Chapter 23
23
Nick
I dropped Wyatt off at his cottage and then drove straight to Nora’s house.
Lying to Roy sucked. Not telling Nora how I felt sucked. Pretending something life changing wasn’t happening to me sucked. There was no way I was letting my past interfere with my future, and I knew without any shadow of a doubt that my future was Nora.
I banged on the front door. “Nora! Nora, are you home?”
Bethany yanked open the door. “Hi, Nick.” She wore pajamas and her hair was wet and combed back from a shower.
“Hey, Beth, is Nora home?”
She nodded. Her eyes were wide and she was looking at me funny. The kid didn’t have a phone though, so no way she knew anything. She did, however, play on that ipad.
“Nora!” she called out over her shoulder “Your boyfriend’s here!”
“Bethany!” I heard Nora from the top of the stairs. “I told you to stop with that!”
“You know?” I asked her. “About us?”
She nodded her head real big. “Charlie told Mom over FaceTime and I was listening from the dining room.”
Okay. Vanessa knew. I could deal with that. She was probably on my side. Team Nick all the way.
“Hello, Nick.”
Vanessa joined her daughter at the door and stared daggers at me. “Vanessa, I can explain.”
“How you’ve been lying to us for months?” she asked and I blanched. “Or is it years? Nora isn’t telling me anything-”
“Mom!” Nora thumped down the stairs and now I was staring down three Barnes women in the doorway. “He’s not talking. We’re not talking. Our business is just that. Our business. Nick, what are you doing here?”
“I have to tell Roy the truth,” I said.
The daggers disappeared and Vanessa clapped. “See honey, he’s going to confess. No more secrets.”
“No!” Nora shouted. “There’s nothing…there’s no fucking point…”
“There is every fucking point,” I interrupted. I wasn’t having this conversation on the front steps, I came inside and shut the door behind me. I gathered Nora’s shaking hands in mine. “You are the fucking point.”
“That is very sweet, but can we watch the language with Bethany in the room?” Vanessa asked in her Disney princess voice.
“Mom, it’s okay. I’ve heard it before. Daddy says it all the time,” Bethany said, munching on popcorn she was pulling out of the couch cushions.
“What’s going on? What’s all the shouting?” Will was coming down the stairs, a look of confusion on his face given the fact that I’d been in this house a hundred million times before and I’d never once held Nora’s hands like I was holding them now.
“Nick and Nora are secretly boyfriend and girlfriend.” Bethany explained to Will. “And he’s here to make a fucking point.”
“Bethany, please. Language,” Vanessa insisted. “I blame your father for this.”
“Nick? Is that true?” Will asked me with all the disgust a thirteen-year-old boy could muster. “Do you like…kiss and stuff?”
“Oh my gosh,” Nora moaned. “This is impossible.”
“What’s impossible?” The front door slammed and all of us jumped. Roy was home. Nora tried to pull her hands away, but I held on tight. “Nick, what are you doing here? Didn’t I take enough of your money tonight?”
“Yes, sir,” I muttered. Because I was pretty sure when you were about to tell a longtime friend and mentor that you were screwing his daughter, the use of sir was appropriate.
“Sir? The Fuck?”
“See, Mom. Dad says fuck all the time,” Bethany said.
“Don’t say fuck.” Roy scowled at Bethany. “It’s not nice. Nick, why the fuck are you holding Nora’s hands like that?”
Nora’s eyes got wide and she shook her head tightly. “Don’t do it,” she whispered. “Once you say it, you can’t take it back.”
“I know why you wanted us to be a secret,” I said to her. “But I shouldn’t have agreed. Because nothing about you should be hidden. You are the best thing in the world, Nora. And I love you. I’ve always loved you. You’re my person. I know it took me a long time to figure it out, and I know I hurt you in the process and I’m so sorry. But you were right six years ago, we are special. I have been waiting for you all this time and I didn’t even see it. You were always just there right in front of me, but I didn’t see you. Just like Madame Za said.” I turned to face Roy, moving Nora, so she was now behind me. If anyone was going to face the wrath of Roy Barnes, it was going to be me. “I love your daughter. Sir.”
“What?”
“You heard me. I know you said if I broke her heart again you’d kill me, but I’ll never break her heart again. I love her.”
“Are you hearing this?” Roy asked Vanessa.
“Yes,” she grumbled.
All at once, Roy dropped the disapproving father face and started laughing. He rubbed his hands together. “I think you owe me something.” He held out his hand and wiggled his fingers at her.
“Am I having a stroke?” I whispered to Nora.
Vanessa rolled her eyes. “Fine. You’re right. I’m wrong.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you,” Roy said, cupping his hand over his ear.
“You were right,” Vanessa yelled. “I was wrong.”
“Did you hear that, kids?” Roy said with a sigh. “Remember this day. It will probably never happen again.”
“Hold on a second,” Vanessa said, smiling again. “You owe me something, too.”
“That’s fair. A man always pays his debts.” Roy nodded and pulled his wallet out. He took out fifty bucks of poker money and slapped it in her hands.
“Thank you very much,” Vanessa said, folding the money and tucking it in her bra.
“What is happening here?” Nora asked.
“Your father and I made a little bet when you started working at the garage and Nick agreed to take you to the weddings.”
“A bet?” Nora squeaked.
“I said this was it,” Roy said. “You were finally going to get your shit together and realize what we’ve known – and most of this town has known – since you two first locked eyes on each other.”
“And what’s that?” Nora asked. I put my arm around her stiff shoulders.
“That we’re fate,” I said, helping Roy out. “Meant to be.”
“This is getting so good,” Bethany giggled from her perch on the couch, still munching on her newly found popcorn.
“Nick, you’re really embarrassing yourself right now,” Will said.
“Nora needed to grow up,” Roy said, like he’d somehow orchestrated this whole thing. “And Nick had to open his goddamn eyes.”
“And…you bet against us?” Nora asked her mom.
“Well,” Vanessa said with a wince. “I bet against Nick, really. I’m sorry, Nick, but you just had so much to overcome. You’re more stubborn than my husband is, for sure. I was afraid maybe the window for the two of you had closed.”
“Only I was right, and your mom was wrong,” Roy said.
“Okay,” Vanessa said to him. “You’re done with that now.”
“I don’t know, I think we should get a statue made?” he said. “Or maybe we can get the Mayor to declare a town holiday?”
“You’re going to be sleeping on the couch if you keep this up,” Vanessa said.
“Wait. If Mom was wrong, what was the money about?” Nora asked.
“Well, that was an older bet,” Vanessa said.
“Much older,” Roy said.
“I bet your father that you wished on your eighteenth birthday that Nick would finally see you as a woman. He said…that’s gross, and if he does, I’ll kill him. But I was right, wasn’t I?”
Nora nodded slowly.
“Ha,” Roy laughed. “See, we’re both right.” He jumped over to his wife and wrapped her up in his arms, making her laugh and tuck her head into his neck. He whispered something in her ear and she looked back, aghast, but with a smile on her face.
“There are children in the room,” she said, smacking his shoulder.
“Children!” He shouted, his eyes on Vanessa. “Get out of the room.”
Roy and Vanessa started to rock in a slow dance in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. Bethany jumped up and wiggled between them, clutching Roy’s legs.
“Will,” Vanessa said, “Play that song we like.”
Will shouted at Alexa to play an old country song and Nora and I were quickly forgotten.
“This is so seriously anti-climactic,” she muttered. “It’s like they knew about us the whole time.”
“Who cares about them?” I said, turning her to face me. “I want this. All of this. The kids. The mayhem. The laughing.” Nora’s eyes filled up with tears. “Do you still want this?” I asked.
She nodded.
“With me?”
“It’s all I’ve ever wanted. It’s what I wished for on my birthday.”
“Psst.”
We turned to see Vanessa waving her hands at us over Roy’s back, shooing us to the door. “Go. While he’s distracted,” she mouthed.
I needed no other encouragement. I took my girl’s hand and I ran for the door and the future I never thought I’d have.