Page 17 of My Heart To Heal

Nick Barber And I AreGoing To Be Besties

Missy

‘You should probably thinkabout getting a Christmas tree.’

Doug’s southern drawl floats across the dinner table as we eat. Jonah and I have been staying at Cara’s for the past couple of weeks while Doug and his guys fixed up my apartment. Grandpa’s house was easy to rent out and the family wanted to move in pretty fast, so all our stuff is in storage, and we temporarily have roomies.

‘Huh?’ Cara questions as she serves more vegetables to Bowie and Jonah.

‘Missy, she’s going to want to set up her Christmas tree — only a couple of weeks until the big man comes.’ He winks at the kids, who giggle excitedly.

‘Where am I going to put it? In Cara’s guest room?’ I point upwards and smile, amused.

‘Well, you can, but it’d be better in yourapartment.’ I hold his gaze, a smile tugging at my mouth as his smirk lifts his cheeks. ‘You can move in after tomorrow, honey.’

‘Oh my god.’ I stand in a rush, pushing my chair back and running around the table to Doug, who stands, laughing at my excited approach. ‘Are you serious?’

‘Yeah, it’s done. Clean-up crew heading in tomorrow.’

‘Oh, Doug. I love you,’ I turn to Cara, ‘in a strictly platonic way, of course.’

She laughs as I hug her man.

‘Baby, we’re moving.’ I open my arms up to Jonah who runs to me, and I swing him around. He can’t wait to be close to Bowie, and I can’t wait to set up our new lives together.

Home, sweet home. Iflop down onto my sofa in my new living room and prop my feet up on a box of books I’ve yet to unpack.

‘Mama, my bedroom is purple.’

Jonah runs excitedly toward me and jumps into my arms.

‘Well, it’s your favorite color. Of course it is.’ I brush his soft brown hair back from his eyes and hold his little cheeks in my palms. ‘You like it, baby?’

‘I love it.’

Holding my sweet boy close, I kiss his head and breathe deeply. We’re home, and this is the start of a beautiful future for us.

‘You can go play, honey. I’m going to fix us something to eat.’

Jonah runs back to his room, and I lean my head back, taking in the moment.

My furniture is the same, as we had a house full of stuff already, so I didn’t need to buy anything new, but it all feels different here. It feels like the start of something special.

My beautiful olive-green walls, dark grey, sleek kitchen, and hardwood floors make my stomach flip over with excitement. This is my home: mine and Jonah’s. We get to celebrate holidays and big moments here. We get to spend time with people we love, people who are now so close to us, people who made this life that lies ahead possible.

Jonah gets to play with his best friend every day, and yeah, we don’t have a yard, but we have friends who do. We have wide open green spaces, a lake,and a main street where people drive slowly and the children in town are treated with kindness and respect.

My gentle boy will be safe and loved here, and for the first time in my life, I’m going to be working for myself. I will have my own salon. I thought I’d have to wait until Jonah finished school to be able to consider setting up my own place, but here I am, sitting in my new apartment above a salon that will soon be open for business.

I hear a door close in the hallway and check the time: just after six p.m. I wonder if this is his usual time to get home from work. I wonder if he realizes we moved in today.

I now know that the man who sold the building to Cara is Nick’s father — James Barber, the barber — I laugh to myself remembering the five minutes of confusion where Bree told me his name was Barber, and I couldn’t understand that she wasn’t just referring to his job.

‘He’s a Barber.’

‘Nick?’

‘Yeah.’

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