Page 111 of Begin Again
She kisses me and I roll next to her. Parting, she runs her nails along my jaw through my stubble. “Elena will be up soon.” She yawns and snuggles into my chest despite what she just said.
“Should probably get moving, then.” I kiss her forehead and with one final kiss on her lips, I peel myself away from her and force myself out of bed.
A few minutes later, she follows me into the bathroom. We get ready for the morning in a dance that feels so familiar it makes my heart soar. The tension—the awkwardness—that had been there the first two days of my return is gone. Our bodies move in tandem with one another.
“Your life, huh?” Nina asks when she finishes brushing her teeth. Hip leaning against the bathroom counter, she waits for me to pull the sweater over my head.
“What?”
“That’s what you said…Good morning,vita mia.”
A blush creeps up my neck into my cheeks when she repeats the words I said not ten minutes ago.
She drapes her arms over my shoulders and stands on her tiptoes to kiss me. “You’re adorable,Fossette.”
When I walk into the kitchen later, the wall of silence practically smacks me in the face. I can almost feel the chill radiating off my brother as he moves from the fridge to the sink and finally the breakfast nook with a bottle of water and a yogurt. Nina watcheshim from the corner of her eye but focuses on the pizzas she’s making for lunch at Elena’s request. Are these two ever going to talk about what happened between them, or are we going to continue to act like nothing happened? It’s been this way all week with no signs of it getting any better. No matter how much I ask Pop what happened, he still won’t tell me. He says I have to ask them, but I don’t think they will tell me.
“Oh, don’t leave on my account,” I say when my brother gets up after finishing his yogurt. “Seems like you two are having a good ol’ time in here.”
“What are you talking about?” Alex rolls his eyes.
I cross my arms, blocking the doorway. It’s time to have this conversation. “I’m talking about whatever is going on between you two.”
“There’s nothing—”
“Cut the crap, Alex. I may still be trying to remember some things and some stuff may be a little hazy, but I can tell you whatever is happening here wasn’t before.” I raise a brow and look between them, but Nina still hasn’t looked up from making pizza. “Nina?”
She sighs, but still doesn’t look up when she asks, “What?”
“You want to tell me what’s going on?”
“Nothing!” Alex throws his hands up in the air.
“Nick.” Nina sighs. She drops the pepperoni she’s been spreading across the dough, and when she looks up, the fight behind her green eyes is obvious. She’s protecting him. Whatever it is, she doesn’t want me to know. “It’s nothing.”
“See,” Alex says. “I told you. It’s nothing.” My brother shoves into my shoulder when he pushes by me to leave the kitchen, like a little kid throwing a tantrum.
I join my wife at the island. “Dee, what is going on?”
“Nick—”
“Davina Bay, don’t you dare saynothingagain.” I grip her chin and force her to look at me. “Nina, please tell me what’s going on. Tell me whatever stupid thing he said so we can move past this. I hate seeing you two avoid each other like this.”
Nina bites down on her bottom lip and steps back, rubbing her eyes. “Nick, please don’t get mad. I’ll tell you if you promise not to get mad. Not to…start something.”
Well, that depends on what he said.
“Nick, promise me.”
“I can’t do that, Nina.”
My wife stares at me for a moment longer before she lets out a defeated sigh. “He was just…concerned.”
“About?”
“Nick, please. Please let this go. Don’t make me do this.”
I have no intention of letting it go, especially not when I know how much it’s affecting her.
