Page 35 of Don't Forget Me
Liz brushed a loose strand of hair out of her eyes. “I need to check the sauce.” She ducked around him, erecting the wall around her even higher.
Nick’s breath released in a rush of frustration as she stirred the sauce she’d stirred a million times.
“Can you set the table?” she asked, not looking at him.
“I figured we’d eat out on the deck.”
“No, Nick. Set the table. That’s where dinner is eaten.” She gave him a motherly scowl as if he was a disobedient child.
And he kind of liked it.
As he gathered plates and silverware, he chuckled to himself. “I haven’t eaten a home-cooked meal in a long time.”
“That’s kind of sad.”
Her words followed him as he walked into the dining area to the glass table that sat surrounded by high-backed, sky blue upholstered chairs. He didn’t want her pity, for her to look at him and see the TV dinners of his childhood or the restaurants he used as an adult so he wouldn’t have to eat alone every night.
For a guy who didn’t like the company of many people, he liked his own company even less.
Once he set the table, he watched Liz put the finishing touches on their meal. Every ingredient she’d wanted had been in the kitchen as if it was some magical place. To her, he supposed it was. She moved as if she loved where she was, with the grace of someone who knew what they were doing.
After draining the pasta, she put it into a skillet and ladled sauce over it before dumping in a bowl of cooked vegetables. Broccoli, onions, peppers.
A few moments later, she carried their dinner to the table. Nick followed with the plate of bread—slicing it being his only contribution.
They served themselves and began to eat in silence. Friendships were developed, not made right on the spot in order to stop fighting, and this was just awkward.
“The sauce is delicious.” It was. He couldn’t remember the last time anyone took such care to make him dinner.
Liz rewarded him with a smile.
Nick had grown used to the silent dinner by the time Liz spoke. “Evelyn is spoiled rotten.” Affection laced through her voice. “But she’s also gives the sweetest hugs.”
“Evelyn?” He worried his question would make her stop, but it didn’t.
“My daughter.” Her eyes lifted to his, searching for something. Shock, maybe? Disappointment?
But there was none of that in Nick. Only a sense of something fitting into place. Liz was a mom. There was something so right about that.
“And Owen is smarter than any kid should be.” She laughed. “Most days I think he’s smarter than me. But he’s also such a little man, always wanting to protect the women in his life.”
“How old are they?”
“Six.” She smiled again. “It has been a hard six years for both them and me, but I’m not sure I’d still be here if it wasn’t for them.”
He got the impression she didn’t mean here in this weird coma world, but in the world in general. Yet, he didn’t ask. Too many questions would scare someone like Liz. She was an onion, full of many layers, and she couldn’t be peeled back all at once.
She wasn’t finished though. “And then, there’s my dad. I lucked out there. He and my mom adopted me when I was a baby. I don’t think they planned on adopting a little pasty white girl, but they never made me feel different from them.” Her eyes scanned the room, drifting to the large windows. “This was our place. The three of us. I think my dad would be happy to know I was here—even if your remodels have ripped the heart right out of the place.”
He opened his mouth to protest, but her laugh told him she was kidding.
“There isn’t anyone waiting for me.” Whatever made him admit that, he couldn’t take the words back.
An inconceivable sadness entered her gaze. “I’m sorry, Nick. I think the only thing worse than losing my family would be never having them at all.”
He didn’t know why he held Stephen back from her, or what this place actually meant to him, that it held more sorrow than joy. “It’s okay.” He stood, gathering their plates. “Don’t feel bad for me, Liz.” The mask that was Nick Jacobs slid into place. “I’m a world-famous actor, a dream. Sure, I don’t have family to scold me when I mess up, but an agent is basically the same thing. I’m constantly surrounded by people who adore me. There are worse things.” He turned away from her, not wanting her to see the lie in his eyes.
But this woman… she saw everything. “Adoration isn’t love.”
