Page 96 of One More Time
Nicky rushed out of his suite, headed with strong, purposeful strides down the hall, only to see a rolling suitcase emerge from her door. Behind it, clutching the handle with white knuckles, was Lucy.
His heart kicked up at the sight of her, saw little white pops of light in his vision. She looked sad and tired. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and tell her everything was going to be all right.
‘Hi,’ he said.
‘Hi,’ she replied.
He muttered, ‘How are you—’ at exactly the same moment she said, ‘I was just coming to—’
And they both laughed at the overlap.
‘You first,’ he said.
‘I’m leaving … for the airport,’ she said, looking everywhere but at him.
Nicky felt himself flinch at her words. They hit him right between his shoulder blades. Knocked the wind clear out of him.
Shit. That fucking hurt.
‘So early?’ he managed to choke out.
Her lips flickered in the sad imitation of a smile. Then it was gone. ‘Flying commercial. Have to be there two hours ahead.’
Fuck he was an idiot. He’d been waiting all that time, and his twisted rich rock-star brain hadn’t even contemplated the intricacies of commercial air travel as an issue.
Jesus. I should have gotten to her hours before. Now she’s packed up. Already gone.
She stammered, ‘I … I was just coming by to say – I can’t. I can’t go with you. It would be career suicide. To reject tenure. To quit. There’s no going back once you start. It would mean starting over. Signing up for another sixyears of waiting and preparing somewhere else. I … I can’t take that leap.’ She moved back a step. Her voice became impossibly smaller, weaker. Not her. ‘I don’t know how.’
Nicky tried to regain the power of speech. Tried to remember how to breathe, the magic words to keep his heart beating.
Lucy was faster. ‘So I guess this is—’
Before another word could leave her mouth, Nicky slammed his lips to hers. He knew what she was going to say. He knew her next word was ‘goodbye’ and he couldn’t bear it.
Nicky’s tongue found hers and he moaned, the first wave of sorrow gripping his throat and making it hard for him to breathe. Still, he tried to tell her without words how much he loved her and wanted her to stay with him. Hetried. Until he felt her tears on his cheek.
He pulled back and rested his forehead on hers, gasped past the knot in his throat.
‘It was good to see you, Nicky Broome,’ she whispered.
He croaked, ‘It was good to see you, Lucy Rollins.’
She brought her hand to his jaw. He watched her blue eyes flick over his face. Memorizing, he realized.
Fuck.
Lucy took one step, then another. All the way down the gold corridor to the private elevator. It opened instantly at her touch and she disappeared behind the sliding doors.
She didn’t look back. Not once.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
LUCY
There was a heatwave in Ohio. It seemed like there was always a heatwave now. How could they continue to call it a heatwave when one came right on the heels of another with only a day or two in between when the temperature dipped below ninety? Shouldn’t they call them cool patches instead?
It was a trivial train of thought, but a nice break from the 24/7 Nicky show that seemed to be Lucy’s new normal.
