Chapter 4 Colson
COLSON
NINE YEARS OLD
Dear Mom,
I’m sad u didn’t come home for XMAS…I miss u. Dad says u arnt getting better. That scares me. Plz get better. – Love, Cole
Dear Cole,
I am doing my best darling, but do Mommy a favor and practice writing to me as much as you can, your letters make me the happiest. Also, please check on Mommy’s garden. – Love Mom
Dear Mom,
Yur garden is sad I think because there’s not much sun…what should I do? – Love Cole
Dear Cole,
Thank you for checking on it. In the winter, there isn’t much to do but ensure leaves don’t crowd their space, a garden sleeps in the winter but it doesn’t mean they don’t need to be cared for.
You just have to pay extra careful attention to it.
Talk to them while they sleep. Pull out the weeds, and leaves, be sure to check on it every day. – Love, Mom
This fucking day.
What the hell had I gotten myself into? I’d gone to three different places to find a chain saw because while I worked in construction for a living, I didn’t in fact own one.
Then I had to find gas because all the electric choices were out of stock.
On my way to the different stores, three different people had slid off the road, so I helped tow them to safety.
Then I stopped at the store to get Nora some provisions for her house, assuming whatever was in her fridge had gone bad.
By the time I had gotten back, it was close to dark.
Hopefully she’d helped herself to the food in the kitchen and was nice and warm by the gas fire.
The image of her on my couch, drinking cocoa while watching television, had nestled nice and tight in my mind. It wasn’t an unpleasant picture and for once it wasn’t one that I tried to undo the second it popped in there. Instead, I allowed it to linger…and unfold.
Was she still in her pajamas? Had she decided to take another bath?
Shit, I’d be thinking of her in my house, using my bath, for the rest of my life.
It took all my strength not to go to where she was and trace the rivulets of water that trailed down her skin and revel in how smooth she felt under my touch.
Then she popped up, and I realized I wasn’t angry she’d invaded my space, it felt more like I’d been waiting for her to arrive.
So, I would have a reason to keep her in it.
Dismissing those intrusive thoughts, I parked and hopped out of my truck, taking a few bags in with me. Once I was inside my house, I called out.
“Hey, I grabbed us some dinner if you’re hungry.”
I had purchased that dinner for her to eat at her house, alone…so the fact that I was now acting as though it was for us both was a problem.
So was the fact that she wasn’t responding to me.
Walking down the hall with my wet boots, I searched the room but didn’t see her, so I called out.
“Nora?”
The couch still had the blanket draped across the back, but the television was off, and her boots were gone.
Shit.
It wasn’t even that she hadn’t listened to me and left regardless, but it was the fact that my boss had tasked me with this one thing to prove myself, and I’d already fucked it up.
Putting the food away, I headed back outside.
Her car was still stuck behind a massive wall of snow from the plow that had cleared our street. Only those who’d ventured out and shoveled were able to leave. Something she hadn’t done yet.
With a dark house, and no smoke coming from her chimney, I had no reason to believe she was inside, but the idea that she was in there being stubborn and freezing to death meant I had to check.
Pounding my fist against her door got me nowhere, so I pulled a page from her book and went around back.
The back door was locked too, but I happened to know where she kept her spare key.
The waning daylight was stripped to pink and orange, illuminating a cotton candy sky. It was enough light to swipe at the snow surrounding her small garden gnome.
Unlocking and pushing through her back door, I tried calling again.
“Nora?”
The power was still out, so the house was freezing. Her fireplace hadn’t been touched all day by the looks of it.
She wasn’t home, but without a car, where would she have gone?
Probably her parents’ but fuck if I wanted to call my boss after he’d specifically asked me to prove that I could watch out for his daughter. So, I decided to cross her best friend off the list first.
Shooting a text to Davis confirmed Nora wasn’t up at their place, but my friend relayed a message from Rae that Nora had just shared a funny TikTok with her, so she wasn’t worried. I asked if she could give me her number, but I never got a reply.
Shaking my head, I pocketed the device and took a chance she was out for a walk or something. As cold as it was outside, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least for Nora to bundle up and brave it.
Giving the house one more turn, I left through the front door, down the steps, and over to my side of the fence.
Within the span of ten minutes, I had covered our neighborhood and the entire block.
The streets were plowed, the sidewalks were shoveled, and the moon was out, making the night clear enough to see by.
Not to mention, our town currently looked like Christmas had claimed every lamppost, store window, and traffic light.
Twinkle lights, pine wreaths, garland, and bulbs seemed to hang everywhere, which helped to add extra light to the darkened town. There wasn’t a soul out walking in the twenty-degree temperatures. I kept going, heading closer to Main Street and to the center of town.
I considered how stupid I was for not having Nora’s cell number and how that was on me.
She’d tried to give it to me once, saying it was for the party she was planning for her dad.
But I’d crumpled the paper in my palm and tossed it into the garbage, explaining that I wouldn’t be in town.
At any turn where Nora was concerned, I dodged and maneuvered away from her and now it was biting me in the ass.
If my boss found her first, fuck, it wouldn’t be good.
I rolled down another street, still not seeing her.
Finally, when I was about to turn my truck around and head to her parents’ to admit defeat, I saw through the frosted diner window those brown curls that distracted me far too often.
Parking right there in front of the small café, I hopped out and pushed the glass door open.
I eyed the two other customers that were tucked away on the opposite side of the diner, and a few more that were scattered along barstools at the counter, before focusing on the loner in the back.
Smiling at Roger, the owner, I walked past a few empty booths until I stopped next to the girl who’d had me running all over town.
Peering down at her, I inhaled the coffee scent that permeated the air and tried to get Nora’s attention. She never once looked up, which meant this was going to take a bit more coaxing.
Sliding in across from her, I watched as she pulled her sweater down over her hands, and once our eyes met, I could see that hers had gone wide.
She had these curls that were usually tamed into relaxed waves but catch her on a busy day or after she worked out, and you could see when her curls spiraled, cascading down the middle of her back.
She didn’t have a stitch of makeup on, which left her big aqua eyes more vibrant.
I pushed down what it did to see her like this, imperfect and undone.
“Hello, Colson.” Nora reached forward for her mug.
I waited a second, observing her movements, trying to understand why she was here of all places, and why she’d left my house, trading it for a weathered booth at Mac n Millie’s, right after the dinner rush.
Snow had begun falling outside, and there were white Christmas lights strewn up inside the diner windows, creating a nice warm ambiance.
I could see the appeal, regardless of how quaint the town dressed up for the holidays, it was cozy.
Very unlike Malibu, or anything I had experienced over the past several years.
“Hello, Nora. Would you like to explain to me why you left my house?”
Picking at her nail, she furrowed her delicate brows and sighed.
“I didn’t like being told to stay as if I were a puppy in training.”
Tugging at a sugar packet, I toyed with it as I considered her behavior.
“It’s close to six at night, you’re sitting here alone in a diner, where I’m assuming you ate dinner, and are now biding your time, staying warm until Roger closes up… am I right?” I raised my brow in question, trying to piece together her night.
Her eyes flicked away for a brief second, landing on Roger, then swung back to the cup in front of her.
“Why not go to your parents’?”
She shrugged her shoulder, which made the wide neck of her sweater shift the smallest bit, revealing a patch of tan skin. I only allowed myself the standard three seconds of indulging in how soft her skin looked before I looked away.
“My car was blocked in.”
No, that wasn’t it.
Leaning forward, I whispered, “Bullshit. You could have easily shoveled it…it’s not like you don’t know how.”
There was something deeper here…something she wasn’t saying.
“Why not call your dad?”
She spun her mug back and forth, refusing to look up.
The sound of classic Christmas music played overhead from the small speakers in the room, while Roger bustled around the diner, laughing with a group of older men who’d come in for coffee and pie.
Nora finally met my stare, but still didn’t expand about not calling her dad, so I switched tactics.
“So, you were going to walk home, and then what?”
She shrugged again, this time glancing outside. “I guess start a fire, sleep close to it tonight. The power company said they could get a guy to come out first thing, there were just too many people without power today to get to everyone.”
I had heard that too, so I nodded, then pulled on the edge of the sugar packet, thinking over what I was about to offer.