And this year, instead of being too sick to help, she was right in the middle of the action, cutting up vegetables with her new sister-in-law, Noelle, and Noelle’s sister, Katie. She glanced over at Katie’s date, who was chatting with one of Noelle’s brothers-in-law, who was holding a two-year-old. “The guy you brought is pretty cute. How are things going with the two of you?”
Katie smiled as she glanced up from the cutting board to her date. “They’re going fine. I mean he’s not ‘the one’ or anything, but he’s still a fun boyfriend. I don’t know how much longer it’sgoing to last, but I’m going to enjoy the relationship for as long as it’s good.”
Noelle, who was wearing a Santa hat with the wordsBirthday Girlstitched into it picked up a baby carrot and asked “What’s he missing?” before taking a bite of it.
“I don’t know,” Katie said. “I’m just waiting for the guy who will just kind of grab me by the heart, you know?”
Rachel hadn’t realized it until Katie said it, but that was what she’d been waiting for, too. And Nick had totally grabbed her by the heart. If only her stomach hadn’t also been doing what it had been doing this week.
“How are things with you and Nick?” Katie asked.
Rachel lifted a shoulder in a shrug as she sliced the ends off some Brussels sprouts. “Nick is great. It’s just that I’ve been feeling like a snowball rolling downhill, unable to control the speed or the direction, and after last night, it’s like I rolled right off a cliff.”
“What happened last night?” Noelle asked.
Rachel kept cutting the ends off the Brussels sprouts and slicing them in half. “I have daily, weekly, and monthly plans so everything will stay on schedule and be predictable and nothing will get forgotten, but I haven’t been going off them much lately. Last night, after Nick’s family party—well, his late wife’s family, really—I went into my plans and they were all over the place. Nothing was right, everything was crazy, and it was a total mess. It made me feel even less in control of everything.”
“I don’t understand,” Katie said as she pushed the cut cauliflower from the cutting board into the bowl. “Why did you even go look at it all if things were going fine? Why not just roll with it?”
Rachel hadn’t been good at just “rolling with it” in her entire life. She thrived on plans. “Probably because I was tryingto regain some control. Or maybe because of everything that happened at the party. Or a combination of both.”
She glanced past the dinner tables to where Nick was playing in the family room with all the little kids, fully out of earshot. She let out a big breath and put down the knife, turning to face both Katie and Noelle. “People made so many comments about Nick and me dating last night. I mean, of course, they would—they were Clara’s family, and I was just the person trying to fill her shoes. A lot of them were trying to be supportive, I could tell, but underneath, it was like they just knew that I would never be able to take Clara’s spot.”
And then she voiced the concern that had been growing over the past few days. “What if it’s the same way with Nick? From everything I’ve seen, he and Clara had a great relationship and he really loved her. What if he feels like I could never take her place and he always wishes I was more like her? And what if he isn’t even ready for a new relationship? It’s only been fourteen months since his wife passed away. If I had a husband die, I don’t know that I’d be ready to date again after just that long.”
“Men get ready for a new relationship after a spouse dies more quickly than women do,” Katie said.
“Really?”
Katie nodded. “Scientific fact.” She pointed at Noelle. “Just like Uncle Jim.”
“True,” Noelle said. “He started dating like what? Five months after Aunt Tracy died? But it had been fouryearssince Tracy’s husband had passed, and Uncle Jim had been her first date since.” She turned to Rachel. “But everyone is different. Fourteen months might be all Nick needed.”
“Maybe,” she said, but the worry was still there. “Look how attached Aiden has gotten to Nick.”
All three of them looked over to where Nick was on the floor, kind of wrestling with all the little kids, all of them piling on topof him. The Allreds’ black lab, Captain, was getting in on the fun, too.
“Oh my goodness, that is the sweetest,” Noelle said.
They all just watched him. It really was the sweetest, seeing him have so much fun with the kids and they have so much fun with him. She loved that he was so willing to get on the floor with them. She had plenty of worries in her stomach, but the scene warmed her heart. He had been on his hands and knees, but then raised his torso, still on his knees, arms in the air, and growled. All the little kids squealed and then laughed.
Then Aiden went up to him, wrapped his arms around Nick’s neck, and gave him a tight hug. Nick’s eyes instantly found hers and she could see in that expression that he was worried about Aiden getting so attached, too, which only validated her worries.
“I’m so sorry to dump all of this on you two,” she said. “And it’s your birthday, Noelle! And Christmas Eve!”
Nick stood up, peeled a couple of kids off his legs, said something to them that made them all laugh, and then headed in her direction. Jack opened the last folding chair he’d brought up and came over, too, and both men joined them at the same time. Jack kissed Noelle on her cheek.
“Are you so excited to leave for your honeymoon tomorrow?” Katie asked
“Cancun!” Noelle said. “I can’t wait!”
Rachel was so grateful that both women changed the subject so effortlessly.
“Thanks again for letting us stay at your house tonight,” Jack said. “We’re pretty excited.”
Rachel nodded. “I’ve got the air mattress all set up for you in the living room. It’s definitely worth getting excited over.”
“I’m just glad that we can stay here as long as we’d like without having to think about making the drive back to Golden tonight,” Noelle said. “Oh, and we just heard—our house shouldbe ready for us to move in the day before we return from our honeymoon.”
