22. Noel
22
Noel
T he weather cooperated with bright sunshine in spite of the brisk, March chill that swept in off the lake, and Noel and Addison spent all of Saturday together. They toured the town, Addison showing him her favorite haunts. At the bookshop, Claire was hosting a children’s reading hour, so they didn’t visit long, but the pretty proprietress seemed thrilled to see them there together.
They ate lunch at Juno’s Coffee Bar, and Noel agreed that he’d never tasted a roast beef sandwich quite like the one Juno was known for. While there, the other women from Addison’s Garden Variety Lovers Club showed up, including the indomitable octogenarian, Hazel Poleman, whose family was part of the founding members of the town, and Judy Anderson, Penny’s mother. Penny Anderson had bought into Hazel’s guesthouse, and the two of them, along with the help of Penny’s fiancé, Ward St. James, were converting the place into an upgraded bed and breakfast that would open to the public this summer.
Ward had also made an appearance to pick up an order of sandwiches to go. Noel had already met Ward since his family’s boat repair business was contracted to service the fleet of water craft over at Carpe Diem. “Once the weather’s better, we need to have a day on the lake,” Ward suggested when he learned that Addison was giving Noel a tour of the south shore. “Give you an on-the-water perspective of our town.”
They joined the regulars at Patsy’s Pizza for supper, and Addison shocked Noel by annihilating him at the pool table. “Where did you learn to play like that?” He didn’t miss the fact that everyone who’d witnessed the game didn’t seem surprised at all by her victory.
“My mom taught me how to play, but my dad taught me how to win. He wasn’t one of those parents who lets their kid win without earning it, either. If I wanted to beat him, I had to do it fair and square.”
“How old were you when you won your first match?” Noel asked, enjoying the little bits and pieces of her life he was getting to know.
“It was on my sixteenth birthday, and no, he didn’t let me win, not even as a birthday present. It’s been a back-and-forth battle ever since. My mom just rolls her eyes and leaves the room when one of us racks up.”
Sunday morning, he attended Addison’s church with her where they sat with several of her friends. He felt like they were quickly becoming his friends, too, which surprised him. He was good with people, but like romantic relationships, he’d never really made platonic relationships a priority. He’d always just considered himself a loner by nature, but now that he was letting himself contemplate putting down roots, he found that he really liked the idea of being a part of a small community again, in a place where everyone knew who he was.
They had a wonderful Sunday dinner with Penny, June, and Hazel at the Garden Gate Guesthouse where Ward and his parents also joined them. There was a lovely little bay between the guesthouse’s dock and the jut of land where the St. James’s home sat, and during their after-dinner walk—so that they could burn off enough calories to make room for brownies and ice cream—Penny insisted Noel and Addison come out and use her little boat any time they wanted to. The water in the cove was surprisingly calm. “It’s almost always like this,” she assured them. “The perfect spot to spend a lazy afternoon adrift on the water.”
“Good spot to drop a line in the water, too,” Ward added.
It had been a long time since Noel had gone fishing, but he’d escaped the chaos of his childhood home countless times by heading down to his favorite fishing hole. He’d often brought back supper, too, which is likely the only reason Bruno hadn’t restricted him from doing it.
Sunday had ended with shared leftovers in Addison’s apartment, a place in which he was quickly growing to feel at home. They’d held hands while watching a movie, then he’d kissed her goodnight on the twinkle-lit deck, anticipating the plans they’d made for the following day.
As the days went by, Noel found his thoughts consumed by the delightful and charming Addison Wedgewood. Although he and John barely acknowledged each other these days, tension at work between them had grown so fraught that Noel dreaded going in each morning. The knowledge that he got to spend time with Addison after the day was over buoyed him up like nothing else had in as long as he could remember.
Much of their time together was with friends at the pizza place or the coffee shop, or browsing books in The Cracked Spine, but Noel always treasured most the time he got to spend alone with Addison in the apartment above the stationery store. The whole apartment could easily fit into his suite of rooms at the resort, but stepping through her front door was like entering a whole new world for him, one he wanted to explore to his heart’s delight. He loved discovering new bits and bobs in her place, trinkets, art, books, and more, that gave him insight into what felt like ‘the secret world of Addison Wedgewood.’
On the last Sunday of the month, Addison invited him to join her and her friends for a movie at Autumn Lake’s drive-in, an outdoor theater that had closed a decade ago, but had reopened one night a week during the pandemic a few years earlier. The Monday Movie Night had garnered so much local support that the town had decided to keep it ongoing.
Monday nights at the drive-in, according to Addison, was something akin to family reunions during the off-season. “We still go when the summer lakers are here, but it’s not the same. If you’re going to be a local, though, you’ve got to experience it before May. You don’t even have to worry about getting there early for a good spot. Every spot is a good spot when it’s just us Townies.”
A drive-in movie. The thought conjured up all sorts of romantic ideas for Noel, but if what she said about it being a family reunion was true, he wouldn’t be spending much time alone in his car with the fair Addison Wedgewood. But he was fine with that. He was thoroughly enjoying getting to know her friends, and he hoped they felt the same way about him.
For the first time in his life, Noel wanted to belong somewhere. He wanted to be a part of something, not just temporarily, but long term. Maybe forever. He was falling for Addison, but he was also falling for her town, and her friends, and the community that she was so intricately woven into.
As he lay in bed waiting for sleep to overcome him, a voice that sounded eerily like Bruno’s said, “You may want it, but why would they want you? You’re nothing but a little parasite. You’ll never amount to anything worthwhile. Stop kidding yourself; no one wants you around. Just ask your buddy, John Sheridan.”
A counselor had once told Noel that he couldn’t choose the things his father said or thought about him, but that he could choose whether or not to believe them.
He didn’t want to believe the words Bruno had flung at him a hundred thousand times in his childhood, but it was a whole lot easier said than done.
Even so, Noel fell asleep with thoughts of Addison in his head and a smile on his face, and he slept better than he had in as long as he could remember. By the time he returned to work on Monday morning, he felt rejuvenated and back on track, ready to face down John’s bullying with patience and self-control. He made it to his desk a half an hour earlier than usual, and had already emptied his email inbox by the time Paula arrived. She said a quiet, almost apologetic, “Good morning,” and settled in behind her desk, too.
John, however, had other plans. He showed up half an hour late, but he didn’t come in alone.