Sometimes the hardest thing and
The right thing are the same
The waves lapped on the shore, and the cry of gulls echoed over the beach. The sky was a deep blue with barely a cloud in the sky. Nick stood ankle deep in the water and gazed out at the far away horizon. Sunlight reflected off of the dark sunglasses shading his eyes, and a hat covered the rest of his face.
The last time he’d checked his watch, it had read two-thirty. East coast time, he calculated, it would be five-thirty. That meant that Shelby was a married woman and completely lost to him. Divorce would never enter her vocabulary because she followed through on everything she did. Knowing that, he still couldn’t squash the tiniest flickers of hope.
Sighing, he turned away from the ocean’s depths and contemplated a vacation. Somewhere he could go to be alone and be anonymous. Somewhere warm and by the water. Plenty of sun and fresh air could cure him. Maybe.
Mostly, he just wanted somewhere to go where he could lick his wounds in private. Maybe give his heart time to heal.
He knew he’d done the right thing by letting her go, and he’d half-convinced himself of that. Whatever she’d said to him two nights ago, he thought it best not to think of it. The conversation and the truth in it would be only hers to know.
When he arrived home, he found his siblings’ cars and the camera crew’s van had disappeared. That was fine with him because he needed to be alone. It had been hard to act unaffected and casual around the idiot cameras that would capture everything, but he’d done it. No one other than his family and the Boys knew that something was bugging him.
They’d started working on the visual layout for the new album, and the mournful pictures that had been taken of him had been some of the best of his career. He’d known it, and so had the others. The raw, real emotion had been impossible to hide.
“This, too, shall pass,” he muttered to himself as he parked the car. “Nothing good lasts forever. And why the hell am I talking to myself in fucking clichés?”
But he would, Nick thought, get over Shelby Washington. After her honeymoon, he’d have to see her eventually. They were friends now, and he wanted to hold onto her friendship. Somehow, he’d have to bury this enormous need he had for her and go on.
When he found the door unlocked, he muttered curses at his siblings for being irresponsible. He’d told them a thousand times, he mused as he shut and locked the door behind him, that any psycho could get into the house and hide until they were sleeping. Then, said psycho could hack them to bits for no reason at all while…
His thoughts trailed off as he walked into the living room. In fact, every thought process froze and became one word.
“Shelby.”
She wore the lovely, off-the-shoulder, champagne-hued gown he’d had especially designed for her. Her hair tumbled over her shoulders, and the look on her face shouted of nerves. Her hands were clenched together and nearly white. The smile, when it came, was strained.
“Hello, Nick.”
He had trouble finding his voice and more trouble trying to figure out what to say. In the end, he asked what and why she was there.
“I sat in the dressing room,” she began. “Not five minutes before the wedding was to start, and my mother and everyone were running around fussing over anything. I wasn’t. Don’t you think that’s odd, Nick? A bride not being nervous before her wedding?” She went on before he could speak. “And then I realized why there were no nerves.”
When she didn’t continue, he took a step forward, towards her. “Why weren’t you nervous?”
Her smile bloomed beautifully. “Because I wasn’t about to get married. I realized it, and I walked up the aisle and broke the news to Logan. I broke his heart, but I think I saved him a lifetime of heartache. At least, I hope I did.”
“He seems like a tough man,” Nick managed to say.
Shelby nodded. “Oh, he is. I think we’ll be friends eventually, too. I care about him, but I couldn’t marry him. It would have been wrong and unfair of me to do so. Don’t you want to know why?”
“Why?” It was a whisper.
“Because I’m in love with another man,” she said simply. “So, I left the church and drove to the airport. It’s a huge risk I’m taking, Nick.”
He understood. Despite the mammoth butterflies that pounded their wings in his belly, he knew exactly what she meant. “It’ll be hard.”
“I’m no weak-kneed schoolgirl.”
He grinned. “You never were. Your shop is going to boom with curious visitors.”
“Why do you think I’m here?” she asked with an arched brow. At his frown, she laughed and, brushing past the tables and couches, wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’m where I want to be, and I think we both know it’s not going to be a walk in the park to make this work.”
He brushed a kiss over the curve of her shoulder. “It’ll be the hardest thing we’ve ever done.”
“No doubt.”
Nick lifted his eyes to meet hers. “If you’re in, so am I.”
“I’m in.”
Everything inside him came together and settled happily. “Deal.”
They sealed it with a kiss.
