Chapter 5 Nora
NORA
My back ached like I’d been clinging to the edge of a cliff all night, and because I literally had clung to the edge of a cushion, I barely slept.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to wallow in self-pity because according to the text I received, my best friend was at my front door.
Swinging open the door and ignoring how numb I felt from the cold, I tried to give her a smile, but it came out more like a wince.
“It’s so bright.” I whined, ducking back inside.
“Did someone shovel your drive?” Rae asked annoyingly loud before bypassing me and walking inside.
“No, why?” I yawned, slamming the door shut.
She walked over to the fire and stuck her hands out to warm them. “There’s a huge space cleared around your car, and the windshield is all scraped clean.”
Too cold not to be in my nest of blankets, I burrowed back inside them while asking, “Who do you think did it?”
A quick slap landed on my leg through the thick blanket. “No, who do you think did it?”
“The Boy Scouts?” I glared up at her.
How was she so awake and alive? It was barely seven in the morning.
“Well, whoever it was, I’m glad your car is finally free. Now, get up. We have to head to the coffee shop and talk business.” Rae made it sound like bizzness, with extra z’s.
“I hate driving in the snow.” I whined, pulling the covers back over my face.
She snatched them away from me.
“I hear you, but everything is plowed. There’s no reason not to drive. Now come on.”
Begrudgingly, I rolled out of my blankets and made my way down the hall.
“I can see my breath, Nora, this is madness.” Rae yelled from the living room while I traded my sweats for real clothes.
I was still too tired to comment, or add anything cute to the conversation, so I let her continue to talk.
“How did you not die last night?”
Finally dressed and marginally warm, I sauntered back down the hall and muttered. “The only time it’s okay to be this cold is if you landed on some alien planet and happen to be the mate to one of the locals.”
Rae squealed, trailing me into the kitchen. “Did you start the Ice Planet Barbarian series? OMG, I told you that you’d love it.”
“I do love it, which is probably why I’ve been imagining Colson’s face on a massive blue alien, with a dick that’s twelve inches long.” I pulled on the string to the blinds hanging over the sink to look at the backyard.
Rae stopped, her mouth gaping as a lilt of laughter bubbled in her chest. “I’m sorry, what?!”
We had no secrets. She knew I had an unacceptable and incurable crush on my father’s right-hand man, and she also knew that he did not return the sentiment in any capacity, so I felt rather pathetic about all of it.
“Totally had Colson’s face, and was like seven feet tall…” I admitted jokingly.
“Did his thing have that extra barb thing on it, like in the books?”
Shaking my head, I walked around her. “I didn’t look that closely. I focused on his face, and his glowing eyes, and the undying love he confessed to me.”
Rae snorted.
I pulled open the back door and traipsed out. The yard remained the same as it was yesterday, like I’d seen in the window, the tree had been covered in snow. Every green branch was concealed, but the bulk of where the tree should have been was…
“Gone.” Rae breathed my sentiments.
I searched the yard as though I could literally place a missing fallen tree but came up empty. The fresh snow that had fallen overnight must have covered any debris from it being cut or moved.
“Who would have…” I turned in a circle, my eyes still raking over the whitewashed yard.
“Oh my gosh, Nora.” Rae moved toward the side of my house, where the garage connected.
I followed her, crunching some of the older snow as I went.
“He chopped it all and stacked it for you.”
I snapped my head in her direction. “Who?”
Did she assume my father had done this, because he would not have had the time.
Rae twisted toward me, a secret smile on her face. “Colson, the Ice Barbarian, of course.”
I didn’t even mean to laugh, but it bubbled up out of me like an overflowing pot of hot water.
“He most certainly did not.”
“He did!” She argued, pushing my shoulder.
“But why would he, I mean he…”
I paused, thinking over last night and how he’d started my fire and given me a ride home.
“Why would he do this?” I asked, walking the length of the pile. It would have taken him all night to chop and stack it.
“He texted Davis last night asking if you were up at our place,” Rae said, standing shoulder to shoulder with me.
“He asked me to stay in his house.” I explained, while rubbing the stress out of my forehead.
Right as Rae was about to reply, someone interrupted us.
“There you are!”
We both spun toward the small alley between my garage and front yard. Mr. Scholler, my neighbor, was standing there, fuming with a red face.
“Hi Mr. Sch—”
“Don’t start with pleasantries.” The older man warned, grabbing for his hat with aggression.
Rae bit her lip, likely holding back a laugh. The man was clearly upset, but why?
“Did I do something to upset you, Mr. Scholler?”
His scoff echoed. “You ran a chainsaw all night! Wendell, Harris, and Leroy down the way all heard it too. Now, there’s a right way and a wrong way to handle things like tree removal.”
His hands came out, ready to break it down for me.
Rae had to duck her face because she was cracking up.
We had to get out of there before she lost it completely and made him any angrier.
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Scholler, it will never happen again. I promise.” I yanked on Rae’s hand, forcing us away from his angry tirade.
We could hear him yelling at our backs while we both broke into laughter. I didn’t think it was funny that Colson had used a chain saw all night, but I did find it humorous that Mr. Scholler believed it was me who had used it.
“Come on, let’s get you some coffee.” Rae hugged my shoulder and guided me back toward the house.
“Okay, here are the plans for the community center.” Rae laid out a few pieces of paper in front of me.
Dark lines made up the image of a floor pattern, another page made up different rooms with dimensions.
We’d come here after I had called the power company and then promptly left the frozen house for the safety of the warm café.
Rae spread the plans, her black nails pointing to a few different blank spaces.
“This is going to be a tricky job because we need you to help draw up design plans before they start construction.”
I had vaguely accepted this job when Rae had been asked to spearhead the project by the mayor.
After she saved failing businesses in Macon, breathing life back into our tiny town, City Council was desperate to keep the momentum going, and they figured something for the community would be the way to do that.
“Okay, so what do you need from me right now?” I tugged the image closer.
“I need you to plan the space. We’ll need a reception area with a desk.
I’m hoping to have it right here in the front, to provide an extra safety measure for kids when they’re here.
I want to have a place where people can look for jobs, and other community assistance.
If they need help paying their power or water bill, I want them to have a private area they can go and talk to someone where they won’t feel embarrassed.
Then there’s the larger area here, where we can host meals for the homeless, and different religious groups can use it for whatever they want.
Yoga classes can be held there, bingo nights.
..the space needs to be fluid and interchangeable.
” She moved her finger to another section. “Here’s where I want classes offered.”
My eyes tracked as she talked through each space, as each area came alive in my head.
“This will be a joint Macon effort, meaning several businesses are going to give back and donate materials and things needed for the project. I want the aesthetic we created in the town to be used throughout the center, and for it to feel like an extension of the town. So, the artwork should be mountain vibes, wood, and rustic charm. Davis already agreed to supply you with whatever fixtures and things you might need for the completion.”
I nodded my head, loving that she was dating one of the best iron workers in the area, and that she’d thought to include that feature in the building.
“Okay, when do you need the first outline by?”
Rae bit her lip, and that’s when the barista came out to check on us.
“You guys good, need anything else?”
This girl was new, which was a testament to my friend’s achievement with the town. The small coffee shop had already increased their profits enough to hire extra help. Three other tables were occupied, and at least five people had been in and out for to-go orders.
“We’re good, thank you, Susan.”
I pulled my cell out and saw that it was getting late, and I still needed to go to a few stores.
“I’m hoping to have the first draft by the end of the week, if possible.”
I snapped my eyes to hers and laughed. “Rae, that’s not—”
“Just hear me out.” She held her hands out as if to calm me down. “I don’t need it detailed, I just need a rough sketch. An idea where you might place things, and where you’d put the classrooms, and how the general flow will look.”
“Rae, I do interior design for homes and offices, I’m not—”
My best friend leaned forward and grabbed my hands. “Nora, you’re the one. You are. You have such an amazing vision for stuff like this, please.”
Relenting a bit, I let out a sigh. “Fine…but why the rush?”
Rae set back and seemed to take a calming breath. “The contractors around here are booking up insanely fast. The only way I can get a bid in is if I have a rough blueprint ready for them so we can discuss an estimate. Since we’re renovating an older building, it’ll go significantly faster.”