Chapter 6
NORA
“Nora!”
“Hi, honey!
“Hey, Nora!”
“Hi, sweetheart!”
I smile and greet everyone as I make my way from the door to the coffee counter at Perks and Rec.
Whenever I walk in here, everyone acts like it’s been weeks since they’ve seen me, and it always makes me smile. Truth is, I was here for breakfast just this morning. As I am every single morning. And, of course, my stop by with Alex this afternoon.
I would’ve been here earlier this evening for dinner if I hadn’t made a quick side trip to New Orleans that put me behind a couple of hours on my schedule.
But now all of the wildflowers are in the community center, laid out to dry so the art club can use them, I finished up the rest of my to-do list—at least for today—and I finally showered and cleaned up.
I glance surreptitiously toward the stairs leading to Alex’s apartment as I slide up onto the stool between two of my best friends at the counter.
I know he’s not there. He’s still at practice.
Still, I am hoping to run into him because, as much as I never worry about how I look, it’s been bugging the crap out of me that he met me, and agreed to be my boyfriend—my fake boyfriend—when I was in overalls with mud all over me and stems and petals in my hair.
I’m now wearing a blue sundress that hits me just above the knees and features wide straps that crisscross over my shoulder blades.
I’m in tennis shoes again, but these are white…
and clean. And then at the last minute, I also added a bracelet and necklace set.
They are tiny blue and white flowers linked together by their stems.
I’ve considered taking them off about twelve times since I got in the car. It’s silly. Just because he called me wildflower…
Fuck. It is ridiculous and really obvious, and I should definitely take them off.
I’m overcompensating for mud and leaves.
“You look really nice,” Andi says.
She gives me a knowing grin.
Yeah, if Alex doesn’t notice, my two best friends will.
“That dress makes your legs and boobs look great,” Everly agrees from my opposite side.
Gee, it’s almost like they saved the stool between them for me so they could accost me from the sides.
“You never wear necklaces,” Thea, my cousin and Ruth’s mom, says. “That one is so cute.”
And now if I take the necklace off, it will be even more obvious.
I can’t let them think I like Alex.
Except I need to tell them that I’m dating him.
Fake dating him.
I should like him enough for that, shouldn’t I?
I can like him as the guy who’s going to make all of my plans a huge success. Who is going to save the hockey team. Who’s going to help make Harley the mayor one more time.
But I can’t like Alex more than that.
Alex is leaving.
I don’t date guys who aren’t from Rebel. Or guys who are from Rebel but plan to leave. Or guys who come to Rebel but don’t intend to stay.
Well, I don’t date those guys anymore.
I’ve done all of those things with bad results, so I’m not doing that again, and these two know that.
Alex Olsen is the epitome of do not get involved with him. He’s not only planning to leave, but he already knows that, unlike my last boyfriend. Hunter really did think he was going to stay. He wanted to make it work. I think.
But even Hunter, born and raised in Houston, fit in here better than Alex Olsen will.
“Thank you. Have you two been here all day?”
“On and off since you and the hockey player showed up,” Andi says.
“The cute hockey player,” Everly adds.
They’re both self-employed, so I should have known they’d take time off for this.
“You met him already?” Thea asks.
“Yep,” Everly says. “Did I mention he’s very cute?”
I roll my eyes. “You already knew he was cute. It’s not like we’ve never seen photos or seen him play hockey.”
“He’s cuter in person, and when he feels awkward. You know how much I love when men are uncomfortable.” Andi lifts her iced tea and sips from the straw.
“You do look nice. Is there an event tonight?” Jesse Parsons asks, interrupting as she lays cash and her receipt down next to the register on top of the pile of receipts and money already there.
I sigh and slide off my stool again, rounding the counter and opening the register to add all of the bills.
There’s no sense in trying to ring everything up and make it all balance.
I’m just grateful that Bruce’s accountant, AJ, has to deal with him and his year-end receipts, and I don’t.
They’ve known each other since grade school, like everyone else here, and AJ knows exactly what to expect from Bruce and his “paperwork.”
Bruce hasn’t ended up in jail yet, so I’m going to assume it’s fine that people just round their bills up or down to the nearest dollar and leave the money lying around if Bruce is too busy in the kitchen to collect it. Which he always is.
Could he hire help? Sure. Does he sometimes during the summer when the high school kids are out of school?
Sure. But he also lets them off work for everything from a shopping trip with friends to “it’s a great fishin’ day!
”. So it’s just easier for everyone to assume there is no extra help, get their own soda, tea, and water refills, gather up their dishes and take them into the kitchen when they’re finished with their meals, and pay on the honor system.
“No event,” I say, feeling my cheeks get pink.
“Oh, good,” Jesse says. “We’re supposed to play cards with Greg and Donna. Though obviously, we’d all come to whatever you had going on.”
“I know. I appreciate that,” I tell her sincerely.
Jesse, her husband Brad, and Greg and Donna are regulars at all of my Parks and Rec events.
Movie nights, sand volleyball tournaments, craft fairs, and a multitude of clubs.
They even come to the Turtle Derby—yes, it includes turtle races, but also a costume contest, and a lettuce eating contest—the Pumpkin Parade where everyone who has grown pumpkins or other gourds gets to show them off to the town, and the Future Chart Toppers music concert, where the kids in town ages five and under play “instruments” including homemade maracas, xylophones that are glasses filled with water, and yes, of course, drums.
That last one is a true test of people’s support and dedication, but we always have great attendance.
“You just don’t wear dresses unless it’s a Parks and Rec event,” Jesse goes on. Then her eyes widen. “Do you have a date?”
Suddenly, the entire café quiets and turns toward us.
Thea actually chokes on a laugh and a drink of soda, and Andi smirks.
Everly leans in with mock interest. “Yes, Nora, why are you wearing a dress?”
“I just threw it on,” I say with a shrug. “Didn’t really look at what I was grabbing. It’s so hot today, and I spent the day all dirty. Just wanted something besides overalls.”
Andi’s grin is wide, and Everly looks positively delighted.
“So your day was hot and dirty,” Ev says. “Tell us more.”
“Muriel and Patty,” I say. I give the room a smile. “Need I say more?”
There’s laughter and nodding, and people start to turn away as they realize there’s no gossip about my love life forthcoming.
Jesse is smiling. “Muriel and Patty got into it?”
“At gardening club,” I say. “There was mud.”
She chuckles. “Say no more.” She gives me a fond smile. “You look lovely, though. My nephew in Shreveport is still single. If you want to—”
“Thanks,” I cut in. “But I’m good. You know I want someone who will live here.”
She does know that. Everyone knows that. And they support me in that. Everyone wants me to stay here, too. It’s not my ego talking when I say that I help this town run.
So when you’re ‘dating’ Alex they’re all going to assume he’s staying and then when he leaves they’ll hate him all over again.
That bugs me. Not just misleading everyone about Alex’s commitment to the town, but the idea of them being upset for me—again—and hating a guy who is truly only here to help us out.
“Of course. He’s in real estate. I think we could convince him,” Jesse says.
But it’s a risk. He’s not from here. He doesn’t love this town like I do.
I shut my thoughts down as they start to spin. Good lord, it doesn’t matter. I’m not going to date Jesse’s nephew.
“Thanks, Jesse. I’ll…let you know?”
She looks thrilled with even that much. “Of course.”
She heads out the door, and I blow out a breath.
“You’ve got to quit giving people false hope that you’re going to marry into their families,” Everly says, clearly amused as she lifts her glass of lemonade.
“Seriously, you know Jesse is going to go tell Donna that you’re considering a date with her nephew, and Donna will get all worked up and will invite her six nephews to town for something, and you’ll have to meet them along with Becky and LeAnn’s nephews.
Between the two of them, I think they have like ten,” Andi says.
“There will be an absolute harem of men for you.” She gets a sly smile on her face.
“Maybe that’s what you should do. Have like eight boyfriends.
Surely, they can rotate who’s out of town at any one time, and the rest can take care of you while he’s gone.
You won’t even notice one or two missing. ”
“Stop it,” I say, laughing. I push the register drawer shut. “You make it sound like everyone wants to marry me off.”
“They do!” Andi, Thea, and Everly say in unison.
We all laugh.
“You’re the most eligible bachelorette in the parish!” Everly says.
“And you’re number two,” Andi tells her. She lifts her tea again. “If you want to avoid all of that, you need to let me coach you in bitter-eccentric-witchy-divorcee vibes.”
Andi is gorgeous and intimidating as hell. She’s four years older than me and seven years older than Everly. She feels like an older sister in many ways. Mostly in her advice about men and romance. Which is to not fall for any romance bullshit and not believe anything any man says.