Page 47 of Don’t You Dare Marry Me (Love in Massachusetts #3)

thirty-nine

“Six months.”

“What?” Nicola looked up at Lachlan, the beautiful doctor who always had a smile on her face.

Thank goodness it wasn’t Nathalie, because Nathalie always stressed Nicola out.

Wherever Nathalie went, there was usually someone who was left high strung.

Now, Nicola could handle it, but she was already stressed out over everything happening that week.

“You’ve worked here six months,” Lachlan said with a bit more explanation this time. “Did you think you’d make it that long?”

“Hell no.” Nicola laughed lightly, cringed at her language, and then shook her head and laughed again. “Sorry about that.”

“Patients are gone, Nicola. I’m not worried about it.” Lachlan leaned over the front counter and smiled at her again. “But six months is a pretty good run for you, wouldn’t you say?”

“Yeah, I would.” Nicola leaned back in the rolling chair that had become her best friend in the last few months.

It had taken her a while to get into the work, but since she was so quick at memorizing things and so good with customer service, it had seemed like a natural fit.

Nicola crossed her arms. “Are you going to fire me?”

She asked the question, but she was pretty sure she knew the answer too. Which was also an odd feeling. Normally when she asked that, she knew she was going to be fired almost immediately. But those old doubts still managed to creep into her chest and make their way into her heart.

“Not unless you’re planning on walking out sometime soon.” Lachlan pushed a strand of dark hair behind her ear. “And are you?”

“No, ma’am.” Nicola grinned again. “I actually like this job. I wasn’t sure I would at first.”

“Well, Abagail seems to have a way with fitting people in where they need to go.”

“That she does,” Nicola agreed, her cheeks blushing. She’d spent so much time with Abagail in the last six months, and she’d gotten to know her better. In fact, Nicola was fairly certain the only person who knew Abagail better was Elia.

“I don’t really want to hear that name again for a while.” Nathalie grimaced as she stepped behind Nicola and gave Lachlan a hard stare. “Not that her work wasn’t useful for a while there, but I’d really rather not have to deal with her again.”

“I don’t think we will.” Lachlan straightened her back, flicking her gaze from Nicola to Nathalie. “I was congratulating Nicola on making it six months with us.”

“Has it been that long already?” Nathalie said.

“That’s her way of complimenting, remember.” Lachlan stared directly at Nicola. “She’s a work in progress.”

“We all are,” Nicola answered with a quick sigh.

While she loved working for these two women, they were a force to be reckoned with on a good day.

She felt so small and inconsequential next to them, not that they made her feel that way on purpose.

It was entirely a complex that she had and couldn’t get rid of.

They were well educated, rich, worked their asses off—and they had their shit together.

Then again, in the last six months, Nicola had also worked her ass off to get her life back in line.

She had actually started going to a community college and getting her gen-eds so that maybe she could figure out what she wanted to do in life.

At one point, before the accident, she’d wanted to go into math and teaching.

But that was before.

And she hated to admit it, but her life was defined as before accident and after accident.

Abagail assured her that was normal—so did Lachlan for that matter—but it still grated on her nerves that she couldn’t seem to separate herself from that one big event in her life.

On her own worst days, she just wanted to be normal.

Then again, normal didn’t sound all that fun either.

And she was certainly having fun with her life.

“I needed to talk to you about some scheduling changes.” Nathalie’s face morphed into a serious work one. Nicola at least recognized that look, and she knew she wouldn’t bear the brunt of anything wrong. “We’re taking a family trip.”

“Family trip?” Nicola raised an eyebrow at Nathalie. “All right, when?”

“The end of December, during the school break.” Nathalie flicked her gaze toward Lachlan. “We’re going to close down for two weeks during that time. It’ll be paid time off for you and the rest of the staff, but after the year we’ve had, we thought a trip would be good for the kids.”

Lachlan grinned in Nathalie’s direction. “We haven’t told them yet where we’re going.”

“Where are you going?” Nicola asked, pen between her fingers so she knew what days she’d need to start rescheduling patients for.

“California,” Lachlan answered.

“To a resort,” Nathalie supplied, her gaze deadlocked on Lachlan’s.

Lachlan reached out, her fingers covering Nathalie’s in a rare show of affection.

Nicola had always been in awe about their relationship and how much they managed to keep it outside of the office.

Then again, a lot of patients would probably have an issue with it, and with Lachlan’s ex-husband also working there, it would add to the tension.

But this was just the three of them. And Abagail had filled Nicola in on everything that she could of their relationship and who they were when she’d told Nicola to take the job six months ago. Once again, listening to Abagail had proven to be the best decision for her.

“When will you be gone?” Nicola asked, going back to the entire point of this conversation.

Nathalie rattled off the dates, and Nicola wrote them down.

“I’ll start rescheduling next week when I come in.” Nicola didn’t want to start that task now. She needed to leave the office and end her shift for the day. She had too many things on her to-do list.

“Sounds like a plan,” Lachlan said, her warm tone exactly what Nicola had come to expect. She was so opposite Nathalie sometimes that they made the perfect pair together. “You have big plans for the weekend, right?”

“Yeah.” Nicola couldn’t stop the grin from reaching her lips. “We’re moving my sister home.”

That word still sent a thrill through Nicola.

She and Abagail had talked it over so many times in the last six months, and it seemed like the best option.

Alanna living at home would extend her life, and they’d still make sure that she got all of the care and therapies that she needed in order to continue to improve her life.

But she was ready to graduate from the facility and start to be a bit more independent.

Still, that sent a swirl of nerves through Nicola. Alanna had barely been home since the accident, and even with the extra help and support that they’d have now that Alanna hadn’t had before, it still was wreaking havoc on Nicola’s state of mind.

“That’ll be an adjustment,” Lachlan said, glancing at Nathalie and shaking her head slightly before focusing all that warm attention onto Nicola.

“You’re telling me.” Nicola nervously glanced toward the door. “Abagail’s picking me up.”

“To help you move?” Nathalie’s voice boomed. “I never pegged her for manual labor.”

Nicola clenched her jaw tightly, trying hard to keep from giggling at what Nathalie had just said.

Sometimes it really wasn’t worth the time and attention to bring up her dirty mind to anyone else.

“I think she hired some help, but Alanna doesn’t have that much to move anyway.

Most of our stuff has been in storage since we were in school. ”

“Oh.” Lachlan frowned, as if the realization of what Nicola wasn’t saying was hitting her. Nathalie, however, still seemed oblivious to that.

“Well, this certainly does bring back memories,” Abagail said, stepping into the office and dragging her gaze from Nicola to the other two. “Though I can’t say I miss being here so frequently. The drama in this building is over the top.”

“Nice to see you too, Abagail,” Nathalie fired back, closing up immediately. Her shoulders tensed, and Lachlan slid to stand next to Nathalie and put a hand on her arm. “I didn’t think hiring Nicola would put you in my presence more often.”

Abagail let out a single chuckle. “I see not much has changed in your demeanor, Doctor. Ever take those classes I recommended to better your bedside manner?”

“No,” Nathalie said firmly. “No, I didn’t.”

“Not surprising.” Abagail focused on Nicola. “Are you done for the day?”

“Almost,” Nicola said, a nervous lilt in her voice. “Just need a few more minutes to close out some of these files and shut everything down.”

Nicola put her head down to get that done while Lachlan, Nathalie, and Abagail all stared each other down. She never wanted to be in the room with these three again if she could avoid it. Something about these three powerful women going head-to-head made her so nervous and jittery.

“How’s the baby?” Abagail asked.

“Dawn is great, thank you.” Nathalie smiled, her voice immediately softening.

Oh, Abagail was magic with that. She really did understand how to get to just about everyone, didn’t she? Nicola wished she had half that talent. Well, she did have about half of it, but she’d like the rest, thank you. It’d help so much in the long haul of life, wouldn’t it?

“Growing yet?”

“Yes, she is. It took a while for her to start to catch up once she was out of the NICU, but she’s started holding her head up. Greer sent me a picture of her doing that today.” Nathalie looked deliriously happy. It was such a nice change from her normal jadedness.

“How old is she now?” Abagail asked.

“Five months. Three adjusted.”

Abagail nodded as if that made sense to her. Nicola wondered if it actually did. It hadn’t to Nicola at first. She’d finally gotten the courage to ask Lachlan what that meant one day, and she’d kindly explained it.

“All done,” Nicola said, logging out of the computer and shutting it off.

She stood up, making her way around the desk to where she stashed her jacket and her purse in the small break area that they had.

She’d never loved having normal working hours until she actually had them.

But being able to leave when the rest of the world seemed to be done with work for the day was a glorious revelation.

When she got back to the main room, the three of them were talking amicably. She stepped next to Abagail and caught her attention. “All set.”

“Good.”

Nicola went to loop her arm with Abagail’s and then stopped.

That was something she’d do and want, but not necessarily what Abagail would do and want.

Abagail must have seen her hesitate, because she nodded at Nicola and then held her hand out in front of her, beckoning Nicola to lead the way.

Instead of putting her arm in Nicola’s, Abagail pressed a hand to the small of Nicola’s back as they walked toward the door.

As soon as they were outside, Nicola sank into Abagail’s side. This whole weekend was making her nervous, and Abagail had unfortunately borne the brunt of her anxiety in the last few weeks. She was determined to make this as easy a transition for Alanna as possible.

“The movers have most of her things packed up already,” Abagail said as she opened the car door for Nicola to get into the back seat first.

She slid in, nodding at Cal. He’d taken her to work that morning so they wouldn’t have to take more than one vehicle when they picked Alanna up.

And this new vehicle, well, Abagail had it modified with all the bells and whistles that Alanna might need.

The minivan wasn’t Nicola’s first choice, but it was the easiest to get Alanna’s wheelchair in and out of.

“She’s been texting me all day,” Nicola replied nervously. “I think she’s the most excited of all of us.”

“I bet.” Abagail nodded toward Cal to indicate she was ready for him to drive.

Nicola had asked her at one point why she didn’t drive, and Abagail had promptly corrected her that she did drive, just not in town.

Nicola had yet to see that though. Any time Abagail had gone out to Windermere to visit with Elia, Nicola had to stay behind for work things or to be with her sister and make all these transitional arrangements.

Next time, though, she swore she’d go out with Abagail and meet up with Elia again. Their dynamic was fascinating to witness. Nicola ran her fingers nervously through her hair.

“This is the right decision, right?”

“Yes.” Abagail affirmed her each time Nicola asked this question, but it was still a major step.

They had three days to figure it out over the long weekend, but that wasn’t going to be long enough.

Nicola was preparing herself for months of adjustment.

She and Alanna had never gotten along super well when they’d shared a room as teenagers, so she couldn’t imagine this would go that much better.

Even though their relationship now was entirely different.

“Stop worrying,” Abagail whispered, pressing her palm to Nicola’s bouncing knee. “It’ll be fine.”

“I know.” Nicola winced. “I just can’t help but worry.”

Abagail laughed. “I’ll distract you tonight.”

“No, not tonight. I can’t—with Alanna in the house?”

“She’s living on a completely separate floor than where our rooms are.” Abagail gave Nicola a hard stare.

“I know, but she’ll be there.”

“If you think your adult sister doesn’t think about sex on at least one occasion or another, then I think you have another thing coming.”

Nicola squeaked. “Oh God, I don’t want to think about that.”

“Don’t think about the details.” Abagail leaned in and kissed Nicola’s cheek. “At least not with her. Feel free to think about them with me.” Abagail turned Nicola’s face so their lips brushed. “I promise you that everything will be fine.”

“Yeah. It’ll be great.” Nicola kissed her again. “All right. We can do this.”

“ You can.” Abagail made that correction without even thinking about it.

Nicola had noted that too throughout the last few months.

It was definitely something that put a fair amount of distance between them.

But at the same time, Abagail was here and walking this road with her, each and every step of the way.

She wasn’t checking out, and Nicola had to remind herself of that when she started to doubt Abagail’s interest in her.

Resting her head on Abagail’s shoulder, Nicola closed her eyes and focused.

She could do this.

Everything would be better in the end.

She just had to get through this rough time of transition and then she’d find her balance again. And Abagail would be the perfect calm to the storm that Nicola was about to be. It’d really be good for everyone to have that.

“I love you,” Nicola whispered, fully not expecting Abagail to say it back. So when she was met with silence, Nicola smiled to herself. “Yep, I fucking love you.”