22. Everly
Chapter 22
Everly
A fter dinner, which was quick and easy, everyone drifted off to take care of things. Anna was finishing packing, Mack went out to do chores, and Nash took Willow out to ride for a bit before we headed back home.
Dinner was what everyone needed, just being together. Nash and Willow got into a thumb wrestling match, which Nash obviously let her win, and she took that as a great triumph, thinking she won against him. Seeing Nash and Willow bond makes me smile, and my heart is lighter and full of love than I ever thought possible. Our lives may be a shit show right now, but at least we have each other.
Hayley looks lost in thought. “Let’s take a walk,” I suggest as I join her in front of the kitchen window that overlooks the barn and pasture.
She nods, and we walk down the sprawling drive leading to the ranch's stone-gated entrance.
“I should have gone over to see her sooner.”
“You can’t ‘should’ on yourself and tell yourself what you should have done. You did your best. You’ve been busy with the pub and your baking business,” I remind her as we take in the sun going down over the mountains. I wrap my jacket closer around me as the chill off the sunset sets in.
“Did you ask your dad about going with them?” I ask. “I told you I’m more than happy to bake for you and help with whatever you need.”
“I offered, but Dad says he needs me here.” She frowns. “All hands on deck.”
I nod.
“What about you? How are you doing with Nash and the library? I’m worried about you, too.”
“I’m fine. It just is what it is. I think it’s another ploy to manipulate me and make me jobless. He thinks he can make me want to move back with him after doing this.”
“No way. You can’t go back to the stinky shrimp house,” she says with a smile. A smile I know she needs right now because life feels heavy for us both.
“I bet it smells so bad in there. Maybe we shouldn’t have done it because now he’s back in Cozy Creek more because he doesn’t want to stay in his smelly house,” I say as I shake my head in a laugh .
“Worth it. He better back off and go back home, or else I’ll have to come up with something else,” she warns with a smirk.
I shake my head and chuckle.
“It’ll be okay. The library is the heart of our town. People are getting wind of this, and they have your back. This won’t go down without a fight.”
I nod. “I hope so. Things were just starting to go right around here,” I say as I look over to where Nash sits on a horse, Willow in front of him, showing her the reins and talking to her, his cowboy hat on his head bent. He throws his leg off and holds her steady and walks with her as she looks over and waves with her little black helmet on her head. I smile, warmth filling my chest. “Nash thinks of everything.”
“He’s good with her,” Hayley says as she watches them do circles in the horse pen.
“Yeah, he is.” I wrap my arms around me and smile as I watch them.
“You’re going to be alright, Ev. You and Nash will figure this all out.”
“A lot is at stake here. If we don’t work, what happens to us? We really have no family, then.” I swallow a lump in my throat as I tell her this.
“I don’t think you have to worry about that,” she says as I watch Nash watch me, his face locked on mine with a look of pure love.
“I hope so.”
“Hope is not a strategy, Ev. Get him if you want him. ”
I lean against the fence and watch them. I turn to Hayley and say, “I may not have started out with a family like this, but I’m going to make one.”
“You’ve already got one,” she says as she leans her head on my shoulder.
We get home, and I get Willow settled when a knock is at the door. I open it to see Nash with a bag and some tools in his hand.
“What are you doing here?” I hold the door open.
“I came to fix your faucet.”
“My landlord can do that. You don’t have to…” I say before Nash cuts in, and I see his smile dim a little at the mention of my landlord.
“I want to,” he says as he gets to work. When he opens the cabinets, he takes out a few cleaners I had stashed down there and sets them to the side. He slides under the sink, and I see his shirt ride up, exposing tanned and muscle-lined abs and my core twitches. Damn.
He works under the sink and then stands and leans and takes off the faucet, tossing it into a bucket.
“I didn’t know you were such a handy guy,” I tease.
“I am very handy,” he says as his eyes slide to mine. “I’ve learned a thing or two at the pub.”
“I see that,” I say as I sit at the kitchen counter and resist fanning myself. All of a sudden, Nash is the most fascinating thing to watch.
“Heard anything else from your ex or the library?” he grunts as he tightens the new faucet with a wrench.
I shake my head. “I’m just waiting for the next bomb to drop. First my car, then my job. What’s next, my house?”
He looks over and says darkly, “Never going to happen on the last one.”
I shrug. “I don’t know. Richie seems to always know how to destroy me. I’ve learned to just wait for the other shoe to drop.”
I trace the leaves on the tablecloth and hear Nash tucking tools back into the grocery sack he brought.
“That’s your toolbox?” I tease, tilting my head.
“I’ve actually misplaced mine,” he says as he wipes down the faucet where he caulked it.
“Thank you for doing this. You saved me from having to call my landlord. I’m sure he’ll appreciate not having to come out and do this.” My gaze flickers over Nash, watching for a reaction. “Can I pay you?”
He just looks at me and wrinkles his nose, sending me a look of disdain.
“Can I repay you in another way?” I ask as I bite my lip at my confidence. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Nash. The possibility of touching him, nibbling him, licking him…everywhere. And I may have meant dinner, but my own dirty mind took a detour right alongside Nash’s imagination, and I like it.
He freezes, then turns to me. “What were you thinking?”
I slid off my stool and close the distance to him, pulling him to me. “I was thinking dinner, but I see where your mind went. Hold on a minute,” I say as I step into my back laundry room and heft up his big green toolbox.
“Did you forget something when you built my back stairs?” I ask dryly as I push it over to him with my foot as his eyes widen, and he freezes in the kitchen.
“Huh. Got nothing to say, Reed?” I cross my arms and tilt my head, waiting for him to explain.
“How long have you known?” he asks as he bites his lip and watches me closely. Damn. Why does he have to be so good looking?
“Since I found that you’d left your grandpa’s old toolbox under my back stairs when you repaired them.”
“Are you mad?” he asks cautiously.
“No, but you have some explaining to do.”
At first, I laughed when I realized it was Nash. Of course it was Nash. It made sense how we clicked and hit it off so quickly. I decided to let him sweat it out about his toolbox for a little while. It serves him right for lying. Then, the more I thought about it, the more I realized how much he loves us. He just wanted to help us in his own way. How could I be mad at him for that?
He looks relieved. “I’m sorry. I just really missed you. I wanted to talk to you, but when you messaged me, I didn’t want you to know I bought the house.”
“So you do own this property?” My eyes widen, and I open my mouth, then close it, not sure what to say. He’s confirmed all the things I’ve been wondering .
He nods. “I do.”
I laugh and shake my head. “I should have known.”
He crosses the kitchen and pulls me in his arms. “I promise I didn’t mean to lie. I just wanted to make sure you guys were okay and you would have a safe place to live.”
Okay, my heart is melting. I don’t like being lied to but what could I say to that? He took care of us in his own way. He loved me even when he thought he shouldn’t love me. Even when he thought I didn’t love him back.
“Anything else you need to come clean about?” I ask as I look up at him.
“Nope. Wait, yes,” he says as he looks at me, then bites his lip.
“Well? Let’s have it.” I cross my arms, waiting for another bomb to drop.
“I own about half a dozen investment properties around town,” he admits.
I tilt my head and look at him in awe. “Nash, that’s incredible. Look at you. I’m proud of you,” I say as I realize there’s so much about Nash that I didn’t know.
“Yeah?” he says as he stands straighter, his eyes having so much emotion passing over them. I can tell he needed to hear those words, and based on how he is standing straighter like a flower, he was watered. Based on the wide smile on his face and the profound relief in his eyes as he gazes at me, he needed that.
I kiss him softly. “I wish you could stay. I don’t want you to go.”
“I can stay for a little while,” he says as he sets his stuff by the back door and goes to wash his hands in the sink he just fixed.
“Will you hold me until I fall asleep?” I yawn and cover my mouth.
Nash follows me to my room, and I get ready while he lies on my bed, playing on his phone. He slides it onto the table as I curl into him, and he wraps his arms around me. This isn’t the first time we’ve shared a bed. Hayley, Kincaid, Nash, and I camped all our childhood and curled up in a dog pile to keep warm often while camping. We slept in the old tree house in blankets and sleeping bags countless times, too.
But this time, it’s different. I don’t want him to go. I want him here. I want him in more ways than just holding me, but I need him tonight. I can’t explain it, but I just feel so heavy in my soul today. And the way he’s holding me tucked under his chin with his arms wrapped around me, I suspect he needs me, too.
I wake up to my alarm clock going off in a soft tone next to me. I feel the heat against my back and stiffen. Nash.
I glance at my closed door. Willow’s still sleeping, but I’ve never had someone stay with me before.
Nash stretches and whispers in my ear, “I fell asleep. You just felt so good.”
“It’s okay. We needed it,” I murmur as I push back into him, and he tightens his arms around me. I haven’t slept well for months, and with him here, I slept so well.
“I am going to head out before she gets up,” he sits up.
“Want to pretend that you just got here and eat pancakes?” I grin .
He laughs. “Sure. Then I do have things to take care of.”
And just like that, we just became a family.