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I look around my small kitchen, down my narrow hallway. I recall the size of my bank account and take note of my sweatpants. I remember how well her sister was dressed in all those Facebook pictures. Sleek hair and heavy makeup, perfect white teeth and a pristine white dress. In one pic, her wrists were covered in diamonds as sparkly as her teeth as she held one side of her husband’s award. Well, awards. As in award after award after award . . .
This time it’s me who pulls away. “Okay, so I won’t meet them.”
I don’t explain my sudden change of thought, and Nora doesn’t ask me to.
Chapter Twenty-one
IT’S A HAPPY DISCOVERY that my bed is the perfect size for two bodies. It’s the exact size for Nora to have to cuddle up next to me. Her body is warm, as it always is, and she’s lying in the crook of my arm, staring up at me with those seductive eyes of hers. The shine in them is downright provocative, and happiness looks so damn good on her.
The loud knocking of something against the wall is just too intrusive to ignore. Muffled sounds come from Tessa’s bedroom, and we try to ignore them, but they are just so extreme.
Suddenly I’m back in my mom’s house in Washington, hearing Hardin and Tessa having sex in the room down the hall. I don’t even think those two try to be quiet.
“They’re awfully loud,” Nora laughs.
I do, too. “Oh, this is nothing. Wait until you hear them fight. The people in Jersey will hear them.” I’ve experienced this plenty of times. They don’t make walls thick enough to block out those two.
“Are they always this loud?” she whispers.
“Yes. But still not anything close to when they fight.”
“He’s met his match, though. Tessa isn’t someone to trample on.” Nora’s voice drips in admiration.
“Yeah, he has.” I don’t say how many tears it took to get to that point. I thought I would have to kill them both on a few occasions. They are both stubborn as all get out.
My phone rings from the nightstand, and I reach for it. Dakota’s number pops up, flashing and practically screaming in my dark bedroom.
Nora leans over me and reads the screen. “Dakota.”
My chest aches. I hate this part of dating, or whatever this is that I’m doing.
“Answer it.”
I shake my head and ignore the call.
Nora leans up on her elbow. “Why didn’t you answer it?”
Why? Uh, perhaps because it would be incredibly awkward to talk to her in front of you? Because she’s my ex and it’s weird between us, and even weirder between you two?
“Wouldn’t that bother you?” I ask, unsure how to handle this.
Nora scoots up into a sitting position. “If there’s something going on between you still, then yes. But if you don’t have a reason for me not to hear what you’re talking about, then, no, it wouldn’t bother me. Lies bother me. Not truths.”
Funny coming from you,I want to say. She doesn’t lie, but she’s the queen of omission and keeping truths to herself.
“I don’t think I have anything to hide, really. I just don’t want it to be weird. I know you guys were friends—”
Nora snorts. “We were never friends!”
“Well, roommates. That still qualifies as murky water. I don’t know what happened between you two that made things turn sour, except me. Was I the only reason?”
“Yes.”
A yes—that’s all I get. This frustrating woman . . .
“Why won’t you let me meet your sister?” I ask suddenly. If she wants to evade questions about her and Dakota, I will just shine the spotlight on something else.
