It causes me to smile. “Probably not. I’m trying to draw less attention, and to be honest, that lake was a lot colder than it looks. I still freak out there are toads or something like that, too.”
“I know, right? The mystery of Lake Spark’s water wildlife.”
I’m happy that a normal conversation overtakes us, and I’m having another day that feels promising.
We ask the waiter for the bill, and I pay since Harlow’s doing me a favor. As we walk to our cars, we talk over her baby shower that is in the process of being planned.
“Okay, drop off your little gentleman when you want. Make Stone set up that portable crib thing, I want to see if he passes his nursery-construction skills.” I love that she has an upbeat personality. I’ve heard that her beginning with Stone was not necessarily like that. We’ve all come a long way, I guess.
“I promise. Thanks again.”
My smile doesn’t seem to fade.
It feelsstrange walking through the Nix family home. Of course, I’ve been back as an adult when Zac was alive. But visiting the house since his passing? No. I follow Nash as he checks the pool cover outside. We’ve added an errand to our day without Bo.
“This real estate agent is a pain in my ass.” He moves a few more leaves from the blue cover as he leans over the side of the pool. “Of course it’s not broken. If she just cleared a few of autumn’s little sprinkles, then she would see everything is attached.”
A laugh breaks out of me so fast as he stands. “Autumn’s little sprinkles?”
He gives me anoh, reallylook. “What’s wrong with that?”
I touch his arm “Nothing. It’s cute.”
Nash steps closer to tickle me. “Don’t worry, I’m anything but cute.”
Giggling, I do my best to shake him off. “Stop it. Wouldn’t two people falling on a pool tarp break it? I mean, you and I are horrible around water.”
He creates space with a wry smile and his eyes glint. “Maybe…” His thumb brushes along his jaw; I love when he does that. “As teenagers we had so many parties here,” he reflects fondly.
I look around, taking in the place that was nearly my second home for so many years. “This place has a lot of good memories.”
“Yeah… yeah, it does. But it’s time for my parents to move on. A change of scene. Besides, they don’t need a five-bedroom house.”
We begin to walk to the sliding door to the kitchen, and I tuck my hands into my coat pockets. “This kitchen is great, though.”
Nash swoops up my hand as we enter and slides the door shut with his free hand. “You used to bake cookies for us here.”
“You guys would be on microwave duty for my popcorn intake when we would all watch movies.”
“Ah yes, the family room of chilling.” We stroll in no particular direction, just letting our feet lead their way out of the kitchen and down the hall.
We walk past the family den and pause for a second before we continue our journey, when Nash tugs on my arm. “Come on, we need to check upstairs too. Apparently, there’s a window stuck in my parents’ room.”
Nothing in my mind seems to protest, it’s only when we reach the top of the stairs and Nash gets to work on the agent’s request and leaves me alone that a click in my mind turns on.
Sauntering down the hall, the corner of my mouth twitches when I see Zac’s room. He showed it to an unaware Bo when he was born. Bo got the whole tour, and I teased that Zac’s room was always so over-the-top clean as teenagers that I was always scared to even enter. It helped his study aura he believed. My fingertips tick a few times against the handle of the open door, feeling a squeeze in my heart. I will always have feelings for him in a different manner, and missing him will probably hurt forever.
Turning on my heel, I follow the carpet until I stop in front of Nash’s old room. While Zac’s room squeezed my heart, this room blazes it. Leaning against the doorframe, I cross my arms to soak in the scene.
It doesn’t resemble the old days, when he’d had a few hockey trophies from high school on a shelf, and even though it’s the same bed, it’s a different duvet.
With the blinds open, the afternoon sun brightens the room, but my mind only imagines it at night when lamps were on.
I’m startled when a hand gently touches my shoulder.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you there,” Nash states softly.
“It’s okay.” I can’t rip my head away from the room. “Just going down memory lane, I guess.”
