Chapter 28 #2
I glance over and see that Nora and her friends all have their faces pressed directly to the glass. I send off a quick text:
I think Dottie just called Ann to give her an excuse to leave.
I watch as Nora reads the message, does a double take, and then turns to share the news with her friends.
“I’ll be right there, honey,” Ann says. “Don’t you worry about a thing. He’ll understand.”
She sets her phone down and gives George an apologetic look as she pats his hand across the table. “I’ve got to leave you early. My friend called me in a state.”
“What’s wrong?” he asks, seeming flustered.
She hesitates before saying, “She’s feeling lonely, is all.”
His features tighten. “You’re ditching me for that? I flew all the way from California to see you. We were supposed to spend the whole weekend together.”
She pats his hand again. “And I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful weekend. You can go visit the Biltmore. Maybe catch a few shows.” She points to our table. “Their band has a performance tonight at the Asheville Concert Hall. I’m sure they’d be thrilled if you went.”
He arcs his neck to glance at us, and I give him an awkward wave. He looks about as happy to see me as he was to see the Russian spies at the end of his Soviet Summer movie.
“Will you be going?” he mutters to Ann, his tone full of resentment.
“No, baby.”
“I can’t fucking believe this. What did I do?”
“I’ve got to go check on my friend, like I said. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
He grips her arm to keep her seated. “You can’t just leave. I won’t let you walk out on me like that.”
Mick smiles as he springs to his feet. “Finally.”
“Action time?” Liam asks, getting up from the table.
“Action time.”
I stand up too, my gaze skating to the window.
Nora’s watching with wide eyes. She looks worried—about me.
I don’t know what possesses me, but I blow her a kiss.
Mick’s already halfway to George and Ann’s table.
I’m only a step behind Mick and Liam when they reach George and Ann’s table. Mick loudly clears his throat, and George looks up to find two huge guys hovering over him.
“Sir, I don’t give a fuck if you beat the Russians in ten different movies,” Mick says.
“You’ll be getting your hands off that lady, or I’ll show you up close and personal why the fighters at Ring Your Bell Boxing Gym, the shittiest gym in all of Western North Carolina, have been awarded multiple medals. ”
Mick flexes his tattooed arms in a show of strength that probably seems quite formidable to George Cronin at his relatively advanced age. While the man is reasonably fit, he has nothing on any of us.
George withdraws his hand but scowls at Ann. “You’re a cock tease.”
Mick looks like he’s torn between laughing and possibly flipping George over a table, which I sincerely hope he doesn’t do, since he wouldn’t be able to afford a lawyer who’s good enough to get him out of those charges.
“You’ll step away from her now,” I say in a low, serious voice, trying to de-escalate the situation.
I’ve never been good at this kind of thing, but I’m hyperaware of Nora and her friends potentially watching us through the window.
I can also see the genuine hurt on Ann’s face.
She’d decided this man was not for her, but she was trying to let him down kindly, the way she does everything.
He’s the one who made it ugly. I straighten my back, standing taller.
“Or I’ll make sure every gossip website in the country knows exactly what happened here. ”
He considers this for a moment. I’ll bet he’s more embarrassed about getting turned down by a noncelebrity than about acting like a man who lacks honor, but I don’t care about his motivations. I only want him to take off.
He surveys the wall of Mick, Liam, and me for a moment longer before swearing, picking up his napkin, balling it, and throwing it at Ann.
Rage blasts through me, but I’m not the only one.
“Oh, you’re going to regret that, you piece of shit,” Mick says, cracking his knuckles. He’s in his glory as he reaches for George, who practically skitters out of the coffee shop. Ann gets to her feet but doesn’t try to intervene, instead watching the scene with parted lips.
“You’re banned!” Bear calls after him. “You, the fellow from those spy movies. Don’t come back here.”
Several phones are raised, so presumably my threat will be carried out by other people. Thankfully, Mick never actually touched the guy, so I doubt he’ll face any blowback, especially if they got the napkin toss on video.
A hand lands on my arm, and I look over to see Nora is next to me.
No doubt she entered the shop the conventional way, using the door.
Knowing her, she thought nothing of edging past a potentially violent man to get here.
And yet…her sudden appearance feels magical.
She squeezes my arm, watching me with approving eyes.
For a moment, everything fades away. Nothing exists except for Nora noticing me. Nora liking what she sees.
Seeming utterly defeated, Ann drops back into her seat and cradles her head in her hands. Alarm thrums through me.
“Miss Ann,” I say, sitting down beside her. “He wasn’t catfishing you.”
“You know what, son? I wish he had been.”
I laugh, until I notice the expression in her eyes. Her face isn’t used to sadness, which seems like a blessing—as with Dottie, her wrinkles are a road map of happiness.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “It’s just…he was awfully boring in person, wasn’t he? I suppose he didn’t send you great big blocks of text like that when you were corresponding online, otherwise you would have known better.”
She takes a thoughtful sip of her iced drink.
“I was hoping he’d want to talk about the future, not the past. I’m done living in the past. I made that decision the moment I lost my husband.
You know, I thought about turning off my hearing aid, but I was worried I wouldn’t hear Dot’s call.
” She heaves a tired sigh. “He was handsome, though. No denying that.”
“Not handsome enough to tempt you.”
Nora snorts, and I realize it’s a quote from one of those old movies my mother likes to watch.
I start to turn toward her, but Ann grabs the sleeve of my T-shirt. “You’re wearing a T-shirt.” Her gaze shifts to Nora. “Oh Lord. You’re wearing a T-shirt around Nora. That won’t do at all.”
Nora laughs, tipping her head back in a way that draws my gaze to the column of her throat.
“It’s okay, Ann. I’ve seen him in T-shirts.” Nora grins at me, then says something that shocks me. “And without them.”
“Nora.”
“Oh, she already knows everything. Don’t you, Ann?”
I realize she’s doing this to comfort Ann—to make her feel like she’s in on our secret.
Which I suppose she is. But it doesn’t feel like much of a secret anymore.
My friends know. Her friends know. A large portion of the Wise Elders know.
The only people who don’t know the whole truth are our parents and Pansy and José.
“I do indeed, honey. Now, let’s get next door to check on Dot. We don’t want her to come marching over here with one of her teapots to clock George over the head with it, now do we?”
“It would be amusing,” I admit. “He’s used plenty of household implements to injure people in those movies, but I suspect he’s never been felled by a teapot.”
Ann and Nora both grin at me, and I feel pretty good. I feel even better when Ann accepts my arm, and I help her up.
“Give Dot a kiss for me, Ann,” Bear calls out, waving at us as we head toward the exit.
I hold the front door open for Ann and Nora, and Nora gives me a knowing look as she steps out under my arm.
There’s an intimacy to our inside joke that’s intoxicating, although my stance on the whole holding doors things has shifted.
I like doing things for Nora because I care about her, and I want to show her in as many ways as I can. I’m obviously happy to help Ann, too.
Mick and Liam are standing outside with the rest of Nora’s friends.
“Hey,” Mick says to Ann. “That guy’s not going to bother you anymore. Scout’s honor.”
She takes one look at him and smiles. “You, son, are no Scout.”
Mick laughs his ass off, then announces he has to take off. I should probably also take my leave. Our all-ages show at the Asheville Concert Hall—a big, old warehouse turned venue—starts in a little over an hour. But I don’t want to go, not yet. He must understand that, since he doesn’t even ask.
People sometimes call Mick a musclehead, even some of our friends, but he’s more intelligent than most people give him credit for. He’s decent too.
We watch him go, and Ann whistles. “It’s no hardship to watch that boy leave.”
“It’s nice to see you moving on already, Ann,” comments Liam, who has his arm wrapped around Briar. “Now, let’s get you inside so you can tell Dottie everything.”
The commute is not long, the tea shop and bakery being next door to each other, but Nora pulls me aside before I can follow the others in.
“Can I talk to you for a second?”
“You can talk to me whenever you want.”
She smiles, and for a moment I think she’s going to kiss me out here, on the sidewalk, where anyone can see us.
Maybe she’s ready for this thing developing between us to be more than a bad idea conducted only in places with closed shades in the dark.
But she wraps her hand around my arm and leads me around the corner.
She leans in close, and again I have that hope—that need.
I thought it would be enough to take what she’s willing to give me, but I should have known better. By my very nature, whenever I like something, I instantly crave more of it. I want more than she’s willing to offer, but I also don’t want to scare her off.
So I’ve decided to pour my Nora obsession into two separate projects: Project Pansy, which she knows about, and Project Jonah, which she does not.
Last night, while I was struggling to sleep, I started a deep dive on this Jonah character. I was able to quickly discover some salient facts.
Fact one: He does indeed work for his father, at a financial management company.
Fact two: He is very charming and handsome, and I loathe his face.
Fact three: He has dating profiles on all of the major dating sites, and judging from what I know of him, it is safe to say he has not learned anything from the judgment that was visited upon him.
Fact four: I suspect he’s guilty of tax evasion, given that he has several product listings on an auction site and specifies that he would like to be paid via a cash app.
Perhaps he is also guilty of theft. I don’t understand how else he would have come by such strange and simultaneously valuable objects—packaged toys from the 1980s, antique lamps, silver forks…
Obviously, more work will need to be done before I decide on a proper course of action for him.
Looking down at Nora, I consider telling her all of this, but she’d probably insist she doesn’t need anyone to stick up for her.
She’d say she’s more than capable of doing so herself.
That is patently true, but she still deserves to have people who will defend her.
Who will show her that she’s worth everything, including skirting the law.
Her smile jolts my central nervous system, especially since she’s still holding my arm, her thumb forming little circles on the skin. “You did good.”
I quell the natural desire to correct her with, “well.”
Her smile stretches wider as a warm breeze tousles her hair. “You are dying to correct my grammar right now.”
“I feel very much alive right now, actually.”
“Me too.”
The moment is somewhat ruined when Nora says, “Pansy says she’s sick. Our bowling double date got moved to the Monday after next.”
“Oh no,” I say flatly, to get a smile from her. But her news genuinely troubles me. It suggests my messages have rattled Pansy. “I doubt it’s a coincidence.”
“She could actually be sick. José looked sort of sick.”
“I don’t believe in statistical unlikelihoods.”
She glances around, then leans up and presses a quick kiss to my lips.
I stare down at her, frozen in shock, warmth coursing through me. Because that felt…affectionate.
She shrugs. “I like it when you talk nerdy to me.”
“I have to leave,” I say, because I’m an idiot.
Nora, of course, laughs. “Did I finally drive you away?”
“You couldn’t if you tried.” I glance at the street, taking in the strangers walking past. “I have a band performance this evening.” My throat is suddenly the dryest nadir of a thousand-mile desert, but I manage to say the words. “I’d like it if you came.”
“I’m supposed to work,” she says.
“Yeah, of course. I get it.”
She cocks her head, her hair tumbling over her cheek, her brown eyes bright with mirth. “But I’ll come. José is in the middle of an inflatable dick situation that I’d rather not get involved in.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. But all I care about is that you’re coming.”
“Won’t I just be one more NPC in the crowd?”
“You’ll never be an NPC to me. You’ve always been the main character.”
She looks surprised, but I don’t really understand why. Doesn’t she get it yet?
I’ve always taken notice of her, always, as any man would in the company of a mind-boggling chimera of a person. Nora is driven, but she’s also unpredictable. Nora takes things too far. She’s alive in a sparkling, kinetic way that captures me entirely.
I really would do anything for her, and that’s always been true.
Kenji used to tease me about it. That’s why I haven’t mentioned her in any of the business calls we’ve had over the last month.
He knows we’ve been thrown back together, of course—he was invited to our parents’ wedding.
It was actually somewhat of a relief when he couldn’t make it.
The last thing I wanted was for him to observe us together.
I was worried about what he might see. Because part of me knew, even then, that if Nora was present, my attention would always revert back to her, no matter what else was going on.
But not even Kenji knows the full extent of my high school crush on her. Here’s a truth I’ve never admitted to anyone, not even fully to myself. I had made that robot she accidentally destroyed for her.
It was meant to be an offering, a present, a grand gesture—and then it was accidentally broken by her.
I can hear Ann’s voice in my mind: Tell her, you idiot. Tell her everything.
But I know it’s not time. Not yet. I need to show her how much I care by continuing to show up for her. Because Nora has been through too much, and she’s been lied to too often, to believe anything she can’t see and feel.