10. Nixon

Chapter 10

Nixon

I'm out of bed by eight the next morning. I promised Carla I'd be over to help her by nine. The second I step on the porch, the front door of the Catalino house swings open.

"Nixon! Oh, I'm so glad to have your help! Such a sweet boy to help an old lady."

"Carla," I roll my eyes, "We both know you aren't old and I'm not a boy anymore."

"Which is what makes me old! Come, come! We have to load all of this stuff into the van and get over to Catalino's to start whipping up desserts!"

"We're not cooking here?"

"Oh, no! With this many orders, I need the industrial sized mixers, it'd take me years to do one batch at a time."

"How many orders do we have exactly?" My brows furrow, this sounds like a lot more work than I expected.

"I don't know… maybe two hundred."

"Wait… two hundred orders?" My jaw drops to the ground as I stare at her.

"Oh, hush. It's not that many. Are you going to be a big baby the whole time?"

"Probably." Shrugging a shoulder, I take the first box out to the van.

It takes us almost thirty minutes to load everything up, then we're off. When we get to Catalino's, Donny helps us unload the van and there's an entire second kitchen set up for Carla.

"When did you build this?" I ask, scanning the room. "It wasn't here the last time I was back here."

"Well, that's what happens when you disappear for years on end." Donny scowls, but there's a twinkle in his eyes. The man loves to tease everyone.

"I'm here now. That's all that matters anymore."

"That's right, son. Time to right all those wrongs."

"Starting with learning all the Catalino's cooking secrets." Rubbing my hands together, I step closer to the counter.

"I'm not teaching you my secrets in the two days before Thanksgiving." Carla giggles. "You help me cook on Thanksgiving and you have yourself a deal. I'll teach you until you can make everything just as well as I can."

"I don't mind, I have nothing else to do."

"You'll need this, she's going to run you ragged. It's best to stay hydrated." Donny hands me a bottle of cold water, before turning his attention to Carla. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. See how he does today before you ask him for more help. Remember when I asked Nixon to cut our grass that one summer?" Donny crosses his arms over his chest, leaning back against the steel countertop. His gaze tracks his wife's movements and his face lights up. I've never met a couple more in love than Carla and Donny.

"I'll never forget. He ran over every one of my flowers and cut Savvy into the grass, but never actually cut the entire yard." She grins at the memory.

I take a sip of the bottle of water, thinking about that summer. I spent the entire time trying to figure out how to tell Savvy I was in love with her. I wanted to ask her to be my girlfriend, I just didn't know how to go from what we had to more. I've always wanted more.

I planned to ask her to be my girlfriend before I shipped off to boot camp, but then I chickened out.

"That's when I knew for sure you loved my daughter." Carla clasps her hands over her chest and swoons.

"What?" I choke on the sip of water.

"Oh, please. You think I didn't know even back then? You followed Sav around like she was the light in your world of darkness. That woman," he gestures to Carla, "Started planning your wedding before you ever knew what love was. I swore she was going to let the two of you get married before Savannah even turned eighteen."

"You never said anything… you let me sleepover in Savvy's room."

"I knew you'd never disrespect me like that, Nixon. You were a good kid… until you broke her heart. She loved you too."

"She never loved me. And she definitely has no love for me now."

"Now, I'm not sure. She thinks she loves this Chad guy, but seeing you might stir up some old feelings. And you're wrong. My daughter looked at you like you hung the stars."

"Wouldn't that be lovely? Seeing the two of them happy and together again." Carla lets out a happy sigh, placing a hand over her heart again.

"I'll leave the two of you to your work. Call me if she works you too hard, Nixon." Donny sweeps his wife into his arms, kissing her like it's the first time all over again. He hurries out of the kitchen without another word.

"Alright, let's get baking. Point me in the right direction. I'm here to work."

"Start by cracking a dozen eggs into each of these six bowls. Then I need you to crack a dozen in this bowl, but they need to be separated. Whites in this one and yolks in the other." Carla unstacks the bowls. She places the eggs next to me and takes off to a different counter to start her preparations.

"Really? Egg duty?"

She shrugs a shoulder, trying to hide a grin. "You have to start somewhere, Nixon. Can't take the training wheels off until you're ready. But if you get a shell in the eggs, I'll kick you back to dishwasher duty!"

We work in comfortable silence for a while. Each of us goes about our tasks like we've been doing them our entire lives. Carla probably has been. Me, not so much.

"What's Savvy's favorite dessert?"

"Cheesecake and Italian rainbow cookies."

"Are you making those for Thanksgiving?"

"I wasn't planning on it," she murmurs, her attention barely on me.

"Could you show me how to make them? I'd like to do something special for her."

Carla stares at me for a moment and her entire body stills. "What happened between the two of you? I never knew past you stopped talking to her. If you want my help getting her back, I need to know."

"I never planned on hurting her… but after I got injured…" I spend the next hour going through everything that happened and the reasoning behind my decisions. All the choices I regret, all the mistakes I made.

"Aww, sweetheart. We'll figure it out. You know Sav, she's going to forgive you the second she sees you. She can't help it."

"Maybe she shouldn't forgive me. I was stupid and didn't think about how my actions would affect her."

"No, you were young and stupid. She was hurt, but time heals wounds. Lay it all out for her and I promise she'll come around. Maybe not right away, but eventually. You had years to gather yourself, give her time."

"You want me to give her years?" My wide eyes make her chuckle softly.

"No, not years. Maybe a few weeks though. She needs to focus on finishing school, she's so close. Give her until after that. Give her until Christmas."

"I'll give her as many weeks as she needs as long as she lets me into her life at the end."

"She won't push you away, she doesn't like not having you in her life," she states so confidently, like it's a proven fact.

"How do you know that?"

"She's never said anything if that's what you're thinking… but a mother knows. She's never been as close to another friend as she was to you."

I mutter a curse to myself, working even faster. I hate myself for letting her go. How could I give it all up?

"Come over here, let's get started on learning how to make rainbow cookies."

Carla spends the rest of the afternoon teaching me how to make each and every type of cookie they sell. By the time I'm done I'm absolutely exhausted and excited to go home.

Stripping out of my clothes, I step under the hot stream of water. Being on my feet all day was hard, I haven't done that in years. I hang my head, enjoying the heat running over my tired muscles.

The ding from my phone on the bathroom sink has me jumping out and dripping water all over the place. I don't care. If Savvy texted me, I want to answer her right away.

Savvy: Tell me it's going to be over soon.

Savvy: I'm not sure how much more studying I can take.

I should be embarrassed for being this happy to receive a text from her without me starting the conversation. And I'm an ass for hoping she's texting me and not her boyfriend.

Nixon: What subject?

Savvy: Accounting.

Nixon: Let me finish showering and I'll call you.

Jumping back in the tub, I take the fastest shower known to man. I'm drying off and tugging on a pair of sweats in minutes. The moment they're on, I'm pressing the button to call Savvy.

"Did you seriously get out of the shower to answer my texts?" She asks instead of saying hello.

"Yes."

"Why? My complaining could have waited."

"Maybe, but I like talking to you."

"Nixon…" She sighs.

I know what's coming next. She's going to push me away and I deserve that. She's going to remind me how I don't get to have her as my best friend any longer and how I screwed up everything. So instead of dealing with that, I pull her attention to something else.

"Tell me what you're studying."

"Advanced financial and cost accounting."

"Ahh, the stuff nightmares are made of."

"Stop it." She giggles. "I'm serious. I hate this class. I'm so ready to be done."

"I'm ready for you to be done too."

"Why? My schooling doesn't affect you."

"The longer you're in school, the longer you're away from me. You belong here, Savvy. You belong with me."

"I don't even know if I'm staying in Pebble Creek. I haven't decided anything yet."

"That's ok. You can figure it out after the new year. I'd take a few months off; you know your parents will be ecstatic to have you home."

"My parents would be ecstatic if I never left their house again."

"I'm leaning towards siding with them."

"You are not." She laughs again.

"I am, I miss you." She'll never understand how much I mean those words. I've missed her like she was a part of my own body, taken away from me for years. I've felt like I've been missing part of myself since I left.

"Nixon… I can't do this. Not right now."

"I'm not asking you to. Two days, Savvy. Two days until I can feel whole again."