Chapter 15
I COULD HEAR NOAH SCUFFLING around the bookstore, but my mind and body were too depleted to pay closer attention to what he was doing.
I stayed put, slumped down in the chair, shifting between embarrassment over how dramatic I’d been in front of him and anxiety over what the next few hours held.
How was I going to get through this night?
Noah poked his head around the corner, holding a few books and random snacks that I recognized from the kids’ story hour corner, which Edith kept stocked with all kinds of goodies.
“Hey.” He nodded politely. My body tensed.
“Hey.” I straightened up.
“You hungry?”
“Uh . . . sure.”
He held up the spoils: sour gummies, a granola bar, a bag of potato chips, and animal crackers. “What’ll it be?”
I reached out for the gummies. Our hands grazed ever so slightly as I took them.
“Thank you,” I murmured.
“Might as well get comfortable, if we’re going to be here for a while.” He sat down cross-legged, placing the books beside him before ripping open the animal crackers.
I smiled and quietly watched him as he settled, just as I had many times before, from the back of class or across the cafeteria. His eyes flitted over to me, and I quickly looked down at my gummies, tearing open the bag.
He looked over at me. “Hey, I just realized . . . I don’t know your name.”
With that, my suspicion was confirmed. He really didn’t remember me. Why would he, though? He’d always been in his own world. I’d always been the satellite that watched his world as it turned from afar.
“I’m Jane,” I said as I slowly slid out of the sitting chair, joining him on the floor.
“Jane,” he said. My heart jolted at the sound of him uttering my name. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Noah.”
Ten years after the fact, Noah and I were finally on a first-name basis. Now, though, I was faced with a peculiar choice: tell him that while he might not know my name, I already knew his . . . or pretend not to have known his name either.
Telling him felt too complicated, especially considering that after this night, I likely wouldn’t see him again. “It’s nice to meet you too, Noah. Despite the strange circumstances.”
“I promise I’m not some kind of weirdo. You, though . . . you look pretty shifty to me.” Noah’s eyes twinkled as he smirked.
My stomach dropped before I realized he was joking around with me.
You know, like normal people do, Jane.
“You got me.” I held up my hands awkwardly, half laughing. My face flushed the same color as the cherry gummies in my lap.
He chuckled, tucked a piece of hair behind his ear, and popped another cracker into his mouth. “It’s not pizza, but it’ll do.”
I offered a smile in return. A spell of silence followed as we both sat there, Noah casually snacking and scanning the books on the shelf across from him, me counting the seconds of quiet, each one filling me with more nervousness than the last.
“Well, at least it stopped snowing out there,” Noah said, thrusting his chin toward the windows on the other side of the store.
Faint whispers of moonlight outlined his face—his strong jaw, his high cheekbones, his prominent brow bone.
In the low lighting, he almost looked like the subject of a Caravaggio.
“Yeah, at least that,” I replied. Really, Jane? You couldn’t have thought of anything more interesting to respond with?
I delicately placed a gummy in my mouth. The quiet had never been more deafening than it was at this moment.
“How’re those gummies?” Noah asked, shifting his gaze over to me.
“Uh, good. They’ll do the trick.” They were stale, getting stuck to my teeth. Noah nodded and looked away, back to the bookshelf.
My gaze wandered over to the books by his side. I spotted a familiar title—a strange one for him to have picked up, one that I couldn’t keep myself from inquiring about.
“Love in the Shadows, huh?”
“Sorry?” Noah looked over at me, his brows furrowed.
“You’re reading Love in the Shadows . . . ?” I gestured to the book next to him. He inspected the cover, running his fingers across it.
“Oh, yeah. I decided I didn’t want to be out of the loop anymore.” He shrugged.
“I didn’t take you for a teen vampire romance kind of guy,” I quipped.
“You know, I’m not usually.” He chuckled, his signature smile appearing. I tried not to let my heart stop. I’d seen that smile more times than I could count, but this was the first time it had been directed at me.
“So, are you visiting from out of town or something? I don’t think I’ve seen you around here.
” His eyes gave me a quick once-over. So he hadn’t pegged me as a local, then.
Admittedly, my outfit couldn’t exactly be described as “Colorado,” what with its lack of hiking boots and leggings.
Trench coats, sleek boot heels, and fitted jeans weren’t often spotted on the small, relatively unfashionable streets of Avila Falls.
I nodded. “New York.”
“The biggest of the big cities. What are you doing here in Avila Falls of all places? Did you get lost?”
As his question landed, I realized I couldn’t put off the truth any longer. I’d been able to skirt around it for a while, but it was time to come clean and tell Noah that I wasn’t a complete stranger. I braced myself.
“I’m visiting family. I’m actually . . . from here.” I spat out the words before I could convince myself not to.
Noah cocked his head. “Really? Where’d you go to school?”
Regret swelled inside of me. I shouldn’t have told him the truth. I should have pretended to be a mysterious, city-dwelling woman who’d just happened upon this tiny village nestled in the mountains. But that wasn’t an option anymore.
“Avila High.”
“Wait, seriously? So did I. What year did you graduate?” Noah leaned forward as a handsome smile emerged across his angular, bearded face.
“2014,” I replied, my heart climbing its way into my throat, threatening to leap out and make a run for it.
“You’re kidding. So did I!” Noah exclaimed.
Before I could stop myself, it slipped out: “I know you did.”
“What?”
“You don’t remember me, do you?”