Next to Me

by Allie Everhart

  "Who were you talking to?" Lou asks.

  "No one."

  "You look awfully happy for someone talking to no one."

  "What do you need?"

  "I need you to box up a dozen lemon bars. A woman's coming to pick them up in a few minutes."

  "Okay, I'll do it."

  He returns to his office. He's acting very strange today.

  He's still acting strange when I go back there at seven for the taste test.

  "What's with the white tablecloth?" I ask as he seats me at one of the small tables in the middle of the room.

  "I thought it would be nice. That's all." He disappears in the kitchen, leaving me there alone.

  The front door opens and Nash walks in.

  "What are you doing here?" I ask.

  "Lou just called and asked if I could fix a faucet in the kitchen. He said it's leaking pretty bad."

  "The faucet's not leaking, at least it wasn't earlier."

  "Nash." Lou appears again and walks up to Nash and shakes his hand. "Good to see you."

  "You too. So you wanted me to fix a faucet?"

  "Nah." He waves his hand around. "I fixed it myself." He glances at me. "As long as you're here, you might as well stay for dinner. Callie wouldn't mind, would you, Callie?"

  Now I get why Lou's been acting so odd. He set this up. He's been planning this all day, or maybe all week. He's trying to get me together with Nash.

  "I guess it'd be okay," I say, trying not to laugh.

  "Have a seat," Lou says to Nash. "The food will be right out." He returns to the kitchen.

  Nash is smiling as he sits down across from me. "Did you know about this?"

  "No." I'm laughing now. "I can't believe he's doing this. Does he think I'm that desperate? I can't even find my own dates."

  Nash nods toward the kitchen. "Should we tell him?"

  "Maybe we should see what he has planned first."

  "Here he comes," Nash says.

  "We'll be starting with the salad." Lou sets down two plates of mixed greens topped with sliced apples and candied walnuts.

  "Don't we already have a salad like this?" I ask.

  "This has a different dressing," he says, then scurries off and comes back with a bottle of wine. "This is to pair with the meal."

  "We don't serve alcohol," I say, seeing if he'll fess up to his scheme.

  "Yes, but people who take their food to go might enjoy a glass of wine with their meal, and if so, we need to give them pairing ideas." He sets down two glasses and pours the wine.

  Nash grins at me across the table, then says, "You look very nice tonight, Callie."

  I'm wearing jeans and a gray t-shirt. I do not look nice.

  "Thank you," I say. "You look nice too."

  He's wearing jeans and a black polo shirt. He looks better than me, but neither one of us is dressed for a white tablecloth dinner.

  Lou watches us, a sly grin forming on his face. "I'll let you two eat." He races off to the kitchen.

  "Should we tell him now?" Nash asks.

  "I don't know. After he set me up like this, I feel like we need to keep it going a little longer. That comment about me looking nice was hilarious. Say something like that again. Or do something romantic."

  "I wasn't trying to be funny. You do look nice."

  "I'm wearing jeans and a t-shirt."

  "I love a girl in jeans and a t-shirt, specifically the one sitting across from me." He reaches over and holds my hand.

  "Ooh, that's good. You should've done that when Lou was here."

  "I did it because I wanted to, not because of Lou."

  "Oh. Well, that's good too." I toss my salad around with my fork. "So what are you doing later?"

  "Why do you ask?"

  "I just wondered if you might want to come over to my place tonight."

  "After one dinner? Wow, you move fast. I don't think Lou would approve of that." He takes a bite of his salad.

  I nudge his foot under the table. "Will you or not?"

  "You know I will. I want you next to me every night. Your place? My place? Doesn't matter. I just need you next to me."

  I feel the same way. I want to be with Nash every day and every night, but that won't happen unless I move to Chicago. It'll be hard to go back there. There are so many memories, but I can't continue to be afraid of the memories. They're part of my past and I need to embrace them and cherish them and be grateful to have them. And if I move to Chicago, I can make new memories with Nash.

  "What are you smiling about over there?" Nash asks.

  I didn't even realize I was until he said that.

  "I think I just made a decision."

  "Oh, yeah? About what?"

  "I think I'm moving back to Chicago."

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Nash

  "Are you serious?" I set my salad fork down. "You're really moving back?"

  She nods. "It's my home, and it's where I need to be, and I need to go back to school. But..."

  "What?"

  "I'm afraid to go back. I'm afraid of how I'll feel when I get there and see all the places I used to go with them."

  "I'll be with you. You won't be alone."

  "Which is another reason why I want to do this. I don't want to be two hours away from you. I don't know if we'll live together or not, but I at least want us to live in the same city."

  I shove my chair back and stand up next to the table, wearing a huge grin. "Get over here."

  She gets up and I pull her into my arms.

  "I couldn't have done this without you. I'm serious, Nash. I wouldn't have been able to."

  "I didn't do anything. You did this on your own. You just needed a little push to get you there."

  "I'm still going to need that. Sometimes I go in my house and I feel like...like I'm slipping back."

  "That's okay. It's normal. And I'll be right there to help you when that happens."

  She squeezes her arms around me. "I love you."

  "I love you t—" I stop when I see Lou. I glanced up and there he was. I had my head down, hugging Callie, and didn't see him walk in. "Hey, Lou."

  Callie spins around and backs up against my chest as my arms go around her waist.

  Lou is carrying two dinner plates and staring at us. "Did you two just say..." He quickly shakes his head. "Must've heard you wrong." He notices my arms around her. "But why are you and him..." His forehead wrinkles as he tries to figure this out.

  "I think we should tell him," I say to Callie.

  "Yeah." She moves to my side but I keep my arm around her. "Nash and I are dating. And we're kind of...in love."

  "Kind of?" I say.

  She smiles at me. "Not kind of. We are. We're in love."

  Lou sets the plates down on the counter. "When did this happen?"

  "I don't know the exact moment, but it happened, and here we are."

  I lean down and talk in her ear. "If we ever get married, remind me to never let you tell the story of how we fell in love. That was horrible."

  She smacks me and I kiss her.

  "Anyway," she says to Lou. "You didn't need to plan a big elaborate set-up to get us together, because we already are."

  "Oh, Callie...I'm so happy for you." He's beaming as his short, but fast legs make their way over to her. I step aside as he hugs her, practically knocking her over.

  She laughs. "We should probably eat. We don't want the food to get cold after you did all that work making it."

  "I'll get it," I say walking over to get the plates from the counter. "You should join us, Lou."

  "I don't want to intrude. This is supposed to be a romantic dinner."

  "I'm not taking no for an answer." I set the plates on the table, then grab a chair for him. "Callie and I can have a romantic dinner some other time. Come on. We want you to join us."

  He winks at Callie. "We picked a good one."

  She smiles at me. "Yeah. We did."

  "I'll go make up another plate." He hu
rries back to the kitchen.

  The three of us have dinner, and then dessert, which is a red velvet cake Lou made just for us. It was nice of him to do all this. He really cares about Callie. I know she'll miss him when she moves, but we'll come back and visit him.

  "Thanks for dinner," I tell him as we're leaving.

  "Anytime." He points to Callie. "It's late. Make sure she gets home safe."

  "I'll be right behind her." I hold her hand. "So Callie said you like playing cards. Would you want to play sometime?"

  He smiles. "I sure would. What's your game?"

  "I play most anything. Gin Rummy. Poker. You name it. I played a lot of cards with my brothers growing up."

  "Call me when you've got some free time and we'll set something up."

  "How about this week? You free on Friday?"

  "Friday would be just fine. I'll make dinner."

  "You don't have to do that."

  "He likes to," Callie says quietly to me.

  "Then sure. We'll plan on dinner. I'll bring Callie along, if that's okay. I know she eats a lot but—"

  "Hey!" She laughs.

  "I'm looking forward to it," Lou says, and I know it's true. The guy's lonely, and I don't like people being lonely. Callie and I need to spend some time with him before we go back to Chicago, even if it's just for dinner and card games.

  The next night, I tell Callie I have to work on the house and that I'll be over to see her later. But I'm not actually working. I'm getting myself ready to take her out. On a date. A real date, because we've never actually had one. Having dinner at each other's houses isn't a date. I want to take Callie out on a real date at a nice restaurant, so that's what we're doing.

  I made reservations at a place in the next town over. I'm wearing dress pants and a dress shirt, which is fancy for me. I didn't bring any nice clothes when I moved here so I had to go to the mall earlier to get some. While I was out, I stopped at the pet store and got a little something for Cat. He's going to help me out tonight, if he cooperates. I think he will. We've gone over the plan several times.

  We head over there at seven, which is when I told Callie I'd be over. But instead of seeing me at the door, she'll see Cat, wearing a red bow tie and sitting behind an envelope that contains the invite for dinner.

  I ring the doorbell, then back up against the side of the house so she can't see me.

  "Nash?" She pokes her head out the door. "Nash, are you out there?"

  "Cat," I whisper.

  He glances at me, then back at Callie. Finally, he meows, which is what I told him to do but his timing is way off. Oh, well, at least she noticed him.

  She laughs and picks him up. "What are you doing here and why are you wearing a bow tie?"

  He's not thrilled about the bow tie, but I told him I'd take it off after he completed his mission.

  He meows again, and bends down over her arm. Good boy, I think to myself. His actions directed her eyes to the ground and she notices the envelope and picks it up. "What's this?"

  I hear her open it, and give her a moment to read it. Then I step out of the darkness and stand in front of the door.

  She smiles, a big wide smile that warms my chest.

  "You're asking me out?" She holds up the invitation.

  "I realized that we've never actually gone on a date. So what do you say?"

  "Yes. I'll go out with you." She hugs me, still holding Cat. "Were you thinking I'd say no? Is that why you enlisted Cat's help?"

  "I figured it couldn't hurt. Besides, he needs practice asking girls out."

  She holds him up. "I like the bow tie. You could get a lot of ladies with that."

  "He doesn't like it." I unhook it from his neck. "I promised him it'd come off as soon as you agreed to the date."

  She sets him down and he runs inside the house. "Did you see that? He actually wants to go in the house. Maybe he'll want to stay."

  "You know, that's another reason why we should live together. Cat needs a stable home. Shuffling him between my place and yours would be too stressful on him."

  "You're saying you want joint custody of my cat?"

  I step up to her, my arms circling her waist. "I'm saying we should get a place together." I kiss her. "I'll cook you dinner. Give you foot rubs." I kiss her again.

  "I miss cooking so maybe we'll take turns on the cooking."

  "Whatever you want. So are you saying we're going to do this?"

  She nods. "Yeah. We're going to do this."

  "So let me get this straight. We've fallen in love, had sex, and decided to live together all before our first official date."

  She laughs. "God, that sounds really bad when you put it that way. We better go on this date." She takes my hand and pulls me inside. "Wait here. I've gotta change."

  Twenty minutes later, she comes out wearing a red dress and black heels, with makeup on and her hair down.

  I stand back and look at her. "Callie, you look beautiful. That dress looks great on you. Is it new?"

  "No. It's just been hanging in my closet. My mom got it right before..." She looks down and takes a breath.

  I go up to her and hold her hands. "You sure you're okay wearing it?"

  She nods. "I am if I'm with you. I'd only wear it with you, because I know you understand."

  "You know what?"

  "What?" she says quietly.

  I bring my hands up to the sides of her face and look her in the eye. "I bet she's here right now, here in this room, looking at her beautiful daughter in the dress she bought her and smiling, because you're going out tonight and living your life the way she would've wanted you to."

  Callie nods, squeezing her eyes shut as a tear slips down her cheek.

  I pull her into my arms. "They'll always be with you, Callie. Don't ever forget that. They love you and they'll always be with you."

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Labor Day

  Callie

  The summer is over and Nash and I are moving to Chicago next week. But before we go, we're having a party to celebrate the completion of Nash's house. He finished the renovations a week ago and it looks like a completely new house. Even the outside looks new. Nash didn't have time to do all the exterior work himself, so hired some guys to put on a new roof and new siding and add a front porch.

  Next summer, we're going to live in his house while we fix up my house. It's not in bad shape, but I want to do some renovations, and Nash, of course, offered to do them for me. I do have to pay him, though, in chocolate chip cookies and my homemade spaghetti sauce. So technically, I'll be his boss, which should be fun. I already told him I'll be breaking all kinds of HR rules.

  When Lou found out I was moving to Chicago, he asked if I planned to sell my house, and I thought about it but decided against it. Although it holds a lot of bad memories, it also holds a lot of good ones, like the ones from this past summer.

  So I'm keeping the house, but making some changes. Nash is going to add a walk-in closet to the master bedroom and renovate the master bathroom because it's really dated. When that room is done, it'll become my room and my old bedroom will be converted into a reading room. I've been reading again, which I used to love, but stopped doing after the accident. The room has lots of natural light so is perfect for reading. Nash is going to build me a window seat and some bookshelves.

  Ben's room is now our guest room. It didn't need to be renovated but it did get an update. We replaced the twin bed with a double and painted the walls a soothing green color.

  It was really hard to make those changes to Ben's room. I felt like I was losing him all over again. But Nash helped me each step of the way. We started by packing away the bedding, then taking the toys to be donated, and then boxing up his clothes. I couldn't box up his clothes so Nash did it for me, but I kept Ben's favorite dinosaur shirt, which is stained with fruit punch, his favorite drink. I also kept the monkey he gave me. It's going to go in my reading room and sit with me while I read, just like it did when I used to re
ad stories to Ben.

  "Ready to go?" Nash is standing outside his truck, holding the door open for me.

  "Yeah." I climb in, then watch as Nash's brothers toss the football around the front yard. Three tan, muscular, shirtless men playing football. I'm surprised girls aren't parading in front of the house to see this. Actually, a couple cars full of girls did slow down and stare earlier today. I'm sure as word spreads around town, more will show up.

  Nash's dad and brothers are here for our Labor Day party and to see the finished house. I met Nash's dad a few weeks ago. He came here after Nash found out about his birth mom. His dad didn't say that was the reason he came to visit but I think that was why. He was worried about Nash, even though Nash kept telling him he was fine. His dad stayed for the weekend and the two of them worked on the house together, and every night the three of us met up for dinner on Nash's deck.

  I really like Nash's dad. He's one of those warm, friendly people who's easy to talk to and makes you feel comfortable right away. He's big and tall, like his four boys. I still can't imagine how much food it would take to feed all of them. I guess I kind of know because we're feeding them this weekend and I had to fill up two grocery carts.

  "We need anything else while we're there?" Nash asks.

  We're driving to the gas station that's just down the street to get some bags of ice for the coolers.

  "No, I think just the ice," I say as we pull into the parking lot. It's packed with pick-ups and SUVs hauling boats. The tourists are here for the long weekend and loading up with supplies for a day at the state park and the lake.

  "Look who's here." I point to Katie, who's with some other girls. They're standing next to a white SUV that's attached to a large red and white boat. Some guy is putting gas in the SUV while Katie and her friends talk. They all have on shorts and bikini tops.

  "She doesn't seem like someone who'd go boating," Nash says. "Might get her hair wet."

  He shuts off the truck and as usual, it backfires.

  I watch as Katie and her friends drop to the ground, screaming and covering their heads.

  Nash laughs. "Guess I scared them."

  I'm laughing so hard my stomach hurts. "Oh God, that was hilarious."