She went on her tiptoes and whispered in my ear. “I’m getting really hungry, and I get kinda mean when I’m hungry.”
I nuzzled her nose and she giggled. “Let’s go feed you, needy girl.”
Chapter 26
Annie
NOVEMBER | Balance: $49,382
Nick and I sat at a high-top table against the wall at a dive bar near his place, sharing a basket of mozzarella sticks. The basic domestic beer tasted perfect after a long day at the rink, and some fooling around. We were laughing about this one look Guy gets when Kitty hurts his feelings the tiniest bit.
“Are you coming to their Thanksgiving? Or are you headed to see your family?” Nick asked.
“Oh, yeah, I’ll be there. I can’t afford to go home right now.”
I said it, then immediately wished I hadn’t. Nick’s mozzarella stick hovered above the marinara sauce cup between us as he studied me. “Aren’t flights from LAX pretty cheap?”
My eyes wandered the room, wanting to be anywhere but in this conversation. He realized his blunder.
“Sorry. Not trying to rub it in.” He reached for my hand across the table. “If you want to go home, Annie, I’ll buy your flight.”
I swallowed hard. “No, it’s fine. Thanksgivings are hard anyway since Mom’s been gone.”
His thumb stroked over my knuckles. “Yeah, you said it was her favorite?”
I made an expression somewhere between a wince and a smile. “Yeah. It was. We always spent all morning making pies to take to my grandma’s.”
Nick’s lips curled up as he waited for me to go on, then picked up that I wasn’t going to elaborate. I couldn’t elaborate. It had been five years and I still couldn’t talk about her without getting choked up. “How many siblings do you have?”
“Four. Isn’t that crazy? I’m the oldest of five. My youngest sister is still in elementary school.”
“That explains a lot. You have big-time oldest child energy.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re the golden child. You have your shit together.”
I snickered. “Minus the part where I keep getting tangled up in secret love affairs.”
Nick tipped his head. “Everybody’s gotta have some kind of vice.”
I threw my napkin at him and he cracked up. “I’m teasing you, Markham. It’s not your fault. Shit happens. Not like I’ve had a squeaky-clean life.”
“Yeah, you mentioned that. It’s hard for me to picture you as some kind of love criminal. What’s the story there?”
He took a sip of his beer, shaking his head. “In short, I fell in love with my freshman roommate. He had a girlfriend back home that his parents expected him to marry after college. But we were . . . something. I always held out hope that he’d pick me.”
I nodded, chewing my lip. “I get that.”
“I know you do. I think it’s why I like you so much.” His gaze captured mine, a sad smile curling over his lips.
I raised my glass. “Well, here’s to being fucked-up golden children.”
“Now fucking up together,” he said, clinking his pint glass to mine. We both tapped the table before taking a drink, then pointed to each other.
“Hey, you do the thing!” he said.
“You do too!” I laughed. “You must be superstitious.”
