Chapter Twenty-Six
Nick stood under the cold water of her shower trying to get a grip. She had started to cry again as she remembered the scene where Lilo explained to her dreadful, little alien pet what Ohana meant. As she had watched that little cartoon family trying to cling together, Nick was reminded of how often Aria and Clem would be interviewed by concerned social workers all trying to convince them that their sisters would be better off in care. She, Paddy and Aster would sit quietly, answering all their questions, saying how happy they were at school and showing the adults their homework and tidy bedrooms.
Get a grip , she muttered to herself. The tears had taken her by complete surprise. She had spent weeks trying to save her business, but she hadn’t stopped to think how she felt about it. She realised that not only was she hurting deeply, but she missed her family dreadfully. She was so driven to make a success of her business and steer the Hiverton Estate into a position of stability and growth that she hadn’t noticed how lonely she had become. She didn’t mind being alone – in fact, growing up in a house of seven people she valued her space – but for the first time she realised she had become lonely. Now, as she faced losing her business, she realised she had nothing to fill her days. It wasn’t simply that she was dreading the empty days – she could fill them easily enough, that wasn’t an issue – but what would it mean to no longer be a trader? No longer able to play amongst the stock markets and help people with their financial lives. She lived it and loved it, without it what would she be ?
Which was when Ohana barked.
Switching off the shower she apologised to her little friend. She quickly got dressed, then decided to take Ohana out for a quick walk before breakfast. Ohana didn’t need much but Nick would benefit from the fresh air. Looking in the mirror her face still seemed puffy, her eyes bloodshot, so she slapped on a load of make-up and headed out, sunglasses at the ready in case she met anyone.
She was looking forward to spending more time with Gabe. Despite totally embarrassing herself last night he was clearly happy to pretend nothing had happened and she was grateful to him for that. A day of walks and games sounded just the ticket. Besides which, she was certain that spending the day reading about young mothers being forced to abandon their babies would set her off again. The thought that her father had grown up abandoned and unwanted… She took a deep breath as tears began to form. No, definitely no research today.
Looking at her phone she saw a text from Gabe. Did she want a full fry-up? She laughed and texted back, 100 per cent. Pleased that he had ordered for her she headed down to breakfast chatting to Ohana about the day ahead.
As she got to the table Gabe stood up and kissed her on the cheek then sat down again. Nick took her place, slowly trying to process just how much she had liked him kissing her. She could still feel his hand on the top of her arm, and decided she liked it very much indeed.
‘About last night…’ she began.
Gabe stopped buttering his toast and looked at her. ‘It’s okay, you’d had a rough day. ’
‘No, it was more than that.’ Nick suddenly wanted to share. She wanted to see more of Gabe but to do that she was going to have to open up.
‘My parents died when I was fourteen.’
‘Christ.’ Gabe put his toast down. ‘I knew your father had died, but I didn’t realise—’
Nick held up a hand. ‘How could you? I know I haven’t talked about my family much but it’s just my way to keep my personal life as private as I can. If that makes me seem cold…’
Gabe looked at her in surprise. ‘Cold? Not in the slightest; reserved at most but honestly some people give you the life story of their entire family tree before—’ he laughed ‘—well, before breakfast.’
She drank her coffee and smiled at him. She did consider herself reserved and was pleased that he saw her the same way.
‘The thing is, after my parents died we had no relatives to take us in, so my elder sister had to fight to keep us. We regularly had visits from the social workers nosing into everything we did, attacking the slightest sign of neglect or suffering. If there’s one term I can’t bear to hear even today it’s “failing to thrive”. Our parents had just died, for God’s sake.’
Gabe looked at her and put his hand on the table. It seemed instinctive and she reached out and held it.
‘And how old was your sister?’
‘Eighteen.’
Gabe recoiled in shock and Nick missed the warmth of his hand .
‘Eighteen. Dear God. So it was just like the film last night – sisters trying to fight to stay together against the social workers.’
‘Pretty much,’ laughed Nick weakly. ‘I know it was just a cartoon, but it was so on the money that I freaked. And on top of what I learnt about Da, well, I lost it.’
Gabe leant over and squeezed her hand again before pouring a second cup of coffee.
‘Of course you did. Quite frankly, if it had been me, I’d be crying still.’
She smiled. She didn’t want to tell him about the investigation, that really was too raw, but once she was exonerated, she would tell him about that as well. She liked the idea of having someone to share things with beyond her sisters.
‘That’s a nice smile. Is the picture of me crying so funny?’ he asked with a grin.
‘I’ve never met such a happy person, it’s impossible to think of you sad.’ In fact, Gabe’s smile, whenever she saw it, was becoming a highlight of her day.