Chapter 3 - Nora
“I’ll take these,” I said as I grabbed a bouquet of roses. I handed my twenty over and turned, slamming right into Ryan, my boss’s son. I nearly dropped my flowers as I stumbled back. Ryan chuckled. “Nora, I didn’t know you came to the farmers’ market.”
I blinked, trying to catch up with what just happened. I looked down at my flowers, seeing that two of the roses had snapped.
I looked back up to Ryan. The guy who has asked me out at least twenty times in the span of two months.
I met him at work in passing one day, and ever since then, he hasn’t stopped finding me.
Every time I told him no, he had a reason to back up why I would say it.
When he asked me for coffee and I said no, he figured I already had one.
When he asked me to join him for a walk, and I said no, he figured I had already gone.
“I do,” I said softly, pulling the flowers closer, not needing him to ruin them more than he already had. “What brings you here?”
“I was just out for a walk and noticed you were here. How about a cup of coffee?”
I shook my head. “No, thank you.”
“You probably already had one. It is almost noon. How about some lunch instead?”
I shook my head again. “I’m not interested, Ryan.”
“Oh, come on, give me a chance to change your mind.”
I cringed internally. I wasn’t used to having attention like this, let alone having to turn down a guy more than once. Before Jade and Brandon got together, people didn’t look at me. But since the packs merged, Ryan has been hell-bent on taking me out.
And he was nice looking. Ryan was nice, but he was also self-involved and full of himself.
Ryan and his father moved here into the pack and started up a shelter home for animals.
I loved it, and I got along extremely well with his father.
The only downside was that I couldn’t turn down Ryan as harshly as I wished to.
Each time he pressed me to join him with something I really wanted to yell at him to leave me alone, but I didn’t want to lose my job.
“Ryan, I came here to get some stuff, and I have a busy rest of the day. I don’t have time to eat with you.”
“You can spare an hour.”
I inhaled slowly, trying to think of something else, some excuse I could pull out of my head.
I knew I should just agree to the damn date and get it over with, but I knew he would never stop.
I figured he would get fired after I said no enough times.
If I said yes now, he would think I was interested.
I felt an arm wrap around my shoulder, and my head snapped to the left as I realized Kaleb was standing there. He pulled me against him, his eyes staring at Ryan. “You really shouldn’t be hitting on other people’s girlfriends like that, Ryan.”
My entire body tensed up at his words, and I watched as Ryan looked shocked. He took a step back, looking between Kaleb and me in disbelief. I tried to hide the shock on my own face.
My mouth huge open as I tried to think of what to say. Did I deny him? Did I agree? I didn’t know what to say.
“You two are dating?” Ryan asked, his eyes narrowing on us. I could see he didn’t believe Kaleb. “That’s not true. I would have heard that around town. Everyone would be talking about news like that.”
“It’s new.”
“What’s new?” A new voice spoke up, and my body went rigid as I took in Dale, Kaleb’s father. I internally screamed, trying to think of how to get myself out of this situation. I should have just agreed with Ryan rather than denying him. I should have just accepted his date.
“That these two are dating?” Ryan said, waving a hand between Kaleb and me.
Dale looked stunned and disgusted, wrapped in a tight bow. His eyes instantly went to me, and I wished I could disappear. I knew he didn’t approve. Dale always disliked me.
I watched his eyes snap back toward Kaleb. “What are you talking about?” A woman stood next to Dale, and I could have sworn that just a moment ago, Kaleb had been talking to her. She was now looking me up and down like I was an insect she was dissecting.
What the hell was Kaleb trying to do? What was the plan in his head right now? We couldn’t actually lie to all of these people. The truth would come out.
“You’re dating her?” Dale asked. “Why hadn’t you told me you were even dating someone!? When did this start?”
I glanced at Kaleb, who simply shrugged. He looked calm as he pulled me closer to him. “Not sure of the date it started.” I moved, sliding free from his hold.
Dale wasn’t taking that as an answer. “You don’t know when it started?” Dale stopped closer to Kaleb. “How do you not know when it started?”
Ryan stepped toward me. “Are you two seriously together? Why didn’t you tell me you guys were dating?”
I felt my mouth open and close, not sure how to answer that. So I didn’t. I turned and started to walk away, practically running as quickly as my feet would take me. I made it to my car and, once inside, took a few deep breaths in trying to calm myself.
What the fuck just happened? What in God’s name was Kaleb trying to do? Was he insane? Did he have any idea what he was doing?
I rubbed at my eyes, shaking my head. Everyone was going to question whether this was true or not.
I shook my head and sighed. “It’s fine. This will blow over. People will move on to something else.”
I started my car up and drove to the animal shelter.
I knew it would help me clear my head. I pulled up in front of the small building, reading the sign.
I couldn’t help but smile thinking of the litter of kittens inside.
I thought of each of the dogs: Charlie, the three-legged dog, Dotty, the senior dog, Frank, the husky with boundless energy, and Spot, the little puppy.
I headed around back and unlocked the door. I slipped inside and smiled as the dogs all started to bark, hearing the door. I could hear them bouncing against their kennel doors, the sound of paws scrapping on the ground.
“Hey, guys. Did you miss me?” I said, shutting the door behind me.
“Who’s ready for their dinner?” I got into my afternoon routine of letting them all outside to enjoy the air and use the bathroom.
I feed all the cats and the kittens. I cleaned out the hamster’s kennel and checked on the fish at the front desk.
I was scooping up the bowls for the dogs when I heard footsteps coming from the back.
I turned and spotted Mike, Ryan’s father and the owner of the shelter, standing with someone.
“Nora, I didn’t hear you come in.”
“I used the back door,” I said as I gave him a smile.
Mike was a sweet old man with gray hair.
He had laugh lines and always wore run-down clothing.
He put everything into his work and the animals rather than himself.
He had a rusty pickup that I questioned how it still ran, but it made him happy.
His motto was, “Why spend it on myself when these animals need it more?”
“You are the perfect employee, Nora,” Mike said, beaming with pride.
My eyes flickered to who was standing with him.
It was Gabriella, one of the people who moved into town because of the hybrid that ripped their town apart.
She was sweet but reserved, unlike her sister, Hazel. They reminded me of Jade and I.
Gabriella was short, with light brown hair that was cut just below her ears. She was wearing a pair of ratty jeans and a white t-shirt. She seemed to have a hard time adjusting to our town, and I knew part of it was because she was shy.
“Hi, Gabriella,” I offered, having a lot of count of how many times she’d been here. Mike said she was looking to get a cat, but seemed on the fence about it. She stopped in every few weeks to see what we had.
She offered a smile in return before dropping her eyes lower. Mike pushed the door to the cats' room open. “Do you want to start feeding the dogs? Once I get her in here and situated, I can offer you a hand with the rest.”
I started getting the food put away, giving each of the dogs a little love before putting them back into their kennels. I was locking up Charlie when I heard the front doorbell going off.
I glanced to see where Mike was, but I knew he was outside, probably picking up poop. I headed for the front and froze when I took in Kaleb. He had his back to me, looking into the fish tank.
I was tempted to just skirt back and act like I didn’t hear anyone come through the front door.
“I heard your footsteps,” Kaleb said, glancing over his shoulder. “You’re a heavy walker.”
I swallowed, not sure what to say. I hadn’t spoken to the man since he left me down.
I didn’t feel the need to talk to him now.
What could he want? He told me he had no feelings for me, that he was only being nice because I was friends with his sister, and yet today he just blurts out that we are dating?
Had he just said that because Ryan was bothering me? Even if that were true, why bother stepping in? It had nothing to do with him.
“What are you doing here?” I crossed my arms, leaning back on my heels. “Planning to adopt an animal?”
He shook his head. “No, I came here to talk to you.”
“I’m working, Kaleb. I’m in the middle of stuff.”
He raised an eyebrow. “So, you’re saying you don’t want to ask about what happened just a little bit ago?”
I scoffed. “You mean, you announcing we are dating, when we aren’t? You came here to talk about that?”
He gave me a single nod, and I ground my teeth together. I felt my nostrils flare as I stared at him. “Fine, I’ll bite. Why’d you do it?”
“Mostly to get my father off my back, and it looked like Ryan was bothering you. I could see he was making you uncomfortable.”
“So you thought, let’s lie and say we are dating? You do realize people are going to question that. They are going to expect it to be real. How exactly are you going to explain your way out of that one, Kaleb?”
“Which is where I have a proposition for you. Let’s fake it for a while.”
I started to laugh, a hard, deep in my belly laugh. The man who rejected me just a little over a month ago was asking me to fake a relationship? He had to understand the irony in this.
“You’re not serious,” I said, pulling myself together.
“I am. Apparently, my father is trying to set me up, and I would rather not have that issue. So, if we act like we are together, I can get him off my back.”
“And what makes you think I want to be a part of it?”
“Ryan. I could see how uncomfortable he was making you.”
“That doesn’t mean I need to fake a relationship to get him to leave me alone. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”
“So, you’re saying he wasn’t bothering you?”
I swallowed, trying to keep my expression calm. I didn’t need him knowing my business.
“Even if that were true, that doesn’t mean I want to fake date the dude that told me just a month ago that my feelings were one-sided.”
Kaleb took a step toward me. “Nora, I…”
I pulled a hand up, stopping him. I couldn’t fake being with him. I knew I would only end up hurt. I had just started to pull myself back together, and here he was trying to screw it up again.
I could handle Ryan. He would eventually grow tired of asking me out, and I just needed to wait it out.
I felt bad for him having to deal with his father.
I heard plenty about Dale from Jade to know he wasn’t a nice father.
But it μwasn’t my problem to solve. Kaleb needed to handle it himself.
Lying about us being together wasn’t the answer.
“My answer is no. So, unless you’re here to adopt an animal or you’re going to make a donation, please leave and don’t speak to me again.”
“Nora…”
“Go.” I felt my voice quiver, but I held my head high.
Kaleb stood still for a moment before I watched his shoulders drop slightly. “Alright, if you change your mind, you know where to find me.”
I watched him turn and step outside. I listened as the bell rang, and I stood frozen until he drove out of the driveway. I felt some tears build up, and I quickly wiped them away. Telling him no was the right answer.