"Callie, if you're not feeling up to it, you don't have to work today," he says as I leave.
He thinks I'm upset because of that letter and what happened last weekend, and I admit, I'm an emotional mess. But the last thing I want is to be alone. Being alone this past year has gotten me nowhere. And if I had to choose anyone to be with right now, it'd be Nash.
When I go in my house, I stop a moment, noticing the missing objects. The room looks bare without them but I'll get used to it. I have to, because I can't put them back. I'm really trying to do this, to get past this horrible tragedy, and in order to do so, I have to make changes.
As I pass Ben's room, I can't help but glance inside. No more toy cars lined up on the dresser. No more stuffed dinosaurs on the floor. They've all been put away. For good. I blink away the tears and hurry to my room to change.
When I get back to Nash's place I go in the kitchen and take a moment to look at it now that it's almost finished.
"It looks great in here," I tell Nash who's coming in from the garage.
"Thanks. I just need to paint the walls and it'll be done."
I walk past him. "I'm going to work upstairs today, if that's okay. I thought I'd go through those boxes in the master bedroom."
"Do you want me to bring them down here? That room stinks."
"I'll just open a window and air it out. Is Cat up there?"
"Yeah. He's taking a nap. Tomorrow's Ladies' Night so he's resting up."
I smile. "He really thinks he'll find a girl at Ladies' Night?"
"He's hoping so. He's also hoping he can go back and live with you. You think you're ready for him?"
"Not yet. Could you keep him for a little longer?"
"I'd be happy to. We get along great. And he's already caught two mice."
"You have mice?" I jump back, searching the floor around my feet.
Nash laughs. "You're afraid of mice?"
"No," I insist. "I'm not afraid of them. I just don't like being around them."
"Same thing," he says, taking a can of pop from the fridge.
"It's not the same," I mumble, racing up the stairs before a mouse appears.
The master bedroom stinks, just like Nash said. It's a mixed aroma of dusty clothes, mothballs, and old man aftershave. I crank open the windows, and while the room is airing out, I go to Nash's room and peek inside. Cat is in his bed, sound asleep, with one of his cat toys wedged between his paws. He seems happy, almost as happy as when Ben was alive.
I return to the master bedroom and drag the boxes out of the closet. They're heavy, probably filled with more magazines. But when I open the first box, I find photo albums, not magazines. I take one out and flip through it and see family photos of a younger Mr. Freeson, along with a woman I assume was his wife, and a young girl, who must be Nash's mom. I look in another album and see photos of Nash's mom as a teenager.
Nash needs to see these. I run down the stairs to the kitchen.
"Nash?"
"Yeah?" He chuckles. "You looking for some air freshener? I told you that room stinks. I took the mothballs out and it still stinks."
"It's fine. I have the windows open. I need you to go up there and look at something."
"Right now?"
"Yeah. I think you'll want to see this."
We go upstairs to the bedroom and I show him the box of photo albums. "They're all filled with photos of your mom and her family."
"Shit," he mutters. "That's a lot of damn photos."
"I know. You can go through them all later, but I saw these and I was so excited I wanted to show you."
His lips turn up. "Why were you excited?"
"Because I thought it might make you happy, finding more pictures of your mom."
He's looking at me but doesn't say anything. Maybe he didn't want to see these.
"Nash, I'm sorry. These are hard for you to look at, aren't they? I thought you'd be happy but—"
"Callie." He puts his hand on my shoulder. "I'm happy about the photos. I'm glad you found them."
"Do you want to look at some now, or do you want to do it later?"
"I'll do it later. Would you look at them with me? Like maybe tonight?"
"Sure." I glance down, then back up. "Would you maybe want to have dinner together? I could make something."
"I think it's my turn to make dinner, but I don't have anything to cook. How about if I order a pizza? We haven't had one of those for a while."
"Sounds good." I smile because his comment reminds me of how things used to be. Eating dinner together and taking turns on who would host. Nash used to have to force me to have dinner with him. I was so annoyed with him. But now I'm excited about having dinner with him. I've missed our dinners.
"I'll let you get back to work." As he walks out, I check out his tight, perfect ass. Damn, he's hot. And sweet, caring, considerate.