Page 107 of Begin Again
Pop laughs a full, hearty sound. “Oh, you’ve got to be joking.”
“You haven’t seen them together, Pop.” He didn’t see them yesterday. The way she looked at him. The way she clung to him. The way she instinctively went to check on him after I punched him was like it was second nature. And anyone who saw how he looked at her would notice it immediately.
There was no denying it.
“I have seen them together and I can tell you she doesn’t love him. Maybe she has some feelings for him, but I’m gonna tell you something, Nicholas. That woman only loves one man and it’syou.”
Tears prick the corners of my eyes.
“She never stopped loving you, regardless of what has happened. Regardless of how stubborn and bullheaded you’ve been over the years, or how much you have harassed her about her job and all that comes with it, or you lying to her about her mother…Nina Villa has always lovedyou. She never stopped looking foryou. She dropped everything and ran toyouwhen she heard you were alive. Where is she right now? It’s not with Beau. It’s right here…withyou. You’re too wrapped up in your feelings to see the truth.”
“What if she doesn’t want me when she realizes I’m not the same man she fell in love with?” I bite down on the inside corner of my mouth, swallowing the thickness growing in my throat.
“Are you still Nick Davis?”
“Yeah, I guess…But—”
“That’s all that matters. You’re still you, Nick. You’re just a little different, or maybe a lot different. We all are. You and Nina, you two will figure this out, but you gotta give yourselves the grace to do it.”
My wife kisses our daughter on the forehead, pulls the blanket up to her shoulders, and turns off the light. There’s a level of surprise in her eyes when she looks up and meets my gaze, but we don’t speak as she closes Elena’s door and I follow her to the kitchen. Thankfully, everyone else has already gone to bed, so there isn’t anyone left to distract us from finally having the long overdue conversation.
Nina begins to pull dishes from the dishwasher and put them away, but I stop her. Taking her hand in mine, I remove the plate from her grasp and set it on the counter. “What are you—”
Her words are lost when I kiss her, and she melts into my embrace. Her hands grip my shirt, and she tugs me forward as I explore her mouth, eliciting a moan from her.
“What was that for?” she asks when we part, her eyes still closed.
“I missed you.”
Dark emerald orbs blink open, meeting mine, but she doesn’t say anything. She doesn’t have to. I can see every emotion running through her mind behind her eyes.
“Can we talk?” I ask, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and running my fingers through her hair. “Please.”
Nina sighs and closes the dishwasher in silent agreement.
When we get to the bedroom she closes the door and leans back against it. After a few heartbeats, she creeps farther inside, arms folded over her chest, waiting for whatever is about to come. We’ve never been like this. Even when we’ve had disagreements in the past, there has never been this air of uncertainty between us, and I hate it.
I hate that it feels like we’re dancing around each other, avoiding the well-placed landmines waiting for an unsuspecting victim. We haven’t done this dance since I was hiding the shit about her mom and ex-boyfriend, trying not to slip up and tell her when hiding it felt like the only way to protect her and my family.
I take a deep breath and say, “I’m going to ask you something and I want you to say the first thing that pops into your head, okay?”
Her brow raises at my question. “Interesting way to start this off, but okay.”
I swallow the lump of nerves building in my throat, pushing it back down into my stomach. I don’t know what will happen next, but I know I have to ask. I need to hear the answer straight from her lips. “Do you love him?”
Nina freezes. “W-what?”
“Do you love him?”
Her gaze narrows. “Do I love who?”
“Beau! Nina. Do you love Beau?” I pinch the bridge of my nose. The longer we play this game, the more it makes me sick.
The next moments feel like a lifetime, waiting for her to answer.
Nina sighs, falling onto the edge of the bed. “Not like I love you.”
“That’s not good enough, Nina.”
