Page 23 of Tangled Hearts
I know Dad willwantme to go help with Lexi, but I still about melt from relief when he says, “Of course. I’m just working on organizing some things for our next fundraiser. You won’t miss anything here.”
Nic is still staring at me when I tell Dad I love him and that I’ll be there in a few hours. He doesn’t take his eyes off me at all. I’m not sure what exactly he’s looking at, but it’s starting to get on my nerves, so when I hang up the phone, I glance over at him. “What are you staring at?”
I barely catch the grin on his face as I look back at the road. “Nothing. You. This means a lot to you, huh? Your job?”
“Obviously. Isyourjob not important to you?”
Nic hums. “Of course it is. I lovewhat I do—well, did.”
At the next road, I turn around to head toward Safe Haven while silence falls over the car. “What happened?” I finally ask, unable to push down my curiosity.
“With what?” Nic asks.
I wave a hand through the air. “Your job. Whatever. Why aren’t you working? Why did you come here?”
“You want my life story or something?” Nic asks, laughing a bit.
“Whatever. You don’t have to tell me.” Jesus. Why is he so damn annoying? He wants me to talk to him and be friends, and then I ask him a simple damn question, and he’s gotta be rude about it.
“Calm down, I don’t mind telling you. It’s… heavy, though.”
Well, if there’s one thing I can handle, it’s heavy. “Okay.”
Nic lets out a long sigh. He’s quiet otherwise, and I’m tempted to tell him not to bother. I’m not a terrible person, and God knows I don’t enjoy opening up to strangers. It took my dads six tries to find a therapist I would talk to, and in the end, I only talked because I was worried they were getting frustrated and would give me away if I didn’t. “You really don’t have to tell me,” I say again, quieter this time.
“My mom was sick. Early-onset dementia.” Oh. Okay. I guess he’s going to talk then. “It was small things at first. I’ll spare you the details, but it spiraled quickly. She spent her entire life taking care of me. I wasn’t going to leave her in the end, so I quit my job to stay home with her. It was… exhausting. She needed round-the-clock care, but I wasn’t going to give up on her.”
I nod, even though I can tell Nic’s eyes aren’t on me anymore. I glance over at him to find him gazing out the passenger window. “That must have been awful.”
“It was, but I had people in my corner. My fiancé, and my best friend, Silas.” Oh, he’s engaged? I wonder if Holden knows. “About a month after my mom’s funeral, I decided to get back to work. Found aplace, started, and was finding joy again. I was the lowest on the totem pole as far as seniority, so when they needed to cut hours, I was the first up. I didn’t mind. The last few years had taken a lot out of me, you know?”
I glance over again to find Nic staring at me. “Yeah,” I say, swallowing thickly.
“I heard them before I saw them.” He looks away. “My very best friend in the world fucking my fiancé in our shared bed.”
I can’t help the gasp that slips out of my mouth. “You’re joking.”
Nic laughs. “It’s nice hearing outrage in your voice that’snotdirected at me.”
Well, duh. That’s fucking ridiculous. My bio dad had a history of cheating on my mom, and it made me mad even as a kid. “Well, it’s bullshit.”
He hums. “Indeed. Anyway, I found out about Holden around that same time. I stuck around trying to make it work. Tried to move past it. They were both deeply apologetic. Swore it would never happen again. I kind of hate myself for that. Staying.”
“I get it,” I murmur. “We put up with a lot for the people who are supposed to love us.”
Nic pauses, and I can feel his eyes boring into the side of my face. Finally, he continues. “Didn’t matter how many apologies they gave. I caught them the same way a month later. Put my mom’s house up for sale the very next day. Kicked them both to the curb. As soon as the house sold, I came here. They’re still together.”
“You’re fuckingjoking!”Nic chuckles. “It’s not funny, Nicolas. It’s bullshit. She just left you for your best friend? And Silas—is that his name? Asshole.”
He laughs. It’s so loud and happy that it feels like we’re having two completely different conversations. “Still not my name, and he. But yes, pretty much.”
“Huh?” I ask, looking over at him again.
“The fiancé. Leo. He.”
Huh. I’m not sure why I didn’t consider that was a possibility. My stomach does a strange little flip. What the fuck? Maybe the boba isn’t sitting right. “Well,he’san asshole too.”
“He is, indeed. Anyway, then I came here and met all of you.”
