Page 97 of Wish Lists and Road Trips

“It’s not exactly like the one you wanted,” Nick said. “But it’s the same color and it has a fireplace. It’s got a window in front for a sign, but I can hang one on a post for you instead.”

My heart.I could barely speak. “You remembered that part.”

“Of course I did.”

I blinked a few times then focused on the screen. He was right, it wasn’t exactly like the one I lost, but oh my God, how I loved it. The siding was similar, an old weathered gray, and it was two stories with white dollhouse trim in the eves.

I swiped to the interior pictures. The upstairs had lofted ceilings and stained glass, and the downstairs was open with pale wood floors and exposed beams. I could picture it, my studio, just like I imagined.

“It needs some work,” he said, “but I thought maybe you’d like that.”

The back of my throat burned with emotion for how much I liked that. I kept scrolling, glancing up at him when I got to the last picture. “It’s in Philly?”

He swallowed. “You said you’d come. I took a chance.”

“But you said no.”

Sean came back then, a man in a uniform by his side. “Here,” he said, pointing at Nick.

“Sir, you’ll need to leave.” The guard took a tentative step toward us.

I held my hand up and glared at him. “Let us finish.”

Nick stepped toward me, ignoring the pitchforks. “I was an idiot, Brit. I should have taken you home when you said you’d come, but I guess it was easier to tell myself you were the one walking away, than to try to make you happy and fail.”

I shook my head. “You did make me happy.”

“I took your advice. I told my dad how I felt and he put me in charge of the company.”

My heart swelled. I was so proud of him, I could cry.

“It’s a lot of responsibility and I still have a lot of people who need me, but giving you up is where I draw the line, Brit. I’m going to make the room. So the house is part of our inventory. If you still want to come with me, it’s yours.” He seemed to get hit with a rush of nerves. “If not, I’ll flip it or whatever.”

My heart was already getting attached but a terrible thought crept into my head, even as I clutched his phone and the pictures to my chest. “You just want to save me because that’s what you do, Nick. You can’t help yourself—when you see a mess, you clean it.”

My lip trembled. A tsunami of tears was building behind my fake confidence, and Nick could tell. Just like that night at Madge’s, he could always tell.

He pressed his thumb to my lip, dragging it downward. “I don’t want to save you, Brit. You’re not a mess, you’re perfect. You think I’ll bail when it’s not fun anymore? I didn’t even know how to have fun until I met you. And you running away from me wasn’t fun, but here I am. This isn’t a phase or a fling or whatever else you think. I’m in love with you.”

That was it. I was a ghost hovering over my body.

Somewhere in the ether, Sean made a scoff in the back of his throat. The security guard walked away.

My mom was silent, jaw unhinged. She might have died of embarrassment, but I was floating. “You’re in love with me?”

“I think I fell in love with you when I saw you on that dock, looking like an angel in the middle of one of the worst moments of my life. And then again at that bar when you punched that guy in the face.” He laughed. “And then a hundred times after that, Brit. You had this way of making me happy when I was determined not to be. Life’s too short to let that pass me by. You showed me that. Please take the house. It’s a tiny gesture after all the ways you’ve changed my life.”

I didn’t know what to say. It felt like all of my dreams were lining up in front of me and—“Oh, no.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I . . . can’t.”

His face fell. “Brit, please, I—”

“No. It’s not what you think. You can’t buy me a house, Nick, and I can’t buy it because I don’t have the money. It wasn’t just a hiccup with the funds. My father cut off my trust. Without it, I’m broke.”

“Your father is going to release your trust.” It was my mother’s voice and my head whipped around to see her staring at my father, chin tipped defiantly. She shot him a scathing look and for the first time in his life, he looked chastened. “If you want the house, buy it yourself. Don’t let him do it. Sorry.” She turned to Nick, and he held his hands up to say he took no offense. “That money is yours. It was willed to you.”

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