Page 151 of Holidating
“I see a table,” he says.
She realizes their drinks are ready. It’s too late in the day for coffee, so she’d ordered a decaf. Now she follows him over to a table near the back. This coffee shop is delightfully old school, with wainscoting and tile. She sinks into a chair and takes a sip of her latte.
He settles across from her with a patient smile. “All right. Nowcatch me up on all the recent episodes of the Nicolette Overland show. I know I’ve missed a lot.”
It’s Nicolette Wentworth now, actually. But she doesn’t correct him. “Well, to my father’s horror, I haven’t gone to law school yet. I’m still working as a paralegal in a Boston firm, trying to decide whether to reapply.”
He sips his coffee. “If the decision is so hard, maybe that’s not what you want.”
“Maybe,” she agrees. “The problem is that I don’t know what else to do. It’s not like I’m holding myself back. I’m just uninspired.”
“What about your writing?” he asks, raising an eyebrow. “How’s that going?”
“Slowly, since you asked.” He smiles at her again. “I’m still writing, but it’s just a hobby. I don’t want to put pressure on my stories like that.” Besides, she can’t just start referring to herself as a writer. Not with merely a half-finished novel. And nobody else in her life seems to think it’s a real career.
“Fair enough. What else is going on? You make it to Vermont very often?”
“Every couple of months or so. Cam and my father both work in commercial real estate, and they have several projects together. So we built a guesthouse on my father’s property."
His eyes widen. “Nice."
She wonders if he really thinks it sounds nice, or if he’s actually thinking how spoiled she is. Talking to Damien has always made her see her own life differently. He pierces the weird little bubble she lives inside. “We might not get up here much next year, though. Cam—my husband,” she clarifies.
He nods.
“—he’s exploring a run for congress during the next election cycle.”
“Fascinating,” Damien says, setting his cup down. “Like a real campaign? Speeches and kissing babies?”
“Yep. Lots of smiley photographs. I now own several pieces of clothing in red, white, and blue.”
He chuckles. “Wow. Can he win?”
“Maybe?” The idea makes her feel slightly hysterical. But it would be disloyal to say so. And she already feels disloyal. Cam would hate that she’s sitting here with Damien. Not because he’s a jealous ogre. He isn’t. He’d hate it if he knew how Damien makes her feel.
“So you might move to Washington D.C.?”
“Well, we’d get an apartment there, and also keep our place outside Boston. Life would be pretty chaotic.” She feels herself wince. “But that’s almost two years away. So I don’t have to worry about it yet.”
He studies her with calm brown eyes. “That sounds like… a lot. Are you happy?”
It’s such a simple question. But an awkward beat goes by before she answers. “Absolutely.”
It’s the only possible answer, because an Overland doesn’t complain.
So she doesn’t mention how lonely she is sometimes.
She doesn’t explain how Cici has become so distant since Nicolette married her brother.
And she doesn’t explain how all her Duke friends are spread all around the world. Or that all their Boston friends are really Cam’s college friends. And some of them are snobs.
“I have a steady job, even if it’s a little dull,” she says. “And a husband who thinks I’m great.”Usually, she adds silently.
Things have been strained with Cam lately. They’ve been trying to get pregnant, and it’s not working. It’s led to some stupid fights. When she suggested they give it a break for a while, because the whole thing stressed her out, he actually said, “I’m in a phase in my life when a man should have children.”
And she hurled back, “Do you actually want them? Or would they just make your campaign photos look better?”
They barely spoke to each other for days, and then Cam sent her three dozen roses for their wedding anniversary. They were so beautiful, and she was so tired of being angry that she cried. And then they had sex, and she cried some more in the shower after. Because she didn’t want Cam to see.
