If This Was a Movie (Evergreen Park #2)

Chapter 38 – Nate

THIRTY-EIGHT

NATE

The next day, I called Claire and told her she could have the cottage again if she’s interested. Although she argued for a moment, worried she’d be taking the place from Jules, as soon as I explained to her that it was Jules’s idea and we were good—solid, even—she sighed with relief.

“I can’t stay here for another day,” she said quietly as if our parents were near and might hear. “Mom is hovering over me like I’m about to break, and Dad keeps telling me my shirt shows too much skin. It’s a cropped sweatshirt, Nate! They’re driving me crazy.”

I laughed even though I know it’s all painfully true. This was, after all, why Claire moved out in the first place, considering she was twenty-four and they hadn’t stopped treating her like a baby.

“But I don’t want to move in if it’s going to mess things up with you and Jules. You guys are so cute together, but Sloane told me she’s being a bit stubborn.”

I sighed, battling the urge to tell my sisters to stop fucking gossiping about me.

“She was just a little…nervous, is all. But if I have my way, she’ll be moved in with me and Soph by summertime. So don’t worry, Claire. Just pack your things up. Jules is going to break the news to Sophie in a bit and start packing up. Have Sutton drive you over whenever you’re ready.”

Claire sold off her car before leaving for California, so I know she doesn’t have a way to get around. I add that to my mental list of things to ask around about, to see if anyone has a decent car they’re looking to sell.

“Good luck with that,” Claire grumbled, and she wasn’t wrong.

The next hurdle was telling Sophie, a feat that began a large rash of dramatics, even when we told her her beloved aunt would be moving back into the cottage and Jules would be here multiple days a week. The only thing that seemed to cut through the chaos, of course, is Jules’s promise to come on Christmas morning with presents.

“I don’t want Jules to leave!” Sophie shouts, her eyes glimmering as we give her the news.

“Sophie, sweetie, I promise I’ll be here all the time. We’ll still have girls’ days. You know I was only staying here to help watch you while my place was getting fixed. Now your Aunt Claire is back to watch you, and your daddy fixed my place up!” Jules says.

“But what about my Christmas wish?” she asks, her voice cracking and her eyes watering. “Why isn’t the magic working?” Her lower lip trembles as Jules’s brows furrow.

“What do you mean?”

“The Christmas magic! It’s supposed to make you guys fall in love so you can stay here forever with us.” She’s getting angry now, stomping her foot, and her face is going red with emotion.

My heart breaks for my sweet little girl.

“I know, honey, but—” Jules starts with a sigh.

“It needs to work!”

“Sophie, sweetie,” Jules says, kneeling before her and getting to her eye level and holding her hands. “It worked, Soph. The magic worked. It helped me find your dad, and I care for him so much, really, I do.”

“Then why aren’t you in love and getting married? If this was a movie, you’d be getting married.“

“Because real life isn’t like the movies, sweetie,” she says. Sophie’s face falls, but Jules’s smile gets wide. “It’s better, Soph. It’s better because it’s real, and we get to live it. It’s a movie come true, but it just takes a little longer.” She shrugs and laughs. “A movie is only two hours long.”

“But I have a Christmas present to give you,” she says with a sniffle, no longer angry, which is a win.

“And I’ll be here first thing on Christmas morning. I have to give you the presents I got you.”

“Presents?” Sophie asks, all sadness melting from her face. “Like, two?”

I smile because my girl is so damn funny. She’s sad and mopey, but she hears multiple presents , and her entire demeanor changes.

“Five,” Jules whispers conspiratorially, and Sophie's eyes go wide. “You gonna help me pack up?” she asks, changing the subject, to which my daughter nods.

Hours later, when I’m back home after we helped Jules pack up, Claire un pack, dropped Jules off at her place, and then helped her unpack, I start to make a pile of things Jules left behind.

A sock here, a hair tie there, a shirt in the laundry intertwined with my and Sophie’s things, the way she’s supposed to be. Her perfume on my sheets, her shampoo in my bathroom from a fun shower after the storm.

She’s on every single inch of this house. I can’t escape her.

I don’t want to escape her.

“Hey, Nate, I—” Claire says, walking in the back door with a small cardboard box balanced on her hip. “What’s wrong?”

“What? Nothing,” I say, using the pile to the side.

“He’s depressed ,” Sophie says, a new word she probably learned from one of her aunts making me roll my eyes.

“Is that right?” my sister asks with a laugh.

“I’m not depressed, god.”

“Where’s Jules?” Claire says, looking around. Sophie glares at me, and I close my eyes, taking in a deep breath.

“At her place.”

“Yeah, let’s talk about that,” Claire says, putting the box on the counter. I see it, too; she has a shit ton of Jules’s stuff she left behind. “Why is she there?”

“Because she wanted to unpack, get settled, and said you should have time without her hovering.” My sister rolls her eyes like she doesn’t believe me and thinks I fucked up somehow. I wave a hand. “Trust me, we’re good. We agreed she would sleep over three times a week.” I don’t tell her I am absolutely pushing for more than that as soon as I can manage.

“And you just let her go ?!” my sister asks. “God, Nate, if I knew you were going to kick Jules out, I would have just stayed with Mom and Dad.”

“I didn’t kick her out! It was her idea!” Claire glares at me. “I’m serious, Claire. It was her idea.”

“And you didn’t even fight it?”

“I didn’t want to push her too much!” I say, throwing my hands up. “I just barely convinced her to agree we were together!”

My sister shakes her head, moving to my fridge and pulling out a beer, cracking it, and taking a sip. She cringes like it’s disgusting since Claire doesn’t drink beer, then hands it to me.

“God, you are such a man, Nate,” she says finally, arms crossed on her chest.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means she loves romance movies. She loves the guy chasing his girl down at the airport, telling her not to leave.”

“That’s not even feasible anymore. You can’t get past security without a boarding pass. She’s also not getting on a plane. She’s a mile down the road.”

She sighs like I’m exhausting her.

“I just mean, Jules loves the moment where the guy says, No! Don’t go! Stay with me forever and marry me and make babies! ”

“I know that proposing marriage and kids would absolutely send her into a spiral,” I deadpan, and Claire rolls her eyes.

“You’re so fucking thick-skulled. You know what I mean, Nate. You told me you’ve been watching all of those movies, right?” I nod. “And in any of them, do they end with her going back home and them shaking hands?”

“We didn’t shake hands,” I say because I pulled her into her bedroom and made out with her against the door while Sophie watched TV for as long as she’d let me get away with.

“You know what I mean, you fucking moron.” Then she slaps me upside my head. I should be offended, but instead…it makes sense.

Fuck.

I sigh, running a hand over my face and through my hair before turning to look at Sophie, who looks shockingly like her aunt right now, arms crossed on her chest, hip cocked out. “We messed up, didn’t we, kid?” I ask her, and both women glare at me.

“We?” Sophie asks, with more attitude in the single word than I’ve ever heard. Claire snorts out a laugh, and I glare back at my daughter. “I wanted you and Jules to fall in love and for her to stay forever. You messed it all up!”

“She really did give you Jules on a silver platter,” Claire says, and I glare.

“So what’s your plan?” Sophie asks.

I look to Claire. “My plan?”

“God, Dad, did you learn anything?” she says, all sassy. In the time that she’s spent with Jules, it’s clear my girl’s sassy, independent streak has rubbed off on my daughter, and made hers even wider, and fuck if I don’t like it. “You need a grand gesture to win her back.”

“Oh, definitely. He needs a grand gesture,” Claire says with a nod.

“You lose the girl, you gotta win her back,” Sophie says, and I roll my eyes.

“I don’t think I lost her, Soph,” I tell her gently.

“She’s not here, is she?”

Fair point.

“So you think I need a grand gesture?” I ask, crossing my arms on my chest and leaning against the kitchen island.

“Oh, absolutely.”

I start brewing on it, thinking about the past month, about all of the movies Jules made me watch, the ones that made her laugh and cry and blush while sitting at my side and realize my daughter isn’t wrong. All of them have a grand gesture, some big moment where the hero does something to win her back.

My mind starts scrolling through all of the movies we’ve watched before finally, an idea blooms. I must show it on my face because Claire smiles, nudging Sophie excitedly.

“Ohh, Soph, I think that means your daddy has an idea!”