Out of the Blue

Chapter 25

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Gram and Nora spent the next week nesting. They went to the furniture store and picked out a new sofa, and Nora had decided to repaint the kitchen and living room. She immersed herself in her plans, shopping and picking out new rugs and knickknacks.

Gram stepped out the front door to get the mail from the apartment’s wall of boxes and came inside. She’d been getting the mail all week. While they hadn’t spoken about the letter from the hospital, Nora was willing to bet Gram was as on edge as her, waiting for the MRI test results, even though Gram hadn’t said so. Nora certainly had been quietly worrying.

“Anything good?” Nora climbed down from the ladder.

“Just junk.” Gram lumped the pile on the counter. “You’ve been working hard.”

Nora put her hands on her paint-speckled hips, and assessed the second coat of cheerful cream on the wall. “This brightens the kitchen so much.”

“It will go lovely with the tweed rug you got and the new dishes,” Gram said before making a cup of coffee and taking it into the living room.

Nora stayed back and squinted at the wall, imagining it behind her new décor.

The blue and teal pottery-style dishes had been an impulse-buy, but they’d reminded Nora of the Gulf, and she thought it was only fitting to change to the color scheme since it was those two weeks that had made her look at life differently. She’d realized she’d been going through her days on autopilot, not stopping to smell the roses, and Blaze and Ivy had been the shake-up she’d needed. She had still thought about both of them since being home, but she didn’t spend too long dwelling on them. This era was about her, and finding what made her happy.

“Look at this,” Gram said, holding out her phone. “Ivy just sent it to me.”

Pulling herself from her inner turmoil, Nora peered around Gram to see Blaze and Ivy doing a choreographed dance in unison to a pop song.

“It’s got four hundred thousand likes,” Gram said. “Ivy says that’s a lot.”

Nora smiled. “It is a lot.”

Gram grinned down at the screen. “Look at those two. They seem to be getting along.”

“That’s wonderful,” Nora said. They got their happy ending after all. Well, Nora was going to do her very best to find hers.

“Blaze looks handsome,” Gram said.

Nora folded the ladder and leaned it against the wall. “He always looks handsome.” A flash of those gray eyes when he smiled at her floated into her mind.

“Has he texted at all?”

Nora shook her head. “Ivy hasn’t either. I think my season in their lives is finished.”

“That’s a shame. They’re both lovely.”

“I know. I miss them,” she said honestly. “It’s only been a couple weeks, but it feels like a lifetime since I’ve seen them.”

“You should call.”

“It was awkward last time I tried. And Blaze and my conversation ended on my text, which he never replied to, so I think it’s best if I let it go.”

“No life ever changed for the better by taking the easy way out.”

Nora bristled. “I didn’t. I texted him, and he didn’t text back.”

“Then text him again.”

“I’d assume he’s not in the market to date a psycho,” she teased.

Gram put her hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side. “Texting someone twice does not make you a psycho. Maybe he’s not sure what to say.”

“Well, neither am I.” She picked up her paint roller and rinsed it in the sink. “Look, I know you’re just attempting to be helpful, but I’ve tried very hard to move on, and I was getting good at it. Bringing Blaze up takes me right back to our time together, and there’s no need to go backward.”

“I’m sorry. I won’t mention it again. I guess I just thought you two were great together.” She put up her hands. “But it’s not my business. Your life is yours.”

* * *

The rest of the day, Nora set in, redecorating the apartment.

“I put all your books on this shelf,” she said to Gram as she filled the new bookshelf that divided the small living and kitchen spaces.

She filled the shelves with their books and topped them with a lamp, an aloe vera plant, and a small Boston fern. She’d added cream-colored seat cushions to the dinette chairs, and set a tall dried floral arrangement in the center of the table to give it some height.

“That chandelier is stunning,” Gram said, coming in to see her progress.

With her landlord’s permission for both lighting and wall color changes, Nora had switched out the lighting above the table to a chandelier made of wood and brushed nickel.

“I think it looks so much more current. I never really put a bit of myself into the apartment until now. It feels like it has a little personality.”

“You could go into interior design,” Gram said from across the room as Nora added a wide-weave throw to the back of the corner chair in the living room.

“I got most of the ideas online,” she admitted. “And decorating isn’t my thing. I just wanted to make us a space we could enjoy.” She fluffed the new gauzy curtains at the sliding doors to the small balcony.

“It’s definitely beautiful, but are you sure you’re doing this for us?”

Nora slid the last book onto the shelf and stood up. “What do you mean? Who else would it be for?”

Gram squinted at her as if trying to see through to her inner thoughts. “I just want to make sure you aren’t using this little project to avoid anything.”

“What would I be avoiding?”

“You tell me.” She pulled out a chair at the table and sat down. “If Blaze had been?—”

“Nope.” Nora waved her hands in the air, stopping the conversation. “I’m not talking about Blaze. I’m trying to build a life I can be proud of. And I’ve made a good start. Now, I’m going to get a shower, get ready for the evening, and we’re going to make a fantastic dinner, light the candles, and dine at our newly decorated table.”

“All right,” Gram said.

Nora went into her bedroom and shut the door. Why was Gram so bent on bringing up Blaze? Was it because she worried about her own future and didn’t want to leave Nora alone? Blaze was wonderful, but he’d made his point with his silence. And Nora would do her best to be ready when and if she had to go at it alone. But she didn’t want to think about life without Gram right now.

She turned on the shower to let the water heat up. While she waited, she went into the bedroom and plopped down on the bed. Her phone sat on the side table. Just to torture herself, she picked it up, opened her social media app, and searched for Blaze, clicking on his stories.

“Ivy and I are going out tonight. Should be fun,” he said as he held the phone toward his reflection in a full-length mirror.

He had on an attractively tailored pair of trousers and a button-down that showed off his pecks more than it probably should. His hair was combed and his face shaved. She closed her eyes, wishing she could be with them.

The sound of Ivy’s voice brought her attention back to the phone, and she realized the video was still going.

“I’m excited about tonight.” Ivy did a little spin to show off her denim dress and boots.

She looked positively radiant. How much she’d changed from the girl who’d slumped in Nora’s office.

“Got the tickets, Dad?”

“Yep. Got ’em!” Blaze said from the background.

From the look of their outfits, they were probably going to a country music event. She was glad he was taking Ivy. It was nice to see them doing things together.

Nora rolled her head on her shoulders and tossed the phone on her bed. She missed them. She shouldn’t have peeked into their life. It was just a reminder that she didn’t fit in it, and given how great they seemed to be all of a sudden, neither of them would require her services anymore. Perhaps the new counselor was just what they’d needed. And with Ivy going to Brentwood Academy next year—something Blaze hadn’t even bothered to tell Nora—she was effectively out of their lives forever.

With a heavy heart, she went into the bathroom, undressed, and stepped into the shower. She closed her eyes. The warm stream pelted her face. She stood, motionless, as if the water could wash away her thoughts. Had Gram been right? Was all the decorating and cooking just a subconscious attempt at blocking out the hole Ivy and Blaze had left in her heart? She’d opened her vacation home to them, and neither had even texted to say thank you. It didn’t seem like them at all. Could she have done more to change the events that had unfolded?

She continued to ruminate over it as she put on her makeup and did her hair. She didn’t have anywhere to be tonight except for her apartment, but this new version of herself wanted to put in the effort. She was worth it. Even if no one else could see it yet. In a way, she’d learned that from Blaze as well. While she hadn’t been able to keep seeing him—and he’d warned her of that—she’d turned the head of the biggest producer in Nashville, even if only briefly. So she had to have some redeeming qualities.

She sat on her bed. Gramps, are you really around like Gram says you are? I need a favor. She peered around the room, looking for a sign, but nothing was amiss. If you’re really here, could you talk to The Big Man for me and give me some direction? I’ll do whatever I’m supposed to do. What’s next for me? She stared at the dancing dust particles in a stream of sunlight until they blurred in front of her.

Still unsure of her direction, and with no sign from Gramps, she got up from the bed. She slipped on her pale blue sundress and painted her toenails to match. Then she went into the living room to spend the evening with Gram.

Gram had the pile of junk mail next to her. She quickly folded a piece of paper and tucked it into her book.

“What’s that?” Nora asked.

Gram slipped the book under her arm. “Just a sales flyer. I’m using it as a bookmark.”

“Where’s the bookmark I got you?” she asked, suspicious, her heart pounding like a snare drum.

Gram smiled. “In my other book.”

“Gram…” Nora gazed at her.

“What?”

“What’s on the paper?”

“I said it’s nothing .” She wrinkled her nose at Nora. “You look lovely. What do you have planned for tonight?”

Nora assessed Gram’s demeanor. She didn’t have that panicked look as if she’d gotten terrible news. Perhaps the paper was, in fact, just a flyer.

“My plans are to hang out with you. Let’s find something really delicious and exotic to make tonight for dinner,” Nora said, coming over and taking her hand to help her out of her chair.

With the book still pinned under her arm, Gram gripped Nora’s hand and got up. She gathered the mail, and followed Nora into the kitchen. On her way, she set the pile of envelopes and magazines on the bookshelf, along with her book.

“Are you sure you want to make something now?” Gram looked at her watch. “It’s barely five o’clock.”

“Well, if we make something, it might take us an hour or so.” She took Gram’s hands again and gave her a twirl, making Gram laugh.

“What’s gotten into you? You’re all dressed up, suddenly a five-star chef…”

“I just want to seize the day.”

Nora eyed the paper in the book over on the bookshelf, but decided to let it go for one evening. If Gram did have bad news, they couldn’t fix it tonight, so she’d like to have one more evening of normalcy. She opened the pantry and started browsing the ingredients they had left, but she stopped.

“I have to be honest with you, Gram. I thought about Blaze and Ivy before deciding to make this big dinner tonight. Do you really think I’m avoiding my feelings?”

“Oh, honey, I don’t know. I just want you to follow your heart.”

It was tough to follow her heart when neither Blaze nor Ivy wanted to reach out. “You’re right,” she said, deciding to push forward. She didn’t know what she was doing, but she couldn’t just stand by and sulk. “My heart says the chicken casserole I saw online the other day sounds delicious.”

Gram took her phone off the table and began typing. “What’s in it?” she asked, her eyes on the screen.

“Oh, no need to look up a recipe. I printed one.” Nora opened one of the drawers by the sink where she kept the potholders. “I stuck it in here.” Nora waved the paper in the air. “See? I’ve got it.”

Gram let out a breath of air, and set her phone down while Nora scanned the ingredients and checked them against their inventory. Gram seemed weirdly on edge all of a sudden. Maybe she wasn’t up for a big dinner? Did she feel all right?

“We don’t have cherry tomatoes, basil, or dry mustard.” Nora closed the cabinet. “You know what? I could change into my pajamas, and we could order a pizza with all the toppings, pour ourselves a glass of wine, and veg out in front of the TV instead.”

“I don’t think you should bother.”

She turned to face Gram, confused by her behavior. “Why? We could wait if you’re not hungry. We need to eat dinner at some point, though, right?”

Just then, the doorbell rang.

“Who’s that?” Nora asked.

Gram shrugged and shook her head, but the shift in her gaze told Nora that something was amiss. She stared at Gram, but Gram only nodded toward the door.

“You gonna get that?” Gram asked.

Nora opened the door to find Blaze and Ivy in the outfits they’d had on in the video. Had they stopped by on the way to their concert? Ivy held two large bags in her arms. They were taking groceries?

“June might have texted me to tell me you were planning dinner at your new table,” Ivy said, flashing her a smile. She moved past her into the kitchen and greeted June. “Your apartment is so pretty!”

“Let me show you what Nora’s done,” Gram said, taking the bags from Ivy and setting them on the counter. She and the girl walked into the living room.

Nora offered Blaze a questioning look.

He took her hand and guided her out onto the balcony, shutting Ivy and June inside.

“I’m sorry I haven’t called…” He ran his thumb over her knuckles. “I wanted to get this just right.”

Nora held her breath, unsure of what he was going to say. She dared not anticipate something wonderful because the letdown would crush her if his message wasn’t what she hoped for.

He let go of her and took a step back as if collecting his thoughts. He took a deep breath. “Being with you changed my entire way of thinking.”

She leaned back against the doorframe. I know what you mean .

“I used to think that following my passion meant that I had to shut everything else out, that I had to spend all hours of the day following it. But you showed me I was wrong.”

“Really?”

“It isn’t worth as much unless I have someone to share it with.” He took her other hand this time. “I got home and tried to work. As I did, something funny would happen, and I’d want to tell you. Or after work, I’d be beat, and I’d want to come home and talk to you to decompress, the way we did in the evenings at the beach, and you weren’t there.”

Happiness bubbled up. “I had no idea.”

“I’ve never needed anyone. But a relationship isn’t just about me. I had to be sure I knew how to give you what you needed. That stared with learning how to be a full-time parent to Ivy. I couldn’t bring you into our life until I got a handle on that.” The corners of his mouth turned upward. “What I hadn’t expected was mine and Ivy’s mutual adoration of you to unify us.”

No one had ever told Nora anything so heartfelt before.

“The other night, I got up the nerve and admitted how I felt about you to Ivy. I wanted the life I had at the beach. I missed it. Ivy was so excited. It took everything I had to keep her from telling June what I’d said.”

Nora shook her head. “Our life at the beach wasn’t real life.”

“It was more real than anything else I’ve experienced lately.”

They looked into each other’s eyes as the warm summer breeze blew against them.

“It was a pretty amazing handful of days,” he said.

Her heart pattered, every nerve ending on alert. “Ever since you left the beach, I couldn’t get you off my mind.”

His gray eyes sparkled. “Oh, yeah?”

She nodded.

“I don’t know if I’m any good at this,” he warned. “My last try crashed and burned.”

She grinned. “Mine too.”

A look of seriousness slid over his face. He waggled a finger between the two of them. “This feels different, though.”

“It does to me too.” She took in a steadying breath. “But how will we manage in the real world, once we both go back to work?”

“Well, the one thing Ivy taught me was that the best way to manage is to do it together. I think we can face anything that way.”

“That’s a great answer.”

A moment of buzzing uncertainty hung between them.

“So…” Blaze said.

His adorable hesitation had her stomach doing somersaults.

“So,” she said with a smile.

“Want to go out on a date sometime?”

Nora chewed on a smile. “I’d love to.”

“Ah, I can’t handle this new dynamic between us.” He paced in a circle and then arrived back in front of her.

“New dynamic?” she asked, but she felt it too. She just wanted to hear his side to see if he could verbalize what was pinging around inside her.

“I’ve told you how I feel about you, and that changes everything, so now I’m in this strange space where I don’t know how to act with you. Do I hold your hand? Do I put my arm around you?”

She laughed. “You can do both if you’d like.”

His movement stilled, those eyes falling upon her. Blaze took a step into her space. She tipped her chin up toward him as he moved in.

“I just want to do this the right way,” he said, his voice a whisper. He took her hand. “So you’re all right with this?”

“Mm-hm.”

He let go of her hand and pushed her hair behind her shoulder with a finger. “And that?”

“Yes,” she said, trying to breathe.

He leaned in and softly whispered in her ear, his spicy scent intoxicating her. “This okay?”

Never before had she felt anything like this. They were barely touching each other, but the energy between them had the intensity of a bolt of lightning.

“Ahem.”

They pulled apart when Ivy appeared at the door. “Y’all can make out later. We have dinner to prepare.” She flashed another grin in their direction and held the door open, beckoning them inside.

Blaze looked like a kid who’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. With a chuckle, he nodded for Nora to go in first.

“What are we cooking?” she asked him, still trying to slow her pounding heart.

Gram’s delighted gaze darted between them.

“Mac and cheese, and burgers. I figured I’d stick to what I’m good at,” he replied.

She laughed. “That sounds delicious.”

“I did get us a bottle of Dom Pérignon.”

Gram’s eyes widened, and Nora sucked in a breath.

“It’s an eight-hundred-dollar bottle,” Ivy whispered into Nora’s ear.

Blaze pressed his lips together and shook his head at his daughter. “The price doesn’t matter. We need to celebrate, so I brought a good champagne.” He took the bottle from the counter.

Ivy giggled and went over to Gram, who was opening cabinets and asking where the champagne flutes were.

“Telling each other how we feel doesn’t require an eight-hundred-dollar bottle of champagne,” Nora said quietly to Blaze. “You know you don’t have to impress me. You do that all by yourself.”

“We have more to celebrate,” he said, popping the cork off the bottle as Gram pulled three champagne glasses from the cabinet. He poured them each a glass and handed one to Nora. Then he took her over to the table. “Please.” He offered her a chair and she sat.

Gram and Ivy took a seat with Nora, Blaze lowering himself across from her, their champagne fizzing in front of them.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Well, remember I said I’ve managed to take a little time off this summer. I still have to work, but a lot of it can be done on my laptop and not in the studio.”

“Okay.” What was he getting at?

Ivy leaned in, her face alight. “This was my idea, by the way.”

“What was?” Nora asked, looking back and forth between Blaze and Ivy.

Ivy wriggled her shoulders enthusiastically. “I fired my counselor.”

Nora’s shoulders fell. “Oh, no. Not a good fit?”

Ivy shook her head. “No. I wanted a way to spend time with Dad. And I don’t think I need a counselor at all. I feel better when I spend time with you —something me and Dad agree on. I’m better at managing the loss of my mom when you’re there. You make me feel like things will be okay.”

“That warms my heart, Ivy,” Nora said.

“Dad and I have done a lot of talking, and I’ve decided that to honor my mom, I do want to do charity work. But I’ve changed how I want to do it.” She waved her hands at her father as if to usher in Blaze’s explanation.

“What are you up to in the next few weeks?” he asked. “Do you have any plans?”

Nora consulted Gram, who was grinning from ear to ear, her eyebrows bouncing excitedly.

“I don’t have any plans that I’m aware of.”

“Great, because you, me, Ivy, and your grandmother are traveling first class to New York.”

Nora tried not to spill her champagne. “What?”

“I’ve got a day planned at a food bank,” Ivy said. “You can help me if you want. After that, we can tour the city.”

“Then we’re flying to London for more charity work of Ivy’s choosing, where we’ll spend a little over a week, because I’ve allotted enough time to visit the Cotswolds. After that, Paris and Greece.” Blaze pulled a wrinkled piece of paper from his pocket, smoothed it out, and slid it over to Nora.

She recognized her handwriting. “My travel list.”

“I can dig through the trash, too, you know,” Gram said.

Nora scanned the many places she’d listed. “Gram, you had a hard time with a short flight to the beach. Are you up for this level of travel?”

“I can manage. I hear there are some lovely little cafés where I can rest while you all run around the cities.”

Nora’s skin tingled with the idea of traveling the world. But then that folded paper in Gram’s book over on the shelf next to them came into view.

“We should really stay until we hear that second opinion about your test results,” she told Gram.

“Well, I told you a little fib.” Gram reached over and took her book from the bookshelf. She pulled out the piece of paper and held it up. “I wanted to share the news tonight, over champagne. They got the final results back and the mass is noncancerous. They’re going to keep an eye on it, but they don’t expect anything to come of it.”

Nora got up and threw her arms around her grandmother, a lump in her throat. “That’s wonderful news.”

“Maybe Gramps actually does have some pull with the man upstairs.” Gram winked at Nora.

It was then she realized she’d just asked for Gramps’s help to show her where to go next in her life. And there she was, with a first-class ticket to her future. Maybe he did have some pull, indeed.

“So do you want to go?” Blaze asked.

“Absolutely.”

Ivy clapped her hands. “I’m so excited! Dad wouldn’t let me text you or anything until he had this straight. I can’t tell you how hard it was to stay quiet.” She held up a finger. “Hang on! Let me get a Coke.”

Ivy ran into the kitchen. There was a crack and a fizz, and she came back in with a can of soda. “To people who feel a whole lot like family.” Ivy raised her can.

“And to the future.” Blaze held his glass in the air.

Nora and Gram raised their champagne together and clinked glasses with Blaze and then Ivy.

“You didn’t have to do all this,” Nora told Blaze, feeling a bit overcome by the gesture.

Blaze took her hand. “I’ve spent a lot of my life finding my own way. Now it’s time to support others while they do the same. My focus is on you and Ivy. This trip might not give you the meaning of life, but it’ll be one step forward for the three of us.”

Tonight, another page had turned in Nora’s life story, but this time, the blank page in front of her held nothing but excitement.