Page 75 of Love Around the Corner
“Oh. But what about before that? In California?”
He rubbed his hand across the top of his head as he looked around at all the blank whiteness. “Palo Alto, Mountain View, San Jose, Santa Clara... I bounced around a lot. Sublets, mostly. And I didn’t plan on moving here. I met Poppy and didn’t go back.”
How could someone be this completely rootless? Eight years since he’d left home and he hadn’t once planted himself anywhere. It gave her a cold, hollow feeling in her stomach, imagining all that wandering, with nowhere to call home, no safe place to go. She remembered Poppy’s apartment—its impersonal coldness, not a hint Nick had even lived there. At the time, she’d blamed Poppy, thinking she kept it that way on purpose. Now she suspected it was Nick’s doing. Engagement or not, he’d never seriously committed to that situation, not even enough to properly move in with her. It was no wonder he was already chafing at living with the Romanos. All that family and togetherness—their roots that stretched so far and went so deep—must be absolutely terrifying to him.
“What’s your plan? Are you going to sleep on the floor?”
“I’ve done it before.”
Seeing the irritated look she aimed at him, he relented. “Okay, obviously I need to buy some stuff. What do I need first?”
She’d spent her whole life living in a house continually inhabited by her family for four generations. Their problem had always been too much stuff. Layers upon layers of it, each new generation adding more while rarely getting rid of what was already there. Faced with such an empty void, Livie was at a loss. How did you turn this into a living space?
“You need everything. Furniture, lamps, rugs, kitchen stuff.”
“I don’t suppose you’d want to—”
She threw up her hands. “Don’t look at me. I’m terrible at shopping.”
“Do you think I can hire someone?”
“I guess you’ll have to.”
He sighed again, running his hands over his face. “I don’t suppose you know where I should look for someone?”
“Not a chance. I could help you out writing a paper about sub-atomic particles in space, but interior decorators? Sorry, you’re way outside my area of expertise.”
They were both silent for a moment as they looked around at the endless yawning expanse of empty apartment.
“Except...”
Nick looked up at her expectantly.
Once again, Livie had something Nick needed. This time it was two women with a passion for HGTV and no homes of their own to tinker with. “I could ask my family.”
“Gemma and Jess?”
The idea of Jess picking out sofas and wall art made her laugh out loud. She’d hate that as much as Livie would. But Gemma wouldn’t. And neither would Kendra. “Gemma and my cousin Kendra. They’re both really into this stuff. They might be willing to help.”
“Seriously? I’ll hand over my Amex Black. Take it. They can buy whatever they think I need. I don’t care.”
Gemma and Kendra set loose to shop without a limit? Even if they were doing it for someone else, it would be like Christmas coming early.
“I’ll ask.”
His relief was palpable. He walked toward her, arms outstretched, then he pulled her into a tight hug. “You’re a lifesaver, Livie.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her cheek on his shoulder. Such a warm, perfect place to be. But perfect things were always fleeting.
“Nick?” she murmured into his shoulder. He was going to run soon, she knew that. It might be easier for her to handle if she knew he wasn’t running back out into his rootless existence, and there was a way she might be able to make that happen.
“Yeah.”
“I’m happy to loan you my family when you need them, but you know you have your own, right?”
He pulled back to look at her. “What?”
“You have family. Maybe they’d want to help you out, if they knew you needed help.”
