EIGHTEEN
Later, after the magic wore completely off, Nic and Jo sat on the porch of the small cabin. The night was cool, moisture hanging in the air, and the sounds of the nocturnal animals made her want to howl. As it was, she simply sat on the porch and sipped the glass of lemonade she brought out. Nic had his own, both of them sitting in silence as the night came alive.
“Well, I should probably head out, huh?” Nic said, staring down at his empty lemonade glass.
Jo studied him as he went to stand. “I never did ask which hotel you’re staying at. How far out are you?”
Nic paused as he went to stand, leaving him in this awkward hunched over position before he stood all the way up. “I’m not staying in a hotel.”
Jo frowned. “Then where are you staying?”
Shrugging, Nic moved over to the table and set down his glass. He hadn’t stepped foot inside the cabin without her permission, never asking, never pushing. “It would have cost a lot for a hotel room for a few months.”
“Right,” Jo answered. “But then, where are you staying?” He looked toward his truck and back at her, clearly not wanting to say it, but Jo got the answer. Her eyes widened. “You’ve been sleeping in your truck this entire time?”
“It’s plenty big enough. I don’t need much—”
“Nic,” Jo interrupted. “Why didn’t you say something?”
“I wasn’t going to intrude on your space.” He gestured toward the cabin. “It’s your safe space and I respect that.”
Rolling her eyes, Jo stood and grabbed his empty glass. “You can sleep on the couch.”
“You don’t have to—”
“You’re sleeping on the couch,” she growled. “I won’t have my driver exhausted from restless sleep.”
That was how they found themselves an hour later, sitting in the small living room conjoined kitchen, talking about things while enjoying each other’s company. Nic, in his wisdom, had decided to download MateFinder on his phone, curious how it all worked. He was currently working through the questionnaire, answering question after question, marking his interests.
“This is fantastic,” Nic murmured. “I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a lot of these questions before.”
“That’s the point of them,” Jo mused. “They’re meant to make you think and your answer directly impacts the outcome.”
Nic grinned. “So if I enter in all my information, is it going to connect me to you?”
Jo’s smile fell at his question, and she looked away.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to. . .”
“No,” Jo answered. “No, you don’t have to apologize. I get it.” She sighed and glanced back at him. “You know, I made MateFinder because I didn’t want people to go through what we did. It hurt to turn away from the bond, but neither one of us were ready, and now it’s far too late for any of that.”
Nic set his phone down. “It doesn’t have to be, Jo. It doesn’t have to be too late.”
“But it is,” she argued. “We’re different people now. We’re on different paths.”
“And what if the people we are now are who is meant to be together? What if you made this app because deep down, you wanted to know if we were meant to be together?”
Anger flickered in Jo’s eyes, anger at herself for admitting her feelings, anger at Nic for suddenly showing back up and talking about how they were meant to be. It’d been ten years and he never once came after her. He’d let her walk away.
“It’s stupid,” Jo growled. “I never even put my information in the app.” She shook her head. “Just stop trying to relive the past.”
“What if I want to?” he asked. “What if I want to right my wrongs?”
She stood. “Then you’re a fool, Nicolas Olcan. You can’t erase the pain.” Leaving him there, she couldn’t bear to look at him anymore. If she did, she’d think about how much she wished she wasn’t hurt, how much she wished she could throw her arms around him and just forget what happened, but some small part of her thought if he did it once, he could do it again. What was to say he didn’t do the same thing years later, after she’d already given herself completely to him? The devastation that would cause, the irreparable damage.
Nic stayed in the living room, sighing as he watched Jo leave. He’d be sleeping on the couch, happy to be able to spread out for once. The truck hadn’t been as comfortable as he’d said it was, but he hadn’t wanted to encroach on Jo’s safe space. It was better to just let her make the decisions. Now, he was able to spread out more, the couch long enough for his body where the truck hadn’t been.
Not knowing what else to do, he picked up his phone and continued the questionnaire on MateFinder, curious to see how it all worked. After he finished the long test, a tiny heart appeared and expanded, the results loading. The app guaranteed a handful of matches based on the similarities and differences. When the notification popped up that there was a full match, he clicked on it.
It didn’t surprise him to see the smiling face staring back at him despite her claiming she’d never put her information in the app. He was willing to bet she was telling the truth and her friends had put her in the app instead. Still, seeing her face there, bright and beautiful, it made him ache.
“Even the app is perfect and knows we belong together,” he whispered. “But how to convince Johanna?”
No one answered him, but then again, he didn’t expect an answer. He’d just have to figure it out for himself.
No matter how much healing needed to be done.