The next day was busy as Addie and Howie were leaving for Florida; they were driving down since they didn’t want to ship their cars to their new home. Emma was disappointed that she hadn’t spent as much time with her friend before she was leaving but she promised to visit for a few days before she left for England. The group gave the two women some space for a little bit before the couple headed out.
“Are you sure you want to move that far away?” Addie asked her friend. “England’s a whole other continent and it’s not like we can drive there to see you.”
“I know,” Emma replied with a chuckle, “but I’m not moving there; I’m just going to visit my parents for awhile and figure out what I want to do.”
“What if you decide you want to stay there on a permanent basis? Maybe you’ll get there and fall in love it like your parents did.”
The thought had crossed Emma’s mind as well even though she wouldn’t acknowledge it; there was a chance, even though it was small, that it could happen and she didn’t know what her answer should be.
“I really don’t think that’s going to happen.” Emma lied. “I can’t see myself getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road!”
Addie laughed, satisfied with Emma’s answer because she knew her friend would never mislead her. She told her how glad she was about her coming to Florida and they could spend a few days just themselves like they used to.
The whole group gathered to see Addie, Howie and Caroline off and then Emma took Ava into the den to play with her new toys while Rochelle put the baby down for a nap. Nick and AJ took the chance to retreat down to the studio for some collaboration and conversation. AJ waited until Nick was settled before he pounced on him.
“Have you talked to Emma about the tour and England yet?”
AJ knew it had been eating at Nick since he heard she was leaving and there was no point in putting off the discussion since Emma was leaving soon.
“No, but I am going to ask her to stay through New Year’s so we can have some time to ourselves and figure it out.” Nick told his friend. “I just hope she agrees to stay with me for that long.”
“And if she doesn’t?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t wanted to think that far ahead.”
“Well, I would ask her soon and figure out how to deal with a no.”
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Once the baby fell asleep, Rochelle ventured into the den with the baby monitor and watched as her daughter and friend played with the new Barbie set Nick had bought. She was happy to see how close Ava was to Emma; it showed how much the friends had bonded.
Emma finally pulled back from Ava a bit so she could talk to her friend; she knew they were leaving the next day and they had offered to drive her to the airport as well since she was also leaving. Once she got back to North Carolina, it would only be a few days before she was off to see Addie and then off to England. It scared her to think that she was packing up her entire life into a storage unit and then taking off and living out of a suitcase for however long she was gone for.
“Have you talked to Nick yet?” Rochelle asked after a few minutes.
Emma just shook her head; she knew that she had to talk to him and clear things up but she had no idea what to say. She knew it was upsetting to him to find out about England and she didn’t know how to say goodbye; was she saying it for a while or a lifetime?
“You need to talk to him and clear the air before we leave tomorrow. You can’t move away and leave things the way they are.”
“I know but I have no idea what to say because I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
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The couple spent the rest of the day together, ate dinner and then Rochelle and AJ headed up to their room to pack and get the kids to bed; they were leaving early in the morning and didn’t want to leave anything to get done before they left.
“I should probably pack my stuff too.” Emma told Nick as she headed towards the stairs. “I don’t want to hold them up.”
Nick gently tugged her arm and asked her to stay with him because he needed to talk to her; she agreed and sat down next to him on the sofa.
“I know this is completely out of the blue but I want you to stay with me through New Year’s.” Nick blurted out. “I really need for you to stay.”
“I don’t know.” Emma answered quietly. “I need to get things done back home.”
“Please don’t go.” he pleaded with her. “I have no idea when I’m gonna see you again and there is so much that we need to talk about; the accident proved to me that things can’t go unsaid anymore.”
Emma was torn, part of her was thrilled that he asked her to stay and the other part was afraid to do it. It would be good to talk through some issues with just the two of them there but then the goodbye would be harder. She thought for a bit about it and then agreed.
Nick beamed when he heard her answer and thanked her for agreeing to extend her stay. He watched as she slowly rose and headed towards the stairs; it looked like she was prolonging her walk and he realized that she would probably have nightmares again. Getting up, he joined her on the stairs, and they didn’t say a word as they walked down to his room and climbed into bed. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and was grateful he would have a few more nights to do this since he had no idea when the chance would come his way again.
Last Chance by Kyrie