Page 112 of Love and the Laws of Motion
She swallowed hard.“You’ve been in jail.”
“No, I’m much more valuable to them out of prison than in.”
“Then where—”
“The government has all kinds of hidey holes where they can keep people who are proving useful to them.”
“Nick, just tell me what happened to you.”
He circled around the telescope.“I’m trying.There’s a lot I can’t tell you about.Most of it, in fact.”
Then he stopped, now only a few feet away from her.“But there’s one thing Icantell you.I thought about you every day.A dozen times a day.More.And as soon as they let me travel, I came straight to you.I missed you, Livie.”
She’d been trying so hard to keep her emotions in check since she’d turned around to find him standing there.Sure he’d told her he loved her that day last year in Dean Haverman’s office, but then he’d walked out the door and disappeared.Forfourmonths.Half the time she suspected she’d dreamed the whole thing.The only proof it had all really happened was when Langley’s indictment had come down a couple of months ago.
Throughout all these months, as she’d navigated her move, as she’d built her new life in Colorado, as she’d gotten down to doing the work she’d come here to do, she’d done her very best not to think of Nick, not to pin her hopes on that declaration, not to sit around waiting for him to show up.He’d told her not to.She hadn’t.She’d gotten on with her life like Nick DeSantis had never been a part of it and never would be again.
But here he was, back again, and in an instant, she knew he’d never left her, not for a second.He’d been right here, hiding in her heart, and with the slightest encouragement, she could fall just as much in love with him as she’d ever been.
“I missed you, too,” she finally admitted to him.
A slow grin unfurled across his face.He slid one hand along the length of the telescope as he took a step closer.“You cut your hair.”
Automatically, she reached up to touch it.It was a little past her shoulders now, and slightly thinned into long layers.She’d done it right before she’d moved to McArthur, part of her quest to become a new and improved version of herself.Gone were the oversized flannel shirts and shapeless jeans she’d lived in back home.Gone was that curtain of hair she hid behind.
Nick seemed to like this new version of Livie.His eyes roamed down her body, slowly taking in her skinny jeans and the thin V-neck sweater she wore under her lightweight leather jacket.He raised his eyes to hers again, and the intensity of his gaze sent a shock of awareness through her.“You look really good.”
“So...so do you.”Apparently there was enough of the old Livie still hanging around to leave her tongue-tied the minute Nick so much as glanced at her.
“Are you happy?”
His question took her aback.“Happy?”
“Here.McArthur.Are you happy here?”
“Oh.Yes.I mean, how could I not be?The facilities are amazing.The faculty is totally supportive of my work.I have all the time I need.I only have to teach one lecture class, and no lab.”
“What was this then?”
“This is just community outreach.I volunteered.”
He chuckled.“Youvolunteered to deal with people?”
“I know, I know.But it’s fun, you know?Showing people all the cool stuff out there.Like that kid tonight.He’ll never forget this.”
Nick scoffed softly.“He’ll never forgetyou, that’s for sure.How about Colorado?Do you miss home?”
Sometimes she missed it so much she couldn’t breathe.But that was getting easier.She was proud of her life here, because it washers.She’d gone out and worked for every part of it.Nothing had happened by default, because she was too afraid to try for more.
“Yes,” she finally answered.“I miss my family.But I’m happy here, too.What about your family?”
“I told you, I came straight to you.They’re next on my list.”
“Nick, you should at least call them.They’ve had to go years not knowing where you were.Don’t do that to them again.”
“Relax, I called before I went away and called again on my way out here.I promise, I’m not hiding from them anymore.I’m all done with that.But the reunion will have to wait until later.”
“Later?”
