My brow knit. She didn’t know this was a bit of a landmine. “Uh, well? My dad lost his job when I was eight, and he kinda went into a deep funk. My mom ended up becoming the breadwinner, and that messed him up more. He kept feeling worse about himself all the time. I got a magic book out of the library and convinced him to help me with my tricks. That was the only time he seemed happy.”
“Oh, wow. Didn’t expect that. Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you tell me all that.”
I grimaced. “Sorry. Probably an overshare.”
“No, no. I’m . . . honored. Not like I haven’t shared anything super personal with you without really knowing you.” She paused. “It’s sad and sweet at the same time. You don’t have to talk more about it if you don’t want to, but do you have any siblings?”
I shook my head, my hand idly traveling across the back of her t-shirt. “I don’t mind talking about it if you don’t mind hearing about it.”
Her eyes met mine, a gentle sincerity lying there. “No. I like getting to know you.”
I nodded, rolling my lips. It was nice to open up to somebody. “Alright, well, to answer your questions, it was just the three of us. And good thing, since money was tight. I was already deep into hockey at that age, so Mom started doing night shifts to make more money. Dad felt even worse about that.”
“Aw, Nick. That’s a lot for a little kid.”
I shrugged. “Everybody’s got something. I think it made me more compassionate. My mom’s a nurse, and she’d take me to the hospital with her sometimes. Once I was good at magic, I volunteered as a candy striper to help cheer kids up.”
“Oh my God, you’re going to make me cry, Nick.”
I snorted. “It’s not worth crying over.”
“No, you did it to help your dad, and then you did it to help other people.”
“I wanted to pay it forward. People helped my mom pay for hockey. The least I could do was be nice to some kids who felt lonely.”
Annie puffed out a breath and fanned her face. “I did not expect this was what got you into magic. I thought it’d be some stupid answer like ‘I love Chriss Angel!’ or ‘David Copperfield is so cool.’”
“Well, they are cool,” I laughed. “But there’s a little more to itfor me.”
“And you still use it to cheer people up, even if it’s cheesy.”
“Meh. My pride isn’t that fragile. I have plenty of things I’m self-conscious about, but that’s not one of them for me.”
Annie pulled out of our tight embrace, gazing into my eyes. “I think maybe I want to kiss you again, Nick.”
My embarrassing laugh comes out, the one that sounds a little too goofy, the one I try to hide. “Yeah?”
And then her lips were on mine. She tasted like chocolate cake and dreams and like I want to book my return flight to Nashville. She tasted like I don’t want this wedding to be over.
Annie Markham tasted like more than a weekend.
At least, I hoped it would be more than a weekend.
* * *
I woke to Annie curled up on my chest in crisp hotel sheets. Mikey had talked about how when he and Jessie were getting together, she slept in his bed platonically a bunch. Those quiet moments with her were some of the ones that gave him the faith that they could be happy together.
I got it.
Except that in just a few hours, we would be parting ways, probably forever. Unless Guy and Kitty had kids and had some big baby shower, I wouldn’t have any reason to see her again.
Maybe Ican see her when we play Nashville? Maybe I canconvince Kitty to have her out to visit and Ican just *happen to be there*?
It was a ridiculous thought. I wished I could be like my love ‘em/leave ‘em friends. But that’s not me.
I leaned up to look at the clock. 9:49. Shit. Brunch.
“Morning, angel,” I said, stroking Annie’s hair. She stirred, first nestling into me, then looking surprised when she saw me. All our clothes were still on. Nothing happened but kissing. Kissinguntil we fell asleep.
