Chapter Thirteen
Nick woke before dawn, rolled over, and nuzzled against Ellie, pressing his lips against her neck.
“Mmm,” was all she said, then reached behind her to slide her fingers into his hair. “Yes.”
He smiled at that, then rolled her over to kiss her. She responded, warm and welcoming, her fingers wrapped around his neck.
But then she pulled back.
“Fran has to work today. I have to go get Henry.”
He lifted his head to look at the clock on his nightstand. It was six a.m.
Ugh.
The reality of having kids.
“You sleep in a while longer,” he said. “I’ll go get Henry.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
She lifted up and brushed her lips across his. “Thank you.”
“For what? The outstanding night of sex?”
She offered up a satisfied smile. “Definitely for that. But for getting Henry.”
“Hey, no problem.”
He got out of bed and grabbed his clothes, slid into them, and zipped up his jeans. “I’ll see you later.”
He left her room and went to his, used the bathroom, and picked up his phone. He really wanted to brew a cup of coffee first, but he’d better go grab Henry.
Then coffee.
Fran was already up and in her scrubs when he got there.
“He was awesome and we had a great time,” Fran said.
Henry came to the door, his tiny backpack in his hands. He handed it off to Nick. “We made our own pizza last night, Uncle Nick.”
“You did?”
“Yeah. And I got to help with the dough and put the sauce on it. And I got to sprinkle the cheese. I really like cheese.”
Fran grinned at Nick. “It was an extremely cheesy pizza.”
Nick could well imagine. “Hey, I know Henry. He’s a cheesy kind of kid.”
Henry giggled.
“Thanks for having him over.”
“I hope you had a good night.” Fran looked at him expectantly, but he wasn’t the kind of guy to kiss and tell.
Instead, he kissed Fran on the cheek. “Talk to you later, Fran.”
“Bye, Aunt Fran,” Henry said, giving her a big hug. “Thanks for letting me hang out with you and Mark.”
They went to the car and Henry talked nonstop about pretty much every minute of his time with Fran and Mark.
“Where’s Momma?” Henry asked as he threw his backpack on the sofa.
“She’s still sleeping.” Then Nick thought about what he’d said. “I guess.”
“I’m hungry.”
“Did Fran feed you breakfast?”
“Yup. Mark did. Cereal. I want pancakes now.”
“Pancakes can wait until after I’ve had coffee, buddy.”
“Okay. But not too long, ’kay?”
“I’ll do my best.”
Henry gave him a dubious look, then ran into his room to play.
Nick headed straight for the kitchen to brew a cup of coffee. He stayed right there for the first few sips, then made his way into the living room and put his feet up on the coffee table, scanning the news on his phone. He checked the weather, too. It was supposed to snow later today.
It might be a good day to get their Christmas tree. They could decorate it while it snowed outside. Henry would love that.
He heard the door to Ellie’s room open. She came down the hall, stopping when she saw him. She offered up a hesitant smile.
“Where’s Henry?”
“In his room playing.”
“Oh, okay. I want to say hi to him.”
She turned around and went back down the hall. Nick heard talking, then Henry’s giggle. Then Ellie’s laugh. Hearing the two of them together was often a gut punch.
Henry loved his Momma. And he knew how much Ellie loved Henry.
She came out of his room.
“Did he tell you he wanted pancakes?” Nick asked.
Ellie nodded. “About five times. I told him I needed coffee first.”
Nick laughed. “Same thing I told him.”
She walked past him and went into the kitchen. He figured she’d join him on the sofa, so he resumed reading the news. It was a few minutes later when he realized she hadn’t come in to sit next to him. He turned around to see her leaning against the kitchen counter, staring off into space.
“Ellie?”
She jerked her head up. “Yes?”
“You coming in here to drink your coffee?”
“Oh. Uh, sure.”
Something was off. Nick wasn’t sure what, but when she sat in the chair instead of next to him on the sofa, he knew something was definitely wrong.
“What is it?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re sitting as far away from me as you can without being in another room. What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” She set her coffee cup down and pulled the blanket that was draped over the chair onto her lap. “I was cold, and this chair has the blanket.”
He pointed to the thick blanket behind him. “There’s one right here.”
She looked at the blanket, then at him. “Oh. Right. Forgot about that one.”
She didn’t forget about it. Ellie always made sure there were plenty of blankets in the living room in the winter because she was always cold. “What’s wrong?”
She started to speak, but then the bedroom door opened and Henry came running down the hall, throwing himself onto Ellie’s lap.
Ellie squeezed Henry and kissed his cheek. “My sweet boy.”
Henry pulled away, then leaped onto Nick’s lap. “Is it time for breakfast yet?”
“Sure,” Nick said, wrestling with the wriggling monster. “You ready for pancakes?”
Henry giggled. “Nope. Now I want cupcakes.”
“Nice try, kid. How about pancakes and fruit and a big glass of milk?”
“Okay.”
“Sound good to you, Ellie?”
Ellie nodded. “Sure.”
Nick got up and started breakfast. Ellie joined him, and Henry dragged some toys in the living room to play with.
“It’s supposed to snow today,” he said as he worked on making the pancakes while Ellie washed and sliced the fruit.
“Is it?”
“Yeah. I thought we might go get the Christmas tree today and decorate the house. Henry would enjoy that while it’s snowing.”
“Sure. Sounds great.”
Typically Ellie came up with any excuse she could to avoid getting the tree or decorating the house. She was either deep in thought about something else or maybe she was finally over the whole anti-Christmas thing.
“Ellie.”
She looked up at him. “What?”
“Christmas tree today. Then decorating.”
“I said that was fine, Nick.”
“Okay. Just double-checking.”
Something was definitely off about her, but he couldn’t keep asking her about it while Henry was in the vicinity. So he’d have to wait until later.
He just hoped it didn’t have anything to do with what had happened between them last night. Because, to him, last night had been perfect. She’d been perfect. He wanted to build on that, start a relationship with her, out in the open. Sure, they’d have to take things slow, introduce the change in their relationship to Henry in a way he’d understand.
Nick was in love with Ellie. He hoped she felt the same way, but until they sat down and talked about how they felt about each other, he wouldn’t know where he stood.
Hopefully they could do that soon.
In the meantime, they were going to get this Christmas thing moving along. The fact Ellie was agreeable about the tree and decorations was a good sign.
That, at least, was a step in the right direction. So maybe things were changing for the better.