Page 111 of Keep My Heart
‘I really like your brother’s new place,’ Tom says to Nick. ‘The beer’s good and I like what he did with the renovations.’
‘Our cousins came up from Chicago to do it. They have a construction company. They specialize in restoring old buildings.’
‘They did a great job. It feels new, but still has the historic charm of the original building.’
‘Tom loves old buildings,’ Diane explains. ‘Every time we go on a trip he has to look up the history of the buildings.’
‘Next time my cousins are in town you should get together with them,’ Nick says to Tom. ‘They could tell you all about the buildings they’ve worked on.’
‘I’d like that.’
‘When do you think you’ll be back here?’ Diane asks Nick.
‘I’m not sure.’ Nick glances at me. ‘Maybe we should come back for the festival.’
‘We should.’ I smile at him, loving that he used ‘we’ to describe us.
‘Lyndsay said she’s thinking of moving to New York,’ Diane says, eyeing Nick like she doesn’t trust him. Why is she being like this? She’s my friend, not my mom.
‘That’s the plan,’ Nick says. ‘We haven’t worked out all the details yet.’
‘But you’re thinking it’ll be soon?’
‘Why would I wait?’ I say to Diane. ‘I don’t need to stay in LA.’
‘Rent in New York is ridiculous,’ Tom says. ‘You could get a mansion here for what you’d pay there for a studio apartment.’
Oh, great, now Diane’s got Tom trying to talk me out of this.
‘It might be good to move home for a month or two,’ Diane says. ‘Save up some money.’
‘Would you stop?’ I whisper to her, giving her a look that I mean it.
‘It’s not a bad idea,’ Nick says.
I turn to Nick. ‘You think I should live here instead of New York?’
‘Not permanently. Just until you’re ready to make the move.’
‘But then we’d be apart.’
‘Why don’t we talk about this later?’ he says, glancing at Diane and Tom.
I let it go, but I’m not happy. Why does Nick want me to wait to move there? Is it because of what Diane said, or is he getting cold feet about having me there? He said he didn’t have time for a girlfriend. Is he having second thoughts about us? If he is, we shouldn’t be spending the night together.
‘Oh, I love this one!’ Diane says as a slow, romantic song comes through the speakers. ‘Tom, get up. We have to dance.’
He sighs as he stands up. ‘Okay, but I’m not doing this all night. You know I hate dancing.’
‘And you know if you stop complaining what will happen later.’
A slight grin appears on his face as he follows her to the dance floor.
‘Would you like to dance?’ Nick asks.
I would, but right now I’m annoyed with him. Why is he siding with Diane, wanting me to wait to move to New York? Does nobody trust me to make my own decisions?
‘Could we talk first?’
