He shifted the way he was holding the phone so he could pull his wedding ring off his finger. Then he held it up between his thumb and pointer finger and just looked at it for a long moment.
He shifted his gaze back to the phone. “I think maybe it’s time I stop wearing this. Actually, today it felt like it was time to stop quite a while ago, and I’ve probably been ignoring that, too. I’m hoping that seeing me take this off and taking the first step to moving on is making you cheer. I mean, in a way, it feels good to be making this step finally.”
He paused for a long moment, not sure what to say. “At the same time, though, I don’t know how I feel about it. I can definitely say there’s not any cheering going on over here.” He shrugged. “But somehow, it also feels right, if that makes any kind of sense. Even though I know this is what you wanted, it’s still hard. Just know that I’ll never stop loving you, okay?”
He twisted in the bed to pull open the drawer of his nightstand and placed the ring inside before pushing it closed.
“Goodnight, Clara.” He turned off his phone and the lamp before readjusting the pillow and lying down, staring up into the darkness, praying that he could make it through everything that lay ahead of him.
Nick wasglad that today had been a remote work day instead of one where he had to drive to the office. The day had been full of both meetings and deep focus work, but it meant that he was able to finish early enough for him and Holly to graba bite of dinner before heading over to their new house with Holly’s dog, Rosy.
When he heard the knock on his new door, he answered it, letting in a gust of freezing wind blowing with it the powdery snowflakes that covered everything. Rachel, Aiden, and their golden retriever were all shivering in the light of the porch, so he said, “Come in, come in.”
“Hey,” Aiden said, “you’ve got the same wreath on your door that we have on ours!”
Aiden shrugged out of his coat and handed it to his mom, then he and their dog raced through the foyer and into the big kitchen, dining room, and family room where Rosy was barking her own hello.
“Welcome to our home that we don’t even live in yet,” Nick said. It felt weird to welcome guests into a home with no furniture—just empty, echoing spaces. He didn’t have a coat rack or even a chair to put their coats on, so he added Rachel’s and Aiden’s coats to his and Holly’s on the railing leading to the upstairs.
Rachel looked all around the area. “I love what you’ve done with the place.”
“I’ve heard that a minimalist look combined with sawdust and accents of construction tools is what’s in this season.”
“I work at a magazine, so I’ve got some contacts. I think I’ll have to put in a call to see if we can get HGTV Magazine to come spotlight the look.”
He chuckled. “I’ve been told that I have the magic touch when it comes to home decor.”
“I can tell by the wreath you chose for your front door.”
His face immediately heated just thinking of their first interaction, before he’d known who she was and when he’d been trapped under an avalanche of the things. Luckily, though, she wasn’t looking at his face. She put her hand on the trim that wentaround the opening into the living room. It hadn’t had any until a couple of days ago. It still wasn’t painted, but all the nail holes were filled and sanded and everything was caulked.
“Seriously, though, this looks incredible.” she walked into the living room, glancing around at all the work he’d done. “You learned all this just by trial and error?”
“Well, in all fairness, the bulk of the errors happened at the previous house.” The kids and the dogs were both racing around the open spaces. They sounded happy and occupied, so he asked, “Would you like the grand tour?”
Rachel appeared interested in the idea, so he took her up the stairs first. Maybe because he was eating up her praise and he’d put in a lot of work on that staircase and railing. As she looked around at the room that would be Holly’s once they moved in, he said, “It’s good to see you again when I’m not trapped under a mountain of Christmas decorations or when we aren’t being called out by a teacher.”
“Neither of us got after-school detention, so I say we call it a win.”
He smiled at her. It had been a very long time since he’d last flirt-bantered. It was nice to know he could still do it, even if he was a little rusty.
The sounds coming from downstairs seemed to instantly turn argumentative, so they hurried back to the family room. Holly and Aiden were having a heated discussion about which parent was more creative.
“Whoa,” he said. “Why am I hearing so many angry voices?”
Aiden turned to Rachel. “She said that since we are making the fireplace here, it means that her dad won. That he’s the best at this kind of stuff.”
Nick was so embarrassed that Holly was acting like she was. He loved that she had a spitfire personality. At least most of thetime. He didn’t love seeing it aimed negatively at others. He was going to have to have a good discussion with her about this later.
“I was just defending your honor, Dad.”
“Hollybear, my honor doesn’t need to be defended. Our guestsdoneed to feel welcomed, though. How do you think you can help with that?”
“Are you trying to be grandpa, Daddy? Because sometimes ‘winning friends and influencing people’ doesn’t feel like the most important thing. Letting someone know when they’re wrong is.”
“Holly!”
She took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “You’re right. Now isn’t the time to point out that Miss Goodrich says she tells us when we got the wrong answer because that’s how we learn. Now’s the time to work together.”
