Page 14 of Filthy

I took a step into the room as Claire beckoned me over. “Maybe it’s time you tell Nix all the things you have shared with me.”

With a tilt of Claire’s head, Hattie turned and looked up at me. She sat up quickly, wiping the tears from her face. “What are you doing here?”

“I came for you.”

“Why?”

“Because I told you, I’ll always be here for you, Hattie.” I sat down on the side of her mother’s bed and pulled her hand into mine. “Did you mean that? What you said a minute ago? Do you still love me?”

Her shoulders shook, and she nodded her head. “More than anything in the world.”

“Good, because that’s something we can work with.” I pulled her into my arms as her mom wiped tears of joy from her eyes. “I’ve never stopped loving you either, Hattie Anderson, and I pray I never will.”

We stayed and had coffee with her mom after I called and changed Hattie’s flight again. It’s a good thing I get paid well because the cost of changing all these flights was a bit ridiculous. It was time to show Hattie what I had been working on, for her, for us. As we stepped out of the nursing home, she started towards my mom’s car.

“Hang on, let’s go this way. I want to show you something.” I said as I pulled her down the street towards the bike shop I opened last year.

When we got to the door, I pulled my keys out of my pocket and unlocked it.

“Where are we?” she said, looking up at the sign out front before she pulled her hands up over her mouth in surprise.

Hattie’s Bike and Burgers was the dream we had when we were together. A bike shop and diner that was open and welcoming to everyone in town and everyone passing through.

“You didn’t.” She said, looking over at me.

“I did. Come on, let’s go in. It’s freezing out here.”

I walked in and realized she hadn’t moved. I reached for her hand and pulled her to me. “Do you hate it?”

“No... I… I love it. I just can’t believe you did it. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I planned to when I started it, but we haven’t really been on talking terms for a while now.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, we both fucked up back then.”

“When did you do all this?”

“We opened a year ago. Just before Christmas. I went to your house last Christmas Eve. I thought maybe if I came to tell you then we could talk, but when I got there your mom’s nurse had said you were out and she was taking a nap. By the time I got back home, I realized it was a shitty idea, anyway. I didn’t want to pull you away from any time you had with her, but for some reason this year feels different. It feels like it's time for you to know.”

“The diner?”

“Right through here.” I pushed a two-way door open and flipped on the lights. “I tried to remember everything you said you would have wanted. My mom helped with some of the recipes, but it’s definitely not the same as your cooking.”

“Nix, I... I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything.” I said, pulling her into my arms. “Just because things between us didn’t work out didn’t mean we couldn’t still have our dream.”

“I can’t believe your mom didn’t say anything.”

“I told her I’d change the locks if she did.” I said with a laugh. “She keeps up with the diner while Charlie runs the shop for me. I haven’t been back all year, but it’s comforting to know we have it here in case I wanted to.”

“You’re so lucky to have such an amazing family.”

“I am, but when I say we have it here, I mean me and you. Half of this place is yours, Hattie. I always meant it to be that way. I have your share of profits in the bank and the papers you need to sign to make it official. I figured we sucked as boyfriend and girlfriend, but we were always good at being friends. Maybe we could be good at being business partners, too. But now I want more than that. I want everything with you, Hattie. I want to go back to the city with you and live our lives together. Or if we decide we would be better off being here with family, then I want to move you back here with me. We could run Hattie’s together and just live our lives the way we want to live them.”

“Are you sure about all this?”

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