Chapter 28 #3
Nora felt this weird pang of jealousy, and it occurred to her that having someone to stress-eat with in PJs for the rest of your life might be the greatest reason of all to get married.
V and I just popped popcorn! Julia texted. She sent a picture of Veronica smiling, holding a huge popcorn bowl.
Nora glanced up from her phone, looked around, and realized the only people she knew at this party were the few other former Hera cast members who’d come.
Her old coworkers. They were all cordial, certainly, but she didn’t quite consider any of them close friends, and they mostly hadn’t kept in touch since the show had closed.
Who would she hug when they got their first woman president?
Who would she squeal with? She suddenly wished she’d taken the train to DC and was sitting with Julia and Veronica on the couch with a bowl of popcorn instead.
But that thought was interrupted by the brush of a hand on her shoulder. She spun around and was face-to-face with Dev.
“Shit,” she said under her breath. But she stared at him, and she instantly remembered how gorgeous he was: the perfect lines of his jaw, the kindness of his sea-blue eyes. And she felt her heart thrumming in her chest, like she had just finally come alive again.
“I thought that was you,” he said. “I spotted your hair from across the room.”
Nora shook her curls gently against her back. She had always believed her long, springy curls to be a blessing and a curse. They set her apart, which in her line of work could be either good or bad. “What are you doing here?” she asked. “How do you know Cathay?”
Dev gave her an incredulous look. “Wizards,” he said slowly.
“Oh. Right.” That had been a stupid question.
Nora knew Cathay had played his mother in the entire series.
Why hadn’t that occurred to her before now?
“Well…” she said. And so many thoughts sat on the tip of her tongue that she couldn’t quite bring herself to say out loud.
It’s great to see you after all this time.
You still look amazing. I’ve missed you.
I’m sorry about everything. What we had was real.
Leo who? But instead she said, “Small world. She was my mother too. In Hera.”
“I know,” he said. “I saw it. She was great. I mean, so were you.”
She suddenly felt self-conscious, thinking that he had been to the show, watched her perform, formed an opinion about her, and that she hadn’t even known until now. “You should’ve come backstage, said hi…”
He nodded. “I didn’t want to.”
So, he was still mad. After all this time. Well, maybe she was a little bit mad too. That he had assumed the worst in her. That he had refused to listen. She put her hands on her hips, and they stared at each other for another moment. Their eyes locked, but neither of them spoke.
“I heard Leo is getting a divorce,” Dev finally said, breaking eye contact. “Are you two here together…?” His eyes scanned the crowd of people in the adjoining room behind her.
“Oh God, no. Definitely not,” Nora said emphatically. “Is he even here?”
Dev shrugged, like he wasn’t sure but had just assumed. Half of Broadway did appear to be here. Please God, do not let Leo walk into this room right now.
“I mean, it’s cool if you are, obviously,” Dev continued.
Nora shook her head. “We’re not.” Leo had done what he had done.
Her career had finally gained some traction.
But she’d told him in no uncertain terms, after she’d accepted the role of Hera, that nothing would happen between them ever again.
She had not, in fact, heard about his divorce. Nor did she care.
Suddenly they heard a glass shatter in the next room—that broke this stupid conversation, and they both walked over to where a crowd had gathered around a large TV in the living room.
Someone appeared to have accidentally dropped their champagne.
Broken glass was scattered on the white marble floor.
“She’s not going to win!” Cathay exclaimed dramatically, holding up her hands.
Nora watched the TV for a few moments, in disbelief at the reddening map. Then she felt a warm hand on hers. Dev’s hand. “Should we get out of here?” He leaned in and whispered close to her ear.
She felt numb and distant from herself, but Dev’s hand was so warm, and she clung to him and followed him through the large brownstone, out the front door.
Outside, the night air was cold, and she held tighter on to Dev’s warm hand.
If the world was going to end, if the world had ended, then maybe she was never going to let go of him.
Dev grabbed his phone and called an Uber with his free hand, which took them to a swanky hotel she’d never been in before near the bottom of Central Park.
She held on to him in the elevator, up to his penthouse suite.
Amazingly, she hadn’t noticed a single photographer on the street, at the hotel.
Every one of them was probably at the Javits Center right now for election coverage.
“Nora.” Dev said her name in a low voice as he guided her into his suite. She looked up at his beautiful face. How had it not changed one bit in the last few years? She reached her hand up and stroked the smooth-shaven skin of his cheek gently with her thumb.
On the tip of her tongue were the words Is this okay? Which quickly alternated with What are we doing?
But before she could say anything, he kissed her. Then she was kissing him back. And maybe everything was going to feel terrible tomorrow but Dev felt so good, and she was finally here with him, so she didn’t even care.
He unzipped her dress and lowered it slowly.
What are we doing?
She unzipped the fly of his dress pants.
Is this okay?
But he was still kissing her, so she didn’t speak, not wanting to break the spell.
She heard her phone buzzing away in her purse—surely, her sisters’ chat blowing up—but she ignored it.
She just kept kissing him.
In the middle of the night, Nora woke up naked to the sound of sirens wailing.
It wasn’t an unusual sound in the city that never slept, but still the sirens pulsed in the thumping of Nora’s heart as she suddenly remembered where she was. Who she was with. Everything that had happened.
A swath of moonlight shone in through the large wall of glass opposite the bed, illuminating Dev’s face, the easy motion of his bare chest rising up and down as he slept. Nora stared at him for a moment, deciding whether she should kiss him, wake him. Or whether she should flee.
Fight or flight.
Flee.
She gingerly got up out of bed, pulled on her dress from the floor. She grabbed her purse and took out her phone. She had eighty-three unread texts in her sisters’ chat, and she scanned them quickly.
How is this even fucking happening?
V wants to know if we can all move to Canada. Nora are you in?
Where the fuck is Nora? Nora!!
Maybe she fell asleep?
I’m never sleeping again.
I’m here, Nora thought, but she could not respond right then, tell her sisters where here was.
Or what she had been doing while they were texting.
Dev had broken her heart once, and she couldn’t withstand the emotional toll of him doing it all over again when he woke up and realized whatever this was…
it had been a mistake. Her heart thudded so fast. She had to get out of here. Now.
But what if he doesn’t break your heart this time? She heard Julia’s always wise voice in her head.
Then Emily: Don’t be a bitch and leave like this, Nora.
She moved away from her sisters’ chat and opened up Dev’s contact on her phone. Thank you for tonight. Text me.
Then she zipped up her dress, grabbed her shoes in her hand, and snuck out.