CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Nora
‘You’re quitting?’ I fluttered his resignation in the air.
‘You’re crumpling it.’ He grabbed it and smoothed the creases.
Once safe back inside its folder, he turned and shrugged. Shrugged! Resigning from a position in his father’s company that would set him up for the rest of his life and all he had in response was a simple lift of his muscular shoulders.
‘Oh, of course.’ I gave a dramatic shrug back.
‘Oh, come on. You saw this coming, didn’t you?’
My face froze like a manic statue – lifted eyebrows, eyeballs dry from lack of blinks, upturned lips of confusion.
‘Nora?’ Corey waved his hand in front of my face.
My expression shifted to puppy eyes and pouting lips. ‘No, I didn’t. How did I not see this coming? I feel terrible. In fact, why didn’t you tell me?’
‘Are you kidding me?’ he bellowed. ‘Nora, you’ve been ignoring my calls!’
‘What about your brothers? You said you didn’t want them to have to take your place. And Ben! I can’t believe Ben and Izzy!’ My voice was out of control as every thought barrelled from my mind.
‘I know. I couldn’t believe I’d been working with my future sister-in-law the past couple of weeks. I was so angry I’d messed things up with you I almost blurted her name out before he introduced her the other day.’
‘Are you still worried they’ll have to work for your father now?’
Corey shook his head. ‘It turns out you’re right. A little bit of communication goes a long way. I told them everything, so now it’s up to them to make their own choices.’
‘I’m proud of you,’ I whispered.
Corey’s pupils dilated at my words.
‘I’ve got a confession, actually. I stole the box of drawings your mum dropped to you.’
Corey’s smile was heartbreakingly perfect. ‘I know.’
‘You know?’
‘Well, it wasn’t in my apartment after you left. It’s not hard to put the pieces together. So, did you look through the box?’
‘The umbrella.’ I couldn’t pull the sentence together any more than that. I’d found a drawing in the box that was identical to the pictures on his umbrella.
‘It was Mum’s way of making sure I didn’t lose my way like my father. She found the umbrella in the basement and gave it to me when she saw the light leave my eyes after my first day of work. A reminder not to forget the person he used to be… the person we still hope he’ll return to.’
‘Those green circles, I thought they were aliens or something, but they’re a drawing of you and your father holding hands, aren’t they? I recognised the scar he has on his forearm… which is a very close detail for a nine-year-old to add, by the way.’
‘Ten,’ he laughed. ‘My father loved the drawing so much he had it printed on an umbrella for me. It was only a few weeks later he fell so deep into the workload he lost all sense of time… including family time.’
My heart clenched. No wonder he’d been so defensive of that umbrella.
‘The thing is, even though she always believed in me, it wasn’t until you came along that I realised I had the strength to make the choices that define who I am. You truly believed in me, and that’s more than I can say about a lot of people.’ He reached into his bag and pulled out his notebook.
He held it towards me, refusing to meet my eyes.
‘You want me to look at it?’ I asked.
He gave one sharp nod and moved it closer. I opened to the first page, then flicked through until I reached the middle and had to close it.
‘You drew all of these?’ I asked.
Again, his head bobbed with one quick nod. I opened to a random page and continued to stare at the sketch of my eyes staring back at me.
‘You’ve been sketching me this entire time? This one’s dated earlier this year.’
‘I’ve always pushed you in class, because you’ve always had such an annoyingly feisty spirit, and I like that about you.
You challenge everyone, especially me, and it’s made me feel more alive than I’ve ever felt before.
Pushed me to prove myself. A change from my boring job, the boring girls who only ever saw me as an endless bank account.
You were always special, Nora. I just didn’t realise at the beginning how special you’d become to me. ’
God. I loved Corey Flemmington’s soul.
His face lowered closer, and I went into cardiac arrest. Or maybe horny overdrive; same thing.
‘What about your new boyfriend from Muay Thai?’ I asked.
‘His hands aren’t as soft as yours,’ he whispered.
‘These babies?’ I raised my palms. ‘This can only be achieved by bleach.’
He forced the next words out, the subtle shake of his voice knowing the answer would make or break him. ‘Does this mean you forgive me?’
My heart pounded through my head, time passing with nothing more than our blinking eyes.
Corey may be a man, but he had no intention of stopping me from reaching my goals.
No, he was lifting me towards them. He would never expect me to give up my hopes and dreams. I dragged out every second until he looked like he was in physical pain before I finally nodded my head.
‘Can I kiss you?’ he whispered, so close to his breath touched my lips.
My next nod was magnetic, pulling his lips to mine, his hands clutching my hips as though he was worried I’d turned to dust and disappear.
‘There’s one problem. You’re in the seat I wanted,’ I said.
Corey laughed and stood. ‘I’m not prepared to hear about this window seat for the next year, so please scoot over.’
I shuffled beneath him as he stepped over my legs to swap seats.
He took his hat off and adjusted it on my head. ‘You’re right, by the way. This hat does match your eyes.’