Nurse to Heal the High Seas Doc - Chapter 16
Nicole read the email from her realtor and tried to find some joy in the knowledge that Keith and Landon loved the place. She and Caleb had existed there but the men renting it now made it their home. And offered more than a fair price to purchase it from her.
The sale would set her up nicely for wherever she went next. Until a few days ago, she’d assumed that place would be wherever Shane planned to land. But he’d acted weird when she’d said she was selling.
Acted like she was rushing it.
Maybe, but there was no reason to think this through. She was done with the house. She typed out the response to the realtor asking her to email over the paperwork and hit Send.
Shane walked in. They’d spent the night together, but a distance seemed to hover between them, even in the sheets.
“I sold the house.” She crossed her arms. This shouldn’t be a fight, but there was something unspoken here. Something she wanted him to state.
“Okay.”
“Is it okay? Because it feels like maybe it’s not.” Maybe she shouldn’t push, but she hated the disconnect between them.
Shane looked at her, colour coating his cheeks. “It’s just not something I would do. I would think it through. Examine all the consequences.”
“Consequences can be good.” Nicole stood but didn’t step towards him.
He bowed his head. “No. Consequences are bad.”
“Sometimes, but they also lead you to where you want to be.” She took a deep breath. “For example, I eloped with Caleb after knowing him for two weeks.”
“Two weeks!” Shane’s head popped up. “Two weeks. You married a man you barely knew?”
“Yes.” Nicole didn’t plan to make that mistake again, but if he would just listen... “But—”
“But?” Shane shook his head. “But you needed angel wings on your back when he died. They're covering scars. The artist did a great job, Nicole, but I can still feel them.”
She waited a minute. “I know.” She couldn’t stand the way he was looking at her. Like he didn’t recognize her. “Stop staring at me like that.”
This wasn’t where the conversation had been supposed to go.
“If you married him barely knowing him, how can you be so sure you won’t meet someone and run away with them again?”
The words cut through her. She had been going to tell him that the world was meant for them. That she’d go through that experience again and again if it meant landing in his arms. But all he saw was a woman who might run away on a whim.
“I was going to say that without that experience I would never have met you. So I’d do it over and over again. But, I guess both that rash choice and this one shouldn’t be repeated.” The clinic’s walls were closing in. The air wasn’t enough for both of them.
“Nicole—”
She held up her hand as she grabbed the walkie-talkie they used to communicate with the captain and each other when the other wasn’t in the clinic.
“I’ll be on frequency three.”
“Nicole!”
She walked out without looking back, swiping at the tears running down her cheeks. No thought in that action.
There’d be consequences for this too, but she couldn’t imagine them right now.