Page 111 of Succeeding Love

I wanted to laugh out loud. “You’ve given me little reason to be sweet, Nick.” I shut the door, then walked off in a huffy mood.

I would love to just drop Nick off, but I don’t trust him not to go right back into his place and drink himself into oblivion again. I know Jessie, and she’s going to want to see her dad again soon. She’s already texted me asking where I was. Once I tell her what happened to her dad, she’ll want to go back to his place.

While waiting in the drop-off line, I pulled out my phone, going to text Preston to let him know we were out of the ER. Instead, my heart sped up when I saw a missed call and a text from Vin.

My Hero:| Call me when you can. I really need to talk to you.

The urge to call him now crept up on me. With Nick outside and the way Vin reacted last night to my ex, I decided against it. I wanted to talk to him. Soon. I just didn’t want the first time we talked about what happened last night to be while I was dealing with another Nick situation.

I’ll rush through getting Nick taken care of, then I’ll just go see Vin in person. It’d be better to explain everything and apologize face to face.

Vin was on my anxious mind as I finished getting the script dropped off and took Nick back to his condo building. I wanted to hurry and get home now.

I used Nick’s key card to get into the parking garage, parking in the spot he had reserved for Preston. His car had been towed from the garage, but there were still broken car part bits and glass from the headlights everywhere, along with paint smears and crash marks on the concrete wall.

Nick’s eyes looked shocked at how back the damage was. I chose not to say anything, even though it made me feel sick seeing the damage. If I hadn’t taken Nick home, my kids could have been there with him when this happened.

I tried to help Nick walk to the elevator, but he insisted he was fine on his own. I didn’t argue. It was a short walk and then a quick elevator ride up.

The elevator ride was quiet, just like the drive from the pharmacy to the parking garage. Nick looked all sour and pained while I was busy thinking about Vin and what to say to him when we met. A word slip-up last night when I blurted out that Nickfollowed me into the bathroom wouldn’t be wise. I needed to watch my speech for once.

When we got out of the elevators, I could tell that Nick was already in a lot of pain. The nurse said that his body would be sore for a while. His body locked up from the shock of the impact. His back was probably killing him.

I grabbed his elbow and helped support him out of the elevator, and he actually accepted my help. His pain must be greater than his stubbornness.

Walking him back to his room, I noticed the open bottle and empty glass on the kitchen counter. There was another on his bedside table, only no glass. He was just drinking it from the bottle.

Nick gritted his teeth through the pain while I helped him into bed, then noticed where I was staring.

“That’s expensive.” Nick glared at me as I lifted the bottle off the bedside table.

“I’ll reimburse you,” I muttered, walking with it to the kitchen to dump it.

I tossed the now empty bottle in the trash in the kitchen, then dumped the other bottle. I checked every cabinet, even the drawers and the freezer, but found no other bottles. His fridge was well stocked with foods Jessie and Preston like, which softened my disposition, but only a little. He still was the reason last night was such a crap fest.

Sighing, I walked back to his room. “Are there any other bottles?”

Nick was staring at those pictures on his nightstand. I wanted to smash all of them last night, since many of them werejust of him and me, but there were some precious ones of my babies too. He was torturing himself with those remnants of the past. Anyone could see that.

“No,” he said without looking up. “Just the one here and the one in the kitchen. Happy?”

“No,” I scoffed. “Nothing about the last fifteen hours has made me happy.”

He closed his eyes, turning his head away from the pictures. “I’m sorry, Fay. I didn’t mean to…. I mean…” He pressed his lips together, squeezing his eyes tighter together. When he opened them again, they were glassy and just swimming with emotions. “I can’t do this without you, Fay. I can’t. I’m trying, but I can’t. I fucked up, and don’t know how to fix it.”

I could feel his pain in every word. I heard the ache in his voice. There was a time that might have moved me. I may have felt sorry for him. But I was where he currently is a year ago. I was the one drowning in my loneliness and pain.

“You can’t fix this,” I whispered, sitting on the end of his bed. “Because there’s nothing there to fix. Not anymore. Not with me.”

I picked up a picture of me holding Jessie as a baby in the hospital. Preston was sitting beside me, staring at his sister. It was such a sweet moment. I remember when this picture was taken. I was so overcome with love for my babies, nothing else mattered. Not the pain, the labor, the months of discomfort. Holding my babies was worth all of it.

They were always worth it.

Handing the picture to Nick, I whispered, “They’re a different story. When you left me, they were what got me through it all. Focusing on them. You and I can never go back to what we once were. One piece of paper was enough to sever our ties to each other, but nothing can change the fact you are their dad. If you think you need to fix something, do it for them, if nothing else.”

Nick’s tears spilled over, so I rubbed his back to offer him the only comfort I was willing to give. He set his hand on top of mine on his shoulder, then lifted it to kiss my hand.

“I really am sorry, Fay. I’m so sorry for hurting you.”