Chapter 8 Nora
NORA
Icradled an old photo of myself as an awkward tween, smiling at the braces that stretched across my teeth and the not so blended makeup line on my jaw.
I laughed, shaking my head as I wrapped it with newspaper.
The feeling was surreal, almost dreamlike as I went from room to room helping to pack my parents’ house.
They hadn’t yet mentioned when they planned to officially leave but I had an assumption it would be after New Year’s, or early spring.
I didn’t want to think about it, but I also had to face it.
It was happening. Mom had sold her business already, and I knew Rae had been careful with sharing details about what her boyfriend planned to do with it now that he owned it.
But bottom line, it was out of my family’s life forever.
Dad’s construction company would be next.
It hurt that neither of them had considered asking if I wanted to buy either business.
Not that I had a ton of capital, but I wasn’t broke, and I had decent credit.
I could get a business loan in a heartbeat.
Dad hadn’t told me specifically yet who was taking over his construction company, or what he was even asking for that matter, but part of me wondered if Colson would put in a bid, or if he was even able to.
Thinking of him made a fluttering sensation happen in my chest, which I actively tried to shut down, because after spending the evening with him and seeing him with those girls… it was a sucker punch to my ovaries.
Then there was that kiss…and dammit, the way he chiseled pieces of my heart like a professional stone carver was unbearable. Two scorching hot kisses, with two agonizing rejections.
I didn’t need that sort of confusion in my life and while I was mad at him for what he said the other night before my water heater was fixed, I still had a crush the size of Texas on the man.
Besides, it didn’t mean I believed he’d ever be a viable option romantically.
Fantasizing about Colson Hanes was like dreaming you could marry a celebrity; it was all essentially the same exact thing.
Unrealistic.
“Nora!” My mom called from the office.
I set down the pictures I was wrapping and walked down the hall, jamming my shoulder into the door frame.
“Yeah, Mom?”
My mother was kneeling in front of a large box, but as soon as she saw me, she got to her feet.
“Let’s head to the garage, your father has something in there I think he wanted to give you.”
Furrowing my brows in confusion, I trailed her.
“Okay…is this about his weird license plate collection, because I don’t want that.”
Once we cleared the garage door, I found my father already inside, pulling down a few jumper cables and the emergency box he kept all his car stuff in. All my life, my father had clear totes he kept kits in.
It was a nice system, one I had mimicked in my own garage.
“Here, honey, you should have these.” He pulled out the rest of the jumper cables and windshield wiper fluid.
Shaking my head, I tried to laugh it off. “Dad, I already have that stuff, don’t worry about me.”
He gave my mother a look and since I’d been around it my whole life, I knew exactly what it meant. He was trying to keep the peace, but wasn’t sure how to do it without getting frustrated.
“Well, we think maybe you should just take our box. That way, you know it’s all there and it all works,” my mother added, likely assuming her gentle tone would keep everyone calm.
“But I have my own box.” Because he’d trained that in me. Why was this so difficult for them to understand?
“Nora, don’t be difficult.” My dad let out a heavy sigh.
Folding my arms over my chest, I narrowed my gaze on the clear tote.
“I’m not being difficult. I’m telling you I already have a box.”
“Yes, but I know you, sweetheart.” He lowered his tone to a sugary sweet, patronizing level. “It isn’t likely that you have the right jumper cables or oil for your car. Just take mine, okay? You know what, I’ll keep this all in here because we plan on leaving you the house.”
What?
“Did you just say you were leaving me the house?” Because that would be crazy.
My dad let out a heavy exhale, which took me back to being thirteen and feeling like I was inconveniencing him. My mother toyed with looping extension cords, as though she had no idea that her husband had offered me their home.
“It’s the smart choice, Nora. It’s almost paid off. We’ll keep up the mortgage payments, you can sell your house and that way, if anything happens, we’ll know you’re taken care of.”
My face heated, my neck grew blotchy and warm as I worked to get my emotions under control.
I loved my parents, but sometimes…fuck, sometimes it hurt to have them in my corner.
People always acted like having a corner full of people was a good thing, but it wasn’t if everyone there had a knife ready to slide into your back, or a way to cut your tongue out, so you didn’t have a voice.
“I have a house, one I bought myself and I—”
“That house isn’t safe, the roof is old, the pipes are bad, and you just had a tree fall in your backyard.”
I stared at the floor as heat wound around my neck, making my breathing shallow.
“I’ll transfer the title into your name in a few weeks.” He turned, grabbing for a tarp. Steamrolling me and my objection.
“Dad, I don’t want it.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, sweetie,” my mom added arrogantly, “you don’t have a reliable place to live, this way we know you’re taken care of, and we have peace of mind that you have a home that’s safe.”
A wave of hurt washed over me, dragging with it a memory so sharp and painful that it nearly stole my breath.
I had never blamed my father out loud for Jason.
I had never confronted him because that weekend I had arrived brokenhearted and sad, they cared for me, and at the time, I had nowhere else to go.
I had to move out, find a new place to live to finish out my last year of college with no money and no way to get into a place on my own.
My parents didn’t blink an eye at paying for a new place for me, and even drove down to help me move, so I didn’t have to face Jason while I did it.
Because of that, all of it stayed buried.
But it was coming back, fresh and potent.
They didn’t believe in me and didn’t want to worry that I wasn’t cared for.
Why couldn’t they see that I could care for myself, even if I messed it up occasionally. I could take care of myself.
I didn’t need them to do it.
Swallowing thickly, I stepped back and blinked away a few tears.
“I need to go.”
“Nora,” my mother called, but I was already walking away.
Heading to the front door, I grabbed my things, shoved my feet into my snow boots, and didn’t flinch a single time as my mother stood next to me going on and on about how I needed to stop being so prideful, and let them help.
“You’re a single woman, living alone. You’ve got this design business, but it’s not going to pay the bills, honey. We just worry about you.”
Fuck, that one hurt.
How could she say that? I had won the bidding war on my house because of all the design projects I had taken on while I was still in college.
I had savings and active income from my projects; I was good at what I did.
I had started my own business, and I was sought after by larger design firms because of my talent.
Did she even know that there had been an article done about a local celebrity who’d hired me to design their vacation home?
I wasn’t hurting for money, and I had done that all on my own.
“I need to go.” I reiterated, my voice shaking and in shambles as tears threatened to fall.
Tugging on the door, I ignored my mother’s calls. I tucked my arms in close and walked out.
My car didn’t do well in the snow, so I had been getting rides and walking as often as I could. It was a hard hit to my pride as my parents watched me go.
Being an only child, I allowed them to essentially do whatever they wanted for me. I was used to it, but after everything that happened with Jason, it put a lot into perspective. I didn’t need them to plan my life for me or worry about what I chose to do with it.
The cold wind stung my face as I walked down the street, clearing my parents’ neighborhood and making my way to Main Street. Maybe I could stop in and grab some coffee to hold the rest of the way home, to keep my fingers warm.
Right as I crossed the street to do that, the sky broke open and snow began to fall. The snowflakes were so thick, they stuck to my lashes and soaked my hair.
Seeing the coffee shop, I darted toward it, only to see a sign posted on the door.
“Closed due to storm.”
Shit, another storm was coming in tonight.
Giving up on the idea of coffee, I curled into myself a bit tighter and continued walking down the road. There was only about a mile between here and my house, which meant ten minutes of walking if I didn’t have to worry about slick conditions. I could do that.
Jerking my hood up and shoving my already wet curls inside, I started on my way when a loud diesel truck pulled up next to me. It idled alongside the curb as the passenger window rolled down.
“What in the hell are you doing out in this?”
I turned to find Colson staring at me with confusion, his large torso leaning over his middle console.
Here he was again, telling me nothing was happening between us, then playing savior. I couldn’t understand him.
I waved him off. “Just walking.”
Moving in the direction of home, I ignored that he was slowly idling alongside me.
“Nora, get in the truck,” he finally barked through the window.
His comment from the other day made the stubborn part of me rise. The way he’d kissed me and then told me nothing was going on between us had me walking faster. The sky seemed to think I was being a petulant child because a whirl of wind and snow hit me in the face.
I heard a loud curse, and then the truck stopped trailing me. The wind had picked up, tossing snow in my face, making it nearly impossible to see.
Okay.
This wasn’t the best scenario ever…total whiteout conditions, and my dad knew I was walking, which meant he would be on his way to come after me.
Colson was in front of me a second later, the blue of his eyes more intense than usual. His heavy coat was already coated with snow.
Shielding his eyes, he yelled, “I’m either throwing you over my shoulder or you’re being mature and getting in yourself.”
I wanted to continue to prove my point that I didn’t need to be taken care of…but I wasn’t an idiot, this snowstorm wasn’t a joke and people could get themselves killed, being in conditions like these.
Taking his outstretched hand, I let him lead me to his truck and got inside. I made quick work of rolling up the window. He climbed in seconds later, and the amount of snow he wiped from his hair made guilt tangle in my chest like chewed gum, messy and sticky.
I didn’t want to express any gratitude, but I wasn’t that girl who was given a handout but swatted it away out of pride.
He had stopped for me and while I still did not understand his reasoning, I was grateful.
“Thank you for stopping.”
Once I was settled, he smiled at me, then put his gaze back on the road. “Why the hell are you walking in this?”
I let out a heavy breath. “Long story.”
The silence that followed seemed so loud and all it did was make me want to let the tears that had started at my parents’ fall free. I was so focused on myself that I didn’t realize we had parked in Colson’s driveway.
He was already out, and walking around the truck, opening the door for me.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I explained, blinking as more snow coated my lashes.
His silhouette in the snow felt like something from a dream. Broad shouldered, stubble covering his sharp jaw, and tall.
His hand shot out, pulling mine into his as he demanded, “Come inside, let me feed you while you tell me this long story.”
I looked longingly over toward my side of the fence. All I wanted was to curl up in my sweats and stuff my face with the leftover pie I’d bought the night prior.
“Colson, you explained last night that there isn’t anything going on here, so I think it would be best if I went home.” I tugged my hand out of his, but he took a step forward and closed the distance between us.
“There isn’t, we’re neighbors, and this is a blizzard. You’re coming to my house, so I know you’re okay. You can fight me after you’ve eaten.”
“Yes, and in a blizzard, all I want to do is change into sweats and watch my show.”
He grabbed my hand again, hauling me toward his house. “I’ll give you sweats, and you can watch whatever the fuck you want.”
I didn’t understand why he had this sudden fascination with making sure I was okay, but after walking in that snow, and dealing with my parents, exhaustion weighed on me hard, making my movements lax and compliant as he pulled me up his stairs.
“Okay, just for a little bit.”