Chapter 25
Nate
Three weeks later…
Hayleigh’s been keeping herself busy these past few weeks.
When she isn’t helping Emmy and my brother out with paperwork, she’s working on her house.
Every day has been filled with decorating and buying things for her home.
I’ve lost count of the number of times Archie has hit his thumb hanging pictures or trailed paint on the new, refurbished floors because, for some reason, he insists on painting with his tongue hanging out and has zero hand-eye coordination.
But yesterday, she was dealt a low blow: a message from Thea saying the wedding was postponed by four weeks, that she still wasn’t invited, and that she needed to delete her number and never contact her again.
I felt utterly useless when Hayleigh burst into tears, the kind of sobs that were gut-wrenching.
There’s a part of me that wants to storm her parents' home and find out what the hell their problem is, but Hayleigh told me to let it go. So that’s what I’m doing, trying to find ways to let it go and keep her occupied.
Hayleigh’s List
· Dance at the movies
· Kissing in the rain
· Do something out of my comfort zone
· Go on a Ferris Wheel
· Buy my own place and decorate!
· Eat cake in bed
· Get over my fear of clowns
· Learn something new
· Attend a cookery class
· Safari
· Tell Morgana no!!
As I look down her list, I realise she’s come so far, especially doing something out of her comfort zone and making that decision to come back home, but there are still things she needs to tick off, and I know that today is her day off from doing anything.
I check the time, and it’s gone seven, she’ll still be asleep hopefully.
I grab my keys and head to the bakery in town, parking right outside. I climb out and walk up to the door, but when I try the handle, it doesn’t open. Then I see it, a note stuck to the window on the inside telling people it’s closed today.
Shit.
Getting back in my car, I remember Irene gets to her place early to set up for the day, maybe she has some cakes.
When I arrive at Irene’s, I’m glad to see she’s already open, and when I push the door open and walk inside, the smell of freshly baked bread hits me, making my mouth water. I do a double-take when I get to the counter and my brother, Cas, walks out of the kitchen door.
He clasps the paper bag he’s holding close to his chest, his eyes widening and his cheeks turning red as he lets out a loud barking laugh.
“Nate, my brother. Hey, Irene, Nate, my brother is here.” He points a finger at me as Irene rolls her eyes.
Cas doesn’t skip a beat; his voice is unusually high-pitched as he stammers.
“S-so, what are you doing here? Here to buy some goods? Some baked goods? In the area, or here specifically? I mean, I’m not here specifically, I happened to drive past and stopped and… ” He stops talking and gulps.
He’s so fucking weird sometimes.
I fold my arms and stare at him. I love this part. People always get so uncomfortable when you don’t speak; they feel the need to fill the silence, and in Cas’s case, he can’t help himself.
His shoulders drop, and he blows out his breath. “Fine, but don’t tell the others.”
I smile at him. “Course I won't.”
He raises his brows at me. “Who am I kidding? Of course you will, but I’m asking for you to wait until I tell them first.” I nod, and he carries on. “I come here every morning for Irene’s freshly baked sea salt and cracked black pepper bagels. Emmy has a taste for them lately.”
I walk over to him and punch him in the arm, eliciting an ouch from him. “Cas, you fucking idiot, I thought it was something more interesting than that. Way to exaggerate.” I turn and look back to the counter to ask Irene about the cake for Hayleigh, but Cas’s voice stops me in my tracks.
“I’m going to be a dad.”
I whirl around, my eyes stinging. “Are you for fucking real right now?” He nods, so I stride forward and wrap my arms around him as I let out a whoop. “I’m so proud of you. I’m so happy for you both.”
When we break apart, he checks the inside of his bag and smiles. “Good job, these aren’t squashed.” He looks unsure before he carries on. “Listen, I haven’t told the others because Emmy’s worried about it being so early. She wants to wait until our second scan, you won’t say anything, will you?”
I shake my head. “Your secrets are safe with me. I’m happy for you, Cas, you both deserve all the happiness in the world.”
He pats my arm. “So do you, Nate. I'd best get back; nobody wants to see a hangry Emmy.” His eyes widen once more as he shudders before hurrying outside.
My baby brother walks out the door, and I shake my head.
He’s going to be a dad.
He’s going to be so amazing at it, but it gets me thinking, is that something I want? Could I be a dad? Does Hayleigh even want kids?
“Nate?” Irene’s voice breaks my concentration.
I give her my most charming smile. “Irene, my lovely lady, do you please have any cakes today?”
She chuckles. “Oh, stop it.” Her cheeks tinge pink ever so slightly. “I have one ready now, it’s only a vanilla sponge. Will that do?”
Placing my hand over my heart, I smile. “Irene, you have saved my life.”
She packages the cake in a box, and I secure it in the front seat with the seatbelt before setting off for Hayleigh's.
When I get there, her blinds are already open, and I stop for a moment to watch her through the window like a total creep. I love the way she moves about the place. She looks content and happy. It’s all I’ve ever wanted for her.
I press the bell and wait, and after a few minutes, her silhouette appears through the frosted glass. She opens the door, and a beautiful smile blooms on her face.
“Nate, you have a key from decorating and doing this place up. Why don’t you use it?”
I shake my head. “Ah, that’s where you’re wrong. I don’t have the key anymore. It’s in your drawer in the kitchen.”
She opens the door wider and gestures for them to come in. “Why did you do that? You can keep it.”
I hand her the box instead. “I don’t want it yet. I’ll wait until you ask me to officially move in with you, then I’ll have the key.”
She cocks her brow. “Oh, really? Who says I’m going to ask you?”
I boop her nose with my forefinger. “I do. Eventually, you’ll see how irresistible I am, and you’ll ask me. Long haul, remember?”
She laughs at that and rolls her eyes. “What’s in the box?”
I toe off my boots and place them on the mat in the hallway before hanging my coat on a peg. “Meet me upstairs with two forks.” I take the box back from her hands and take the stairs two at a time.
She shouts after me. “This better not be a weird sex game, Nate.”
I can’t help the laugh that bubbles up. “Kinky.”
I dive on her bed, the duvet is thick and bounces up around me. It smells of her, a reminder that I don’t get to see her every day, I don’t get to hold her every day, but in the small moments that I do get to see her, I cherish them.
I only hope what I’m going to ask her this morning doesn’t fuck that balance up.
Hayleigh arrives upstairs with two forks and two bowls.
She walks to the edge of the bed and nods her head to the side.
“Move over then.” She hands me a bowl and fork before pointing hers at me.
“I know I said I wanted to eat cake in bed, but I swear to you that if you get crumbs in my sheets, I will disown you. I don’t need crumbs going places where they have no business being. ”
I hold my fork up in surrender. “I solemnly swear to never crumb up your sheets.”
Her face screws up, and she shudders. “That sounded so wrong.”
I cut some of the cake off and place it in her bowl, and do the same for me, and then we sit back against the headboard and quietly eat our bowls of cake for breakfast.
Ticking off another thing on her list.
When we finish, she sets our bowls aside and cuddles into me. I stroke lazy trails down her back. “So, tell me why you wanted to add eating cake in your bed to your list?”
She giggles. “Oh my god, I haven’t told you?
” I shake my head, but realise she can’t see me, she carries on anyway.
“I used to live with Emmy, not long after being in Roselake, and this one particular day, she was feeling down and not herself, and I wanted to do something nice for her. So I went out and bought a load of snacks and a birthday cake, but it wasn’t her birthday or anything, it was reduced because it was going out of date. ” She stops herself through giggling.
I wait until the wheezing stops and find I’m laughing along because she’s laughing. She composes herself to carry on. “So I come home, and we put old movies on, and I spread out the snacks over her bed because that’s where she was, and I climbed in.”
At this point, I can barely hear what she’s saying because she’s laughing so much.
“Anyway, she picks up this cake that I’ve bought, and she asks me why I bought it.
” She makes that noise like a tea kettle again, flapping her hands in front of her face, all the while she’s fighting to control herself.
“S-so I tell her, it was a reduced birthday cake and s-she s-said, Hayleigh, it’s a b-birthday cake a-alright…” She trails off, clutching the sheets, wheezing.
I can’t help but join in laughing alongside her. “W-what was it?”
She clutches the front of my shirt with her hands as tears stream down her face. “I-it was a personalised c-cake that r-read ‘h-happy v-vagina stretching day’.” She dissolves into fits of giggles.
When she sobers a bit more, she wipes her eyes. “Ahh, I needed that.”
I chuckle. “I still don’t get it.”
That sets her off laughing again. “Because it was funny, and eating cake in bed reminds me of laughing so hard we almost peed. I never laughed like that again, until now.”
Now I understand, she’s been trying all of this time to chase that feeling of being free and happy, and it’s my job to make sure she does that.
I cup the side of her cheek. “I love it when you laugh, never stop.”
She grins back at me. “I love that you let me laugh so much.”
**********
“Okay, you wanted to learn something new, correct?” I ask Hayleigh as I lead her by her hands, blindfolded, into my workshop.
She smiles. “I did indeed.” I take the blindfold off, and she blinks a couple of times before smiling at me.
“I was hoping to teach you how to make something.” Nerves churn in my stomach. I hope she doesn’t tell me to get lost.
She walks around the workshop, her hands running over the various pieces I have before landing on a small wooden box. She turns to face me. “Could you show me how to make one of these, but a bit bigger? Actually, two of them.”
I nod. “Sure, what’s it for?”
“A memory box for Emmy and Lacey.” Her smile is soft, but then she claps a hand over her mouth, shaking her head.
I point my finger at her. “You know.”
She shakes her head again. “I don’t know anything. A memory of our friendship is what I meant.”
I fold my arms and stare at her.
And it works like a treat; she wrings her hands in front of her. “Okay, I know, but I’m not going to say what I know, but I am going to assume it’s what you know.”
“Deal. Although I have no clue what you just said. Now let’s talk wood.”
She sniggers and mutters. “That’s what she said.”
I shake my head at the dad joke, but I smile anyway because I get to teach Hayleigh about something that I love, and maybe she’ll realise how much love I poured into her rocking chair.
How much love I pour into her.
One day I’ll tell her.