Chapter 13
Leif
Her face is so beautiful it hurts to look at her. But worse than that, she heard everything.
And so did her parents.
Noelle’s mom is the only one who looks genuinely happy to see me. Her dad is frowning, and I can’t read her expression at all.
“You’re here,” I croak. “You’re…early.”
Noelle gives a little smile. But it’s too polite. Too distant to be for me. “I live here now.”
Shock has me silent once again. She moved home? What about Broadway?
Why the fuck didn’t I Google her this year, of all years?
“I’m Enzo Kelly,” my cousin says, introducing himself to Noelle and her mom and dad. For once, he’s the perfect gentleman.
“Hello,” I say, finally remembering myself and tearing my eyes from Noelle. “It’s nice to see you again.”
“We saw you on the moon,” Noelle’s mom says as she shakes my hand. “We all watched it live. Dan was fairly obsessed he met a real life astronaut. All of us were, really.”
“Quite the thing,” her dad says, his grip firm. I realize his sternness isn’t a six-year-old grudge at finding me in bed with his daughter. It’s respect.
I guess all I had to do was go to the moon.
“Thank you.”
“What are you up to now?” he asks. “What do spacemen do when they come back to earth anyway?”
“They give talks at elementary schools,” Noelle says.
“Don’t they sometimes go back to space?” Her mom asks.
I run a hand over the back of my neck. “Yeah, they do all those things.”
“What about you, son? When’s your next mission?”
“I’m…uh” I clear my throat. All I want to do is talk to Noelle. To hold her in my arms. To tell her everything I’ve been thinking. Instead, I hear myself talking about the professorship at the Ivy League. How I’m very lucky to have received the offer.
“I’m sure any school would love to have an astronaut teaching them!” Noelle’s mom says. “Heck, I bet Greenville College would fall all over themselves at the chance to have you there.”
“Mom!” Noelle says.
“He’s not going to teach at a community college,” her dad says.
I can’t believe she moved back home.
“How’s your grandfather?” Noelle’s dad asks. “Haven’t seen him at the squash club lately.”
“He’s got a heart murmur,” Enzo says, answering for me.
I register what Enzo says. I’m pretty sure our grandfather’s health isn’t public knowledge. “He’s fine,” I say, tearing my eyes from Noelle. “Not moving quite as fast but still doing fine.”
“How about your father?” Noelle’s dad asks.
I’m so surprised it takes me a minute to say, “He’s good. Still working a little.”
Do they know each other?
But he’s already asking Enzo about his dad, then they’re chatting property. Her mom moves aside to help a customer.
“Noelle, can we talk?” I ask.
“Sure, let’s talk,” she says.
I didn’t mean here. Nothing is going the way I wanted our first meeting to. I pictured picking her up at her parents’ place, a giant bouquet of flowers in my hand. Or something a little less trite but no less special.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
“Yes. Fine.”
“Why did you move—”
But Enzo lets out a big laugh, drowning us out. I want very badly to tell him to shut up. But when I look back at Noelle, she’s looking at my cousin with curiosity.
I feel a streak of jealousy so hot I feel my jaw pop.
To my surprise she says, “You’re the one who saw the ghost.”
Enzo, who was about to say something to her dad, makes a strange coughing sound. “What?”
“Eleanor Cleary,” Noelle says. “You saw her.”
Enzo shoots me a murderous look.
“She’s been bugging her father for the old police records,” Noelle’s mom says, done with her sale.
“It’s the adoption records I wanted,” Noelle says.
Enzo looks sweaty. “Hey,” he says to me, “I have to get going.”
“We all should,” Noelle’s dad says. “Let you two get back to business.”
“Noelle,” I say, something twisting inside of me. It’s panic. It feels ridiculous, but it’s like if I let her go now, I’m going to lose her. How did this all go so terribly wrong?
“Can I see you later?” At her dad’s narrowed eyes, I say, “for coffee or something?”
She meets my eyes. “I—”
“How about the sleigh ride?” Enzo asks.
Half our family is booked to go on a sleigh ride up in the hills tomorrow. It wouldn’t exactly be a low-key place for us to talk. Clearly he wants to get back at me for telling Noelle about the ghost.
I glare at Enzo. To Noelle, I say, “You don’t have to—”
But Noelle nods. “A sleigh ride sounds nice.”
My heart lifts. Whatever’s up with her, it can’t be all bad.
We make arrangements for me to pick her up at her place—she’s got an apartment downtown. I hesitate, then pat around in my pockets, finding a pen and a pack of gum. I scrawl my number on the gum and hand the whole thing over to her. “That’s my cell if anything changes.”
I dare her to hand it back to me. Exchanging numbers is against our rules.
“Unless you have a landline?” I ask.
Her lips pinch.
She takes the gum and pockets it. “Thank you.”
A moment later, Enzo and I are walking away from the booth after Noelle’s dad made a beeline for the parking lot.
“Was that—” Enzo begins.
“Noelle’s the woman I was talking about earlier,” I say. There’s no point hiding it now. “I’m in love with her. I have been for years.” I glance at Enzo. “So I guess I’m moving to Quince Valley.”