Chapter One Nora #2
But right now Soraya was not standing in her kitchen looking thinner, prettier, and better than Nora. She was currently standing in front of a shelf of crystal angels crying. Not pretty crying. Ugly crying. Her shoulders were shaking, and people were just walking by her. It was a hospital.
Given that, it wasn’t weird that Soraya was crying. It made it seem reasonable to walk by her.
Nora wanted lunch.
“Oh God,” Daisy whispered. “Is she okay?”
Of course.
The problem was, Daisy was a good person. Nora had never claimed to be nice. She tried to be kind, she supposed, but there were limits.
“I don’t know. She’s probably sad. Because it’s a hospital. Seeing Alexandra was really upsetting.”
“We should see if she’s okay.”
Just like that, Nora could feel the third invitation to lunch hovering in Daisy’s spirit. She was that kind of person.
Daisy’s kindness was how they had ended up hanging out with Soraya occasionally in high school.
On field trips and in certain classes when her youth group friends weren’t around.
Most of Soraya’s friends had been part of the homeschool clique in town, and so sometimes at school events she hadn’t had anyone, and Daisy had always been the one who wanted to collect people like they were wounded birds.
Nora was okay with being the worst person right now, actually.
But it seemed like Daisy was intent on being the bigger and better one, taking off toward Soraya without giving Nora another glance.
Nora looked down at her purse and decided she really didn’t want to be alone this afternoon.
She followed Daisy to the corner where Soraya was standing, inconsolable.
“Hey,” Daisy said. “Are you okay?”
Soraya looked up at them, glassy eyed. “I . . . No.”
She seemed surprised by the answer that came out of her mouth. Shocked that she was in fact not okay.
That was what had always irritated Nora about Soraya.
Well, it was one of the things. But the relentless toxic positivity was a lot.
One of the times Nora’s mom had come back into town and pretended, yet again, they might have a shot at reunification, only to leave Nora devastated by her (predictable) defection instead, Soraya had said God would show Nora something good through this betrayal, that it would be a lesson.
Nora had told Soraya exactly where she thought God could shove his lesson.
Soraya had taken exception to the mention of God’s holy asshole.
It really wasn’t a mystery why they weren’t friends.
Unfortunately, Nora was no longer sixteen. So as much as she would like to give Soraya a half-hearted wave and leave with a snarky Praying for you, she wouldn’t do that.
“I saw that you brought Alexandra flowers,” Daisy said, like she was talking to a frightened animal, all soft and soothing. “I didn’t realize you and she were so close.”
“We work at the food pantry together.” Soraya looked helpless and lost and very sad.
“It’s . . . it’s awful, isn’t it? She’s one of those people who seemed like she had a blessed life, and then he—her husband—left her, and now she’s in the hospital and .
. . and . . .” She hiccuped. She managed to do it prettily.
Daisy gave Nora a long look. Nora let the left corner of her mouth twitch upward slightly, the most enthusiastic consent Daisy would get from her.
Daisy turned back to Soraya. “We were going to go have lunch. Do you want to come?”
Soraya glanced between the two of them. “Really?”
“Yes. I’m hungry.” Nora tried to smile. “And you seem like you need something. A drink?”
“I don’t drink.”
“Of course you don’t. How about a lemonade?”
Soraya’s expression was so hopeful, Nora had a hard time being spiteful. “I would like a lemonade.”
“Great,” said Nora.
Soraya turned away from the angels and pressed her palms against her cheeks, aggressively pushing her tears away. “Great, let’s go.”
Soraya was even lovely after a crying jag.
They started to walk out of the gift shop when Daisy stopped mid-step. “Nooo.” She grabbed both Nora’s and Soraya’s arms and jerked them back behind a tower of pastel teddy bears and Mylar balloons. “Look! But don’t look look. It’s Christopher and her.”
Both Nora and Soraya gasped and peered around the tower, just in time to see khaki-wearing Christopher Stone walk by, hand in hand with a blond who was young enough to be his daughter.
“How dare he?” Soraya whispered at the same time Nora said, “Bastard.”
“I can’t believe he’s bringing her to his . . . not-even-ex-wife’s bedside,” Daisy hissed.
“Maybe he’s meeting his daughter here,” Soraya said. But it was obvious not even she believed that best-case scenario she’d cooked up in her fluffy, optimist brain.
“He’s probably standing over her, gloating.” Nora’s tone was far more acerbic than she’d intended it to be.
They disappeared into the elevator, and Nora could only stand there and marvel at the audacity.
The three of them stood in silent judgment for a few more moments until Soraya sighed. “So. Lunch?”
Nora wasn’t sure if she felt hungry now, but she could always eat.
The hospital wasn’t far from the main town square, where there were eclectic clothing boutiques, a yarn store, several restaurants, and a British pub, for some reason.
It was all part of the quirky charm of Hemlock.
They let the sound of the traffic on the street stand in for small talk as they walked toward the square. “Brickroom?” Daisy asked.
“It’s too millennial gray,” Nora said. “Half the menu is avocado toast. Last time I was there, I think the server got mustache wax on my water glass.”
“We’re millennials,” Soraya pointed out.
“That doesn’t mean I have to surrender to every dish having microgreens and pickled onions on it.”
“Louie’s?” Daisy asked.
“Sure,” Nora and Soraya said together.
They walked through the alley that led to the entrance of the restaurant, up the stairs to the dining room, and stood in the entry waiting to be seated.
“I’ll probably get a salad,” Soraya said.
Nora clenched her teeth together but didn’t say what she was thinking, which was growth, really.
She was already feeling crushed by the weight of how mundane the conversation was going to be, and she couldn’t even be mad about it because she was going to be part of that mundanity.
She would rather drill a new hole in her skull than discuss the state of her life presently.
It didn’t take long for them to get seated at a four-person table by an upstairs window that overlooked town.
The square had a small clock tower in the center, with flyers tacked to every inch of surface that could be reached.
There were also drinking fountains, one with fresh water, and one with the sulfuric water that came out of the local springs. It was a time-honored tradition to trick your children into trying the sulfur water without warning them.
It was little wonder Nora had trust issues. Though, to be fair, it wasn’t from surprise sulfur water.
You were right. You were right about the world and love and everything. Hooray.
She couldn’t order that drink fast enough.
They were greeted by a waiter and handed menus. She was going to order a hamburger now, just because Soraya was getting a salad.
When the waiter returned, Nora ordered a beer, while Daisy got a white wine.
“I might actually like a glass of the zin,” Soraya remarked, smiling.
“I thought you didn’t drink,” Nora said.
“It’s white wine. It’s not really drinking.”
She couldn’t tell if Soraya was kidding or not.
She decided to let that one go.
“How old are your kids, Daisy?” Soraya asked, and the familiarity in Soraya’s tone made Nora wonder if Daisy and Soraya had been hanging out without her.
That would normally be fine, wouldn’t bother her at all, except right now she was feeling a little bit raw, and if she found out that Daisy had made time for lunch with Soraya but had never managed to make time for Nora, she might cry.
Maybe.
“They’re nine, seven, and five.”
“Oh wow. So they’re all in school.”
“Yes.” Daisy twisted the ring on her left hand. “Yeah. All in school. All day. Which is nice, but it’s definitely different.”
“Well. My boys don’t have any time for me anymore. They’re seventeen and fifteen.”
Seventeen and fifteen. Nora felt closer to being a teenager than not. It blew her mind that somebody her age had nearly full-adult humans. But then, Soraya had gotten married one month after their high school graduation. Like a lot of those church girls tended to do.
That was what happened when you weren’t allowed to touch underneath the clothes until marriage. The timeline had to be accelerated.
“You must have a lot of free time,” Daisy said.
Soraya looked like she didn’t quite know what to say to that. “I make a lot of sourdough.”
“Oh,” Daisy and Nora said at the same time.
Soraya turned to Nora. “You still don’t have kids, Nora?”
Nora was quite certain Soraya knew she didn’t have kids.
“No.” She let that be a complete sentence.
The drinks came, and they put their order in for food. They ordered salad, a burger, and a chicken Caesar wrap. It seemed somehow very Daisy that her order was a middle ground between Nora’s and Soraya’s.
Soraya took a sip of her wine. Nora watched her closely to see what her reaction was. Did she actually drink? Or was she about to have her first taste of alcohol in the middle of the day on a Friday?
Soraya started to tear up, setting the glass down, her hands shaking. “I . . . I do have a lot of free time,” she said, her lower lip trembling. “Because I . . . I kicked David out.”