Page 46 of Daughter of Druids

“That would be great, thanks Nay.”

“Nayome.”

“Right, sorry—I forgot you hated that.”

“So,” Nayome said, as they took their first sips of coffee. He had dropped off the box, what more could they have to discuss?

“Right to the point, just like I remember,” Nick said, attempting to smile at her from across the kitchen. Nayome felt a pang of irritation, because she knew him and it wasn’t a compliment.

Nayome didn’t have a response to give him, and an awkward silence stretched between them. What had she seen in him anyway? He hadn’t been here two minutes, and she already felt her defenses rising in response. His small digs had always had a way of chinking away at her armor, until she was exhausted with no fight left. She had been so caught up in what she was supposed to be doing, the type of relationship she was supposed to be in, she hadn’t been able to recognize all the issues that were being swept under the rug. She could recognize her part in it too. She hadn’t looked at it deeply enough to notice they weren’t working either, had pushed forward blindly because she hadn’t wanted to, or had the time to consider another alternative.

Looking at Nick now, sleek hair, impeccably dressed in the latest style, she felt some of the resentment she had been carrying fade. She would not forgive him for cheating, that had been unnecessarily cruel. But she was glad, in a way, that he had done something to force the split. She wouldn’t have done it otherwise. She had been blind to the reality that they weren’t working, to the image of what she thought she wanted, to have pulled the plug on it herself. She was better off now, and she didn’t want to waste any more of her energy hating him in order to move on.Maybe a life and death experience is what I needed to grow up about all this, Nayome thought to herself as the silence stretched on.

Nick cleared his throat, and shifted uncomfortably under her gaze.

“So,” she said, deciding to put an end to the drawn-out silence.“You wanted to talk?”

“Yeah, I…” Nick took another sip of coffee, a thoughtful look replacing his momentary discomfort. “I wanted to apologize, properly, for what I did to you.”

“I appreciate it,” Nayome murmured, glancing away from him and taking a sip of coffee, willing the caffeine to do it’s work and give her some energy for the rest of this conversation. She was surprised to find that she actually did appreciate it, hearing him apologise was something she hadn’t realize she had been waiting for these last couple years.

Nick looked non-pulsed, like he had expected more of a battle.

“You didn’t deserve what I did, I was a coward the way I handled everything…”

“I am not going to disagree with that,” Nayome agreed.

Smiling sardonically, Nick breathed out. “Thanks. For taking the time to hear me out. You would have been well within your rights to grab your mom’s box and shut the door in my face. It’s all been weighing on me lately.”

“What changed?” Nayome asked, genuinely curious.Nick, evolving as a person—who would have thought?

“I…well…” Nayome watched as a smile slowly spread across his face, as though he was fighting it, but couldn’t keep it down. “My daughter was just born last week,” he gushed. “Actually, we were clearing out space in one of the closets to make room for more storage, that’s how I found your mom’s box.”

“Ah,” Nayome said. “Are you and…Cindy, was it?”

Clearing his throat awkwardly, Nick nodded. Well, what do you know. The blond with the rack had been a legitimate love interest. Somehow, Nayome felt a bit better. At least Nick had real feelings for the girl. It didn’t make up for his behavior, but it made the memory sting a bit less. All this time she had thought he had cheated with a fling, casually tossing her aside for someone he didn’t even care about. It had felt callous and pointlessly cruel, and she welcomed the edge being taken off some of her anger about the whole thing.

“Listen. I’m not going to forgive you for the overlap. You should have grown a pair and cut things off with me before you started things with someone else.”

“Agreed,” Nick said, looking like a puppy with its tail between his legs. Nick had always had the ‘cute, sheepish, please forgive me’ look down to a science.

Rolling her eyes, Nayome continued. “I am happy for you, that you were able to make it work. And a daughter…” It was strange, Nayome had never really pictured having kids with Nick. But seeing the glow, the beaming pride that he was trying, and failing from plastering all over his face, shewashappy for him. Happy for his daughter, who clearly had a dad that was already wrapped around her little finger.

“You’ve come a long way, Nick. Don’t screw it up.”

“I’m trying not to. Really.”

“I believe you.”

Leaning back in the stool he had sat in, Nick looked like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Nayome wasn’t completely sure why she was being so nice to him, or that he deserved her compassion. But it felt right. It was making her feel better about everything too. Lighter. Like this had been weighing too heavily on her, and someone had just opened the drapes to let some fresh air in.

“We were friends for some time before we got together,” Nick said.

Nayome nodded, feeling that familiar pang of regret. They had met in University and had been pretty good friends for years before things moved into a romantic direction. And Nick had kept their friends in the split. Looking back, Nayome had to admit she had thrown herself into work and not put much effort in to stay in touch with anyone. Nick had been the extrovert in their relationship and kept her social.

“I miss that,” Nick continued. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and I was ashamed of the damage I did to us. I want to be better, for my daughter. It would be great if we could…”

“I don’t know how friendly I feel towards you, Nick.” Nayome’s instinct was to turn him down. But…she had been so overworked the last few years, she did miss having friends. She had lost more than just a relationship when her and Nick split. All she really had now were ‘work friends’, and when was the last time she had done anything social with them? She couldn’t even remember. “I’ll think about it,” she conceded.

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