Page 104 of Stay With Me

Nick lifted his palms in an effort to reel his thoughts back in, knowing that he didn’t need to get his hopes up too high.

“I’m not going to get ahead of myself. I still have no way of knowing how she’ll react once I tell her. She’s got her own issues and history that make what I did one of the worst things I could have done to her. And that’s why I haven’t told her yet. I have this feeling that once I tell her, I’ll never see her again. But every second I wait feels like it makes it all the more worse. I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

“Well,” James said, standing and gathering the empty takeout bags. “Then you need to rip the Band-Aid off and cross your fingers. And then,have a little faith. Because if all of that is true, she’ll need time to process her own emotions. But I think, in the end, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. BecauseIthink Sammie loves you. Maybe more than she realizes yet. All of this over these past few weeks, her being there for you in your weakest moments when she doesn’t have to be, sacrificing so much of her time just to make sure you’re okay. That’s love.”

Nick exhaled loudly as he let himself sink backward into the pillows. “I hope you’re right. This is sheer torture.”

“Well, get used to it, son” James quipped. “That’s being in love. It’s the worst best thing that’ll ever happen to you.”

* * *

Nick managed to stay awake until ten p.m. when he knew Kimberly would be taking her break, and shot her a text message.

Call me when you have a second, please.

Not a minute later, his phone rang.

“Hey, Kimberly,” he answered.

“Hi, Nick!” she said brightly. “How are you? Is something wrong? Did I leave out anything with the stuff I gave to Samantha?”

“Oh no, not at all,” he assured her and became a bit sheepish at the nature of his call. “I wanted to ask you something.”

“Sure! What is it?”

“Um, has Chase said anything lately that seemed a bit, uh, inappropriate?”

Kimberly chortled. “Have you met Chase?”

“Well, yeah.” Nick chuckled. “That’s why I was asking. I mean more like in regards to Sammie-er … Samantha.”

“Ohhh,”Kimberly replied. “Well, you know Chase. He has a big mouth, I’m sure he doesn’t mean any harm.”

“So he did say something,” Nick prompted, feeling a slight surge of rage.

“Well, I mean. You know … he was just…” she trailed off sounding incredibly nervous all of a sudden, which caused Nick to feel guilty for putting her in such an awkward position.

“It’s okay, Kimberly,” he apologized. “I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable, I was just curious. Forget I brought it up.”

“Are you sure? I mean, if there’s a problem—”

“No, don’t worry about it. Chase isn’t yours to deal with,” he said. “Hey, thank you for doing such an awesome job taking care of everything while I’ve been out.”

“Of course!” she exclaimed. “We’re all here for you. I know this has to be super difficult for you so if there’s anything else you need me to do, all you have to do is holler.”

“You’re awesome,” he replied. “I promise all of this extra work won’t go unrewarded.”

“You don’t have to do anything like that. I’m happy to help.”

“Thank you, Kimberly. You’re the best.”

“Of course. Have a good night.”

“You too.”

Nick hung up and immediately texted Chase.

Got a minute to call me?