Page 167 of Never Forever

“Hey, squirt.”

No. No. Nope. This was not happening. I couldn’t be here in total shame, my mouth full of comfort cupcake and deal with him too.

Only one person called me by that stupid awful name.

He thought it was endearing. I loathed it.

“Nick,” I said and swallowed a lump of chocolate cake.

He didn’t ask to take a seat, he just sat down. He wore a red and black flannel shirt over his grey t-shirt and smelled the way he always smelled.

Car grease, coffee and amazing.

If I could just not breathe while I was around him, I would do it. If I could close my eyes and put my fingers in my ears and singla la la launtil he disappeared – I would.

Only Nick never went away. I ran all the way to Paris to get away from him. Yet here we were.

Nick and Nora in Calico Cove. We were a terrible story on a loop.

“You okay?” he asked. Nick wasn’t one for a lot of words. He never had been. I knew everything he was asking me in that simple question.

“Yep.” That’s all I had to say to that.

“I saw…”

“Nick.”

He stopped.

I could only look at him in tiny little slices. Out of the corner of my eye. He nodded and folded his hands between his knees. His hands were the best part of Nick. Big and wide and rough in all the right places. That and his hair, sable brown, with just tiny specks of silver just over his ears…

Stop it. Not thinking about him.

“I called,” he said.

“I know.”

“Texted a few dozen times.”

“I know.” That was all I was going to give him. It was all I could give him. I was barely keeping it together.

“You want to enter the three-legged race?” he gestured across the square at the starting line. “You used to love it when we raced together.”

His expression was so hopeful, I almost laughed.

“Uh, hard pass,” I snorted.

“We could-”

“Nick. Stop. Just…stop.”

“Me?” His voice had a hard edge that I’d never heard before. “Me stop? How about you stop!”

“Me!” I cried right back at him. “What am I doing?”

Nick rubbed his hands through his hair and down over his face like I wasexhaustinghim.

“Ignoring me! It’s been years, Nora. Years. Are we ever just going to get over it?”

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