Page 81 of Forever With You

“God,” Nick said thickly. “Damn.”

I made a virtually incoherent sound as he managed to fold his hand around the back of my head.

“You still alive?” he asked.

“Mmm-­hmm.”

“And you’re okay?”

“Uh-­huh.”

There was a pause. “And you’re not planning on moving for a while, are you?”

“Uh-­uh.”

“Yeah, that’s good.” Nick got his arm around my lower back. “Neither am I.”

I smiled in response, and though he couldn’t see it, the curve of my lips felt forced, because even as my body was relaxed and blissed out, I couldn’t help asking myself that horrifying question again.

Would we be here?

And there was no answer to that question. There never would be.

Chapter 23

“So are you going home for Thanksgiving or not?”

In the middle of shoving what was probably half a pancake in my mouth, I paused and looked across the table at Katie. This morning she was dressed rather calmly ... for Katie. Her bright purple sweater was as fuzzy as a bear, but it lacked all sparkles. “I don’t know yet. My mom isn’t cooking. She is going to her sister’s house. I’m invited, of course, but since Mr. Bowser wants me in the office on Friday, it doesn’t make much sense to make that drive.”

“I can’t believe you have to work on Friday,” Calla said. Since Shepherd was out for break, she was back home, and had joined our Sunday breakfast.

Roxy frowned. “We have to work.”

“I’m working,” Katie added, twirling her fork. “Working on the pole, oh yeah.”

“That’s because we work at a bar and you at a strip club,” Calla explained. “I always thought normal jobs closed on Friday.”

I finished chewing my mouthful of pancake. “He has most of the office out for the day, but they have this big project they’re working on.” The project was opening the academy in Martinsburg by September of next year, and they were meeting the county boards again the first week of December. “So I’m just in there to help get everything typed up.”

Roxy offered me a slice of bacon. “Does that mean you get to spend Thanksgiving with Nickie Nick?”

I raised a shoulder. “I don’t know. I hope so.”

Calla has been told via Roxy or Katie or maybe even Jax that I was a pregnant, so I wasn’t surprised that she forked over her sausage link to me. I don’t know if they really thought I needed to eat all this extra food, but I wasn’t complaining.

“Why wouldn’t you have Thanksgiving with him?” Calla asked, and when I didn’t respond right away, she added, “Isn’t it just him and his grandfather?”

I stabbed the sausage. “You know about his grandfather?”

She glanced at Roxy, who also nodded. “Yeah. I know he’s sick. I mean, obviously, Nick doesn’t give us a lot of details about anything,” Roxy said. “But I know it’s just those two.”

Sitting back, I wished I hadn’t decided to wear jeans today. The button was now killing me. “I would like to have Thanksgiving with him, but I don’t think he wants me around his grandfather. And I don’t mean that in a bad way,” I said as Calla’s eyes narrowed. “I think he just doesn’t want me to have to worry with what’s going on.”

“You can handle whatever,” Katie said, waving her hand dismissively. “Youwillhandle whatever.”

An odd chill snaked down my spine.You’re going to break his heart.

“Look, I might be nuttier than a Payday bar, but here’s my advice. You want to spend Thanksgiving with him, then you spend it with him,” she continued, and well, that was actually good advice. “It’s as simple as that.”

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