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And none of the men I met were you…
Nick dipped his chin and continued. “You always made me feel less alone. You always believed in me and lifted me up.” His lips curved slightly. “You even helped me clean my disaster of a bedroom…”
Yeah, so we had somewhere tidy to snog. Evie glanced back, fondly remembering the endless summer days up in his room.
“…No one understands my love of Jenga like you do or lets me sing to Grease 2 in the car. Looking back, you star in all my favorite memories. You remind me of what’s good in this world, and I was so stupid to let you go.” He blinked up at her. “Evie, I’m so sorry. I know I have no right to ask, but I’ll do anything to get you back. Whatever it takes, I just want to be with you. For always.”
She toyed with her hoodie’s strings as silence settled between them.
For years she had kept Nick at arm’s length. Avoiding, hiding, changing plans so they wouldn’t be in the same place at the same time, fearful his presence would tear open old wounds and unleash more hurt.
But now? If the past two months had taught her anything, it was that regardless of what life threw at her—a damaged shop, an injured cook, a Crohn’s flare—she would be okay. None of these unforeseen hiccups had broken her spirit or her resolve.
And neither would the unexpected return of her first love, or the truth about how and why their relationship had come to a painful end.
The Nick sat beside her was different, too. He was more self-aware and emotionally mature, and he took full responsibility for his actions. While the prospect of being vulnerable again was scary for Evie, it was also invigorating. But with his sincere apology melting her heart and her gut screaming, Just kiss him already!, there was still one final puzzle piece to slide into place.
“Why didn’t you say anything about the Dalston reboot?”
“Oh, I wanted to so badly, but I signed an NDA. We all did.”
The tension in Evie’s shoulders eased.
“Well, I say that. Obviously, someone broke confidentiality and contacted The Mail.” Nick sighed. “But I can see how my lack of transparency might’ve looked like I was being secretive or, you know, lying by omission.”
“No, I get it,” said Evie.
“But now that the cat’s out of the bag, I can tell you I’ll be executive producing the film.”
Her brows rose behind her bangs. “You’re not acting?”
“Well, I’m penciled in for a Jake cameo”—his lips parted into a bemused grin—“with his now fourteen-year-old son.”
Evie fell back into the couch. “No way!”
“I know, right?! I feel so bloody old.” Nick laughed with charming self-depreciation. “This reboot is a next-generation thing. Jake’s kid will be the heartthrob, not me.”
“It’ll be amazing,” she replied genuinely then paused for a beat. “Thank you for telling me. I won’t tell anyone.”
“I know. You’ve always kept my secrets.”
She nodded slowly with a slight grin. “NDAs aside, if we’re trying again, we have to be honest about everything.”
His face lit up. “So you still want to be with me?”
“Yes,” said Evie. “We were both so young back then, trying our best, making mistakes, but like Fi said to me, just because it didn’t work out for us before, doesn’t mean it won’t now.”
Nick wrapped his arms around her. “My Tigs, I never stopped loving you.” His brown eyes sparkled. “It’s always been you.” The smile in his whisper brought happy tears to Evie’s eyes.
She let out an elated laugh. “It’s always been you.” The heartfelt words tumbled off her tongue. “I love you, Nick.” Hesitation gone, Evie pressed her mouth against his, the tenderness of his kiss drawing a grateful sigh from her throat.
THIRTY-THREE
EVIE
Now, Wednesday, August 22
The sweaty break of Evie’s fever the morning after their heart-to-heart meant her missed biologic infusion could go ahead at the hospital several days later.
