Second Chances in New Port Stephen - Chapter 114

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Second Chances in New Port Stephen - Chapter 114

The pink of Eli’s face deepened to red. “Big disagree. I could just as easily fuck it up. That’s what
I do, right?”
“Stop talking about my boyfriend that way. I get that the last year has been hard for you, but
having setbacks doesn’t make you a failure; it makes you human. If you don’t take this shot,
you’ll always wonder what could have been.”
Eli’s eyes went round and a little wet. “But what about you?” His hand squeezed Nick’s. “Don’t
you want to give this a chance too?”
“Of course I do.” Nick hesitated, because this was a lot to bring up on Day One of their new
thing, but he dove in anyway. “What if we try long distance, see how it goes?”

-- 222 of 228 --

Eli groaned. “Long distance is so hard, though!”
“Is it harder than moving back to a town that gives you panic attacks?” Nick challenged. Eli
adopted an appropriate look of chagrin at that. “Look, I know it’s not ideal, but I’m willing to
give it a try. Who knows? If things go well, we can think about something more permanent.” He
shrugged. “California is closer to Arizona, after all.”
Now Eli was the one with the confused frown. “Wait, what’s in Arizona?”
“Right, we haven’t talked much since Christmas.” Nick blew out a gust of air. “Laurie and Zoe are
moving out there next year. We decided recently.”
“Holy shit.” Eli struggled to sit up, coming eye to eye with Nick. “Are you okay?” His stricken
expression made Nick’s heart grip the cage bars of his ribs all
over again.
“Yeah,” he said. Then, because he wanted to be honest with Eli if they were really going to do
this, “No. I’m not. But it’s not about me. Laurie and I talked it over—a lot—and this is where we
ended up.”
Eli nodded a few times. He licked his lips in thought. “So. Maybe California?” He looked at Nick
with wild excitement dancing in his eyes.
“Maybe. Yeah.” Nick let himself feel the bubble of hope in his belly, rising to the surface. He
could picture himself on the West Coast. Maybe he’d even text his old college friend Ken in San
Francisco, see what he was up to. For the first time—in months? Years? A decade?—he could
see a long stretch of fresh life ahead of him, something exciting and undiscovered and his. “Are
we doing this?”
“We’re doing this.” Eli laughed, his head thrown back, his throat exposed. “It’s a Christmas
miracle!”
“It’s New Year’s,” Nick reminded him, and kissed him to drive the point home.