“I appreciate it, Reed. I really do. But I got it,” she said. I slumped and just let her pull out her own chair and serve herself. I was a nervous wreck!

We ate Rosie’s dinner, and each indulged in a piece of cheesecake before I led Nolan over to the sofa. It’s a Wonderful Life was on tonight, her favorite Christmas movie. I pulled a blanket from the back of the sofa and held it up, encouraging her to snuggle into my side. She hesitated, and then moved into me, her body warm. I could feel her heart beating in her ribs, and she was cautious at first before finally relaxing against me.

We watched the start of the movie in silence, all the way up to the point where the main character, George, runs to the bridge, desperate, and feeling like a failure.

God, could I relate—a couple of years ago I felt exactly the same. But I had this amazing girl, this girl right next to me, who pulled me out of my funk.

I could sense that Nolan wanted to talk. She would lean forward every so often and open her mouth before settling back down and deciding against it. When she did it for a third time, I had to laugh. “Good grief, woman. What’s wrong? Do you have to pee?” I poked her sides, teasing her. She giggled and slid to the side away from me.

“No,” she smiled, and then her mouth dipped just a bit. “I wanted to ask you about something…it’s sort of been bothering me.” Her lips were tight, and she was picking at her fingers, looking down. I reached for her hand and grabbed her, pulling her into me and laying her across my lap.

“Ask me anything,” I said, kissing her lips quickly and startling her.

“Okay,” she took a deep breath. “Are you…seeing Jenny?”

I started laughing instantly, causing her brow to scrunch. She sat up and pushed back from me some, her feelings clearly hurt. “I’m sorry. I’m not laughing at you, I swear,” I said, pulling her back in. “I’m laughing at the thought of me with Jenny. Oh God, that would be awful. Mini Dylan!”

Nolan smiled at this. I did have to come clean, though. No more secrets. Ever. I brushed her hair back from her face and looked at her for a minute, considering my words carefully. “Okay, how much do you want to know? I mean, there is nothing bad. I promise. But the story of how I know Jenny, well…it might make you uncomfortable. I don’t want to do that, not tonight, unless you want me to.”

She seemed to consider this for a while, chewing on the inside of her mouth, thinking, and looking down at her twisting hands before meeting my gaze. “I’m good with it all. I want to know everything,” she nodded and I nodded back.

“Okay. Well,” I started, pausing to think back to the first night I met Jenny. I decided it was best to tell Nolan everything, so I started with the trip to the bar with Trig. When I told her about Jenny stripping in her apartment, her face turned sick. I held my hand up and finished that part quickly. I wanted her to know that I left Jenny standing there, that all I thought about was her that night. Then I told her about Gavin, and the words we’d had that night in her hallway, which made her angry.

“Son of a bitch!” she shot up from the sofa and stood now. “I trusted that guy! Oh my God, I was so nice to him the other day in the elevator. I was downright polite!”

She started to pace, and I just stood up so she’d run into me, and grabbed her, pulling her into a hug. “It’s okay,” I said. “And trust me, I don’t think he’ll be bothering you.” I just looked at her and held her gaze, until I saw realization hit her. She didn’t ask for any details, but I knew she got the point.

“So you’re not seeing Jenny?” she asked one more time.

“No, absolutely not. I’m only seeing one girl. Haven’t really seen anyone else since I laid eyes on her,” I said, pulling out every ounce of Johnson charm now. It seemed to work, because she looked down and smiled faintly, kicking her feet and shrinking with embarrassment from the attention. She looked up then, and scrunched her brow a little.

“Alright, I believe you. There’s just one thing,” she started.

“Anything,” I reminded her.

“Why were you going out with her, and Dylan and Jason the other night? And I saw her in the background at your interview, too,” she said, her voice unsure again. I’d forgotten about that in the midst of everything else I had been planning. I had meant to explain my date to her, and instantly felt bad that I’d let her fret and worry needlessly for the last few weeks.

“I’m so sorry, I meant to tell you about that. It was a business meeting Dylan set up. She invited Jason and Jenny to make it less formal, so we wouldn’t raise any eyebrows. God, I didn’t want to go. But I had to,” I said, looking her right in the eyes. “And she got a ride with Dylan, so she was just at the interview waiting around.” I paused for her to take it all in, wanting to make sure there was nothing else standing between her heart and mine before I moved on with the rest of my plan. Finally satisfied, I moved on to phase two.