Page 109 of Nice Guys Don't Kiss Like That At Christmas
Her gaze drifts past me toward the door.“Is that her?Eve?”
I turn to see Eve entering the café, snowflakes melting in her hair, cheeks flushed from the cold.She smiles at me, and it’s like when a panicked dog finally lies down.Doesn’t mean the fear’s completely gone, just means it feels safe enough to breathe
“Yeah,” I say.“That’s her.”
Faye studies my face.“You never looked at me like that.”
I start to apologize, but she waves it off.
“Don’t.It’s good.”She takes a sip of her drink.“I liked who I thought you could be.She seems to like who you actually are.”She glances at her watch.“I need to pick up Liam from my mother’s.We’re decorating gingerbread houses tonight.”She hesitates.“But Adam?I’m glad we’re talking again.When you kept your distance after I moved back...that hurt more than our breakup ever did.”
I nod, feeling the weight of my own avoidance.“I thought it would be easier.”
“For who?”she asks, but her smile takes the sting out.“Friends again?”
“Friends,” I agree, surprised by how right it feels.
I watch Faye leave, then catch Eve’s eye across the café.She practically bounds toward me.There’s an energy about her I haven’t seen before, a lightness that makes my chest expand.This reaction is happiness and pure, unfiltered want.The kind I’ve never allowed myself to prioritize before.
“I did something,” she says as she slides into the booth opposite me, not even bothering with a greeting.Her hands fidget on the table, betraying her mix of excitement and nervousness.“Something rash.Something possibly stupid.But also maybe not stupid?”
“Okay...”I can’t help smiling at the clinical ramble that always surfaces when she’s processing something big.
“I applied for a job.”The words tumble out in a rush.“At Sandwich Bay Elementary.School nurse.”
I blink in surprise.“School nurse?What about trauma nursing?The coordinator position?”
“Remember what I told you?I’m choosing what I want.”
I nod.Eve is choosing something that brings her joy over something that proves her worth to others.She’s choosing herself.And maybe she’s giving us a chance too.
“I know, I know,” she continues, her words picking up speed.“It’s completely different from everything I’ve been doing.But I’ve been working with Megan, and some of the other kids at your dad’s clinic, and they don’t look at me like I’m some cold, clinical robot.They...respond.Even Liz’s been taking notes on my approach with pediatric patients.”She pauses, searching my face.“What do you think?I know it wasn’t my dream.”
“That’s the thing about dreams,” I say.“They’re allowed to change.To grow with you.And sometimes you’re allowed to chase them even if that’s not what anyone expected of you.Least of all, yourself.”
“Like you,” she observes.“From small-town vet to educator.”
I nod.“It took me years to admit I wanted something different.That being needed here wasn’t the same as fulfilling my own purpose.”
“And now we’re both potentially heading to Sandwich Bay,” she says, a hint of wonder in her voice.“Not because of some cosmic force, but because we’re each following what feels right.Separately.Independently.”
“Converging paths,” I agree.“Not fate.Choice.”
Her hand turns beneath mine, our fingers intertwining.“It’s terrifying,” she admits.“Letting go of what I thought I wanted.Facing my hometown again.But somehow less terrifying than it was before.”
“Because this time you’d be going back on your terms,” I suggest.
“And with someone who sees all of me,” she adds softly.“Not just the parts that fit into some predetermined box.Unless you don’t want to continue?”
“Foster, I don’t know what chapter we’re on, but if you think I’m letting you walk out again, you clearly haven’t read enough Lady Grey.I wanted you then.I want you more now.That’s not changing.”
Inside Rosie’s, under Christmas lights and the scent of peppermint and coffee, it hits me: I’m not pretending to be someone’s plan.
Or someone’s bookmark.
I’m here.Fully.Finally.And maybe for once, I’m not the guy who almost gets it right.
Maybe I’m just...the guy.
