Page 1 of Leave Me Not: Nick & Elissa #2 (Badger Creek Duet #8)

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NICK

T he plane touches down on the tarmac with a bump. I can see through the small window of the plane, all the snow and the mountains and I smile, leaning over to nuzzle Lis as I whisper, “Home sweet home.”

She turns to me, giving me a small smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes as she says, “Yeah.”

I take her hand in mine, lifting it to my lips as I brush them over her knuckles. “You sure you’re okay?”

She smiles again, giving me a quick nod before she turns back to the window. I don’t fully believe her though, because something has been off with her for the past few days. But it doesn’t matter how many times I ask her what’s wrong, she always tells me it’s nothing.

But I know in my gut that it is something and it scares the shit out of me, which is why I lean in again and say, “You sure, because you’ve been awfully quiet these past few days?”

Lis lets out a breath, her head resting on the seat as she turns to me again. “I’m okay, Nick,” she says. “I think just taking my first break in years and the travel and stuff.”

“And you’ve been sick,” I say, kissing her knuckles again.

“Yeah, and that,” she adds, her voice flat.

The plane comes to a stop, the seatbelt sign going off and everyone stands from the seats around us, neither Lis nor I move yet. “I hope you still had fun with my family though.”

She lifts her hand to my cheek. “I did, of course. It was great to see them all again.”

Smiling, I lean in and kiss her. “Good,” I whisper against her lips. “Now all we have to do is break the news to our friends about us being back together,” I add, smiling. “Which should be fun.”

“We probably need to get off the plane first,” she suggests, tipping her head toward the aisle.

Chuckling, I lean in for another kiss before unbuckling my seatbelt and getting up. I grab our bags from the overhead compartment and then hold my hand out for Lis before we exit the plane. After we grab our suitcases, we head outside to get a taxi.

I give the driver my address and as we make our way out of the airport, Lis turns to me and says, “I might go and see how my mom is doing this afternoon.”

“Of course. You want me to come?” I ask, knowing that even though Judy now has a serious boyfriend, we did still leave her on her own for Christmas.

“Nah, it’s okay,” Lis says with a smile. “Thanks though.”

When we get back home, I carry our bags into my bedroom, dumping them as Lis grabs her keys. “You’re going now?” I ask.

“Yeah,” she says, walking over to me. “I’ll probably have dinner with her, so don’t wait for me.”

I pull her into my arms. “You’ll come back here tonight though, right?” I ask.

Lis rests her head on my chest. “Yeah, probably,” she murmurs.

My arms tighten around her as I drop a kiss to her head. “Please come back. I don’t sleep well when you’re not with me,” I say, knowing that we’ve barely spent a night apart since we got back together and when we did, I hated it.

I’m not sure how I ever went four years without her to be honest. We’d been inseparable when we were kids, spending all our time together, even if many of those nights involved us sneaking around because we couldn’t exactly admit to our parents that we were having sex.

I’m sure they knew though, hell Judy admitted she knew I’d been sneaking into their apartment for ages and had just been silently leaving condoms in the bathroom in the hopes I didn’t get Lis pregnant. Guess she never knew that the second Lis and I did start sleeping together, she also went out and got on the pill.

We’d used condoms that first awkward time we had sex, but after that, it had just been us, with nothing between us, literally and metaphorically. And it’s been that way ever since.

Lis pulls back a little, smiling up at me. “As long as Judy doesn’t feed me too much wine, I’ll come back.”

I return her smile, even as I remember Lis barely drinking when we were in Phoenix. “Well, if she does,” I say, dropping a quick kiss on her lips. “Text me and I’ll come get you.”

Lis smiles again, pushing up on her toes as she gives me a kiss. “I’ll see you later.”

“Okay, love you.”

After Lis leaves, I head back to my bedroom intending to unpack our bags, but before I have a chance to, my phone chimes out with a text.

Alex: Hey, Nick, are you back??

I grin at the message in the group chat I have with my two best friends, as I type out a response.

Me: Yep, just got in. What are you up to?

Alex: Me and Max are gonna head to the Matterhorn for a few afternoon drinks. Wanna join us??

I glance at our unpacked bags again, wondering if I should stay and unpack and do some laundry or just say fuck it and go and see my friends. I know which one I’d prefer and considering how many years I spent not getting to hang out with them, it definitely feels like the better option.

Me: Yeah, sure, sounds good. I’ll head down now. See you soon.

I grab my coat, beanie and gloves, figuring I’ll walk into town because Mandy is always pushing me to do my exercises and keep using my knee as much as possible. I feel a lot steadier on my right leg now and I know that’s because every day it’s getting stronger and stronger.

And I can’t help but wonder if that means it’s also getting closer and closer to me being able to ski again too. Tomorrow is my meeting with Mandy and the coach, so maybe I’ll find out. And even though that’s going to potentially change a lot of things with Lis and me, I finally feel like we are both in the right place to deal with all of that.

Lis says she’s going to come with me, that she’s happy to give up her life here in Badger Creek and travel with me and while I still struggle to believe she really means that, I’m still selfish enough to take her up on it. I don’t want to be without her, I never did, and being back together now, getting this time again, has only solidified that for me.

“Hey, how was your Christmas?” Alex asks, as I join him in a booth.

“Yeah, really good. Yours?”

Alex grins. “Amazing, me and Laney had a great time in Boston.”

“Yeah, me and—” I stop, suddenly remembering that while Lis and I have agreed that it’s time our friends know about us, I don’t want to just drop it on them now, without her. “Me and um, the family did too,” I say.

“And Elissa, have you seen her since you got back?” Alex asks, his grin widening.

I’m saved from answering with yet another lie to my friend by the arrival of both Max and Ethan, who join us in the booth.

“Convinced this guy to knock off work early and join us,” Max says, nodding at his boss and soon to be brother-in-law.

Ethan chuckles. “I don’t work half as much as I used to, you know.”

Max rolls his eyes at him. “Yeah, only because you’re so gaga over my sister.”

I clear my throat before saying, “Um hey kettle, meet pot.” Alex bursts out laughing at this, and I turn to him and add, “Yeah, you ain’t much better, you know.”

Alex smirks now. “Is this jealousy or frustration talking, Nick?”

“Um, why would I be jealous or frustrated?”

This time it’s Alex and Max who are both laughing and when I turn to Ethan, I can see he’s smiling, but it’s different, probably because he’s the only one who knows what Zoey did when I first got back to Badger Creek.

“Oh, I don’t know, jealous because you also want to be gaga over your girl and frustrated because you aren’t there yet,” he says, grinning. “Unless you are and you’re just failing to mention it to us.”

Beside me, Ethan lets out a laugh that he immediately tries to hide as a cough before he stands and says, “I’ll get us some beers.”

“You’re an idiot,” I say, tossing a coaster at Alex, before turning to Max and asking, “How was your Christmas?”

“Good,” he says. “Harper is finally over her morning sickness, so yeah it was really good.”

“I still can’t believe you’re having another kid,” I say, shaking my head with a smile.

Max grins. “Don’t knock it till you try it, dude. It’s actually pretty fucking great,” he says, as Ethan returns with our beers. “It’ll be these two next, I’m sure,” Max adds, tipping his bottle toward Ethan.

“These two what?” he asks.

“Having kids,” Max says with a smirk.

Ethan smiles as he takes a sip. “Yeah, one day sure.”

“See, he gets it,” I add, jerking a thumb at him. “There’s no rush.”

“Well, sure,” Max says, still smiling. “And I mean, first you and Elissa would have to get back together, anyway. Right?”

Alex bursts out laughing at Max’s words, and I roll my eyes as I say, “Okay, can we stop talking about the me and Elissa thing, please. I know what you’re doing here.”

“And what’s that?” Alex asks.

I take another sip of my beer. “You’re trying to get me to admit shit,” I say.

“Oh, so you’re admitting there is stuff to admit then,” Alex says with a laugh.

“Oh, jesus, please can we change the subject?” I plead, turning to Max and then Ethan.

Ethan sits back in the booth as he loosens his tie, undoing the top button on his shirt. “Any word on when you can get back to skiing?” he asks.

I shrug. “Don’t know yet, but I have a meeting with my PT and coach tomorrow, so I might find out more then.”

“You should go skiing with him when he first gets back out there,” Alex says, gesturing to first Ethan and then me with his beer. “He’ll be super rusty, so perfect for you too,” he adds, with a grin.

Ethan chuckles even as I throw another coaster at Alex. “Zoey has been teaching Ethan to ski,” Max adds, clarifying.

“Wait, what?” I ask, turning to Ethan. “You bought a ski resort and you don’t know how to ski?”

Now it’s Ethan shrugging as he grins. “I bought the place for the summer outdoor stuff,” he says. “The skiing part was a bonus, I guess.”

“A bonus,” Max says, laughing.

Ethan turns to Max, his grin widening as he says, “Well, it was certainly a bonus when it comes to your sister.”

“Whoa, burn,” Alex shouts, slapping Max on the back as Max just shakes his head laughing at Ethan.

I don’t really know this guy well, but from everything Lis has told me, he definitely sounds like a pretty cool guy. And watching him hang out here with us, giving Max shit about the fact he’s hooking up with his sister, makes me think that even more.

“Feels different when the shoe is on the other foot, doesn’t it?” I tease, smiling at my friend.

“Fuck you all,” Max mutters, before changing the subject.

While the conversation continues on around me, I pull my phone from my pocket to text Lis. She only left an hour ago, but like the pathetic sap none of these guys know I am, I already miss her.

Me: Hey, how’s Judy, did she have a nice Christmas? Say hi to her from me. I’m just having drinks with the guys and they are already fishing for info on us. We gotta tell everyone soon!

She doesn’t answer right away, so I put my phone down on the table before I join the conversation again, Alex and Ethan discussing the ski academy they’re opening at Badger Creek. It apparently opens in the new year and while they still have some staff to hire, everything looks to be on track.

“Maybe you’ll be able to come train here sometimes?” Ethan suddenly says, turning to me.

“Yeah, that’d be cool,” I say, draining the last of my beer. “It certainly looks like an awesome set up.”

“Dude, you gotta suggest that to your coach,” Alex chimes in. “Maybe the team could move here, that way you could be home more?”

“I mean sure, that’d be cool,” I say, knowing it would solve so many of mine and Lis’ problems. “But I’m not sure that’s possible. The team has links and everything in Park City, it’s where they’ve always been, so…” I trail off as I gesture to them with my empty beer bottle. “Another round?”

The guys nod, so I slide out of the booth, taking my phone with me as I make my way up to the bar to get us some more drinks. Just as I place my order, my phone finally chimes out with a text. Smiling, I glance down at it, but my smile disappears when I see Lis’ message to me. The sliver of fear that still lingers, only waking up whenever I start to think about Lis and me and something going wrong between us again, once again rearing its ugly head.

Lis: She’s all good and she did. Says hi back. Have fun with the guys. I think I’m going to stay here tonight.