’t shake the scene in the parlor from his mind, though.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Nat wandered into the kitchen. Joseph was sitting at the table reading his newspaper. He looked up from the newspaper when he heard Nat walk in.

"Hi, Nat. Did you need something?"

"Yeah, just came in to get a glass of milk." Nat went over to get his milk.

Joseph noticed that something was bothering Nat by the way he was acting. Nat sat down across from Joseph. "Want to talk about it, Nat?" he asked him.

"What?" Nat tried to look innocent. It didn’t work.

"Whatever’s bothering you," Joseph said, as he put his newspaper down.

"Is it that obvious?" Nat looked at him. He didn’t realize Nan’s father could read him like a book.

"Yeah."

"Oh," Nat looked down at his milk.

"So are you going to talk about it, or am I going to have to force it out of you?" Joseph smiled at him.

Nat looked up at him. How could he talk about this with Joseph? He was Nan’s father. No, he couldn’t talk to him about Nan.

"You saw Nan and Aaron, didn’t you?" Joseph casually asked him. He really wasn’t insinuating anything.

"Yes, I did," Nat admitted to him.

"It bothered you, didn’t it?" Now Joseph was insinuating something.

Nat couldn’t say anything. He didn’t know what to say. The silence gave away Nat’s answer. "You know, Nat. You two have been here over a week now. I get the feeling that maybe you kind of like Nan, don’t you?"

Nat gave up. He had to talk to someone about it. "Yes, I guess I do."

"A lot?"

"Yeah, a lot." Nat continued, "but what can I do? I don’t know how to tell her. I don’t know if she even feels the same way."

"There’s only one way to find out Nat."

"What?"

"To tell her. To show her. If you really like Nan, you’ll find a way." Joseph told him.

"Why are you telling me this? You’re her father. Aren’t you supposed to be protective of her?"

"Yes, I am. But, Nat, I like you. I think you’d make Nan a wonderful beau."

"Then why did you let Aaron inside?"

"Because he came to call on her," he said, "I took him into the parlor and talked to him a little bit before I went to tell Nan. He seems OK, but in the end, it’s not my decision. It’s Nan’s."

"If anybody came to call on her, you’d let them in?" Nat was curious.

"Only if I got to know them, and I liked them." Joseph told him. "Now, Nat, I’m not sure what going through my daughter’s mind right now. She didn’t exactly look thrilled that Aaron was here to see her." He paused for a moment. "You’ll figure something out, Nat, but she’ll never know how you feel unless you let her know."

"I know." Nat said quietly.