Part 31 (1/2)
”No.”
”Okay.” He let go, and she noticed he held a bouquet of crushed daisies. She widened her stance and held onto the handrail next to the steps just to make sure she wouldn't fall over.
”I brought these for you.” He handed her the flowers. She leaned back against the handrail and avoided his hand when she accepted them. She didn't want to chance touching him; just seeing him was enough to affect her equilibrium.
Nick stepped back. ”They looked better before we smashed them.” ”Thanks.”
Nick turned to Dave. ”How's my boy? I got something for you, too.” Nick pulled a pig's ear from his pocket.
Dave jumped on Nick, but he must have been prepared, because he didn't even step back. Dave gave him a big swipe of the tongue, which pretty much covered his whole face.
”d.a.m.n it, Dave. How many times do I have to tell you? I don't kiss guys-not even you. I thought we got that straight.”
Dave didn't take his scolding seriously and continued to lick Nick's face. After Nick had sufficiently hugged and patted the huge mutt, he pushed Dave down. Dave settled for sitting beside Nick and leaning against him, the pig's ear hanging out of his mouth.
”Well, at least someone missed me.”
Rosalie met his eyes and didn't know what to say. Did he want her to say she missed him?
He pulled her sungla.s.ses down. ”Lee, are you in there?”
She nodded.
”Good. You're late getting out this morning. I thought I might have missed you. Are you okay?”
”Um, yeah, I'm fine. Nice s.h.i.+ner. I could kill Rich. I told him to stay out of it.”
Nick touched his left eye. ”It's not as if I didn't deserve it. Rich and I have history. I had it coming to me long before I met you. We fought; we talked; we worked things out. It's all good... except for a few bruises. Then Lois came over with Ty and told us about Tony Gianelli.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets. ”Listen. I was thinking that I could take Dave to the park while you try to salvage the flowers. I'll pick up breakfast on the way back and we can talk. Okay?”
”Sure.” She handed him the plastic bags she had in her pocket.
He took them and gave her a smile that didn't reach his eyes. ”Ah, I'd almost forgotten about that part of walking Dave. It's the only thing I haven't missed.”
Nick kissed her cheek and breathed in the scent of her. G.o.d, she smelled good-she looked awful, but she smelled like a dream. He'd even bought a bottle of her perfume to sniff every now and then. It didn't help. It wasn't the same. In a little over a month, she looked as if she'd lost twenty pounds. If Rosalie was pregnant, she sure as h.e.l.l wasn't glowing.
She pushed her gla.s.ses back in place and handed him Dave's leash. Nick wished he could still see her eyes. Her eyes were so telling. A minute ago, she'd looked as if she might cry.
Nah, Rosalie was not the crying type. She was more the get-pis sed-instead-of-hurt type; she sure showed (hat yesterday Dave pulled Nick down the steps, giving him an easy out As he turned to walk toward the park, he thought about his plan. It was going well so far. She'd agreed to talk with him, and he'd kissed her cheek without getting punched. That was something, anyway.
She didn't look especially happy to see him-not that she looked unhappy, either.
Before they reached the park, they were joined by Jasmine, the ba.s.set Dave had a crush on, and Tommy, the ba.s.set's owner.
The two guys did the usual nod and let the dogs set the pace, which was slow for Dave-Jasmine had short legs.
Tom cleared his throat. ”I haven't seen you around for a few weeks. Were you out of town?”
”No, Rosalie and I stopped seeing each other.”
”So, you back together?”
Nick wanted to know why the h.e.l.l Tommy was so interested. ”Yeah, we are.”
”Good. I saw her last week at the park with Dave, and it looked like she was crying.”
”Lee was crying? In public?”
Tommy nodded. ”It looked that way. She was sitting on that bench over by the pond, and Dave was practically on her lap. I thought she was hurt or something. She said nothing was wrong, and she looked embarra.s.sed as h.e.l.l. So I left.”
”Thanks, Tom. Look, I've got to go. I'll see you around. Come on, Dave, let's go home.”
Nick loved the idea that Rosalie cared enough to cry over him. Why else would she have been crying? It didn't matter if Rosalie was sick or pregnant. Nick would do whatever it took to get her back. If they had a baby, that'd be great. Nick had begun to get used to the idea of having a family.
When he started worrying about being like his old man, he reminded himself of what Lois kept telling him. He'd been a part of Tyler's life for the last ten years; he loved him like a son; and he'd never leave him, no matter what. Ty could always depend on him. So why would it be different with Nick's own kid, or his wife? All those lectures Lois had given him had finally sunk in. Nick made a mental note to give her another raise and pick up that new Xbox for Ty.
Dave seemed to sense the rush, so he took care of business quicker than usual. When they got to Rosalie's door, Nick didn't know if he should knock or walk in. He couldn't remember ever knocking on Rosalie's door, and he didn't want to start now.
He walked in, startling her. She spilled ground coffee all over the counter. It looked as if she'd tried to fix herself up a little. She'd changed her clothes, though what she'd put on was hanging on her. She was bony. What had happened to his Lee?
He saw why Gina had called Rich. He tapped down the worry. He'd take care of her, and she'd be fine. But d.a.m.n, if she was pregnant, she was one sick pregnant lady.
Nick set the bags down on the table. He'd stopped at Fiorentino's and gotten all her favorites. He knew the way to Rosalie's heart was through her stomach. At least it used to be.
Chapter Nineteen.
It was weird seeing Nick in her apartment again. She'd imagined him there so many times, and now that he was, she couldn't stop wondering if she was dreaming. The only thing that clued her in was the slight irritation she felt when he walked in without knocking, as if he owned the place. Of course, if he had knocked, it probably would have made her cry.
He subtly checked the apartment out. She'd kind of let the place go. It wasn't as bad as it had been before, but it was well on its way. Mail covered the table. One of the two things Nick had left behind, the vacuum, served as a coatrack holding her collection of outerwear. She'd kicked all her shoes off under every available piece of furniture. The thought of putting them in her closet only served to remind her of Nick, and she was depressed enough as it was. h.e.l.l, she'd been spinning around the toilet bowl of depression for the last thirty-five days, six hours, and eighteen minutes-not that she was counting.
Dave was doing a happy dance, jumping all over the apartment in glee. His tail banged the walls and closets like a drum. The traitor.
Reaching into the cupboard above her, Rosalie snagged the pain reliever and took one. Okay, she downed three and tapped a Pepcid out of its bottle. Her stomach was doing flips. She didn't know if it was because Nick had walked back into her life or because he'd brought food. In any case, she didn't trust her stomach. ”Should you be taking that?”
She turned and found Nick standing right behind her. She stepped away and wedged herself into the corner of the cupboards. ”It's over-the-counter.”
”Yeah, but is it safe?” He looked at her funny, like he was examining her.
”Safe enough.”
Nick didn't seem to believe her. Too bad. He'd lost the right to make her take medicine, or not take it, when he walked out on her. She popped the pink pill in her mouth and crunched on it, just to p.i.s.s him off. It worked-the crunching, not the pill. Her stomach was still roiling.
Nick stepped aside, swept the coffee she'd spilled off the counter with the side of his hand and into the sink, and finished setting up the coffee machine. That was fine with Rosalie. She always did like his coffee better than hers.
He nodded toward the bags. ”I brought your favorite-chocolate-covered donuts. Go ahead and dig one out. I know you want to.”
”Maybe later.” Like when h.e.l.l froze over. She swallowed back the nausea and rubbed her stomach. Nick stared, giving her the weirdest look. ”What?”