There's a bit of unexplained drama in this chapter! But you know me, I won't leave you hanging for too long... I hope ;)
Chapter 51
When Nathan and Haley found the house they wanted to move into, they wasted no time.
Both of their houses were put up for sale the same day they made an offer on the new house.
Which was... Stressful. To say the least, putting two houses up for sale and buying a house on the same day was a lot to handle.
They broke the news to the kids, who were both overjoyed.
They couldn't move in for another week though.
The new house had it all. Including a pool, which was a big relief for the kids. Spoiled.
It had an upstairs, and a basement which would be a lot of ground to cover when cleaning but they'd make it work.
There was kind of a loft type room upstairs, similar to the house they'd first walked through. They'd decided that Haley's piano could go up there, and it could makeshift as a workspace and office for her.
It had five bedrooms. Two on the main floor and three in the basement.
The kitchen was open with the living room and entry way, which was not totally ideal because anyone that entered the house could see the kitchen if it was messy.
The second bedroom on the main floor would function as an office for Nathan until things changed for them, and then he'd decided he could probably split the upstairs loft with Haley as long as they put up a divider so that he wouldn't be distracted by her.
It was pretty much perfect for them.
Sure, the home needed some work here and there. All the downstairs bedrooms had been themed by the previous owners. One of the rooms was green and yellow with a Green Bay packers theme. Another was red and blue with a Spider-Man theme, and the third was, perhaps the worst, a circus theme. With a giant clown painted on the wall.
Nathan was not sure he'd ever seen Haley so stressed.
And when he made the joke that her ugly painting could go in that room, she'd shot daggers at him.
But they'd still decided that it was perfect besides that.
But that was definitely the first room that was getting painted.
Nathan suggested they hire someone to paint while they wait to move in, but Haley said that they should do it themselves. So for now, they were going to do it themselves.
That may change when it actually came to painting the clown room.
He'd actually had to talk her into the house after she'd seen that room.
It was bizarre though, he'd admit that.
As Haley had predicted, Nathan's house sold quickly. He'd had it for sale for less than two days when a couple looked through it.
He'd talked about what the neighbors did for him with the whole second Halloween thing, and they were sold.
The next day he'd received an offer on it.
Haley had some people come look through her house too, but nothing was official yet.
Nathan had to be moved out in two days, so the couple had dropped the kids with Quinn and Clay, and were currently doing some heavy packing, as well as some separating on stuff to keep, stuff to throw away, and stuff to donate.
They were about to share one room, with one closet, and one bathroom. And although it was big, it still wasn't big enough for all of the stuff they each had accumulated.
"Okay, what about these?" Haley asked, holding up a pair of shoes that she'd never even seen Nathan wear.
Nathan frowned, shaking his head. "No, not those. Those are nice."
"But I've never seen them. You clearly don't like them that much," She pointed out, setting the shoes back in the closet.
Truthfully, they weren't making much progress in Nathan's closet. Every item of clothing, shoe, or accessory, was his favorite thing.
He'd barely let her toss out a t-shirt that said 'Michaelson Family Reunion' on it. His excuse, despite it being his ex-wife's family reunion, was that it was the perfect shade of red. Not too bright, not too dull. And that Nick had a matching one that definitely didn't fit him anymore.
"Haley, I can't give up any of my shoes. I'll leave them in my office. I'll put a shoe rack up or something," He said, letting out a frustrated sigh.
Haley pinched the bridge of her nose, counting to down from five in her head.
She had a lot of shoes she never wore too. She could get rid of some of those to make more room for his shoes.
But it just seemed silly to keep a bunch of shoes he never wore in their closet.
The last couple weeks had been a lot for them. They'd both been on edge, and they'd been arguing a lot. They just really seemed to be annoying each other.
"Okay," She finally said, nodding at him. "We'll figure it out."
"We are getting rid of a lot of my stuff, Haley," He reminded her, frowning.
Haley kinked an eyebrow, glancing over at him.
"We are!" He defended.
"You have five gray t-shirts, Nathan. Five. And we haven't gotten rid of a single one of them. They're not even a little bit different. I checked the tags, they're all the same shirt."
"You're wrong. One of them is Nike-"
"Six gray t-shirts," She interrupted at his commented, shaking her head disapprovingly. "Maybe we should hire Katherine to come clear out your stuff."
"That's not funny, Haley," He said, scowling at her. "Maybe you should go pack up a different room."
"Nothing will change it I leave this room, Nathan," She said, gesturing around the closet.
He looked around the closet, shaking his head.
"Come on, honey. We've got to do something."
Nathan sighed, grabbing one of the hangs that was holding up a suit. "This suit is too big for me. I never took it to get altered because I just didn't care that much. Donate it."
"There you go," She said, smiling at him. She dropped the suit on the ground near the donation pile. "Great job."
"Whatever," He grumbled, beginning to pull shirts down and throw them on next to the suit.
"Hey, I didn't say you had to get rid of everything," She argued, sighing.
Maybe the problem wasn't that easy to solve.
"No, no. Get rid of it all. I don't care," He said, beginning to toss stuff down, including a sweatshirt she'd seen him wear plenty.
"Nathan, knock it off," She said, grabbing his arm to stop him. "You're throwing a fit for no reason. I just pointed out that there's no reason to have six of the same shirt!"
"One of them is-"
"Nike, I know," She groaned, sighing.
"There's plenty of room in our new closet," He said, rolling his eyes. "You're just overly worried about it."
"I don't think it's a roomy as you think it is," Haley argued, pulling her hair back momentarily, before releasing it and letting it cascade down her shoulders once again. "So seriously, Nathan. Just look through your clothes and decide if this is something you'll wear. Not just on a day where laundry needs to be done. It needs to be something you'll actually wear."
He narrowed his eyes at her, crossing his arms over his chest.
Haley sighed again.
"I just don't want to fight with you right now, Nathan. I don't," She said simply, holding her hands up. "So you're right. I'm going to go pack Nick's room, and you do whatever you feel like you should in here. I'll just make it work."
He frowned at that response, his shoulders slumping slightly.
His eyes moved to the clothes hung up in the closet, before looking back at her. "Fine," He said, clearing his throat. "Let's keep two gray t-shirts and the Nike one."
She looked through the piles, sorting them out as he told her to.
"And I guess I don't need that orange t-shirt from the 5k I ran three years ago," He mumbled, glancing at the piles.
They went through like that, Nathan grumbling through every item in his closet.
He was unhappy to give up his clothes.
But Haley was right. They were about to share a space.
"Okay," Haley clapped her hands together when they'd successfully finished the closet.
She decided not to push the shoe issue any further. Athletes and their shoes.
"Want to tackle Nick's room?" She asked, raising her eyebrows. "You can pack up his stuff and I can go work on your office."
"No," Nathan said quickly, looking at her and shaking his head. "No."
"No?" She questioned, raising her eyebrows.
"No," He said again, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Let's... Work on Nick's room together."
"But... Why?" She asked him, sending him a confused look. "Why wouldn't we split up to minimize our time?"
"Because this is the closest thing we've had to a date in weeks," He said, clearing his throat.
"And lunch yesterday was..."
"Not a date," He said, shrugging. "So... No. We'll stay in Nick's room. And then... You can go home and I'll meet you back at your place. After I pack up my office."
"Why? Won't you need help?"
"Need help? No," He said, shaking his head quickly. "That's the one place that I do not need help."
That was awfully... Suspicious.
Nathan was usually looking for any excuse to spend more time with Haley. She'd never been pushed out the door before.
"What, you're just going to load all these boxes without me?" She asked him, frowning.
"No. Julian is going to come help me with his truck tomorrow," He informed her, shrugging. "And Clay too, if he doesn't find an excuse. And we're just going to throw this stuff in storage until we can move into the new house next week."
"But I drove here instead of riding with you so that we'd have a second vehicle to toss stuff into," She reminded him. "Didn't you tell me to do that?"
"Yes, but I just remembered I invited them to come help me tomorrow. I can send some stuff with you tonight so we have a lighter load tomorrow."
"Okay... Well then why don't I start packing up Nick's room and you just go straight to your office?"
"I already told you why. This is a date."
"This isn't a date, Nathan. All we've done is argue," She said, shaking her head.
He leaned over and kissed her briefly. "Now is it a date?"
"What's going on?" Haley rested her hand on his chest.
"Nothing," He responded. "Just haven't kissed you in awhile."
"I know a distraction tactic when I see one," She dropped her hand, taking a step away. "Why are you pushing me out the door?"
"I'm not. Stay as long as you want," He backtracked, gesturing towards the bedroom door. "Let's go work on Nick's room."
She shook her head. She wasn't making any progress.
So she pulled out her phone and texted Brooke once Nathan headed out the door.
'Call me in ten. Cry or something. Make it good. I need to do some snooping.'
Then she followed Nathan across the hall to his son's room.
Maybe it was wrong.
No, it was definitely wrong.
But she couldn't shake the weird feeling that Nathan was hiding something from her in his office.
She'd never really been in there without him.
But she didn't remember anything off about the room. It just looked like a normal office. A little messy, but just a regular room. He had to understand that it would be quicker to pack up if she helped him or even did it without him.
When Brooke called her, the sounds of uncontrollable sobs echoing through the phone, Nathan shot Haley a concerned look.
And Haley quickly stepped out of the room, assuring her longtime friend.
Wow. Brooke could have been an actress with that performance because as soon as Haley informed the woman she could stop, the sobs cut short.
"What's wrong?" Brooke asked.
"Nathan was just acting weird about his office," Haley whispered, "So... I'm just going to peek in. Not dig around or anything."
"Weird how?"
"Like... He freaked out when I said I was going to go pack it up and said he'd do it after I left then meet at my house. Which is just odd and unlike him."
"Huh," Brooke said.
Haley could hear the frown on her face. And she was feeling it too.
She creeped along the hard wood, knowing there was a squeak in front of Nathan's office door.
She knew that well, due to the fact that it was so loud that she'd wake up from it if he ever snuck out of bed to get some work done.
Haley looked over her shoulder at the stairs, reaching forward and pushing down on the silver door knob.
When it didn't budge, she raised her eyebrows in confusion.
Locked? The door was locked?
"Well?" Brooke asked on the other side of the phone.
"It's locked," Haley repeated her thoughts out loud.
"What?"
"My thoughts exactly. He locked his office door."
"I mean... I don't want to jump to any conclusions but that's suspicious."
"Yeah. It is," She agreed, wiggling the handle once more just to ensure that it was actually locked. "Can I call you later?"
"Sure thing, Hales. Love you," Brooke hummed. "Let me know what happens."
"Love you too," Haley said, hanging up the phone and staring at the office door for a moment longer.
She then turned and headed back up the stairs to Nathan.
Nathan was folding up Nick's shirts and setting them in a tote.
He looked up at her when she entered the room, tilting his head slightly. "Everything alright?"
"Yeah, she's fine," Haley assured him, shrugging slightly.
"She didn't sound fine," He frowned, straightening out the stack of shirts that was inside the tote.
"Yeah," Haley agreed.
She had not thought far enough ahead to come up with a reason for Brooke's tears.
Nathan blinked, staring at her for a moment, before shifting his attention back to the clothing.
She walked over to where he was sitting, leaning down and pressing a kiss to his head.
"I'm sorry," She whispered quietly to him.
The words caused him to look up again quickly.
"For what?"
"For being such a... Control freak these past few weeks."
"Oh, no... Hales, you are not a control freak," He laughed, reaching his hand out and squeezing her leg lightly. "I'm just selfish and don't want to get rid of my stuff."
"No, but I can tell things have been off between us," She said, ruffling his hair, before sitting down next to him.
"Off between us?" Nathan repeated her words back to her, shaking his head. "I'm not sure that I'm following."
"Well... Haven't things been weird?"
"I don't think things have been weird. We've just been stressed," He said, shrugging.
"Huh," She hummed, eyeing him.
"Was that... The wrong answer?" He laughed, nudging her with his arm.
He wasn't acting strange. He was acting like Nathan.
But she'd just had something new added to her plate.
What was he hiding from her?
"No," She assured him, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Maybe we should take a break..." She suggested.
"A break?" He asked, folding up another shirt and setting it on the stack. "And do what?"
She raised her eyebrows suggestively at him.
He smirked slightly, rolling his eyes. "As great as that sounds... I think we should finish up. I don't want to put out Clay and Quinn."
"Since when do you care about that?" She asked him, letting out a fake laugh.
"Clay said that Quinn hasn't been sleeping well," He said, shrugging.
Her ego was a little bruised, not going to lie. But his excuse made sense. It actually made her feel a little bad that she had not been the one to think of it first.
Truthfully, she wasn't really in the mood either. But something felt off.
Maybe it was her own paranoia. He was hiding something in his office. Right?
"But later, I will blow your mind. I will accept a kiss or two now though. Or ten," He said, winking at her.
She smiled, leaning over and kissing him.
"Maybe we just need to find new friends that will watch the kids," He laughed, raising his hand to her cheek and kissing her again.
"Ah, so now we're only getting friends so they can baby sit?" She hummed, resting her hand against his chest.
"Is there any other reason to have friends?" He joked, nuzzling his nose against hers, kissing her once more. He then turned his focus back to folding up Nick's clothes.
Haley sighed, standing up and beginning to pile Nick's toys that were scattered on the floor into his toy bin.
She was spiraling inside her mind. Nathan almost never turned her down. And yes, his reason for it was a good one.
But with the sudden secrets...
She glanced over at him as he held up a shirt that had a joke on it and laughed.
She counted backwards in her head the amount of time it had been since they'd had any time to themselves.
It was just weeks ago they were twitterpated with one another because they were finally moving in together.
But with all the arguing and stress... This is what their time alone looked like. The occasional flirting, a kiss, and empty promises.
It wasn't all on his end, so she couldn't put the blame completely on him.
But he had been spraying her with the cold water of denial more the past couple weeks than he ever had.
And now, after the panic at her entering his office, even going as far to lock the door before she even offered...
He wasn't...
No. It sounded silly in her head. She'd have to crazy not to notice the way Nathan looked at her.
She gave him the side eye again.
He wasn't finding what he needed elsewhere, was he?
She wanted to smack herself for even letting the thought enter her head.
Nathan wouldn't cheat on her.
But she was familiar with the feeling entering her chest, and these thoughts running through her head.
Anxiety played tricks on the brain.
Had Nathan been wearing extra cologne lately?
He always smelled nice, but she'd noticed it a little more on him.
Had Nathan been staring off into space more often than he usually did?
Had she not noticed Nathan being resistant at coming over to his house? Usually, he pushed to spend the night in this home. And she'd be extra willing since they were parting with it soon. But he'd always suggested her house over the past week or so.
It was ridiculous. Nathan would never cheat on her... Right?
xxxx
Haley had practically made up a whole scenario in her head while Nathan was done doing god knows what in his office.
The kids had both noticed the silence, and had asked her on numerous occasions if everything was alright.
She'd just smiled, nodded, and waved them away to continue playing.
When Nathan walked into the house, whistling none the less...
Haley sighed.
He walked into the kitchen, where she was chopping up carrots angrily.
He raised his eyebrows at the harsh motion, clearing his throat to draw her eyes to him.
"Wow, what did it do to you?" He asked her with a slight laugh.
Except Haley didn't find it funny at the moment.
She felt a little more... Sick to her stomach.
It was her fault.
She shouldn't have asked someone that had commitment problems in the past to move in with her. She should have waited for him to make the move.
She still offered him a smile in response, before moving to cut up her next item, a banana.
She began to cut the soft fruit into little slices.
Nathan's eyes followed every overly aggressive chop.
After cutting up two of those, she finally moved onto the main part of the meal, one that was requested by Macey.
A hot dog.
And when Nathan saw that, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"Hales?" He asked her slowly.
Haley looked up, momentarily stilling her chopping motion.
"You alright?" He asked her, leaning against the countertop.
"Uh... Yes?" She answered, shrugging. "Why do you ask?"
"I guess I should ask if we're alright because... Well... You're cutting up that stuff like it wronged you in some way, and I can't help but notice they all have a similar..." He trailed off, glancing at the cut up pieces of food. "Shape," He finished, clearing his throat.
She glanced down, letting out a dry laugh. "Yeah, I didn't pick it. This was Macey's request. Carrots, bananas, and hot dogs. All cut up into little pieces. I thought it was weird too. But it sounded easy, and that's where I'm at right now."
Nathan nodded slowly. "You're not going to mix them all together, right?"
She let out a laugh, shaking her head. "No," She informed him, beginning to cut again.
"Just had to check," He said, clearing his throat. "Do you mind if I go shower?"
The knife stilled in her hand once again, her eyes freezing on the cutting board.
"Or... I don't have to," He said when she had no response. "I can finish dinner."
"No," She said, looking at him. "Go shower."
"That felt passive aggressive," He mumbled, looking at her again. "I can stay. I'll stay."
"No, Nathan. Just go shower," She said, waving her hand dismissively at him.
It just also happened to be the hand with the knife in it.
Nathan blinked, nodding. "Okay... I'll go shower and then I'll come back."
He waited a second for her response, but when she offered none, he left.
"Did Nathan just get home?" Macey asked, poking her head out from behind the door that lead to the basement.
"He did," Haley said, nodding at her daughter.
"What did he think of my dinner choice?" She hummed, grinning.
"He thought it sounded fantastic," Haley replied, smiling at the girl. "He said A-plus job."
Macey beamed at her words, before disappearing back down the stairs, calling out to Nicholas.
Haley's shoulders slumped.
There was no way, right? There was no way her tall, dark, and handsome dream man was cheating on her.
He was Nathan. Yes, he made poor decisions sometimes. But didn't everyone?
He was so gentle and caring. And they were moving in together.
When he reappeared in the kitchen a moment later, she jumped in surprise at how quiet he was.
Haley set the knife down, leaning against the counter top and looking at him.
He walked around, leaned down and kissed her lightly on the cheek.
"Just forgot to do that," He mumbled, before he disappeared again.
She could still feel his stubble tickling her cheek for awhile after he was gone.
Was someone else feeling that same feeling?
It couldn't be true. It wasn't true.
It was just her own mind playing tricks on her.
But it was draining her quickly.
He'd acted normal the rest of the night.
But something about the way Nathan was acting was weird to her.
It wasn't different though.
There was such a weight inside of her chest right now, her head was feeling cloudy too.
Now they sat side by side in bed, Nathan scrolling through different shows to watch, trying to determine which one they both would enjoy.
But they weren't talking. And they always talked.
Haley looked over at him, glancing at the TV.
She began the familiar descent into her seduction method, slowly trailing her fingertips along his forearm, leaning into his side.
She felt mentally exhausted, but she also felt like she had to try. She wasn't in the best headspace at the moment. And maybe if she got the reassurance from Nathan...
It was stupid.
Nathan glanced at her for a moment, before his eyes shot back to the TV. "I've heard this show is pretty funny," He mumbled, mostly to himself.
Haley nodded, her lips lightly grazing the skin just below his ear lobe.
Nathan held his breath at the action, his eyes falling shut.
Something so simply would make him melt.
It was strange to her that he was so sensitive there. But it was a weak point for him, and he knew that she knew it.
She smiled slightly when his hand moved to rest on her leg.
Her fingertips now tickled up his bicep, into his shirt sleeve.
After she started to lightly bite down on his earlobe, his head quickly whipped in her direction and he captured her lips in his.
There was nothing gentle about the kiss he gave her. It was fast, sloppy, and made her fingernails dig into the muscle on his arm.
His hand traveled up her thigh lightly, before it came to a sputtering stop, and he pulled his lips from hers, staring down at her.
"Clearly something is bothering you," He whispered, giving her leg a comforting squeeze.
He saw right through her. Why did he always have to see right through her?
"Just, kiss me again," She whispered, frowning at him.
"No," He replied.
That shocked her.
"Haley, I can tell when something is up with you. And as much as I'm kicking myself for saying this, I'm not going to kiss you again until you talk to me. I don't want this to get swept under the rug. What's going on?"
How could she tell him? How could she say that she's doubting his faithfulness without sounding insane?
This was Nathan. The same Nathan that held her daughter while she was crying. The one that made her world feel okay again. How could she express to him that she was doubting him without upsetting him?
"Forget it," She mumbled, reaching over and turning off her bedside lamp, rolling onto her side so that she was facing away from him.
Nathan looked surprised at that response.
But instead of pushing the issue further, he shut off the television, reaching over and turned off the lamp next to him too.
Haley held her breath and counted to ten, closing her eyes.
Nathan laid a gentle hand on her arm. After a moment, he removed it all together, mumbling a quiet. "Love you," to her, before she felt the bed shift as he sunk down against his pillow.
To say the least, both of them had trouble sleeping that night.
But once Haley was sure Nathan was asleep, she picked up her phone off it's charging spot on the nightstand, quickly sending a text to Brooke, despite the time.
'Do you think Julian could do me a favor tomorrow?'