Chapter 16 The Nuttalls
Everett
Claire pushes me backward, scrunching her nose and scowling, which I have to admit is pretty cute. Pulling one half of the French doors open, I watch as she walks through it.
The Victorian-style house is pale pink with white and teal trim. It looks like a gingerbread house or something out of a storybook. It doesn’t look real. It’s everything I hate about this time of year—over the top and cliché.
Lights are strung around the banisters and outline the roof. Evergreen wreaths with pink velvet ribbons adorn every window. A life-sized pastel nutcracker stands guard by the door.
The doormat catches my eye, and I chuckle as I read the words printed on it. Under a row of gingerbread houses are the words The Nuttalls in script.
Glancing down at the gold ring circling my finger, I spin it. I don’t have any idea why we’re here, but I can’t shake the thought that maybe this Stella woman is trying to push us together and that maybe that’s the key to getting home.
The pink-haired reporter was interested in my shoulder and when I planned on settling down.
Could she have taken my abrupt exit from the media room as an invitation to meddle in my personal life?
Is that what this is about? Or, maybe the feeling I have is just my deepest desires bubbling to the surface.
“Did you hear me?” she asks.
“Oh…um, no…sorry. I got distracted by the doormat.” Her eyes find our name, and she lets out an annoyed breath.
“Does that mean my name is Claire Nuttall now?”
“What, you don’t like the sound of that?”
She shakes her head in disbelief and buttons her coat to keep out the cold. “I was saying we should probably exchange phone numbers since you are so insistent on us sticking together.”
“Okay, what’s yours?” I pull out my cell phone and begin to type in her phone number as she says it out loud. Grinning, I turn the screen in her direction. “Looks like you’re already in here, Sugar.”
“How do I know that’s me?” she questions, placing a hand on her hip. “For all I know, you call everyone that silly nickname.”
I don’t. She’s the only woman I’ve ever called that nickname. Or any nickname for that matter.
Flipping the phone, I tap the contact that reads “Sugar” with my thumb, and her phone begins to ring.
“Who’s calling you?” I smirk. She flips the phone in my direction, and another wedding photo flashes on her screen along with the name Ev. “Would you look at that? Looks like we do have each other’s numbers.”
Rolling her eyes, she ignores the call and moves past me down the small set of stairs.
The large yard is covered in an untouched blanket of snow.
We walk across it towards a sidewalk, leaving a trail of footprints behind us.
The street is lined with houses similar to ours.
Each one is a different color. The light posts are decorated for the upcoming holiday.
From my vantage point, I can see that we’re close to what appears to be some sort of town square.
“Want to walk?” I ask, nodding down the street.
“I don’t see a car,” she says. “So, I guess it’s our only choice.”
We move down the sidewalk, my steps falling into a steady rhythm with hers.
“I’m sorry,” I begin at the same time she says the same thing.
She giggles nervously, and I shake my head. “I’m sorry this whole morning has really thrown me. It’s not an excuse, but I shouldn’t have ignored how you were feeling. If you want to cry, that’s completely valid.”
“And I’m sorry for trying to leave without you. You’re right that we need to stick together.”
“Your husband was kinda being a dick,” I half-jest.
“He kinda was, wasn’t he.”
“I’ve never been good with feelings,” I admit. “My parents were gone a lot growing up, and my sister and I were raised by nannies. Hockey became my life from the minute I learned to skate, and it’s not necessarily a sport that promotes anything other than being tough.”
She nods as we continue to walk.
“I expect that same toughness from my team, but I shouldn’t expect it from you,” I explain.
“It’s okay to feel things,” she says. “But, I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. We aren’t going to get home unless we work together.”
“I think you’re onto something with the ‘Stella is trying to teach us a lesson’ thing.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, if this Stella person is the one who put us here…” I pause and take a deep breath.
“The reporter with pink hair really went in on me about my shoulder injury and my future. She asked if I had plans to retire and settle down, and the team’s publicist kinda rushed me out before I could fully answer her. ”
“Why didn’t you say that back at the house?”
“Because my shoulder injury and what it means for my career isn’t really something I want to talk about.”
“Okay…” She clenches her jaw. “But, what do questions and your future have to do with being here with me?”
“The settling down part. I mean, we woke up married. That’s kind of as settled down as you can get.”
“But why me?”
Because I’ve been pining over you for years. That doesn’t make sense though. My closest friends don’t even know that, so how could a total stranger. She wouldn’t. She couldn’t.
“I don’t know. Do you remember anything she said or you said that was along the same lines?”
She plays with the chain of her necklace and then pauses suddenly, covering her mouth.
“What is it?”
“Oh…um…” Blush covers her face, and she turns away from me.
“Come on, the retirement discussion isn’t something I want to think about either, but we gotta dig deep, right?”
“Okay, well…” she begins, flipping back around to face me and crossing her arms. Her eyes lock somewhere over my shoulder.
“In the cab, she gave me this crystal, and it was super weird. I ended up spilling my guts to her, and then when I set it down, it was like I came to and realized everything I said,” she rushes out.
“Which was what?”
“Huh?”
“What did you say to her?”
“It’s a little blurry, but it had something to do with wondering what it would be like if you and I ever got a second chance.”
My whole face breaks into a grin, and my stomach swoops.
“Is that so?”
“I was clearly under a spell or something, because the minute I put the stone down, I realized what I had said, so don’t let it go to your head.” Her eyes find mine. “Stop,” she whines.
“Stop what?”
“That goofy ass grin and that twinkly thing you’re doing with your eyes. It was the magic, not really how I was feeling.”
My heart sinks, and I try to push the sting of her words away.
“Maybe, but unfortunately for you, I do think this means we’re going to have to fall in love.”
“Nice try.” Laughing loudly, she starts walking again, leaving me to have to catch up with her.
“You know I’m right.”
“I don’t think you are.”
“Then why make us married?”
“Everett, I…” she begins, rubbing her hand across her eyes. “You can’t force love.”
“Who said anything about forcing it?”
She laughs, and her head falls into her hands before finding my eyes.
“You did when you suggested we fall in love. Love is supposed to be spontaneous. It’s supposed to knock you off your feet because you weren’t expecting it. It’s not supposed to be prescribed.”
“And you don’t think that’s possible?”
“I think Christmas is in a week, and I need to be back in New York. Falling in love takes longer than that.”
“Challenge accepted.” I wink.
“You’re useless. This isn’t funny. I can’t miss Christmas, and honestly, the sooner we can get back the better. I can’t imagine any world where you and I fall in love in a year, let alone less than a week.”
Damn. She really knows how to cut deep.
“Why Christmas? It’s not that great of a holiday.”
“You don’t like Christmas?”
“Not really,” I admit. “I’m usually pretty busy through the holidays, so I’ve never bothered to really get into all that.”
“I thought the league didn’t schedule games on Christmas?’
“They don’t.”
“Oh, so you’re just a huge scrooge?”
“What do you mean?”
She shrugs. “You were always a little grumpy and grumbly, so it makes sense you would hate being jolly.”
“I guess that means you like Christmas?”
“I love it, which is why your plan will never work, because whoever I fall in love with has to love it as much as I do.”
I rub my hands down my face. “You do realize how insane that sounds, right?”
“I don’t care. It’s one of my favorite things, and I can’t imagine marrying someone who thinks something I love is silly.”
Nervously turning the gold band on my finger, I turn my gaze to Claire. I take a moment to admire how incredibly beautiful she is. Her dark hair flows down her back. Her blue eyes draw me in like they always do. She’s stunning.
Mildly infuriating, but stunning.
“So, is that why you need to get back to New York? Because you want to celebrate Christmas in the city?”
“No.”
“Okay…” I breathe out a long breath and try to calm myself. “Then why do we have to get back for Christmas?”
“The Sugar Plum Fairy in The City Ballet’s Christmas production of The Nutcracker has been my dream since I was five and saw the ballet with my mom.
” She blinks back tears, and her nose makes a little sniffling sound.
“Yesterday before the game, I was given the role after the dancer I was understudying hurt her ankle.”
“Wow. That’s incredible.”
“It was. Until we ended up here.” She throws her hands out and gestures around. “If we don’t get back, then everything I’ve worked for will have been a waste, and my chance at any other lead role in the future will be ruined.”
She blinks her eyes shut and takes a deep breath.
“I’m already missing rehearsals, at this rate I’ll be lucky if he hasn’t already given my part to another dancer.”
Looking down at my watch, I say, “It’s not even nine. I’m sure you haven’t lost the part yet.”
“Rehearsal starts at ten, so assuming we’re in the same time zone as New York, which, who could know because this place doesn’t show up on any map, I have one hour before I no-call no-show the biggest rehearsal of my entire dancing career.”
“Then we’ll get back,” I promise.
“In an hour?”
“Well, maybe not an hour, but we’ll get back in time for you to perform. I’m missing hockey too, so I get it, but it’s going to work out. I promise.”
She forces a smile and so do I. I’m not sure if I just lied to her or told her the truth, and that’s a very humbling thought.