by Sylvie Fox
Holly felt like a young village woman talking to the sage town matchmaker. Some part of her wanted to shout yes, she wanted Nick forever and all time, and where could she sign up?
How thrilled Dominic would be to find out she was carrying his grandchild. But her brain overruled her heart before she spoke, thank goodness. “Mr. Andreis,” Holly said reverting to the formal address, trying to put some distance between herself and this conversation that was getting too close for comfort. “I don’t know how to answer you, what you want me to say. Nick and I are just friends… ” She trailed off, not sure what else to say to him.
“Maybe I’ve said too much. I’ll just get to that closet. I’m an old man who should not be interfering in the affairs of you young people. Forget I said anything. I’ll try not to be too loud. I’ll call if I need anything,” Dominic said before hightailing it to her bedroom where sawing and hammering began in earnest.
Nick strode purposefully through the offices of HBO. His meeting with the finance people had gone extremely well. His last two completed films had illustrated that he could consistently come in on time and under budget. Helena, on the other hand, had been meeting with people on the creative side, sharing Solstice’s vision with the cable network’s producers and programmers—showing them that their heartwarming films could appeal to the cable channel’s audience.
When Nick heard footsteps approaching, he was taken aback to see Drew Burke approaching. Nick swiftly banished thoughts of last night’s heated phone sex with Drew’s ex-wife from his head and greeted his mentor warmly.
“It’s great to see you in New York,” Drew said, clasping Nick’s hand and pulling him in for a brief male embrace. “I’m glad I was able to help you set up these meetings. Is it good news? Will Solstice be doing something with HBO?”
“Helena and I are hoping they’ll co-produce a new documentary we’re starting to film in the spring.”
“That’s great,” Drew said sincerely. “Shoot me an e-mail and let me know everyone you’re meeting with. I’ll put in a good word for you, follow up on the project, make sure it doesn’t languish in development.”
They talked a little more about Solstice’s plans and the real likelihood that Drew would be moving to Manhattan permanently. Nick knew, however, their conversation wasn’t over. As a stand-up guy, he knew he needed to broach the issue of his relationship with Holly.
“Drew, do you have a minute? I need to discuss something kind of personal.”
Drew glanced at his watch and led Nick toward a small conference area with two leather chairs and a small chrome and glass table.
“I’m here to help. I may not have thought you leaving the network was smart—you could have gone really far there—but I still think you have a great career ahead of you. So what gives?”
Nick paused. Solstice Entertainment meant a lot not only to him but to Helena as well. He didn’t want his feelings for Holly to cloud his judgment, but he didn’t want his relationship with Drew to be clouded by half-truths either.
“This doesn’t have to do with work. This has to do with Holly.”
“My ex?”
Nick looked down at his hands searching for the right words then looked Drew straight in the eye. “Drew, we’ve been seeing each other for a couple of months, and things are getting pretty serious. I’m not seeking your approval by any means. Holly and I are both adults and can make our own decisions. I’m just telling you this man to man, because I want our business relationship to be honest and above board. I’ll completely understand if this means you don’t lend your full support to our projects here.”
Helena would pick that delicate moment to turn the corner and approach their conversation.
“Drew,” she enthused. He stood to embrace and greet her. “It’s great to see you. Has Nick gotten you caught up on our latest film? We’re pretty keyed up about working with an established cable network. It’ll be great to know the funding is there as well as a built-in audience for the documentary once it’s complete…” Helena looked from one man to another.
Nick stood. “Helena, I was telling Drew about me and Holly.”
“Oh,” Helena said, promptly falling into the seat Nick had just vacated.
All three were quiet for a few minutes until Drew broke the silence.
“Well, good luck to you then. I’ll be talking to you soon,” he said, then walked away down the long corridor, never once looking back at them.
Helena sank back in the plush leather seat, looking resigned. “So, what did that mean?”
Nick sank back into his chair as well, his posture mirroring Helena’s. “I wish I knew.”
“Hey, Nicky,” Holly said a teasing note in her voice, when she answered his call.
“Ah, my dad came by.”
“Nick, I don’t know how to thank you. He did a great job. He dismantled everything and re-did the entire interior in cedar. It looks good and smells good to boot.”
“Dad’s great.” There was a pause on the line. They experienced an awkwardness that hadn’t ever been present between them before. It took everything in Holly not to shout out to him that they were having a baby.
“Holly, are you feeling better?” Nick eventually asked, no doubt his attempt to ease the tension between them.
“I’m better,” Holly said vaguely, not wanting to invite too many questions about her “stomach flu.”
She heard what she thought was a sigh. “I really miss you. In every meeting, on every conference call, I’ve been distracted thinking about you. I want nothing more than to come back and hold you, kiss you, make love to you.”
“Nick, I don’t know what you want me to say. I want those things too, I just don’t know if we can have them.”
He paused, absorbing her words. “Holly, I know we weren’t going to talk about any of this while I was away, but I’ve said it once and I’m going to say it again. I love you. I’ve been dancing around it for weeks trying not to make you feel uncomfortable, not to put any pressure on you. But I have to be true to myself, and more than anything, I want you to want to be with me.”
This pause was even longer. Holly could hear the static from Nick’s cell crackle in the silence. “Nick, I—I need more time.” Now with the baby looming in her mind, Holly truly couldn’t say whether she loved Nick or was just infatuated with the idea of being with him—giving her baby a father and a home.
Chapter Nine
“I’m coming!” Holly called out to the visitor knocking on her front door. She’d never been this popular. Before September, she could count on her hand the number of times she had unexpected night visitors. Surely her neighbors thought she was some kind of girl gone wild. Since Nick was in New York, Sophie would never stop by without calling first, and she couldn’t think of any screw or hinge Dominic had left untightened, Holly was at a loss as to who could be at her door this evening. Maybe it was Nick’s dad again, trying to sell her on the virtues of his son or coming to work some other carpentry miracle. She could only hope for the latter.
Holly pulled open the door before the person could rap the iron knocker again, and was shocked to see Drew filling her doorframe. She had to admit he looked good. His once shaggy hair was now in an executive cut, neat and well groomed. A tan that couldn’t have been natural graced what she could see of him. Divorce became him, she guessed. But for some reason, her stomach didn’t do flip-flops like it did with Nick. He was still handsome in his own right, but whatever attraction they’d shared in the past was no longer there, much to her relief.
It had been forever since they’d talked face to face, though they’d spoken on the phone or gotten in touch by email to settle what few remaining financial matters they still had. She invited him in, amazed that she no longer felt that pull like in the early days of their relationship, nor did she feel any of the anger she’d held for so many months or the disappointment at his cavalier attitude toward the end of their marriage.
“This is unexpected,” Holly said, st
epping back to let Drew into the apartment. He strode in like he owned the place, confident as always. Something about his proprietary nature made her the slightest bit uneasy. “Not to be rude, but why are you here?”
He grabbed her hands in his and sat down on her settee, pulling her with him. Holly didn’t pull her hands from his right away, even though, somehow, his touch felt wrong. They had been married once upon a time. She would like them to be something akin to friends.
“Holly.” He paused looking at her in a way he hadn’t looked at her in probably a decade. Soberly, he said, “I’m moving to New York, permanently.”
“Are congratulations in order?” she asked trying to suss out his motives.
“Actually, yes.” Drew smiled warmly. “I’ll be starting in January as vice president of daytime programming.”
“Have you ever watched a soap opera or a talk show?”
“No, not yet, but it’s a good opportunity. Daytime ratings are terrible. If I can turn that around and attract the very desirable younger audience all networks are looking for, then I’ve been promised a crack at prime time in a couple of years.
“Well then, congratulations!” Holly said more animatedly than was warranted. “But you could have just emailed me your new address. I think we’ve sorted out almost all of our matters. The bank can send you your half of the certificates of deposit that come due.”
“I want you to come with me.”
“Where?” Holly said, ignorant of his meaning for a long moment. “Oh, New York.”
She was flabbergasted. Of all the things she could have imagined coming from Drew, this was the absolute last. His offhand attitude toward their divorce—and their marriage, frankly—had led her to believe that their whole relationship had meant very little to him. When Holly said her vows those many years ago, she assumed death would be the only way their union would end.
Looking at the country’s divorce statistics, she realized she’d had stars in her eyes. Now she was much wiser. Holly pulled her hands from his and stood up to pace the room. “Drew, why this? Why now?”
He closed his eyes and bowed his head, resting his chin on his steepled fingers for a few moments, gathering his thoughts. “I realize that I never stopped loving you. I was wrong to think we couldn’t have it all. I want us back. I promise, I’ll work less. I’m ready now to start that family you’ve always wanted.”
Holly sunk to the floor where she’d been standing across the room from Drew, leaning her back against the rough-hewn entry door.
Drew rushed over to her from the couch and crouched down next to her. “Are you okay?” He sank down, and fumbled with something in his pocket. To her surprise a small velvet box emerged. Shit. This wasn’t going to end well. She could definitely see that. When he opened the box, she gasped.
“Holly, give me a second chance,” he said as she gaped at the ring.
“Drew, where did you get this? It’s just like my grandmother’s.” Her grandmother’s ring had been a family heirloom that had gone missing. Even with careful prodding, her grandmother would never reveal what had happened to the ring, but Holly suspected she’d had to pawn it during one of her grandfather’s business downturns. Despite the ring’s disappearance, there were a few pictures of her grandmother showing off the ring at parties in the nineteen twenties, dressed in her flapper finery.
“I knew you always loved that ring. I had a jeweler in Beverly Hills replicate it for you. You never liked the other one I gave you—I know now it was too ostentatious; four carats on your small hand, I can’t imagine what I was thinking—but this one is just right for you, just right for us. The new ‘us’ going forward.”
Drew leaned against the door next to her, and he thrust the open box into her hands. She pulled the ring from the box. It was beautiful. No, it was exquisite. It was an art deco styled ring, the diamond set in a platinum band. The stone was square cut, clear, and beautiful. The band was meticulously mill grained with intricate inlaid designs. She looked at Drew. Where was this man five years ago, even two years ago? Now, staring into his earnest, handsome face, all she could think of was Nick.
She put the ring back in its velvet case and set it on the wood floor in the small space between them. “Drew. This, all of this. I don’t know what to say.”
“Say yes.”
Holly shifted, pulling her knees up to her chest and resting her head there. “Why are you here? You don’t want me or this,” Holly said gesturing to the room around her. “How did you know I was seeing someone?”
“Why do you… ” Drew’s shoulders lifted, his hands reaching out palms up.
“I’ve known you for more than ten years. You always went after the thing you couldn’t have. When that first HR executive at NBC said you would never succeed in television, you worked like hell to get a job and thrived in television.”
“I ran into Nick Andreis in New York this week. Until I came face to face with someone you were dating, I don’t think I realized it was really over.”
“What did Nick say to you exactly?” Holly said slowly, simmering, trying not to let her renewed anger boil over.
“He thought I should know that you two were seeing each other.”
“He thought you should know? Drew, my private life is now private, and that excludes you. I don’t appreciate you and Nick discussing me like some television deal.” Holly blew out an exasperated breath. “What you guys said to each other doesn’t matter. Drew, maybe we could have salvaged things before the divorce, but it’s too late. And not just because of Nick, but because of the ‘us’ that won’t ever be again.”
Drew was quiet for a long time. He said softly, “Then you should know that he loves you, Holly. I mean really loves you. When he was talking about you in New York, I wished I could have loved you that deeply. I wanted a chance to do us over. But you deserve the life you want. A man who loves you above all else, the family you’ve always wanted. Until a few minutes ago, I thought I could be that man again. I came here hoping you’d give me a second chance.”
“I’m pregnant, Drew,” Holly interjected, attempting to put a definitive end to his fantasies of them playing house ever again.
“I guess I’m not the only person who deserves congratulations,” Drew said. Then he looked at her, really looked at her. “Is it Nick’s?”
Holly looked down at her hands, bare of anyone’s ring.
“Yes, of course he’s the father. I don’t even know why I told you this. He doesn’t know, yet. Please don’t mention it to him if you see him.”
Drew gestured toward the ring box still on the floor between them. “Are you two getting married?”
“No, Drew. I’m off marriage right now. As you know, the last one didn’t work out too well even though I put my all into it.”
“Touché,” he said, chagrined.
He stood, straightening his logo emblazoned cashmere pullover. He pulled Holly to her feet. She accepted one last hug from Drew. “If I can do anything to help you, all you have to do is call.”
Chapter Ten
Nick was coming home today, Holly practically crowed to herself. Her jubilation was evident in the bounce in her step and the smile she couldn’t suppress. Even when she tried to hide her anticipation behind her usually cool demeanor, excitement bubbled out and she danced a little jig.
When Nick had phoned last night, it had been a welcome surprise. After those first two nights of emotional and steamy calls, he’d been as good as his original word. It had been three long weeks since Nick left for New York City—two weeks longer than he intended. When she counted, which she wouldn’t admit to anyone, there had been almost three whole weeks of telephone silence from Nick. Though she’d asked for it to be that way, being without Nick, even his voice, had been hard. She’d made that tentative first call and scheduled her first obstetrician appointment alone, made plans for her baby alone, and slept alone. It was indeed good news that tonight, if she played her cards right, she wouldn’t be sleeping by herself�
��or even sleeping at all.
Even though she had missed him terribly, she hadn’t wasted their time apart. Holly had used the weeks to think about the baby she was going to raise and what Nick meant to her. Nick apparently had used their time apart productively as well. He’d emailed her HBO had picked up Solstice’s project. Not wanting to lose momentum, Nick said that he and Helena had spent the past two weeks ironing out the contractual details with the network and lining up interview subjects for the documentary they would film in the coming spring and summer months.
So, while Nick had been working, she’d had time to think about whether she wanted a “them.” After being constantly preoccupied with thoughts of their budding relationship and of the life burgeoning in her womb, she’d decided that she was willing to try a more permanent relationship with Nick. Though she still hadn’t decided how to tell him about their child. Almost ten weeks along, she was certainly going to have to figure out a way to break the news to him before he figured it out from just looking at her. If all went well, she could tell him about the baby tonight.
Shaking her head to clear it of all these thoughts, a newfound sense of energy and urgency surged through Holly. She wanted to do something special for Nick’s return. Suddenly an idea came to her and she grabbed the phone.
Her main focus was to welcome Nick home with a homemade dinner by candlelight, but that was just part of the evening. It had taken three of them—herself, Sophie, and Dominic—the better part of Saturday to put the whole thing together, and she only hoped she could pull this off without giving Nick a heart attack. She knew from living alone that a real live person showing up in your home could be scary.
The problem with her spur-of-the-moment brainstorm had been twofold: first, as much as she loved her apartment, she had no real dining room and nowhere to put her grandmother’s dining room table, currently in storage. Of course, Nick had a dining room but no table—which was where Dominic and Sophie had come in. Nick’s dad had assured her Nick would welcome the idea of her waiting for him at his house and had given her a spare set of keys.