Page 112 of Win Some Love Some
“I get it. She doesn’t want you to. Listen,” Wyatt looked out all the windows like someone might be watching, and dropped his voice to a whisper. “If you tell my wife I said this, I’ll deny it and kick your ass so hard I’ll make the beating you’re about to get from Roy seem like a love tap, but…sometimes, sooooometimes, very occasionally, very rarely...women are wrong.”
“That’s it. That’s your big epiphany? When have you told Sydney she was wrong?”
“Oh no,” he said. “You can’t tell them they’re wrong, you have to show them, but make it seem like they came to the conclusion on their own. It’s advanced relationship stuff.”
Well, I’d been in a relationship with Nora for most of my life, and I was dead serious about her. About us. And I couldn’t have Roy thinking I was an asshole, how would that help me?
“You’re right,” I said to Wyatt.
“Of course I am,” he said. “You want to go get a beer?”
“Maybe another time,” I said and put the truck in gear. “I’ve got to go get my nose broken.”
23
Nick
Idropped Wyatt off at his cottage and then drove straight to Nora’s house.
Lying to Roy sucked. Not telling Nora how I felt sucked. Pretending something life changing wasn’t happening to me sucked. There was no way I was letting my past interfere with my future, and I knew without any shadow of a doubt that my future was Nora.
I banged on the front door. “Nora! Nora, are you home?”
Bethany yanked open the door. “Hi, Nick.” She wore pajamas and her hair was wet and combed back from a shower.
“Hey, Beth, is Nora home?”
She nodded. Her eyes were wide and she was looking at me funny. The kid didn’t have a phone though, so no way she knew anything. She did, however, play on that ipad.
“Nora!” she called out over her shoulder “Your boyfriend’s here!”
“Bethany!” I heard Nora from the top of the stairs. “I told you to stop with that!”
“You know?” I asked her. “About us?”
She nodded her head real big. “Charlie told Mom over FaceTime and I was listening from the dining room.”
Okay. Vanessa knew. I could deal with that. She was probably on my side. Team Nick all the way.
“Hello, Nick.”
Vanessa joined her daughter at the door and stared daggers at me. “Vanessa, I can explain.”
“How you’ve been lying to us for months?” she asked and I blanched. “Or is it years? Nora isn’t telling me anything-”
“Mom!” Nora thumped down the stairs and now I was staring down three Barnes women in the doorway. “He’s not talking. We’re not talking. Our business is just that. Our business. Nick, what are you doing here?”
“I have to tell Roy the truth,” I said.
The daggers disappeared and Vanessa clapped. “See honey, he’s going to confess. No more secrets.”
“No!” Nora shouted. “There’s nothing…there’s no fucking point…”
“There is every fucking point,” I interrupted. I wasn’t having this conversation on the front steps, I came inside and shut the door behind me. I gathered Nora’s shaking hands in mine. “You are the fucking point.”
“That is very sweet, but can we watch the language with Bethany in the room?” Vanessa asked in her Disney princess voice.
“Mom, it’s okay. I’ve heard it before. Daddy says it all the time,” Bethany said, munching on popcorn she was pulling out of the couch cushions.
