With Mason and Cassie away for the competition and Daisy flaking out on them, Nick was pulling double duty and tending the bar in the tasting room until they returned. It didn’t bother him. He was happy to have something to keep him busy. Every time he had a second to think he wanted to throw his fist into a wall for being so stupid.
Daisy had always had lights in her eyes, meant for bigger and better things. Why the hell would she want to tie herself down to someone stuck living in the past? Tyler had been asking him about the house, always starting off with the infamous line, “no pressure.” It should’ve been a no brainer. Nick should sell the house and move on with his life.
He pulled out his cell and scrolled to his text messages. He typed a reply to Tyler.
Nick: The house is yours.
He stared at it for a good minute, thought about deleting it a hundred times, but finally hit send. His phone vibrated immediately with a response.
Tyler: Seriously? That’s awesome!
Nick shoved his phone in his pocket because his fingers were desperate to type back that he’d changed his mind. He’d give it twenty-four hours, and if the fear of letting go didn’t dissipate he would rescind his offer.
He greeted a couple who came into the bar and stood in front of them as they sat down. “Have you been here before he asked?”
“We have. We were here the other day and this lovely girl waited on us,” the woman said. “I can’t remember her name. Blonde curly hair, sweet as can be.”
“Daisy,” he said, her name like a knife to the heart.
“That’s it,” the man said. “She gave us a tour and we had such a great time. We’re heading back home today and wanted to stop in and pick up a few growlers to take with us.”
“I’d be happy to get that for you. Would you like a pint while I fill them?”
“I wish we could,” the man said. “But we have a long drive ahead of us.”
“No, problem. What can I get you?”
“We’ll take a growler of the IPA and the stout. Daisy had said it was going to competition.”
Nick nodded. “The owners are there right now. Fingers crossed we place.”
“It’s amazing, I’m sure it will,” the man said.
“Thank you. We take great pride in our beers here.”
“We can tell,” the woman said. “You’re all so knowledgeable, too. The tour Daisy gave us was really interesting.”
No matter how many times this woman said her name the sting didn’t lessen. He had no idea Daisy had been giving tours. She didn’t think she was capable of managing anything yet she learned all about the brewing process and the beers in no time.
He filled the growlers for the couple and handed them over. “Where are you from?” he asked as he handed them their change. As Nick helped grow the distribution, he liked to know where he had future potential to expand.
“Pennsylvania,” the woman replied.
Nick rang them up and handed them their change. “Hopefully in the next year you’ll be able to get our beer in your state.”
“That would be fantastic.”
“I’m working my magic right now so hopefully soon. I actually have a trip scheduled in the upcoming months.”
“We’ll keep an eye out for you,” the woman said.
Nick shook their hands and waved them off. One of the perks of the job was getting to meet new people. It was something he had always loved.
The door opened and he turned ready to greet a customer, but froze as his eyes settled on Daisy. For a minute he thought it was his imagination messing with him. But the longer he stared into those blue eyes he knew no vision would be able to remember such beauty in detail.
She unwrapped her scarf from around her neck, pulling it free from the wild mess of curls. She wadded it in her hand then went to step forward, stopped, then dedicated herself and moved until she was standing across from him on the other side of the bar.
Even after understanding her better, he was still angry. He couldn’t let go of the fact that she’d repeated history, walking out on him without a damn word.
“What are you doing here? Don’t you have a dream audition to be at?” he asked, refusing to make eye contact.
“I did,” she said, still toying with her damn scarf. “But I realized something.”
He moved glasses around, anything to keep busy and to keep from looking at her. “And what’s that?”
“I never said goodbye.”
The vise around his heart tightened. He swallowed down the agonizing sting of betrayal and forced himself to meet her gaze. “Wouldn’t be the first time,” he said.
She smiled and he hated how it brightened her face and more than that he hated that he noticed at all.
“I know and that’s just it… I don’t want to say goodbye.”
His heart slammed against his chest as he took in her words. She’d told him that the reason she’d never said goodbye was because she couldn’t because if she did she’d never be able to leave. He didn’t want her to feel obligated to give him closure. He didn’t need a goodbye. He already accepted that she was gone. “Then don’t,” he said.
She let out a n annoyed breath and came closer. “No, that’s not what I mean.” Her lips parted and her fidgeting fingers found her hair, twirling a curl. “What I mean is… I don’t want this to be goodbye. I don’t want to lose you again.”
In other words, she wanted it all. She didn’t want to choose and she didn’t want him to make her. But he wasn’t going to sit around and wait for her to figure her shit out. “I thought you had something you needed to prove? I wouldn’t want to get in your way.”
She shook her head. “I thought I did. I thought making a name for myself was the only way to make amends, but after coming home I realized, like you told me with Brooke, all I had to do was apologize. The only person who cared about me making a name for myself was me.”
“You suddenly don’t care about that anymore? For how long, Daisy? A week? A month? Until you get bored again? Until you realize that whatever lies ahead scares you and you have to jump to the next damn thing because it’s easier to run? How long until you leave again? Until…”
“Never,” She said, cutting him off.
“That’s bullshit, and we both know it.” He grabbed a rag and started wiping down the bar, needing to distract himself, but he couldn’t help but glance up.
Tears filled her blue eyes, and damn him for wanting to reach out and wipe them away. Why couldn’t he just hate her? It would make his life so much easier.
“I messed up,” she finally said, a tear falling from her lid and streaking down her cheek. She swiped it away angrily as if she was pissed she’d let it fall in the first place. At least he knew she wasn’t purposely trying to turn on the water works. “I messed up really bad.” Her voice was a mere whisper. She met his gaze, a storm brewing in the deep blue of her eyes. She blinked and the storm cleared, little breaks of light shining through. “I knew it six years ago, and I know it today, and now I’ll never know what could’ve been. What should’ve been… because you’re it for me. I was just too stupid to see it.”
Nick’s hand stilled on the rag as she used his own words.
“I love you. Always have, and no amount of time or distance will ever change that. This time I’m not going anywhere.” She put her scarf down on the bar and slipped out of her coat. “It took me a long time to realize that a part of me has always been missing. I never could figure out what it was until I was standing on that stage in New York and your voice popped into my head.
“I gave you my heart when we were kids, and you were right, it’s been here with you this whole time. And there are no amount of lights around my name that would have changed that.”
He wanted to believe her but the eighteen-year-old kid she walked out on was in the back of his mind telling him not to fall for her act.
He stared at her, taking in how beautiful she looked with her curls out of control and falling in her face, the desperate plea in those bright blue eyes. A half-hearted smile tugged at the edge of her mouth.
“This is usually the part where you say something.”
What was left to say? He told her how he felt, spilled his heart to her, and she still left. Was he supposed to just forget about that because she came back? How was he to know that she wouldn’t leave him again? When times got tough, she wouldn’t just run out on him.
Her smile faltered, lip quivered as she took in a deep defeated breath. “I see,” she said. She pointed over her shoulder to the door. “I’m going to go now but not because I’m running because I meant every word that I said to you. I’m here and I’m not going anywhere. But I’m also not going to make this any more uncomfortable than it has to be.”
She was babbling but he couldn’t seem to find the words to make her stop.
“Okay, I’m going now.” She grabbed her coat and walked toward the door then stopped. She turned back to him. “I just have one more thing to say.” She balled her coat in her hands then met his gaze. “I have a lot of regrets but I’ll never regret loving you.”
His throat constricted, raw hot emotion burning a path to his heart. He watched her blonde curls spin around and move farther and farther away.
What the hell was he doing? She might have left but she did come back. She didn’t wait six years this time and if that didn’t speak volumes in itself than he didn’t know what to believe. He couldn’t let her walk out on him again not when they were so close to their forever.
He catapulted himself over the bar and took long strides until he stopped right in front of her. She gasped at the unexpected barrier and she blinked up at him with so much hope it shattered the last of his resolve.
He didn’t need words to tell her he heard her, that he loved her too, not when he could show her. His hand wrapped around her waist, and he pulled her in, capturing her lips in one quick motion. A tiny surprised squeak fell from her mouth, but she quickly melted into his arms.
Every broken promise, every regret and mistake he forgave with each stroke of his tongue against hers. He pulled back, looked into her eyes, and saw his future play out in front of him. Holding onto the past was only a way to keep him from looking to a future without the girl of his dreams by his side, but now he didn’t have to hold onto the lost time.
Their future was in front of them and it was brighter than the lights of Broadway.