Free The Leaves 03 (Nico) by JB Hartnett Page B

boxers.” I smirked.
    “That is one lucky fish.” She sighed.
    For a split second, I was thinking a shark was a mammal then remembered that was dolphins. “Uh, I know this is going to maybe catch you off guard, but I wondered if you might like to have dinner with me?” There. I fuckin’ did it. How hard was that?
    I could do this. For sure. I needed to make some changes, but this was a start. I’d had plenty of random pussy, and obviously, that wasn’t working for me any more…
    “Oh… wow, Nico. Wow,” she said awkwardly. In a louder voice she added, “Come over to action and I’ll show you those movies I suggested. Michelle? Can you watch the front? Thanks.”
    I followed her, bouncing and full of smiles for the other two customers near us to “action” and leaned against a shelf of DVD’s. “I took your advice, Nico. I… I met someone. I 132/510
    mean, I have you to thank for being a huge asshole, but you actually did me a favor.” She was being sweet. She didn’t seem to have any animosity, which was good. Still, she was giving me “the speech,” which was totally catching me off guard.
    “Oh,” I said like an idiot. “Good for you, Gina.” I took a random DVD from the “S” shelf and limped back to the counter, dragging my giant, wounded ego behind me.
    “Thanks, Michelle,” Gina said. “I think those kids are trying to steal the candy again.
    Go get ‘em.” She shooed her lowly high school age employee away. “So, Spacejam, huh?” She teased, looking at the DVD.
    I gave her a genuine smile and lied, “I’ve heard great things.”
    “Nico—” she began as I took the movie and left a five dollar bill on the counter.
    I spoke quietly so no one would hear our exchange. “Gina, you did me a favor, too. It’s all good. I’m happy you found someone.” I 133/510
    turned and slowly made my way toward to the door.
    I was just lifting my leg into the truck when the passenger side door opened and Gina jumped in. “Hey, what are you—” She thrust her tongue in my mouth, and I, in turn, took her face in my hands, pulling her closer for that kiss I hadn’t forgotten.
    “Fuck,” I said on a breath.
    “Yeah,” she agreed, both of us panting.
    Then she gave me a light peck on the lips, sweet and chaste, and moved to open the door.
    “Why did you do that?” I asked. I wasn’t pissed or anything, far from it.
    “Because of your heart, Nico. It’s beautiful.
    You’re a good man who lost his way. I’ve thought about it, about you, a lot. I wish we could be what each of us is looking for, but I knew we weren’t that night, and I had to be sure. That’s why I kissed you again. I had to be sure.”

    134/510
    I put my hands on the steering wheel and looked out the windshield. “I’m fucked.”
    “I was, too. For three years, I was just going through the motions. The mindless sex isn’t working like it used to?” she asked.
    “How’d you know?” I turned to look at her.
    “I drank. I’m sure it doesn’t look like it, but it was easier to hide behind a few drinks every night, and then day and night, than it was to feel the pain of that hole left behind by Andy. I was sure you only get one.”
    “One?”
    She stared out the window, the peachy colored stucco building in front of us the only thing in her line of vision.
    “Soul mate, true love, whatever you want to call it. So I waited for a sign, and that night, with you, at Roscoe’s… it just snapped me out of it. I’m still here. I’m alive. And when I met this man,” she said as she turned a ring around her finger, “I was waiting for another sign because I thought, ‘No way 135/510
    could this happen twice in my lifetime.’ So when you walked in today, I thought you were my sign, and your kiss, as fairy tale as it sounds, your beautiful kiss woke me up the first time. I wanted to be sure, and I am.” She opened the door and hopped down.
    “You’ll find it, Nico, whatever it is you’re looking for, and when