The McEllis Boys

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

Another night and Nicole couldn't sleep. She had never been a good sleeper and tonight was no exception. She kept feeling the sting of the pain of her past as if the entire thing had happened days ago instead of years.

Her mother wasting away in that hospital bed, her father turning to the alcohol and killing himself in that car, her best friend and boyfriend betraying her for nearly two full years before she finally caught them at Lisa's apartment.....

Damn her memories! She had always been good at forgetting the past and blocking out the pain but it seemed the last few days it kept finding its way into her brain.

Nicole decided that since milk had helped the night before, it might just help again tonight. She slipped on her pink fuzzy slippers and pulled her thin robe over her tank top and flannel pants and then made her way into the hall.

She stopped outside of Ian and Andrew's room and opened the door just a crack so she could peek inside. Ian was sound asleep on the floor with a pillow over his head and Andrew was sprawled across the bed with his empty whiskey bottle tucked safely under his arm. His loud snores were filling the quiet and Nicole shook her head as she looked at him.

She felt sorry for both Andrew and Bethany. She wasn't sure exactly what had happened in town because she hadn't had a chance to talk to Bethany and Andrew had been too drunk to be of much help in figuring anything out. He had been hanging all over everyone, singing sad songs and jumping on the tables to proclaim his love for a woman who didn't feel the same. Andrew had carried his sad party well into the night, howling at the moon and quoting Shakespeare, which Nicole had actually found impressive. But now the drunken boy was passed out and snoring peacefully.

Nicole wasn't sure she liked the fact that a nineteen year old boy was drinking so heavily but she knew there was no point in saying anything. The McEllis brothers were only a temporary fixture in her life and would soon be going back to their own time where it was perfectly acceptable for a nineteen year old to drink all he wanted.

Nicole closed the door silently and then walked down the hall, pausing at the door to Cavanaugh's room. It was nice to be able to be around the man without him scowling at her every moment but she could still feel the wall he was trying to keep between them and she wished she could just knock it down and convince him to let her in, though she knew that was something that would only come with time... or at least she hoped it would. Then again it had been over three years and he hadn't healed yet so maybe he never would. Maybe he didn't want to.

She shook her head. Thinking about Cavanaugh certainly wasn't going to help her relax and invite sleep to come.

Nicole walked as silently as she could down the stairs, hoping to keep from disturbing Jamison, but when she stepped into the living room she found him awake and staring into the fireplace just the same as he had been the night before. Jamison acknowledged her presence with a smile which she returned and then without a word she went into the kitchen, poured two glasses of milk and then joined him on the couch.

"Another sleepless night?" he asked her as he took the glass she offered and leaned back against the couch.

"Yes," Nicole replied. "I see you were having one as well."

"Side effect of being a lawman, I suppose," he replied with a sigh. "And of being an ass."

"You're not an ass, Jamison. I'm sorry I was so mean to you before we went to Uncle Silas's earlier. I have no right to judge you when I don't even really know you."