Page 33 of The Meaning Of You

He was an uncomfortable distraction.

Yes, that was it in a nutshell.

Nick Fisher was officially an uncomfortable distraction.

I stared at his text. Case in point.

Are you awake?

I should’ve put my phone back on the bedside table and tried to sleep. Yeah, right. I typed,Unfortunately, yes.

My phone rang in my hand, scaring me half to death. I put it on speaker and set it on the pillow next to my head.

“Can’t sleep?” Nick’s voice filled the darkness of the room, hoarse and a little broken.

“Too hot,” I answered.

He groaned. “Tell me about it. I’m lying on the couch with the fan blowing in my face and I’m still sweating.”

“Don’t you have air con?” I remembered the unit on his lounge wall.

“Hate the thing. Gives me a headache.”

I chuckled. “And sweating like a pig on a spit at one in the morning is so much better, right?”

He went quiet. “That’s something he would’ve said.”

I didn’t have to ask whohewas as a yawning silence opened between us. I let it ride for a while, listening to the soft cadence of his breathing as if he were lying next to me.

When he finally spoke again, his voice was brittle, almost fragile. “We met at a New Year’s Eve fancy-dress party; did I tell you that?”

My eyes fluttered closed and my heart squeezed. “No, you didn’t. Doesn’t sound like your kind of thing if I’m honest.”

Nick huffed. “And you’d be right. Don’t know what I was thinking at the time. Anyway, it had a movie theme, so I went as one of theMen in Black.”

I snorted. “Of course you did. Type casting and minimal effort.”

He laughed and it almost sounded genuine. “Davis was dressed as a very tall Ewok.”

My turn to laugh. “I’ve only seen photos of him, but he was over six feet tall, wasn’t he? I’m surprised he found a costume to fit.”

“Six three,” Nick clarified. “And he looked fucking ridiculous, which is exactly what I told him and was still telling him thirty minutes later when he kissed me and told me I was the sexiest man in the room and that we should get out of there immediately.”

Something sharp tugged at my chest. “Love at first sight, then?”

Nick was quiet for a second before chuckling. “Hardly. I ghosted him after the first time, but he was a persistent bastardand eventually I agreed to a second date, not that the first was a date, as such. Just a bit of mutual blowing off steam.”

I wasn’t sure I wanted any more details. “And then you end up getting married. Pretty amazing.”

“Yeah.” I could feel him smiling. “Although, God knows what he ever saw in me.”

A lot, I thought to myself. “Tonight must be hard, then. Lots of memories and the first New Year’s Eve on your own.”

He huffed. “The second, really, but who’s counting?”

I wasn’t sure what to say to that. “I’m guessing that’s why you’re calling me instead of sleeping?”

“That and the heat,” he answered distractedly. “It’s hard. Just when I feel like I’m starting to move forward, something happens and I’m right back wondering if any of it is worth it, again.”

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