Page 4 of Make Your Move

“Shit, I didn’t tell you, did I?” Nash mumbles another curse under his breath. “He got traded to the Archers.”

I resist the urge to narrow my eyes at my best friend. I’m not surprised he didn’t tell her, although it would have been nice if he had let me know she was going to be over at his house. Nova and I didn’t keep in touch—why would we? We weren’t friends. She was simply my best friend’s sister and nothing more.

Nothing more than a wish.

“It’s so great to see you,” she tells me, smiling brightly at me. Nova looks just as I remembered, just a little older. Her blonde hair is pulled back in a French braid with wild curls breaking free around her face. The softest makeup highlights her features, and her blue eyes shine back at me. “Where are you staying?”

I stare at her for a moment, glancing at Nash from the corner of my eye. “Here,” I tell her at the same time Nash speaks.

“He’s going to stay with us.”

Nova’s lips part, and my heart comes to a full stop for the second time in the past five minutes. I don’t look at Nash. “You live here?”

Nash never mentioned Nova moved in, but then again, he didn’t talk much about her. The only thing he talked about was his niece, Posey…Nova’s little girl. He told me about her after Nova found out she was pregnant. Nash didn’t like the guy she was with at the time, but he was over the moon about becoming an uncle.

Whenever he brought the two of them up, I tuned him out. Nova was living her life, supposedly happy, and I couldn’t have asked for anything more for her. I knew we didn’t have a chance of there being anything between us, but that didn’t mean I didn’t hope for it.

That hope died the day I found out she was having a baby with another man.

Nova nods, looking a little unsure of what to say next. “I moved in about a year ago.” She turns to look at her brother, her eyebrows scrunching together for a second. “You didn’t tell him any of this?”

Nash shrugs with indifference, as innocent as can be. His phone vibrates on the counter, and he lifts it up to look at the screen. “It never came up.” He looks at me. “Give me like five minutes, it’s one of the athletic trainers.”

“Sure,” I tell him with a nod, and he answers his phone as he slips out of the room. Tension hangs heavily in the air between Nova and me and it’s borderline suffocating.

“Well, surprise, I suppose,” she says as our eyes meet again. “I’m sorry Nash didn’t tell you I was living here too.”

I stare at her for a beat. “It’s not an issue at all,” I tell her with nothing but honesty. I don’t plan on staying here for very long, and I have every intention of keeping my distance from Nova Simmons. “How are you?”

“I’m good,” she tells me with a sigh of relief. There’s a peaceful smile that settles across her lips. “Posey has been keeping me busy. She just started day care, so I’m finally getting to head back to work part time.”

It’s been so long since I last saw Nova, it takes this moment for me to realize what a complete stranger she has become. I know nothing about her, nothing about her life, and certainly nothing about her little girl.

“How old is she?”

“She’s two, although some days it feels like she’s going on thirteen,” she tells me with the softest laugh. The corners of her eyes crinkle as her cheeks lift. “We are currently in the throes of the terrible twos.”

I laugh with her, unsure of what to say to her. I have no experience with kids, and if I’m being honest, they scare the shit out of me. They’re so fragile and so reliant on other people. I can’t even imagine what it would be like. The sound of our laughter trails off.

“How have you been?” Nova asks me, her voice quiet. “It’s been so long since we last talked, I feel like I know nothing about your life.”

I swallow roughly. “There’s not much to tell.”

Nash reappears back in the kitchen, appearing a little flustered. He pulls one of the bar stools over to the side of the counter and sits down. “Remind me not to get injured again.”

“What happened?”

Nash leans forward and grabs the stack of cards from the center of the island and begins to shuffle them. “I got a concussion when I lost my temporary tooth and just got cleared earlier today to get back on the ice. One of the trainers wanted to check in and go over some things.” He sets down the deck. “It’s just annoying. Do you want to get in on some poker?”

Nova abruptly stands up and slides her chips over to me. “Here, take mine,” she tells me with an encouraging nod. “I’m going to head to bed.”

“Thanks,” I tell her softly, a little taken back by how she’s rushing out of here.

Nova says good night to her brother and goes to leave the kitchen. She pauses in the doorway, glancing over her shoulder to look at me as a ghost of a smile dances across her face. “Goodnight, Lincoln.”

Nova disappears, and Nash turns around to face the fridge as he pulls the door open. “Do you want a beer?”

After the past twenty minutes, I need something stronger than a beer, but I’ll take what I can get.

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