Chapter Fourteen #2
‘Nice to meet you,’ Andrew replied, shaking his hand. His voice was carefully clear, slow and deliberate, and he kept his gaze on Nico’s face as he spoke.
‘Andrew is partially deaf,’ Ashley explained, ‘Which has motivated and informed his research. He also reads lips, so don’t worry about needing to sign.’
‘But you sign,’ Nico replied after a moment, sliding her an inquisitive glance.
Ashley nodded. ‘I taught myself a few years ago. Made things easier all around.’ She turned back to her colleague, giving him a bright smile. ‘Now, Andrew, what would you like to drink?’
Ashley Woodward was surprising him at every turn. Nico sat back in his seat, sipping his coffee, as Ashley asked Andrew probing questions and the young scientist explained his worthy research, and how he was using AI to help hearing aids adapt to different environments, needs and hearing levels.
He’d first thought Ashley was shallow and grasping, and then, Nico acknowledged, he’d assumed she was broken by her experiences, weak in a way that had made him protective.
Now he realised just how strong and truly amazing she was.
She was intelligent, driven, resourceful and kind.
He stayed silent as Ashely laughed with Andrew, giving him encouraging smiles, clearly as protective of him as she was proud.
This morning he’d made the decision to keep his distance. Now, just a few hours later, he realised he didn’t want to.
‘You didn’t talk very much,’ Ashley observed once they’d said goodbye to Andrew and were walking outside. It was a beautiful spring day, the trees lining the city street full of blossom, the sky bright and blue above.
‘I was listening,’ Nico replied. As they navigated the busy street swarming with pedestrians, he took her arm, startling her, and raised his eyebrows.
‘I am a gentleman,’ he told her dryly.
‘That may be so, but you’re not acting as I thought you were going to,’ Ashley replied, and then looked away, her cheeks touched with pink.
‘And how did you think I was going to act?’ Nico asked.
‘Like you did this morning—distant. Cold.’ She paused, pressing her lips together.
‘I’d just like to be clear about where we are.
’ Before he could reply to that, she shook her head, rolling her eyes.
‘Oh, of course. This is for those oh-so-candid photos. Silly me.’ She nodded towards the photographer who walked a few feet behind them. ‘Sorry. I won’t forget again.’
For a second, Nico couldn’t reply. The truth was, he’d forgotten about the damned photographer.
He’d taken her arm because he’d wanted to, but did he really want to admit that to her now?
He’d made things clear this morning. It was his own fault they were muddled up now.
And he didn’t know how much more muddled they were likely to get.
In Nico’s car, Ashely edged all the way to the side, staring out of the window, while Nico couldn’t help but remember just how close they’d been the last time they’d ridden in a car together. Ashley clearly didn’t want to repeat the experience, even if he was sorely tempted.
‘How’s your ankle?’ he asked.
She kept her face to the window as she replied, ‘Fine.’
‘Ashley.’ He touched her shoulder, and she tensed. ‘Look, I appreciate that you want things to be clear,’ he said carefully. ‘And I know I seemed very clear this morning. But… I’d like today to be pleasant. Can’t we enjoy each other’s company?’
She turned to face him, her expression. ‘Can we? I am, after all, a Woodward.’
He sighed, wishing he hadn’t said that earlier, and yet knowing he’d meant it. Even now, he couldn’t forget…but he was starting to want to.
‘And I’m a Galletti,’ he told her. ‘You have just as much reason to dislike me as I do you, considering how I took over your company. Can’t we put that all aside, if just for today?’
She looked as if she wanted to argue but then, with a sigh, she nodded. ‘I meant to,’ she admitted. ‘I was going to be professional and friendly and nothing else. But my feelings keep getting in the way.’
His breath caught in his chest as he took in her flushed face, the softness of her lips and eyes. ‘What feelings?’ he asked quietly.
‘I know it was just a one-night stand, Nico,’ she said unsteadily.
‘I can accept that, but… I’m a romantic at heart, I guess.
Some part of me keeps wanting it to be more.
’ She held up one slender hand. ‘I’m being honest because…
well…because I’m tired of pretending, I suppose.
But I don’t want you to worry about it, or freak out that I’m going to ask things of you, because I’m not. ’
‘I’m not freaking out,’ he replied mildly.
‘This morning felt like a little bit of a freak out,’ she shot back with a wry smile.
Compelled by her own honesty, he admitted, ‘That wasn’t because of you. It was because of me.’
‘What is that supposed to mean?’
He already regretted admitting so much. ‘I could care about you,’ he said slowly, feeling his way through the words. ‘And I don’t have space for that in my life.’
Ashley was silent for a long moment. ‘Why not?’ she finally asked.
‘Because…’ He couldn’t go into why—the people he’d lost, and how much it had hurt. Already pressure was building in his chest, and even behind his eyes, which appalled him. ‘I just don’t,’ he said brusquely, turning to look out of the window.
If he’d thought his tone might put her off, he was mistaken. Instead, he felt the soft touch of her fingers on his hand.
‘Okay,’ she said quietly, an acceptance, and somehow that made him yearn for her all the more.
The car took them to a nursing home just outside the city, a gracious-looking building set in its own manicured lawns.
‘So what are we doing here, exactly?’ Nico asked as he stepped out of the car. They hadn’t spoken for the rest of the journey, but it had been a surprisingly companionable silence.
‘We’re seeing the robotic toothbrush in action,’ Ashley told him with a little smile. ‘And we’re visiting my mother.’
He turned to her in surprise. ‘Your mother?’
‘Her nursing home was the first place we trialled the toothbrush. Did you know,’ she added as she fell into step with him, ‘There’s a direct link between dementia and tooth decay and gum disease?
So it’s actually a lot more important than just having clean teeth, although that, obviously, is very important too. ’
Nico hadn’t really considered what visiting a nursing home would entail, but what he hadn’t expected was the memories that slammed into him as soon as he set foot in the door and breathed in that antiseptic smell.
For a second he faltered, and Ashley glanced at him in concern. ‘Nico…?’
He blinked, an acidic taste on his tongue. The colourful walls, the cheerful care workers, the smell… they all brought it back.
Roberto… How he’d failed him.
‘I know some people find nursing homes…challenging,’ Ashley said quietly, and he shook his head.
‘It isn’t that.’ He hated her to think he was just feeling nervous or queasy. It was so much more than that, and he could not bear to explain it. He forced himself to straighten, swallowing the taste of bile. ‘I’m fine.’
And he was fine, pushing all the memories back as he followed Ashley into the day room and listened to a nurse explain how the robotic toothbrush worked and helped residents who struggled to brush their own teeth…just as Roberto had.
But, Nico reminded himself, he wasn’t going to think about Roberto.
‘Do you mind if I say hello to my mother?’ she asked once they’d seen the toothbrush in action.
‘No, of course not.’ He was curious about this woman who was so much a part of Ashley’s life, and yet at the same time had been so absent.
‘Hey, Mom.’ Ashley came into the private room where a pale slip of woman lay in bed, the expression in her eyes distressingly vacant…
until she caught sight of her daughter, then her whole face brightened as her mouth curved into a lopsided smile.
‘It’s so good to see you,’ Ashley continued as she gave her mother a hug and kissed her cheek.
Watching the two of them interact, seeing the joy on both their faces, Nico felt that pressure build in his chest again, and behind his eyes, which was seriously alarming. He wasn’t about to cry.
Except, he almost felt as if he was. Seeing Ashley acting so tenderly with her mother brought back the memories, but it also made him appreciate her all the more—her strength and her grace, her kindness and her spirit.
She’d said she had feelings, but Nico realised he did as well. And what was even more amazing and alarming than that was he found he didn’t mind.
‘Mom, this is Nico Galletti,’ Ashley said, gesturing for him to come forward.
‘He’s helping with Infinite Innovations.
’ She gave him a quick look of warning and he smiled back in reassurance.
He wasn’t about to tell this kindly woman, with all her struggles, that he’d just acquired her daughter’s company in an exceedingly hostile takeover.
He didn’t want the reminder himself just then.
They talked for a few more minutes, and then it was time to head for their third appointment of the day, at a lab uptown.
‘But maybe we could use some lunch first?’ Ashley suggested uncertainly, and Nico nodded.
‘Let me make a call.’
Half an hour later, they were seated at a secluded table in the alcove of a French bistro near Columbia. Ashley shook her head, seemingly rueful at how quickly he’d had it all arranged.
‘Do you know everyone?’ she asked as she picked up the menu.
‘No, but I know a lot of someones,’ Nico replied. ‘And someones who know someones.’
She laughed, the sound clear and even joyful. ‘I’ve enjoyed today,’ she admitted as she lowered her menu. ‘More than I meant to.’
‘So have I,’ he replied, and her eyes clouded with uncertainty. ‘This isn’t for the camera,’ he told her. The photographer was on a lunch break, anyway, just as they were. ‘This is just me being honest.’
Ashley nodded slowly. ‘So…what are you saying, exactly?’ she asked. ‘If anything?’
What was he saying? What did he want?
Nico put down his own menu as he reached for Ashley’s hand. ‘I’m saying I like what we’ve started,’ he told her. ‘And I don’t know where it could go, but I do know I don’t want it to end.’
‘Okay…’ Ashley’s voice wobbled as she nibbled her lip, clearly waiting for more.
‘I have to go to Italy in two days, for some business meetings,’ Nico told her.
He laced his fingers through hers as he squeezed gently, feeling reckless and yet also so very sure about what he was going to say next.
‘It’s only for a week or so, and there would be plenty of time to do other things—explore the cities, the countryside… ’
He paused, and in that brief silence he let Ashley imagine what other kinds of things they could explore.
Then, with his fingers still laced through hers, he asked simply, more of a command than a question, ‘Why don’t you come with me?’