Page 20 of Nice Guys Don't Kiss Like That At Christmas
“Pure coincidence, I’m sure,” I finish for her.
“Exactly,” she agrees and the steps creak under us and when we stop, Eve stares at the bright sign hanging on the door.
“Welcome To Pine Creek’s Newest Nurse!”
Underneath there’s a note with my mother’s handwriting:My son’s staying on the other side, call him if you need anything.
With my number.
I’d groan if Eve wasn’t staring at all of it like she was planning her escape.Years ago, pink-haired Eve would’ve laughed.Snapped a picture.Texted me something ridiculous.
Now, we just stand there, seven years of silence between us.
“I’ll take LoverBoy and check him out,” I murmur, crouching for the chihuahua.“He should see a vet after his adventure.”
It’s easier to focus on the dog than the thrum in my chest or the way her fingers start that familiar tapping against her thigh.
And because she used to know everything about me and I thought I knew everything about her, and she’s here, in front of me, looking more lost than the chihuahua ever did, I whisper, “You’ll be okay there.You will.”
Something raw and unguarded flashes across her face.A glimpse of the Eve I knew, the one who’d stay up talking to me until dawn, who challenged and understood me in ways no one else ever had.
Then, it’s gone, replaced by that careful clinical mask she wears so well.
“You don’t know me anymore,” she whispers more to herself than to me, but yet that stings and I turn away before she obliterates me further.I’m no longer twenty-four and desperately in love with her.
I’m thirty-one.
And that makes it worse.Because now I know exactly what I’m feeling, exactly what I could lose.
And yet?I’m still not immune to her.
Not even close.
“And this is Main Street, but you know that already.”Because yeah, I now talk to LoverBoy like he’s a buddy of mine.“And that’s the new pop-up romance bookstore.”Definitely mom-doing.And I’m definitely not thinking of all the times I read romance novels out loud to Eve Foster.Instead, I focus on the park in the distance with the Christmas tree not yet illuminated where Kellan and I used to sprint, trying to get to the lake first.Even after the IED, he still managed to outrun me on his good days.
As if he knows I'm thinking about him, my big brother texts me.
Kellan
Wes told me you never made it to the birthday party?Another evening emergency with your four-legged patients?
Me
Yes.And EveNoName123 is in town.And she's Dad's newest nurse.
Well, that gets him calling.
"I'm fine."
"Sure.You're always fine.The same kind of fine as when you worked three weeks straight after Pittsburgh?When you volunteered for every emergency shift, every late-night call?"
"That was different."My voice comes out harder than intended.
"Was it?"His voice carries that edge - the one he uses on particularly stubborn patients.The same way I do with some pets’ parents."Because from where I'm standing, you're doing the same thing now.Taking care of everyone else so you don't have to deal with your own shit."
"Yeah?"The word comes out sharper than I meant it to."How's Zoe?"
Silence.
