CHAPTER THIRTY
Nora
Unable to deal with the consequences of his actions, Corey did exactly what I expected a rich boy would do.
I signed for the third flower arrangement within two days and placed the native bouquet on my dining table.
It was eerily similar to the one that had been delivered to him weeks ago with kangaroo paw and – I sniffed at the arrangement – rosemary.
I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d simply forwarded one he’d received.
A hit of embarrassment punched me in the stomach.
Had other girls been chasing him this whole time?
Was I just another girl, allowing myself to believe he cared about me and my goals?
There was far too much about Corey I still didn’t know, and I cursed myself for falling victim to a man.
Perhaps my mother had been right all along.
With the exam done – Brad reminded me five times to be gentle with the keyboard and I had to replace two pens I broke from the force – I was trying to erase Corey from my mind.
An off-pitch yowling floated through the open window, assaulting my eardrums. The delivery guy flinched at the sound and moved down the hall at record pace.
I poked my head out the window to see Corey on the pavement, hands cupped around his mouth for a makeshift megaphone, yelling my name.
Actually, yowling wasn’t nearly accurate enough.
It sounded like someone had woken mid-operation with hacked vocal cords.
He sighed in relief at the sight of my face and closed his eyes. ‘Nora, thank God. Please, let me up.’
Yesterday he’d been by in the blue shirt that set off his eyes and made me weak in the knees.
Bastard. I’d almost caved when the breeze carried up the scent of the glorious black bean burrito he’d brought me, but when I realised I could no long afford to buy them myself, my dwindling bank account reminded me this was yet another thing Corey Flemmington had stolen from me, and I’d told him to shove the burrito up his ass.
Today was no different.
‘You’re scaring the neighbours with your horrendous voice. Go away.’ I pulled back inside and gripped the window to shut it.
‘No, Nora, Nora, Nora!’ His words became more frantic the further I closed the window.
Once it was fully sealed, just like my heart, I ignored a call from my mother, yet again.
The pity in her voice would coat my organs into calcified shells until life no longer seemed worth living.
Not with the idea that even my mother couldn’t find the bright side.
Instead, I called Hayley for a distraction.
Half an hour into our conversation, I came to a new realisation.
‘How on earth am I going to afford Pilates now?’
‘Look, sweetie. You need to pull yourself together. I’ll tell you what, my sister owns a bakery not far from you. I’m going to text you the address, and I want you to head down and see her. Put on a romantic movie, eat your feelings, cry as hard as you want. You need to let it all out.’
‘I can’t afford cake,’ I cried.
‘She always has cakes she can’t sell the next day, I’m going to call her and let her know you’ll be there to take one off her hands.’
I sniffed. ‘Thanks, Hayley.’
I walked through the door into what I can only assume heaven smelled like.
‘Elsie?’ I asked.
Her limp, white-blonde hair whipped around with her body as she turned to face me. She looked at the clock on the wall and grinned. ‘You must be Nora.’
‘How’d you know?’
‘Well, it’s closing time.’
I kicked my toe against the floor. ‘Oh, right.’
‘I’ve got two that won’t last another day. I’ll package them up for you.’ She opened the fridge and scurried through the plastic curtains to the back room.
A couple raced through the front door, red faced and panting.
‘We made it,’ the blonde lady gasped to the man as she shifted the toddler on her hip.
Their fingers linked together, and they grinned at each other with dopey eyes. Dopey eyes I recognised all too well.
‘Nora?’ Izzy’s dopey eyes widened with shock at my unbrushed hair.
‘Oh, hey.’ I ran my hands over my tangled locks and wiped at a stain on my grey shirt.
Grey. Because it reminded me of his eyes. Tears filled my eyes at how pathetic I’d become. Now not only was I embarrassed by how disgustingly dirty and ungroomed I was, but I was also crying. In public. In front of Corey’s brother. Wait…
‘Corey’s brother?’ I accused with an outstretched chipped nail.
‘You know Corey?’ Izzy tilted her head in question.
‘They were seeing each other. I’m assuming not anymore, though.’ Ben kept his gaze on my eyes. ‘Explains why Corey was in such a mood last night.’
Genetics were a bitch. As Ben stared at me, all I could see was the shape of Corey’s face. His lips with the same dip, his nose. Underneath the mask of Ben, I could only see Corey.
‘You’re Izzy’s ex? Corey’s an uncle?’ My mind whirled.
‘Yeah, he was a little shocked last night, too, when he finally met Izzy and Jess. Guess it was a shitty secret to keep from the family.’
‘It’s what you said to me the other week. You can’t let early judgements stop you from second chances. How we’re all buried under assumptions, and sometimes the person beneath can be enough to steal your heart. To want to fight to change everything, because they’re worth it.’
She’d obviously confused me with someone else, because I did not say that.
She gave Ben a gooey smile before turning back to me. ‘You were right. And once I worked through everything with Ben, I couldn’t ignore how happy he made me. How well we worked together when I wasn’t riddled with the fear of the unknown.’
‘What else did I say?’ I stared at the chipped corner in the ceiling, willing myself to breathe normally.
‘Have you forgotten already?’ Izzy laughed. ‘You said you’d never loved before, but you were pretty sure you were well on the way.’ Her smile dropped as Ben nudged her.
‘Considering Corey refused to talk to anyone except Jess last night, I’d say things aren’t going so well anymore,’ Ben whispered to her.
The ceiling blurred.
Well on the way.
That lovesick bastard. Feelings like that don’t evaporate.
I’d buried him under judgement and assumptions yet again, unwilling to hear him out.
My stomach churned with choices, but I didn’t know if my heart could handle it if his explanation wasn’t enough.
The plastic curtains flapped as Elsie burst back into the store.
She glanced at the tears sliding down my cheeks, then to Ben and Izzy. ‘Everything okay?’
‘Peachy.’ I summoned every ounce of cheer I could, which wasn’t much.
She handed the boxes over with hesitation in her eyes. ‘Loads of cream on top.’ She gave me one of those sad smiles you see at funerals.
I clamped my teeth together to hold in a horrendous sob and rushed out the door.
By the time I made it to the safety of my tiny apartment with tears blurring my eyes, I’d stumbled down a pothole and almost run into the wall of a bus shelter.
I stuffed the cakes into the fridge and climbed into bed, then pulled the covers over my head to shield me from reality.
The only thing that calmed my heart enough to fall asleep was the tiny piece of hope I held onto.
I drifted into a deep sleep, Corey’s face the only thing in my mind. His gorgeous curls, his broad shoulders, his infuriatingly arousing smile.
I dreamed all night of that exquisite traitor.
The next morning, I woke drenched in sweat from yet another dream of grey eyes.
Mark had released me from my two-weeks obligatory notice, and doubt lingered in my heart when I considered calling Corey.
Doubt that he’d offer me a good enough reason, and doubt that I’d still have the strength to turn him away if he didn’t.
My phone beeped on the bedside table, and the bright screen reminded me that today our plane would depart at four p.m. for the Northern Territory.
Our holiday.
The reward that turned out to be a torturous decision. My heart raced at the thought of nowhere to escape Corey on the plane. I could already imagine the heat of his body, close to mine as we sat side by side on the plane.
Assuming he even bothered to show up.
This was it. This was the chance he’d been begging for. If he’s there, I’ll hear him out.
No matter which body we’re in, we go together.