Page 82 of Begin Again
I wouldn’t expect anything less. “Where is Kai?” I ask, walking into the house.
“Out back, he was getting antsy when you didn’t show up on time. Please tell me you’re packed and ready to go because—Wait, where are you going?”
“I need to talk to him. We’re not leaving tonight.” I don’t wait for more questions I’m sure she has, likewhywe aren’t leaving tonight.
No one needs to know why I want to postpone the flight. When Kai asks why, I’ll go with whatever excuse comes to mind, even if it’s as simple as not wanting to be in such close quarters with him right now. It’s better than the truth. If I tell them the truth—if I tell them I was face-to-face with the person (people?) who I think did something to Nick—they’ll have a million other questions to replace the handful they’re going to have about a postponed flight. This is a case of picking your battles, and I’m choosing the easier one.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
MAGNOLIA CAFÉ IS A small coffee shop in the heart of downtown Haven. It’s the perfect place to grab a coffee before I’m stuck on a plane with Kai for five hours. He wasn’t happy I wanted to push back our flight, mostly because he wanted to go to the hospital to see Brina, which I wasn’t in any rush to do. I reminded him we didn’thaveto be in the city until Wednesday morning. Anything else was extra time to get ahead (or to let me see what he had fallen behind on). When he started to argue, I told him to drive down to Denver and catch a commercial flight if he wanted to leave so badly, but our flight was leaving this morning at eight-thirty sharp.
The morning air is warm, and the sunshine already beats down from the clear sky above me as I stand outside Magnolia’s to-go window. Normally, I’d be comfortable in my current outfit—jeans, white camisole, and a flowy caramel-colored button-down left open—on an early spring day, but it might be too much today.
“I thought you’d be on a plane by now.” The gruff voice brings a smile to my lips.
Beau stands behind me with his hands on his hips. He is dressed in black trousers and a tan-colored button-up, with the top two buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up below his elbows. The material hugs his arms in a way that almostmakes me jealous. His badge sits on his left hip, opposite of his holstered weapon. The layers of his short brown hair are styled this morning, but left tousled, giving it volume most women would kill for.
“I should be.”
One of the baristas calls my name, setting my coffee on the windowsill. Not a moment later, she calls out the window again, “Here you go, Sheriff.”
He didn’t even order yet, how did they—Shit. How could I forget? Beau gets his second cup from Magnolia’s every morning before he heads into the station.
Beau plucks our coffees from the window, dropping a five-dollar bill in the tip jar. “You have a minute?”
“Not really, but we’re already here. It won’t kill my brother to wait a few more.”
“Sure about that?” He chuckles, leading me down the steps of the patio to where his SUV awaits.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, ignoring the joke.
Beau sets both coffees on the hood and uses my hands to tug me two steps closer. “I’m sorry, Nina, for snapping at you yesterday. I—”
I cut him off. “Beau, you already apologized.”
“I need to say it again because I was wrong. Going off on you wasn’t acceptable…or professional. So, I’m sorry.”
“Are you saying this as Sheriff Beau or just…Beau?” My fingers tug on the front of his button-down, just enough to earn a small grunt in response when our bodies collide.
“Nina.” It’s a warning.
We’re not even one hundred feet from the coffee shop, barely shielded by his SUV, and technically he’s in uniform…This is not the place.
I take a step back and take a deep breath, rolling my shoulders to stand straighter. “Beau, I need to tell yousomething.” I chew on the corner of my mouth and my stomach sinks meeting his gaze. This is going to hurt. “I’m going back to New York.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“No, I’m going back…for good. Elena and I are moving back.”
Beau’s green eyes narrow at the unexpected announcement. “What do you mean you’re moving back…to New York?”
“I—I think it’s time. It’s been over a year, and I can’t stay in the house when…he’severywhere. Everything about it reminds me of him. I can’t keep living like this, Beau. I can’t. I can’t keep sitting here hoping he’s going to walk in the damn door one day, because he’s not. Nick is gone and he’s not coming back. What happened yesterday only proves it.”
Every time I close my eyes, all I can see are the eyes of the strange man staring back at me. They were so cold, so distant…like he was there, but he wasn’t at the same time.
“Will that make you happy?” Beau asks. The question is so simple, but so heavy all at the same time. Will it make me happy? I don’t know, but it’s the only way I know how to start over.
“I don’t know,” I say.
