Page 23 of Win Some Love Some
“Nick said he told you.”
I thought back to some of those texts of his earlier this year.
I have news. Come on Nora, since when are you one to turn down gossip?
“Well, he didn’t.”
“Maybe because you don’t answer his texts.”
“He told you that?”
This time Mom’s expression was easier to read:Gimme a break.
Mom huffed and turned off the burner. “It’s burned. I burned it. How did I burn it when I was watching the whole time?”
“Because you don’t know how to make jam?” I suggested.
“Good point. Now what’s got you so upset about Nick?”
I lifted a shoulder. “No reason. I just…so much happened to him and I didn’t know about it.”
“I thought that’s how things were now between you. And if you ask me, by your doing. I’ll never understand what happened with you two.”
The night of my birthday, I’d told my mom that nothing had happened, that Nick had just been a jerk and I’d gone to my room with my bag of cold fast food. The next day, the topic of Nick Renard was officially closed.
There was no way Nick had talked to my dad about what I’d done. So, my parents were most likely left baffled by the distance I kept between me and Nick.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “It’s ancient history.”
“You’re such a bad liar,” she said, wrapping me in a hug that smelled like burnt peach jam. “So did you see The Locke brothers?” Mom asked.
“I did,” I said. “They were at the Fall Festival.”
Will came sliding towards the stove on his stockinged feet. “It’s so awesome.” He exclaimed. “Liam Lockelivesin Calico Cove now. And he’s so cool. He calls melittle manwhen he sees me.”
Bethany, never one to be left out, came skidding in behind him. “He calls all the boys in town little man. And he calls all the girls, little girly. I don’t understand why but it makes me smile.”
“Don’t tell your father,” Vanessa confessed in a sparkly eyed smile. “Sometimes when Liam sees me in town he calls me little girly and it makes me smile too.”
“Mom!” I shouted. “Focus. I don’t care about Liam Locke. I’m talking about Nick.”
“Yes, I see that. Honey, if you want to know how Nick is handling all this, then I suggest you talk to Nick.”
I couldn’t talk to Nick. Talking to Nick was hard. Talking to Nick made me feel things I’d spent years burying.
He wanted me toget over it.
Only that’s not what he meant. What he meant was he wanted me to pretend that I’d been stupid. That what I’d felt had been nothing more than a silly teenage crush and I’d let my eighteen-year-old self give into her sense of drama and destiny.
Pretend all that and we could go back to normal.
But it wasn’t true. I wasn’t stupid. Or dramatic. It also wasn’t a crush.
I’d loved Nick Renard. With my whole soul. And I’d believed with everything that made up who I was, that Nick and I were special, because we were a one-of-a-kind love.
It was the rejection of that I couldn’t get over. That he didn’t think we were special still hurt.
No one.
