a christmas miracle

nine

"Goodnight, mon chéri," Nick whispered as he gently kissed the top of Élodie's head when he put her to bed that night, "Je t'aime."

"Je t'aime, papa." The little girl whispered in reply, half asleep already.

Nick stood up from the bed and pulled the covers up, tucking his little girl in tightly before switching on her nightlight and turning off the main overhead light. He sent one more loving glance in her direction as he closed the door.

Out in the living room of their flat, Nick dropped onto the sofa and let out a long sigh. It had been a rough week, for many reasons, the biggest being that he and Charlie had been in an awkward spot ever since the disaster of Valentine's Day.

After Charlie had come back downstairs from putting the flowers in water, they had walked to the restaurant in awkward silence. Nick had tried to think of what to say but everything seemed too frivolous or unimportant. Once at the restaurant, the ice broke a little while they discussed what to order and things seemed to fall back into place slowly. They managed to keep the conversation going through the night, even when they left the restaurant and went for a walk by the river.

Eventually, though, it started to get late, and they headed back towards Charlie's building. Outside the door, things turned awkward again as they said goodbye. Nick got the impression that Charlie wanted to kiss him. And, honestly, he wanted to kiss Charlie too, but at the last second, with Charlie leaning in slowly, he turned his head and hugged Charlie instead, hiding his face in Charlie's neck for maybe a moment too long.

"I had fun tonight," Charlie had said when they stepped back, "Get home safe. I'll text you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Charlie." As he watched Charlie go inside his building, Nick internally kicked himself.

And he'd been kicking himself ever since.

While Charlie had kept his promise about texting the next day, their usual flow of messaging and calls was gone. It felt forced and awkward. He needed to talk to Charlie. Tell him about Daphne, especially their history around Valentine's Day.

Deciding that a phone call would be easier, Nick picked up his phone and stared at the locked screen for a moment.

"Just do it." He muttered to himself and unlocked it, finding Charlie's number quickly. He pressed call before he could chicken out, and waited somewhat impatiently for Charlie to answer.