The fact of the matter was, Nick needed someone to watch over him if I was going to be kicked to the curb in a matter of weeks. I knew he had Jackson, Lupita, and Juan, but he needed someone more. Someone who wouldn’t leave his side when he arbitrarily decided the relationship was over. He needed family. He needed his sister, Lexi.
Decision made, I climbed out of bed, grabbed my phone, crept down the hallway, and called Lexi. I told her that Nick had fallen and cracked his head. I didn’t mention the panic attack or the stroke. I could respect his privacy that much. I told her that he needed to be watched, and I told her that I couldn’t stay with him and she needed to be here to take care of him. I’d barely finished speaking before I could hear her running to her car, where she hung up on me. I texted her the code to the gate to get in.
I went back to Nick’s room and got dressed. The soft glow from the gas fire in the fireplace illuminated his face, and I tried to commit it to memory because I had a feeling that by letting Lexi into his world, I was losing Nick for good. Who was I kidding? I was going to lose him in a matter of weeks anyway. This way at least I knew someone would be taking care of him, and I could protect the tattered remains of my poor heart in the meantime.
Before I was ready to say good-bye, I heard Lexi’s car in the drive. I went downstairs to meet her. She dashed up the front steps. Her hair was in disarray, she was wearing glasses, and she had on two different shoes. She threw her arms around me in a hug that strangled.
“Is he okay? What happened?” she demanded. Then her face scrunched up and tears fell. “I can’t lose him, not now. I just found him.”
“He’s okay,” I said. I put an arm around her and tried to calm her down before she woke the whole house. I continued in a whisper. “He’s resting right now, but come on in and you can wait with him if that will make you feel better.”
She nodded. I led her inside and up the stairs, telling her what to look for with his head injury. Nick was still asleep when we entered his room. Lexi very quietly pulled one of the two armchairs from in front of the window on the far side of the room over to the side of the bed. I went to get her a blanket. As I tucked her in, she glanced up at me.
“Thanks, Annabelle,” she whispered.
I nodded. No matter how this played out, I knew I’d made the right decision. I left Lexi with Nick and went home to find Sir waiting for me. It was good to have company, because I didn’t plan to sleep. Not at all.
* * *
“You had no right!”
I snapped awake, finding myself on my couch with Nick seated in the armchair across from me. He was still in his flannel pajama bottoms and thermal shirt. He was barefoot. His hair was mussed and the bump on his head was now deep purple. I lurched upright, dislodging Sir, who leapt to the ground with a plaintive meow.
“Nick, are you all right?” I asked. I made to reach for him but he leaned back.
“No, I’m not.”
“Your head,” I said. “Let me get you some ice. How about pain medicine? Have you taken any recently?”
“Stop,” he snapped. “Stop taking care of me like I’m some injured bird you’re trying to rehab back into the wild. I’m fine.”
I pushed my hair out of my eyes. Fine? He was not fine. He had a knot on his head, he was pale with dark circles under his eyes, and he was so agitated, he was practically vibrating in his seat.
“I’m making coffee,” I said. There was no way I could handle this conversation without coffee. “Can I get you some?”
“No.” He paused. “Thank you.”
Manners. Maybe he wasn’t as mad as I thought.
“Where’s Lexi?” I asked. I knew it was the equivalent of hitting a hornet’s nest with a stick, but I figured we might as well get it out of the way. Nick followed me into the kitchen, where he slid onto one of the barstools.
“I sent her home,” he said. He watched me make the coffee. Neither one of us spoke. When it was finally ready, I poured my first cup, and he continued, “You knew how I felt about keeping my distance from Lexi, but you called her anyway. Why?”
He sounded genuinely confused. I sipped the hot brew, trying to figure out how I could answer him in a way that would make him understand.
“Because she’s your sister.” I went for the simple truth. My sister, Chelsea, was my first best friend and the person I always reached for in a crisis. Nick needed to have the same in his life even if he didn’t realize it yet.
“So what if she is?” he asked.
“She’s your family, Nick. She had a right to know.”
“No, no, no,” he argued. “She was my family once, a long time ago, but she moved away and I moved on, and that’s the way I want it. Just like I don’t know where my parents are and I don’t care. I have kept my life on lockdown for a reason.”
“Is that why I couldn’t find anything about you on the Internet or in the news?” I asked.
“You looked?”
“Yes, back when I thought you were a grumpy old codger.” I resisted adding that I hadn’t been wrong, which I thought showed remarkable restraint.
He huffed out a breath. “I paid a lot of money to have any trace of me wiped clean from the Internet. I’ve never granted interviews with the press or been on social media. I even had nondisclosure agreements for anyone I got involved with—until you.” He paused and I knew he was thinking what a mistake that had been. Ouch.
“Assuming they’re not dead, I never wanted to risk my pa . . . past showing up and demanding a handout. Nice to know it worked. Mostly,” he said.
“Lexi isn’t your parents,” I said. I braced for his ire.
“I know but it changes nothing. I don’t want her in my life.”
I felt myself get furious. “What about what she wants?”
“She’s better off without me.”
“How do you figure?” I asked.
“For the same reason that you’ll be better off without me,” he said. He gestured between us. “I’m damaged goods, Annabelle. I’m no good to anyone.”
“Bullshit,” I said. “So you had a stroke, so what? I have high cholesterol and asthma when I catch a cold. We all have stuff, Nick.”
He glared at me. “It’s not that simple.”
“Yes, it is actually.” I stood my ground.
“You had no right to call Lexi in when I was unconscious,” he said. “You didn’t even wake me to ask permission. You made a decision that wasn’t yours to make.”