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Eventually, he moved away from me and got out of the car. I
closed my eyes as he started to walk towards the house. I needed a moment before starting the car.
Being with Nick felt good. It felt right.
CHAPTER TWELVE
It had been a week since I told Nick how I felt, and we had practically spent every spare minute together. I knew it was fast, but the way we met and the disasters that followed made it feel less awkward. To us it didn’t feel rushed. He had kissed me first and then I had kissed him as part of a game. What’s more awkward than that? When I was with him, all I thought about was, will this be my forever? I knew he lived in Washington with his father and that it was five hours away. In theory, that wasn’t a far drive to spend every weekend together. In reality, we both had jobs, which meant I’d be working weekends and he wouldn’t. This made me think about my past choices and what I went to college for.
Perhaps I should have chosen better —for the simple reason that the mere thought of not seeing him every day bothered me . . . immensely.
At that moment my mind should have been on the fact that his arms were wrapped around me, but all I thought about was, what if I never saw him again? My heart palpitated at the thought. Even though I was very aware of his hands moving across my back as we lay on the sofa watching television, my mind was elsewhere. He looked down at me, smiling, kissing my forehead. I couldn’t imagine not being with him. But I needed to know before things went any further.
“Nick ,” I whispered.
“Yeah,” he answered, shifting to reach the remote, and turned off the television, giving me his undivided attention, another thing I adored him for. Then he touched my cheek lovingly. “What’s on your mind?”
I could barely get the words out. My heart and mind were running wildly. “How did you know something was on my mind?”
“The look on your face,” he replied. Then, as his fingers stroked the sides of my face, my heart pounded even harder. I was afraid that if I said something it would undo everything that was so magical about us.
I sat up cleared my throat and spat it out. “When are you leaving?”
His eyes narrowed and he looked a little confused. “For— Washington?” he asked. I nodded, and then looked away. “I—I never even thought about it, to tell you the truth.” He sat up, taking my hand in his. “I’ve been enjoying this time with you so much that the last thing on my mind was leaving.”
“A—are you going back?” I asked and finally looked up at him.
“Eventually, yes. I have to.” His smile was thin and strained. “It’s not that far.”
“I know,” I replied, trying to smile. He was right it wasn’t far but do long distance relationships really work? Maybe I could move to Washington if things work out for us—just then the front door opened and Abigail’s voice bellowed down the hall from the front foyer.
“Nicholas, are you home, dear?” Her
heels clacked on the marble floor as she made her way down the hall. Nick stood and walked over to the doorway pulling on his shirt. “Oh, darling, I’ve missed you.” She hugged him, and then looked over at me. “I see you’ve kept busy.” She let go of Nick and sidestepped around him. “Lauren.” She glared at me as though I were sitting there naked.
“Mrs. Foster.” I smiled and attempted to stand when she took Nick’s arm glared at him then they walked away.
“How did things go in my stead?” she asked, practically pulling him out of the room.
“Fine. I spent Tuesday reading . . .” That was the last thing I heard before Nick and his mother disappeared down the hall. Then Mr. Foster walked in and joined me.
“Hello, Lauren,” he said, sitting down on the sofa across from me, his leg crossed over the other.
“Mr. Foster,” I said with a nod. “How was your trip?” I asked.
“Short-lived.” He smiled with a nod.
He was about to tell me something else when Mrs. Foster returned with Nick in tow. She looked right at me, stopping next to the chair I was in.
“Lauren, I’m sorry to end this short, but we have some family business to discuss,” she said, walking towards me. “If you don’t mind,” she added. How could I mind, this was her house. My eyes widened as I looked up at her, slowly glancing over at Nick.
“No, not at all,” I said and got to my feet, thinking that Nick was going to follow me to the door. But when I turned, he hadn’t moved from where he stood. “Call me later,” I said, but it actually sounded more like a question. Walking backwards out of the room I waited for any sort of nod or expression that this was going south. Despite our conversation earlier, I was a bit bothered at his sudden callousness to my departure. He nodded but still didn’t look up at me. The butler met me at the door and showed me out. I stood on the front step getting myself together. I was shaking, and afraid to take another step in case I fell. I’m an idiot. I jinxed. I never should have asked that question. I knew in my gut that asking him was wrong. But I did it anyway. Tears flooded my eyes, the thought of losing him tore me up inside.
When I got home, I searched the house for my mother finding her sitting in the den, reading. I waited for her to look up at me, making an attempt to not interrupt.
“What’s on your mind , honey?” she asked and closed her book over her finger. I screwed my lips, unsure of how to bring it up.
“Abigail got home today after two weeks in Palm Beach, and she practically ran me out the door.” I folded my arms across my chest.
