69. Should I Stay or Should I Go?

“Oh my god” Waverly whined when Nicole began moving her tongue at a quick pace. She dropped her head down against the pillow and squeezed her eyes shut for a moment as she rocked her hips up into Nicole’s face. When she slowly opened her eyes, she saw Nicole’s dripping center hovering above her face, and instantly remembered what she had been doing before. She wrapped her arms around Nicole’s hips, hugging them and squeezing the firm muscles of her ass as she pulled the redhead into her face and began moving her tongue in scattered, yet carefully planned, strokes along her slick center.

Nicole moaned, sending unexpected vibrations to the brunette’s sensitive bud – which caused the younger woman to jerk her hips up. Without slowing down her tongue movements on Waverly, Nicole began rocking her hips, grinding her center into Waverly’s face. She could feel the arousal pooling out of herself and could only imagine how much of a mess she was making on her fiancé. When she felt her abdomen become more rigid in response to the tension that was building up inside her to prepare for release, she lifted herself up and away from the brunette’s lips.

With a quirked eyebrow, Waverly uncrossed her arms on Nicole’s lower back to move her hands to the redhead’s pale thighs and tilted her neck so she could see Nicole’s face, which was buried between her legs. “Why did you pull away?”

Nicole gave one broad stroke of her tongue through Waverly’s folds before answering, “I was getting close.”

“And that’s a bad thing?” Waverly chuckled, followed by a heavy sigh as her eyes fluttered shut in response to Nicole flicking her tongue across her clit.

The older woman craned her neck back, and with a smirk replied, “I want you to come first.” While still looking at Waverly’s face, she ran her fingers through her arousal a couple of times before slowly pushing two of them inside. She chuckled lightly at the way the brunette gasped and dug her fingertips into the fleshy part of her thighs. “You okay with that baby?”

All Waverly could do was nod in response.

As she continued to pump her fingers, Nicole dropped her tongue back down to circle Waverly’s clit. She gradually picked up the pace until she felt Waverly’s warm walls pulsing around her fingers, and heard the angelic sounds of the brunette’s cries of pleasure filling her ears. With a triumphant grin on her face, she slowly pulled her fingers out and gave gentle strokes of her tongue to clean up the mess.

Waverly continued to lay on her back and smiled when she felt Nicole rest fully on top of her. She loved the feeling, as it made her feel safe. She gave herself only a few more seconds to lay there in post-orgasm bliss before giving Nicole her own well-deserved reward.

“Fuck!” Nicole yelped when she felt Waverly wrapping her lips around her clit. She slid her arms underneath Waverly’s thighs that were spread out to the sides, using them as leverage as she rocked her hips. Only less than a minute had passed when she felt her orgasm taking over her entire body, squeezing her eyes shut and slowly yet firmly grinding down into Waverly. She collapsed on top of the brunette, and a small smile formed on her face as she felt soft kisses on the inside of her right thigh.

Not wanting to be distanced from her fiancé any longer, Nicole lifted herself up and repositioned herself so that she was lying beside Waverly with her upper back against the headboard, and lifted her arm so that the brunette could curl up into her side.

“Well that was a good way to celebrate your promotion to sheriff.” Waverly giggled while mindlessly tracing miscellaneous patterns on Nicole’s abdomen near her ribcage.

“It was better than the promotion itself,” Nicole squeezed Waverly into a tight hug and kissed the top of her head.

“So, speaking of new jobs and all, I think I might want to get a new job.”

Nicole looked down at Waverly, and they repositioned themselves so that they could see each other a little better. “What kind of job?”

“I don’t know yet,” Waverly shrugged. “I just know that I don’t want to be a barista for the rest of my life.”

“I mean, you’d make a pretty cute elderly barista.” Nicole smiled teasingly, ignoring the less-than-amused look that Waverly was giving her. “But if you’re ready for a change then I think it’s worth trying new things.”

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready for change.” Waverly sighed. “I’ve been working there for years. I even helped Curtis fix it up when he bought the place.”

“And it’ll still be there.” Nicole smiled as she caringly rubbed her hand along Waverly’s shoulder. “If you want to try new things, then you should. There’s plenty of stuff you’d be great at. You can do something with your degree, or not if you want to try something different. But just do whatever is going to make you happy.”

“I know, you’re right. I’m going to look online and see what all is out there.”

“You could even be a house wife if you wanted. You know, cook and clean while I bring home the bacon.” Nicole playfully wiggled her eyebrows, and Waverly shoved her arm.

“Yeah, not gonna happen. We both know I’m way too independent for that.”

“And I love you for that.” Nicole leaned in and captured Waverly’s lips between her own.

Just when their kiss was starting to heat up, Nicole’s phone began buzzing on the table beside her. She reluctantly pulled away with a sigh. “Perfect timing.” She picked up her phone and when she saw the number on the screen, she froze.

Waverly looked over and saw that it was just a phone number, which meant that it wasn’t anyone in Nicole’s contacts. She scrunched her eyebrows together when she saw the look on Nicole’s face, indicating that it was clearly a number she recognized. “Who is it?”

Nicole paused for a moment before finally answering, “My dad.”

Waverly closed her mouth and swallowed thickly. She knew that the topic of Nicole’s parents was a heavy one, ever since she learned about how they treated her like the replacement child for her sister, Natalie, who died before she was born. And not only that, but the way they reacted to her coming out was horrible and something that nobody should ever have to go through.

“Are you going to answer it?” Waverly asked curiously.

“I…” Nicole paused as she continued to stare at the screen, until a missed call notification popped up. She licked her lips and watched as the phone screen turned black. “It was probably an accident anyways. He must have hit the wrong contact name or something.”

“What if he was calling to check in on you? You know, after the hospital and everything.”

Nicole shrugged. “Who knows.” Just as she was about to put the phone back on the table, it started ringing again.

“I don’t think it’s an accident,” Waverly stated.

The redhead swallowed the huge lump in her throat as she took in a deep breath and hit the answer button. She slowly brought it up to her ear and in a small voice answered, “H—hello?”

“Nicole?”

She hadn’t heard her father’s voice in so many years. She had almost forgotten what it sounded like. He definitely sounded older. She wondered if she sounded older to him too. “Yeah, it’s me.”

“Hey. I wasn’t sure if you still had the same number or not.” The discomfort in his voice was hard to miss. “Hope I’m not catching you at a bad time.”

“No, we had just finished anyways.” Nicole’s eyes widened as she quickly looked over at Waverly, who was also caught off guard by the instinctual response. “I mean, at work. Just finished at work.”

“Good, good. Are uh, you still a police officer?”

“I am,” Nicole nodded her head, even though she knew he couldn’t see it. “I just got promoted to sheriff, actually.”

“Oh. Well, that’s nice.”

She clenched her jaw at the unenthusiastic reaction. Most parents would be really proud of something like that. It didn’t take long for her to feel like a teenager again, with parents who couldn’t care less about her or her accomplishments.

“Yeah. Nice. So, is there something you wanted?” The words came out a little harsher than she had intended, but she didn’t regret it either way.

“Well, uh, it’s actually about your mom.”

Nicole rolled her eyes. A small part of her had hoped that he was calling to see how she was doing after almost dying and all, but she wasn’t the least bit surprised that she was yet again the least important thing to them. “What about her?”

“She’s in the hospital. Been there for a few days, actually. She’s sick, and she’s not doing too well.”

She could hear the pain in his voice and knew that this was serious, since he was never really one to show emotion. “What’s wrong with her?”

“Cancer.” He let out a shaky sigh. “We’ve been trying everything available, but it’s spread too much. They don’t know how much time she has left, but they know it’s not a lot.”

“Oh. Well uh, I’m sorry to hear that.” She pursed her lips as she relaxed against the headboard. She wasn’t sure if she was supposed to feel anything from the news, but all she felt was emptiness. Any feelings of sorrow she had was just sympathy for her dad.

“Nicole, she’d really like it if you came to see her.”

“Wow. I’m surprised you didn’t accidentally call me Natalie this time,” she replied sarcastically.

“Nicole.” He said in a firm tone. “This is serious.”

“Yeah, I’m being serious. Where were the two of you when I was in the hospital, huh? I was in a coma for a week.”

“She was sick. It’s not like we could just hop on a plane and fly across the country.”

“You could have at least called.”

“I was going to. When I got that voicemail from your friend about consent for that operation. But then I figured that it was too late by then and I just thought it would be too awkward to call back after leaving it for so long. I was a little surprised that we were even listed as the people to make that decision.”

“Waverly is my fiancé. And I guess I just forgot to update that stuff after you and mom disowned me.”

He sighed. “Look, I know we’ve made mistakes in the past, but we want to make it right. Please give your mom that chance to make it right.”

“Sorry Dad, but you’ve both had your chances. And I’ve moved on. I hope everything works out.” She hung up the phone and tossed it onto the foot of the bed as she angrily blew out some air.

“What did he want?” Waverly questioned, as she could only hear Nicole’s side of the conversation.

“My mom has cancer and is in the hospital. They don’t think she’s going to make it.”

Waverly looked at the redhead sympathetically. “Oh, baby, I’m so sorry.”

“They want me to fly out there and see her.”

“When are you going?”

Nicole snorted amusedly. “I’m not.”

With a furrowed brow, Waverly slowly shook her head in confusion. “You’re not?”

“That’s what I said.” Nicole nodded with her arms tensely crossed over her chest.

“But, don’t you want to see your mom one last time?”

“Not really.”

“Nicole, you should really think about this.”

“I have. And I don’t want to see either of them ever again.” She slipped out of bed and walked over to her dresser to put some clothes on.

“I mean, at least give yourself a little more time to process it before making a decision.”

After throwing her t-shirt on over her head, Nicole swiftly turned around. “Whose side are you on here?”

“Yours. Which is why I think you should take some time to figure out if this is what you really want. I don’t want you to regret having the chance to see your mom before she dies and not taking it.”

“I know what I want, Waverly. And I’m sorry if that’s not what you want, but it’s not your decision to make.” She spun on her heels and marched towards the bedroom door.

“Where are you going?”

“For a run,” Nicole replied without looking back.

“It’s past midnight!” Waverly shouted, but Nicole was already halfway down the stairs. When she heard the front door shut, she sighed and grabbed her book from the nightstand before opening it and leaning back against the headboard.

---

Nicole finished putting the brownies out on a plate when the doorbell rang. “Coming!” She yelled as she grabbed the plate and a bottle of wine, and set both of them on the coffee table before making her way to the door.

“Hey,” Sam said while walking through the opened door.

“Just in time. I’ve got the brownies and wine all set up.”

“Thank god. I could really use both right now.” Sam winced as she shrugged her lightweight jacket off of her shoulders and hung it up on the coat rack by the door.

“You okay? You don’t look so good.” Nicole looked at her friend with concerned eyes.

“Just the usual, being punished for not getting pregnant, again.” She sighed as she plopped down onto the couch and reached for a brownie before hugging a pillow. “Seriously, how do we put up with this every month?”

Nicole let out a small chuckle as she sat down beside her best friend. “Well, I don’t have to anymore.”

Sam halted her chewing as her eyes widened. “Shit. I completely forgot.”

“No, it’s okay,” Nicole waved her hand. “I never enjoyed my period anyways.”

“Well I don’t know anyone who does.” Sam rolled her eyes.

“Yeah,” the redhead nodded. “I don’t miss it at all. But I guess the hardest part is knowing that I’ll never be able to experience the miracle of childbirth.”

Sam turned to lay down and rested her legs in Nicole’s lap as she grabbed the wine and poured herself a full glass. “Is that something you wanted? I guess we’ve never really talked about that before.”

“I mean, I never really cared too much about being pregnant before, but it’s just the fact that I don’t have a choice anymore, you know? If I ever changed my mind on that and decided that I wanted to, the option isn’t there anymore.”

“Do you think you would ever change your mind?”

Nicole shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably not. I think I’m more upset about not having the choice than I am about actually not being able to carry a baby.”

“Well, if you want I’ll donate my uterus to you. I’m never going to use it anyways, so I’d be happy to give it to you. Anything to get rid of these useless periods.” The brunette rolled her eyes. “I mean, why can’t men be the ones to deal with periods and pregnancy?”

“Because the world is cruel and evolution is unfair,” Nicole laughed.

“Exactly. It shouldn’t have to be all on the woman. If men want to have biological children, then let them have children! Just because our bodies are the ones made for it doesn’t mean that we should have to put our lives on hold to be stay-at-home moms, changing diapers and cleaning snot while men can just live their lives and make parenting a side gig whenever it suits them!”

Nicole watched as Sam aggressively gulped down the rest of her glass of wine before snatching the bottle to refill it. “Is that what you think Danny would have done?”

“Well one of us would’ve had to quit their job and stay at home, since he doesn’t believe in nannies or daycare. And he always argued that I should be the one to do it since I would have to go on maternity leave anyways, and he said it just made sense that the mother should stay home with the kids while the father had the career. It’s total bullshit if you ask me. We’re in the 21st century here!”

“I don’t disagree with you,” Nicole nodded. “So, is this triggered by your period, or did something happen to bring all of this back up?”

Sam huffed as she slumped back against the large couch cushion that was propped against the armrest behind her. “Danny texted me today saying that he wanted a divorce. Turns out he’s in love with that woman from his office that he’s been seeing. Which is probably a good thing, because he knocked her up.”

“Wait, what?!” Nicole shouted with wide eyes and her jaw nearly in her lap. “Hold up. He’s been seeing this girl for, what, not even two months? And she’s pregnant?!”

“Yep.” Sam stuffed the brownie inside her mouth and washed it down with more wine.

“Was that on purpose?”

“He says it was a, quote, happy accident, but who knows.” She clenched her jaw as she shook her head. “I knew that we weren’t going to get back together. I accepted that when I decided to move out here. But I never expected him to move on so quickly, especially since we had been together since high school. It’s kind of like a punch in the face. Like he’s saying I’m easy to get over.” She quickly swiped her palm across her cheeks, wiping away the tears as quickly as they fell.

“He’s an asshole.” Nicole scowled.

“Or maybe I’m the asshole.”

“You’re not,” Nicole stated firmly.

“Tell that to all the guys I’ve been on dates with in the past few weeks that still haven’t called me back.”

Nicole quickly shook her head. “Purgatory doesn’t exactly have the best pool of men.”

“I’m starting to see that.” The brunette sighed as she reached over to set her empty glass down on the coffee table before getting comfortable on the couch with a blanket, and her legs still propped up on Nicole’s lap. “Maybe I should just give up and try women.”

With a loud snort, Nicole replied, “Sam, you’re way too straight.”

“Yeah well, I could at least try it.”

“Could you though?”

She pursed her lips at the knowing look Nicole was giving her and exhaled loudly out of her nose. “Okay, well maybe I wouldn’t be all that into fucking a woman, but I’d definitely let a woman fuck me.”

“So, you’d just be a pillow princess then.” Nicole nodded.

“Exactly.”

The redhead quirked an eyebrow. “Or, maybe you’re already a pillow princess...”

“Oh no, I’m definitely not, trust me. I’m pretty talented when it comes to giving hand jobs and blow jobs. Not to mention my record of making guys come in under a minute from riding them so damn good,” Sam replied defensively.

With a shake of her head and a breathy chuckle, Nicole replied, “See, straight.”

“Ugh, okay fine, I’m straight. And men are frustrating as hell.”

Nicole gave a sympathetic smile as she leaned forward and poured herself a glass of wine. After setting the bottle back down on the wooden coffee table, she traced the pad of her index finger slowly around the rim of the glass while looking down at her reflection in the red liquid.

“What’s on your mind?” Sam asked curiously.

“My dad called me last night.” She furrowed her brow. “Or, I guess technically it was this morning.” Whenever Nicole talked about something that made her feel uncomfortable, she always added or corrected unimportant details – a habit she picked up from Waverly.

“Your dad?” Sam’s eyebrows were raised as high up as they could physically reach. “Have you even spoken to him since high school?”

“Nope.” Nicole slowly shook her head as she continued looking down at her wine.

“Well, what did he want?”

“Apparently my mom is sick and is probably going to die in the near future. She wants me to go there and see her before she bites the dust.” She apathetically brought the glass up to her lips and took a sip.

“Oh…wow.” Sam paused for a moment before continuing. “So, are you going to do it? Go see her, I mean.”

“No,” Nicole huffed. “Why would I? It’s not like they care about me anyways. Never have.”

“They were pretty shitty parents to you. My mom always felt bad that you had to come live with us for a bit. Not that we didn’t like having you there, but it was just sad that it came to that.”

“Exactly. They don’t deserve me, and I don’t deserve them.” She nodded. “And Waverly and I got into a fight about it. She thinks I should go, but she just doesn’t get it. I let them go a long time ago and now they’re trying to use cancer as a way to wiggle themselves back into my life. It’s only because my mom feels guilty and wants to make it right. Even now, they’re making it all about them.”

“You don’t have to go if you don’t want to.”

“Thank you.” Nicole gave a short, firm nod in agreement. “I wish Waverly could see it that way too.”

“She will. I think right now she just wants to make sure that you’re making the right decision.”

“Well, I am.”

“Then stick with that,” Sam encouraged.

Nicole bit her bottom lip as she looked across the room in thought. Memories of her childhood started playing in her head, and she squeezed her fingers around the glass in her hands. She hated her parents. Or at least, she wanted to hate them. The reality was that a part of her did still care about them and she wanted to make her mom happy, and she hated that more than anything. She snatched a brownie from the plate and took a bite as she shook her head, preventing herself from going down memory lane any further.

---

Waverly leaned over the pool table and lined up her left eye with the cue stick as she closed her right one. She took a few practice swings before sinking the eight ball into the pocket with a satisfied grin.

“And that’s game!”

“You win…again,” Jeremy groaned as he set his own cue stick down on the table, indicating that he was finished playing – or more accurately, finished losing. “How are you so good at this game anyways?”

“The real question is, how are you so bad at it?” Waverly replied as she followed him over to their table and sat down. “It’s just geometry.”

“No, video game programming is just geometry. Billiards is a sport that involves coordinated control of eye movement with hand movement and the processing of visual input to guide said hand movements along with the use of proprioception of the hands to guide the eyes. AKA, hand-eye coordination. Something that I unfortunately lack.”

Waverly drew her eyebrows together as she folded her arms across her chest and crossed her right leg over her left knee. “Don’t video games involve hand-eye coordination?”

“Yes, but that’s different. It’s much easier to use a controller than a stick.” He perked up as an idea hit him. “We should play a video game version of billiards!”

“Um, never gonna happen.” Waverly shook her head. “And don’t call it billiards, call it pool. Saying billiards makes you sound like a nerd.”

“I am a nerd.”

“So am I, but I don’t try to be in every aspect of my life.” She winked playfully.

“Ha ha, very funny.” Jeremy rolled his eyes. “I’ll have you know that some people actually appreciate my nerdiness.”

“By ‘some people’, do you mean Robin?” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

“I sure do,” Jeremy grinned. “He thinks it’s cute.”

“Well I would hope so. He is your boyfriend, after all,” she chuckled lightly. “How are you two doing?”

“Everything is going pretty well. Great, actually,” he beamed. “There have been talks of moving in together.”

“Really?!” Waverly asked in excitement.

“Really! He’s at my apartment practically every night, so we just figured, why not?”

“Oh my gosh, that’s so exciting!”

“It is! But it’s also a little scary. It’s a big step. And what if we’re not ready for it and it ruins everything?”

“Well, like you said, he practically lives there already. The only difference would be sharing drawers and splitting up the housework.”

“Exactly! What if he’s a really messy person? I like to keep things neat and organized, you know.”

Waverly scrunched her nose and shook her head. “Robin doesn’t seem like a messy person to me. I mean, he wears slim khaki pants. How many messy people wear slim khaki pants?”

“Oh, I know a few.” Jeremy nodded before waving his hand in dismissal. “But you’re right, I’m probably just worrying over nothing anyways. It’s going to be fine. We’re just in the beginning stages of talking about it anyways, so there’s still some time before the actual moving in part. How are you and Nicole doing?”

Waverly debated whether or not to tell him about her parents. It wasn’t really anyone else’s business, and it’s not like she really ever talked about them to anyone but her, and even then that only happened a handful of times. “Yeah, we’re good.”

“That’s always good to hear,” he said with a wide smile. “Job going well and everything?”

“Oh! I almost forgot to tell you! She got promoted to sheriff!”

“Oh my gosh, that’s amazing!”

“I know! She truly deserves it. She’s so dedicated.”

“How did Dolls take it?”

“He was great with it. In fact, he advocated for her to Nedley.”

“Whew, I was afraid I was going to have to pick a side. I mean, of course I would pick Nicole’s side, but I’d really miss Dolls’s pep talks.”

“He is a good pep talker, isn’t he.”

“Oh, the best,” Jeremy replied with a nod. “But wow. I can’t believe Nicole is going to be the new sheriff of Purgatory.”

“And I’m going to be married to the new sheriff of Purgatory.” Waverly smiled as she rested her chin in her palm, thinking about Nicole in that uniform. Not that it was going to be much different from her current uniform, but even just the thought of her being in a higher position of power was very appealing to her.

“Okay, ew.”

“What?”

“I know what you’re thinking about.”

Waverly sat up and shrugged her shoulders as she tucked her hair behind her ear. “So?”

“So, I’d like to be able to see her as the sheriff without thinking about you two being all kinky about it.”

“So don’t think about it,” she quipped.

“Touché.” He nodded his head a few times before adding in a hopeful tone, “Now that she’s sheriff, do you think she’ll let me drive the cruiser?”

“Probably not.”

“Yeah, didn’t think so.”

Waverly smiled as she rolled her eyes and shook her head. “You know, we should do a double date again soon. It’s been a while, and we haven’t seen you guys that much lately.”

“Let’s do it! Are you both free this weekend?”

“I’m working on Saturday, but I get off at five. We can do something afterwards. Maybe a couple’s pool tournament, perhaps?” Waverly smirked.

“Or, trivia night at that pizza place in the city?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Waverly smiled. “I’ll let Nicole know.”

---

When Waverly got home later that night, she pulled her keys out of her purse and flipped it to the one for their house. With a small smile, she unlocked the door before pushing it open. She loved how every day it felt like she was coming home. Not just to a house, but to Nicole. After Jeremy had brought up moving in with Robin, she had thought a lot about how moving in with Nicole was one of the best decisions she’d ever made. Even though it happened at an unfavorable time, she wouldn’t change it for anything. She loved sharing their lives together in a place that belonged to both of them, and only them. Her fiancé wasn’t legally her wife yet, but in a way it felt like they were already married.

Meow.

“Hey Calamity girl,” Waverly greeted in a soothing voice as she bent down to run her hand through orange fur. The tabby was repeatedly strolling through her legs, rubbing her face against Waverly’s suede knee high boots with each pass.

“She’s been fed already, so don’t let her fool you.” Nicole whispered from the living room.

Waverly quietly walked over to the couch, noticing that Sam was asleep with her head in Nicole’s lap — the light snoring was a dead giveaway. She sat on the arm of the couch beside Nicole and rubbed the back of the redhead’s neck as Nicole rested her head against Waverly’s side. 

“How long has she been passed out for?”

“A couple of hours.” Nicole chuckled. “I only had half a glass of wine.”

Waverly looked at the empty bottle Nicole had nodded her head at. “Jeez. Rough day for her?”

“Danny asked her for a divorce.”

“Oh, wow.”

“And says he’s in love with the woman from his office that he’s been seeing.”

“Double wow.” Waverly shook her head.

“And she’s pregnant.”

“By him?!” Waverly whisper-yelled.

“Mmhm,” Nicole hummed as she nodded at a moderately rhythmic pace.

“Holy cow. No wonder she drank nearly that whole bottle. I would’ve chugged two.”

“Yeah, me too. Promise to never get me knocked up.” Nicole teased, but her laughter quickly diminished when she realized what she had said. They used to make jokes like that all the time before, but now it just felt weird and awkward. “Sorry, I didn’t mean for that to be awkward.”

“It’s okay. We can make jokes about it if you want, or whenever you’re ready. Or if you never want to joke about it again, that’s okay too.”

Nicole nodded as she closed her eyes, enjoying the sensation of Waverly running her hand through her hair. 

“Should we try to move her to the guest room, or let her sleep here?”

Nicole looked over at the knit blanket rising and falling in time with Sam’s breathing. “She’ll be fine here. Last time she slept on the couch she said it was pretty comfortable.”

“Oh right, I almost forgot about that incident.” Waverly gave a quiet laugh along with a shake of her head. In the moment, it was embarrassing that Sam had walked in on them using the strap-on, but they were able to laugh about it now. She stood up from the arm of the couch and looked over at Nicole. “You ready to go up to bed then?”

Nicole was silently looking down at her lap with an odd expression on her face. Waverly could see that something was wrong, so she slowly sat back down.

“What is it?”

Nicole sat there for a moment, completely unmoving, before finally answering. “My dad called back a while ago. I didn’t answer, but he left a message.” 

Waverly looked at the redhead, waiting for her to continue. After what felt like ages, Nicole finally looked up and made eye contact. But what she saw in her fiancé’s dark brown eyes was something she wasn’t expecting.

“My mom died.”