Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
“If you could be thirty-five again,” Nora said to Gram over Sunday breakfast, “knowing what you know now, would you have done anything different?”
Gram scooped up a forkful of scrambled eggs, her face contorting in deliberation. “I don’t know. I suppose there are a few small things I’d change, but what if changing them would alter the entire course of my life? I don’t know if I’d want to. It’s been a pretty good one.”
“But what if changing your life had given you an even better life?”
“Where’s all this coming from?”
“I don’t know if I’ve made the most out of my life.” Nora nibbled a piece of bacon.
Gram looked thoughtful. “Well, if that’s true, it’s good you figured it out now. You do still have quite a bit more life to live.”
“I don’t know what to do, though. I don’t really have any talents.”
Gram set down her fork. “Of course you do.”
“What are they, then?”
“You have an innate ability to connect with people. You find the positive in almost everything, and when you can’t, you work like the dickens to figure out how to make things better. You’re caring. You give of yourself without ever wanting anything in return?—”
“Yeah, but what about tangible talents? I don’t play an instrument or make or produce anything at the end of the day.”
“Produce…? As in the music producer?”
Her quick connection surprised Nora.
“You’ve been quiet ever since you came home from that coffee meeting. I didn’t press you on it, but I think now I should. Want to tell me what went on?”
“While he isn’t great at being a family man, Blaze still has such an inspiring story, and he’s gone through a lot himself. He worked really hard for what he has and built it all from nothing.” She told Gram about how Blaze had come to Nashville with only a dream. “I haven’t worked for anything like that.”
“Your journey isn’t going to look like Blaze’s. You’ll have your own trials. How about having to be entirely on your own at twenty, when you were still finishing college? And you did it. You graduated, found a job, and got yourself on your feet financially, without any help. That’s working for something.”
“I guess so. But he has so much passion for what he does.”
“Do you feel that kind of passion when you work with kids?”
“I do with Ivy—I want to make a difference with her. But not as much with the other students. I’m not quite as keen on study skills and career path development.”
“Maybe you should go into private practice again.”
“I could, but this job is so good. I have great benefits, I get shorter hours, I’ve made friends…”
“You don’t have to go around chasing a struggle. Just see where your gut takes you. Your life will lead you.”
“I guess.”
“And in a week, life will take you to the coast and a relaxing retreat where you and I can talk until the sun sinks in that gorgeous pink sky I sent you in the photos.” Gram’s eyebrows bounced up and down.
“You’re right. And we’ll bury our toes in the sand and reset.”
She’d leave everything here in Nashville, and put all her focus on relaxation and spending time with Gram.
* * *
“You’ve organized yourself down to bare essentials, and you’ve almost got me doing the same,” Nora told Gram after they came home from dropping off the last of their used books at the secondhand bookshop in town. “Our apartment is spotless and ordered.” She waved a hand around their tidy little space.
“I know.” Gram flashed a wide smile.
“It should make packing for the beach much easier,” Nora said.
“Indeed.” Gram opened the sliding door to the small veranda off their living area. “And where we’re going, the scenery will be much better than this.” She nodded toward the view of the parking lot.
“Nashville’s finest,” Nora teased.
Gram laughed.
The ping of Nora’s phone interrupted them.
Nora let out a little gasp of surprise when she viewed the screen.
Gram’s eyebrows rose.
“It’s Blaze.” She opened the text. “He’s thanking me for meeting him for coffee, and he wants to set up another time to meet next week before we leave for the beach.”
“Maybe Friday after school, then?”
“I have my teacher happy hour on Friday.” Nora’s finger hovered over her phone screen.
“Go Saturday morning,” said Gram. “We don’t fly out until 2 p.m.”
Trying not to read too much into the message, Nora texted back:
How’s Saturday at 9 a.m.? Same place?
The notification that Blaze was checking her text bubbled onto her screen, and the pictures of him on social media flashed through her mind. She held her breath, her heart pattering. Why was she getting worked up over this? It was a parent meeting. And there happened to be coffee. That’s it.
His text pinged through.
“I guess I’m meeting Blaze on Saturday morning.” She hit the thumbs-up emoji and closed the screen. “Now, I have a week to create an exciting life.”
Gram chuckled. “Just be yourself.”
“Absolutely. I’ll give him all our organizational practices. That should definitely impress him.” She wrinkled her nose at Gram.
“You’re trying to impress him?”
Nora opened her mouth in an attempt to backtrack but had nothing.
Gram threw her head back and laughed. “You said it, not me!” She patted Nora on the shoulder before heading over to her chair and sitting down.
Nora went into her bedroom to turn her focus to her vacation packing list. With her closet cleaned and all her old clothes purged, she could see exactly what she needed to include. She ran her hands along her sundresses, their pastels calling to be worn on the coast. She rearranged them, putting all the dresses she wanted to take with her on the right of her closet. Then she moved her wedge heels and her sandals under each dress, getting them ready to go into her suitcase next week.
As she ticked off the items that she’d set aside, she pictured herself walking along the wooden boardwalk, a fruity cocktail in hand, the turquoise water at her side. She imagined what it would feel like to actually be there, and she couldn’t wait to experience it. Perhaps all those great adventures she was missing in life would start with this trip. She could only hope that they would.