Page 11 of The Drummer's Heart

“How is it?” Nicole asked.

Mimi spoke with her mouth full. “You didn’t happen to forget salt, did you?”

Nicole and I looked at each other.

I shut my eyes. “Shit!”

“Language, Atticus,” Mimi scolded.

I’d been in charge of the spices in the sauce, but I hadn’t been able to think straight after Nicole took that phone call. “Sorry, Mimi. Ididforget the freaking salt.”

She licked the corner of her mouth. “It’s delicious, otherwise,” she said, chewing very slowly.

I wiped sweat from my forehead. “Well, I’m glad you think so.”

Nicole went to get a salt shaker, adding some salt to her grandmother’s dish.

Mimi managed to finish the entire plate, which brought me great satisfaction.

“On a scale of one to ten, how did we do?” I asked her.

She hesitated. “Seven, not using the salt against you. Take that as a compliment.”

I had no idea if she was telling the truth. “Next time I’ll strive for ten.”

We served ourselves afterward and ate our dinner at Mimi’s bedside while she ate a pre-packaged ice cream cone for dessert.

After we’d finished, Nicole and I went to the kitchen and cleaned up in silence.

“Nice going on the salt,” she teased. It was the first thing she’d said to me in a while.

“I didn’t forget. I just figured you weresaltyenough for both of us today.” I flashed her a wicked grin.

Rather than replying, she smiled. And it physically hurt to be on the receiving end of that. I would’ve preferred that she snap back with an insult. There was nothing more painful than her smile directed at me. And the harsh truth was, for every smile she might give me, I knew she’d shed far more tears as a result of my decisions.

For the rest of our silent clean-up time, I felt the weight of unsaid words on my back. They would likely stay there the entire two weeks. At least for my sake, I hoped so.

After there was nothing left to clean, no further distractions from each other, I turned to Nicole. “I should go put my stuff away.”

She wiped her hands on a kitchen towel. “I’m not sure if you noticed, but this house is small. There’s only one spare room. Not sure how we should handle that.”

My eyes widened as the logistics dawned on me: There wasn’t just one spare room—it only had one bed.

CHAPTER 4

NICOLE

I obviously hadn’t thought this situation through when I invited Atticus here. There was literally nowhere for him to sleep. I’d somehow thought the living room would be an option. But I’d underestimated how tiny that loveseat was. His long legs wouldn’t fit.

“You can sleep in the bed,” I told him. “I’ll take the loveseat in the living room.”

He laughed. “You might be smaller than me, Nicole, but no adult can comfortably sleep on that thing, not even you.”

“Well, what do you suggest, then?” I put my hands on my hips.

He scratched his chin. “I don’t know yet. I don’t have a solution. I’ll sleep on the floor in the living room for tonight, though.”

Wait. That won’t work. Neitherof us could sleep in the living room. “You can’t,” I countered.

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