Play Maker(52)

She bit her lip. “My life is complicated,” she told me. “You must see that. Mikey is, well, he’s wonderful, but he’s got special needs. And I’m the only one he has.”

“What about your mom?” I asked.

“She just came back into our life.” Nicole looked very vulnerable all of sudden. “She left when I was sixteen. Mikey was eight. She’s trying to make up for lost time, but it’s hard. She doesn’t understand his routines yet. She doesn’t know how to take care of him the way that I do.”

I could only imagine how hard it must have been for her to take care of her brother all these years. No wonder they were so close and she had been so worried about getting home to him the other night. My heart twisted a little at the thought of them on their own.

Nicole let out a breath. “But maybe I haven’t been letting her either,” she admitted. She seemed to be saying this more to herself than me. I squeezed her hand in an attempt to be comforting but it seemed to startle her out of her thoughts and she looked back up at me. “I just don’t know,” she told me. “I like you, I do, but…” she trailed off. “There’s a reason I wanted this to be a one night stand. They’re easier on me and they’re easier on Mikey.”

Another wave of disappointment washed over me, but I wasn’t willing to give up without a fight. She was worth it, I knew that for sure.

I wanted to be with her. There was no doubt in my mind. “Mikey is important to you and he always comes first. I understand that. But you and I, there’s something here. You know there is. Whether it’s just amazing, amazing, amazing sex—” Nicole smiled at that. I felt hope stirring in my chest. “Or something more.”

Our food arrived before Nicole could answer, but I could see the conflict all over her face.

“There’s something here,” I told her again. “I just want to give it a chance.”

She nodded, looking down at her food.

“Well then,” I rubbed my hands together. “Let’s see who will win this waffle contest to the death.”

“To the death?” Nicole laughed, some of the tension broken.

I raised an eyebrow, daring her to contradict me. “All waffle contests are to the death.” I lifted a fork and pointed it at her. “Do you accept?”

She raised her own fork and tapped it against mine. “To the death,” she agreed.





31





Nicole





“So, in terms of fluffiness,” I was looking down at the waffle contest categories, trying to focus on the paper and not on the warring emotions inside of me. “I think the hotel waffles win in that regard.”

“Yes, but we got two waffles here instead of one, so they are basically the same height,” James argued.

“We’re not debating height,” I reminded him. “We’re discussing fluffiness.”

“Alright.” He leaned back in his chair. “The hotel waffles were fluffier.”

I marked that down. It was the last category. I had been in a mental tailspin since James confessed his interest in dating, but I didn’t even know where to begin. I liked him. I liked him a lot.

“So?” James asked, pulling me out of my confusion. “Which was the winner?”

“Hold on.” I ran my finger down the placemat. “I’m counting.” When I got to the end, I was surprised. I looked up at him.

“What?”

“It’s a tie,” I said with disbelief.

“What? Really?” James grabbed the placemat from me and began counting himself.

“You don’t trust me?” I couldn’t help teasing.

“I take waffle contests very seriously,” he responded. “There’s a reason I’m not allowed back in Belgium.”

I giggled, unable to help myself. James was fun to be around. He was fun and sexy and interesting and he wasn’t going anywhere. What was wrong with me? There were a million women who would stab me with their stiletto to be in my position. Why couldn’t I tell him that I liked him as well? Why couldn’t I let myself take a chance on it?

Because of Mikey. My brother clearly adored James. But was he getting too attached? What would he do when it ended? Because it would end. Of course it would. We were too different. That much had been obvious when he showed up at our house with all those presents. Everything he had bought in an afternoon cost more than most of my combined possessions.

But was I not being fair to myself? Was I using my younger brother as an excuse? It was true that I hadn’t really given my mom much of a chance to take on any responsibilities with my brother. Or with anything really. I hadn’t let go of anything, that was for sure. And maybe it was time to. Maybe it was time to let her rejoin the family, without holding her at arms length.

The thought of doing that scared me. But maybe it was a good kind of scared. The kind that meant I needed to take a chance, take a leap of faith. I looked over at James, who was going over the waffle categories one more time, and couldn’t help but smile.

When he excused himself to go pay the bill, I pulled out my phone and called Mikey. We had been at lunch for a while and I was eager to check in on him, see how he was enjoying his gift from James. The phone rang for a while before he picked it up. That was unusual. He was pretty good at picking up on the second or third ring.