Page 39 of Don’t You Dare Marry Me (Love in Massachusetts #3)

thirty-one

“Uh… hello?”

Nicola stepped into the kitchen, planning to grab dinner before heading up to her room, but she stopped short.

There was a woman in there, one she’d never seen before.

She had her back to the door, but her hair was long, past her shoulders, little gray wisps throughout it.

She had on jeans, which was odd to see in Abagail’s world, and a cardigan, but it still was chilly outside.

She spun around, her long face slack and her eyes narrowed before she instantly relaxed. “Hi.”

“Who are you?” Nicola asked, trying to keep her tone as gentle as possible.

She didn’t want to probe deeper into Abagail’s life than she needed to, but she definitely wanted to know who was going to be staying in the house overnight if she was still living there technically.

It was the courteous thing to do, not that Abagail really ever thought about those things.

“Elia…” She paused and then held her hand out, the small gold tennis bracelet dangling off her thin wrist. “You must be Nicola.”

“Oh.” So Abagail had been talking about her. What exactly had she been saying? Because Nicola wasn’t a permanent part of Abagail’s life like Elia was. “Good to meet you, finally.” Nicola pursed her lips and took Elia’s hand, shaking it. “You’re here for a visit.”

“Yeah.” Elia’s lips curled upward, and she dragged her gaze down Nicola’s body and then back up. Was Elia checking her out? Not in a sexual way but in a checking her out for her best friend kind of way?

Nicola wasn’t sure how she should feel about that. She shuddered as she stepped around Elia toward the refrigerator.

“I’ll only be staying one night,” Elia answered.

“That’s fine. Abagail’s house seems to be a revolving door for one- or two-night visitors.”

“What do you mean?”

“First Greer and now you.” Nicola opened the refrigerator and stared at her food options.

She hadn’t actually thought this far ahead, just knew that she had to eat something before she went to bed, otherwise she’d wake up feeling like absolute shit in the morning.

She finally pulled out one of the pre-made meals that Abagail’s personal chef kept there and popped it into the microwave to warm up.

“Greer stayed here?”

“Yeah?” Nicola frowned, crossing her arms and leaning against the counter as she stared Elia over. “I’m sorry, but you’re not quite what I expected.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, Abs is rich. And you’re… down to earth.”

“The two aren’t mutually exclusive, are they?”

“No.” Nicola narrowed her gaze, her defenses coming up immediately. She probably shouldn’t have said that, but she’d never been one to be able to hold her tongue either. “But they are for you.”

Elia’s lips pulled into a tight smile. “Abagail and I met when we were kids at school. I’ve never quite been able to shake her.”

“Have you tried?” Nicola wanted to ask if she’d tried fucking her because that seemed to be the obvious way to get rid of Abagail quickly, but she didn’t suspect they had. While Elia definitely gave off the queer vibes, she didn’t seem like Abagail’s type at all—too closed off, too cautious.

“Not really.” Elia went back to the plate that she had in front of her, which looked to be a mixture of small snack items and different dips or sauces.

She had to be comfortable there if she was digging into Abagail’s kitchen like this.

“Speaking of… where is the notorious Abs?” Nicola asked, flicking her gaze up to Elia’s face before dropping it back to her hands.

“She’s in the library.” Elia finished putting some pickles on the plate and dried her hands on a towel that she had next to it. “Did you want to join us?”

“Oh, I don’t think that’d be a good idea.” The microwave beeped, and Nicola pulled out the bowl of food, burning her fingers on the bottom of it before she slid it onto the stainless-steel counter so she wouldn’t do any more damage. “I don’t think she wants to see me right now.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Just a feeling,” Nicola muttered as she rummaged around for a fork and knife.

She was going to hide away for as long as she could so that she could stay there as long as possible.

Once she had enough saved up, she could skip out and find her own place to rent.

Until then, she needed to keep a low profile.

“I’m fairly certain that Abagail is far fonder of you than you might think.” Elia leaned against the counter and made direct eye contact with Nicola.

It was unnerving, like she could read into whatever Nicola wasn’t saying and feeling and understood instantly what was going on inside her. Could she actually do that?

“Doubtful.” Nicola dashed her tongue across her lips and broke eye contact. She couldn’t keep up with that. Elia was out of her league when it came to that, and Nicola didn’t want to catch up with it either. She just wanted to escape.

“All she’s done tonight is talk about you.”

Nicola snorted. “I’m sure, with how annoyed she is that I haven’t left the house yet, and the fact that she keeps having to come to my rescue.”

“Rescue?” Elia prompted.

Nicola shook her head. She wasn’t going to say any more on that if Abagail hadn’t already answered it. She rolled her shoulders, but she didn’t leave either.

“If there’s one thing that I know about Abagail it’s that she’s fully capable of love. She just doesn’t show it in the same way that you’d typically expect.”

Frowning, Nicola looked back up at her. “I don’t think I understand.”

“I’ve never seen Abagail be in a relationship before, not in all the years that I’ve known her.

” Elia lowered her voice and stepped closer.

She was so much taller than Nicola, nearly towering over her, but it wasn’t imposing.

Instead, it was comforting. “But I’ve also never seen her break her own rules like she has with you. ”

“Rules?” Nicola whispered the word, like saying it out loud was going to shatter something between them.

“Didn’t she tell you them when you came here?”

Nicola shook her head.

“Interesting.” Elia’s lips pulled into a near smile before they dropped. “I don’t suppose you want to join us tonight?”

“Elia, are you almost finished?” Abagail stepped into the kitchen and then froze.

Nicola locked their eyes together before she dropped hers back to her warmed-up dinner.

This wasn’t what she was hoping to run into tonight.

She’d wanted to come home, slide up to her room, and not see Abagail.

Because after the conversation with Simone and Alanna, she was pretty damn sure that she needed to have an in-depth conversation with Abagail and that at the end of it, she’d be out on her ass.

And she just needed a few more weeks to get a backup plan in place to make this actually happen.

“Yes,” Elia said, her shoulders straightening. She flicked her gaze from Nicola to Abagail and back again. Then she finally stepped away, giving Nicola the space that she was suddenly craving. “I was just introducing myself to Nicola.”

“I didn’t realize you’d be home,” Abagail said, ignoring Elia completely.

Nicola risked a look at Abagail and then shook her head. “I’m not working tonight.”

“Oh.” Abagail stood stiffly by the edge of the counter.

Elia smiled at both of them and then snagged the plate of snacks before walking out of the room and leaving the two of them together.

It was almost like Nicola had come face to face with a power couple, two women who were extremely confident in who they were and who understood the ins and outs of how the world works.

That wasn’t Nicola at all.

She could barely keep her head afloat without thinking about the rest of the world.

Abagail jerked with a start, coming closer so that she could stand next to Nicola. “I’m sorry we won’t get a chance to talk tonight.”

“It seems like you’ve been doing that already.

” Nicola heard her tone and instantly hated that that was what came out of her mouth.

She sounded like a jealous girlfriend, which she definitely wasn’t.

Was she slightly jealous that Abagail was talking to Elia instead of her and clearly talking to Elia about her?

Maybe. But that wasn’t what she was really feeling.

Displaced was probably a closer word for that.

Nicola felt out of sorts because the spot she’d held in Abagail’s heart wasn’t actually hers. It may belong to Elia or it may not, but it was clear that Nicola didn’t actually have it like she’d thought briefly. She really needed to stop fooling herself and think about the reality of the situation.

“Elia is my best friend,” Abagail answered slowly, like she was explaining something to a kid who just wasn’t getting it. “I tell her everything.”

“Everything about me?” Nicola’s heart clenched. How much had Abagail shared about her past? About the fact that Nicola couldn’t even manage to keep her head above water on her own?

“No, not everything.” Abagail stepped in closer, cupping Nicola’s cheek gently as she lowered her voice. “I won’t ever tell her what’s yours to share. Just the parts that affect me.”

Nicola nodded and closed her eyes. Moments like this made it feel like they were actually in a relationship.

But she knew that Abagail would pull away in an instant and it’d be back to like they were acquaintances that didn’t really talk about anything personal.

But they did. They had. And that meant something, right?

“If you want to tell her, feel free to. Elia’s a very good listener.”

For some reason, Nicola knew that. She’d never met Elia before, but something in her countenance made it clear that she was there to listen and evaluate. Nicola nodded and pulled away from Abagail’s touch before she looked too deeply into it.

“I work late tomorrow,” Nicola said, picking up her bowl of food and putting it between them as a way to ward off the feelings she was having that she didn’t want.

“Maybe we can talk before you go to work.”

“Yeah. Let’s do that.” Nicola frowned. It was the last thing that she actually wanted to do, but she couldn’t avoid it any longer, could she? She winced as she took a step back and put even more space between them. “I’m going to head upstairs.”

“Okay.” Abagail seemed almost saddened by that statement.

Confused, Nicola ignored it. They weren’t friends, and there was no way that Abagail wanted her to spend time with Elia and her, not when their time together was already so limited. Nicola would just be a burden and she’d drag them down.

“I’ll let Elia know so you don’t have to.” That was the mature thing to do, right?

Without another word to Abagail, she walked out of the kitchen with her dinner in her hand and started toward the library. She stepped just inside, making it clear that she wouldn’t be joining them. “I’m going to head to bed early. I have a late night tomorrow.”

“All right.” Elia gave her a small smile. “I can make breakfast in the morning, if you’d like.”

“Sure.” Nicola frowned, knowing full well she wouldn’t be joining them for breakfast. She was going to hide out in her room as long as possible. “But I might not be here because my Aunt Simone is in town, and I’d like to spend some time with her.”

“Simone?” Elia furrowed her brow.

Nicola nodded slowly, an odd feeling swimming in the middle of her stomach.

“Does she work at Windermere?”

“Yeah.” Nicola froze.

“I teach with her.”

Panic swelled in Nicola’s chest. How much did Elia already know about her? How much did Simone tell? And the fact she’d just told Simone basically everything that day meant that Elia would know everything, wouldn’t it?

“Cool,” Nicola managed to squeak out the word. “It uh… was good to meet you.” She turned around and walked out.

She brushed past Abagail and made for her room, climbing into her bed and closing her eyes in an instant.

She was insane to think that Abagail would ever want anything more than sex from her.

She knew better than to think that someone could love her, because when she let her guard down, she’d never meet expectations.

She couldn’t do that with Warren, and she certainly couldn’t do it with Abagail.

Nicola was no one. She had no education, no job, and she couldn’t even manage to keep a roof over her head. The only reason Abagail was interested in her was because they were compatible in bed.

Tears burned in her eyes again for the second time that day.

And the last thing she wanted to do was cry over someone who wouldn’t even notice when she was gone.

Nicola took a few more minutes of self-pity before she dragged herself up and forced herself to eat the dinner she’d warmed.

Food was the last thing on her mind, but she knew she’d need it tomorrow when she had that long shift at work.

But right then, all she wanted to do was hide away and never emerge from the bedroom.

Surely that’d be better for everyone, wouldn’t it?