Page 63 of Falling for Nicole
“Fuck, BAILEY, where are you?” I scream into the empty house.
Running back downstairs, I feel sick the second I enter the kitchen. The back door’s open. “Shit.”
I step out into the small empty courtyard and that’s when reality hits. He’s gone. Turning on my heel, I throw my bag, not caring where it lands, as I run out the front door, screaming his name as the first of my tears drop.
I’ve no idea how long I run around the streets, but my throat hurts from shouting and my tears have long since run out. Deciding to head back, knowing I left the front door wide open and thinking he could have come back, I make my way home.
As I round the corner into the living room, I do find someone in my house, but it’s not who I’m expecting.
“Where the fuck have you…what’s wrong?” Dec asks when he sees the look on my face.
“It’s Bailey,” I sniff. “He’s gone.”
“Fuck, shit.” Before I know what’s happening, I’m pressed up against his hard chest and his arms come around my shoulders. “How?”
“The back door was open. I must have…”
“Shhhhh, it’s okay,” he whispers. “He’ll be okay, we’ll find him.”
He pulls his phone from his pocket the second he lets me go. “What are you doing?”
“Calling Lilly, she’ll help. BJ and Liam, too.”
Within a few minutes, Dec has rallied the troops and I’m instructed to stay put just in case he comes home.
The next couple of hours are some of the longest of my life. I always wanted a dog, but Mum was allergic to them. She told me many times that it would be okay, but I couldn’t do that to her. I knew once she had gone that it was time to find myself a companion, someone to talk to when I was drowning in the pain of losing her. I knew he was the one the second I saw his photo online. I drove the two hour journey the very next day and pretty much demanded that I wasn’t leaving without the puppy in the photo. Thankfully he wasn’t already taken, so only an hour or so later I was heading home the proud owner of my chocolate cockerpoo.
I may have only had him a few months, but I felt like we had a connection from the very first day. He knew exactly what I needed and would cuddle into me when I was feeling sad and look at me like he understood every word when I felt the need to talk it out. He was everything I needed in those first few months without Mum, and now he’s gone, too. I sob into the palms of my hands as I consider the possibility that I won’t ever see him again.
I think I must cry myself to sleep on the living room floor because a crash jolts me awake and I’m on my feet in seconds, waiting to see if my puppy is about to come bounding towards me. He might be the next best thing, but when Dec walks around the corner with Bailey’s empty lead in his hands, I crumble. He manages to catch me just before I hit the floor.
He lowers us to the ground and sits me in his lap. “He’s at the vets,” he whispers as he wipes the tears from my cheeks.
“Is he okay?”
“He was hit by a car—” I put my head in Dec’s neck and cry once again. There’s a small amount of relief because I know where he is, but I’ve no idea if he’s alive or dead and I’m too overcome with grief to find the strength to ask. “The vet said he should be fine,” Dec says, managing to break through my sheer panic. “He’s had surgery but he’s going to be fine. They’ve been ringing you to let you know he was there.”
“I haven’t checked my phone,” I admit. “Can I go see him?”
“She said it’s best to wait until the morning. He’s still coming out from his sedation and needs to be monitored overnight, but the early signs are good.”
I turn on Dec’s lap so I’m straddling him and wrap my arms around his shoulders as tight as I can as I get my breathing back under control.
When I pull back and look into his concerned blue eyes, I feel like part of my world has righted itself. “I’m so sorry,” I whisper. I’m not sure what I’m apologising for exactly; it could be anything, but they’re the only words I can manage.
“Me too.” He continues staring deep into my eyes as his hands come up to my cheeks. “I’m sorry I ever gave you reason to doubt me. I’m sorry I didn’t fight harder, and I’m sorry I was a dick to you tonight. I’m also sorry I haven’t told you something sooner.”
I don’t ask what he means. I don’t think he needs me to, because all of a sudden his lips are on mine and he’s flipping us so I’m on my back. His thighs pin my hips to the ground and his elbows cage in my head, but it’s neither of those that keep me in place, it’s the look in his eyes when he opens them and stares down at me. They’re full of an honesty I’m not sure I’ve ever seen before.
“I love you, Nicole, and I think I always have.”
I suck in a sharp breath at his words as my heart continues to race inside my chest. Feelings I’d tried to lock down a few days ago are suddenly rushing forwards again and I find myself totally speechless as we continue to stare at each other.
“I think this is the point where you’re meant to say something.” A little confident smirk is playing on his lips, but I can see the trepidation in his eyes that he’s just put everything on the line and I’m not going to return the sentiment.
“I think I’ve always liked you really, too.”
His eyebrows rise but I can tell he knows I’m joking. “Oh really?”
