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His eyebrows furrowed. “Why? What do you need to do?”
“You.”
Epilogue
West—Two months later
It was a week from Christmas, and we were heading to Doc and Grandpa’s house for their big holiday party. The weather was plenty cold, and I was secretly excited about the bonfire we’d end up having later in the night.
Pippa was seven months old and teething like a son of a bitch. Several of my patients had gotten a huge kick out of seeing me finally realize how ridiculous recommending homeopathic treatments were. No amount of gumming a frozen treat made up for a good, solid dose of baby pain reliever. Her cheeks were rosy from the teething and the cold, but she was having a rare moment of giggly happiness while Nico sang a ridiculous song he’d picked up somewhere about teapots and spouts.
I couldn’t help but stare at him as he held her while he drifted back and forth on the wide swing in the backyard. He’d had the wooden seat engraved with our three names, and ever since then, I’d noticed him bringing her out here more and more despite the December weather.
When I’d asked him about it, he’d blushed and admitted he wanted to start some family traditions that were all our own. Special things that were just for Pippa so that she would feel the importance of what being in a family meant. I’d noticed when he’d had the freshly carved seat put back on, he’d raised the height so my knees wouldn’t be bent up by my chest anymore.
There were more and more times lately when I noticed him making little gestures of unspoken kindness for me. If I pointed them out, he’d scoff at me and deny them to his dying breath, but only minutes later, I’d see him do something else sweet like that. He was thoughtful and kind even if he was still having trouble owning that side of himself.
We’d gotten lucky when he’d decided to make the big move to Texas. Mike and Coco had gotten together and offered to buy the tattoo shop from him, and we were able to stop the sale of Adriana’s house in time for Nico to move into it.
When he’d first gotten back to town, we’d had an awkward period of time when we weren’t sure if we were moving way too fast. By unspoken agreement, we’d kept both our places. But I’d ended up staying at his place every single night until he finally mentioned moving my shit over and making it permanent a few weeks ago.
His little house was tight, so I’d left most of my furniture upstairs at the practice. I wondered if maybe it gave him peace of mind that one or the other of us had a place to go if things got tough between us. Neither of us were naive enough to think it was going to be easy. In fact, I’d suggested going to see a family counselor I knew from the hospital in order to help us with the transition from two single men to a couple with a baby in the span of just a few months.
To be honest, our situation was rife with possible land mines, but I was still surprised when Nico agreed. We’d been going for a few weeks, and I already noticed feeling less pressure to try to make things easy and “right” for Nico. I knew he needed to find his own way as he settled into life in Hobie. I could be there for him, but I couldn’t fix his problems or face his challenges for him.
He’d gone back to painting cakes at the bakery, which he loved, and he was expanding into the space above the bakery to open a small tattoo shop. I’d introduced him to a friend I knew at the nearby military base, and he’d talked with him for a long time about the need for someplace closer than Dallas to get ink.
I had enough money to support both of us, but Nico didn’t want to feel beholden to me for that kind of support. In the end we both agreed to try to figure out a way we could at least make sure Pippa had us around as much as possible.
Doc and Grandpa had offered to help. When Nico couldn’t take Pippa to work with him or work from home with her, Doc or Grandpa would watch her or Nico could bring her to my office and my receptionist Morgan could play with her for a while. It wasn’t foolproof, but we’d try it for a while until things settled down and we learned what might work better.
“You ready?” Nico asked with a smile as he stood up from the swing and began walking toward the front of the house. “My first Wilde holiday party, huh? Gonna be nuts?”
