She accepted his condolences quietly. Of course she mourned her mom and wished almost daily that she was still alive. But Addie was in a position where she understood that loss was simply part of living. Dealing with the grief of so many others had helped her learn how to lock her own away. Listening to Nick speak about his fragile, teenage heart made her smile as she felt it beat away within his chest. "It's not sad," Addie said after a moment. "It sounds like your serious relationship has been work and there's nothing wrong with that, especially if you enjoy it and it makes you happy." She paused before pressing a kiss against his chest. "And you're not that old, so shush on that."
Nick chuckled. He felt that old sometimes, especially when he thought about family and things like that. He had old friends with kids in high school, and he’d never even been close to married. What Addie said about it was sweet though, and he gave her head another soft smooch. “Flattery will get you everywhere,” he murmured, his fingers sneaking down to tickle her side a little bit. Fifteen years wasn’t that big of a gap, right? He’d heard of worse. “It does make me happy,” he added. “But so do other things, and people, so ... I dunno, I probably need to find a better balance. Put down some roots somewhere.” He’d been having thoughts like that for years, naturally, but having someone in his life seemed to make them more frequent.
She wiggled when he tickled her, laughing against the side of his body. Honestly, Addie could spend hours flattering Nick and she would mean every word of it. Shifting a little, Addie looked up at Nick again, glad to hear that his work wasn't everything. She enjoyed what she did too... at least most of it. There was nothing else she could imagine ever doing. But she also loved being around people, and reading and having a life outside of it all. "I would probably sound like a lunatic to try and sell Point Pleasant as the perfect place to put down any roots," Addie said with a wry smile. "And my motives for doing so would be totally selfish and self-serving. Though I think those two are the same thing, right?"
That giggly squirm was delightful, and Nick made a mental note that she was ticklish. He was going to be taking advantage of that, for sure. He huffed faintly at her assessment of this town and had to agree to some extent. It seemed like a dangerous place to live. Fascinating, no doubt, especially to someone like him, but dangerous. It occurred to him then that Addie would probably never leave Point Pleasant, either. She and her family had a long-standing business that happened to be important to the community -- there was a lot of death in town. Someone had to deal with the aftermath. It was a noble profession, and Nick didn’t think he could ever ask her to leave it behind. That was jumping multiple steps ahead though, so he just smiled back at her, his hand stroking over her hair again. “They are. But sometimes we have to serve ourselves, right?” he murmured. “We’ll see, though. I’m not going anywhere for a while. There are at least five books here, waiting to be written.” Nick gave her a little grin. No need to get ahead of themselves.