“Did you see them?” she asks excitedly. “Tell us everything, dear.”
I donottell them everything, for obvious reasons, but Iconfirm that Nora and I kissed. Honestly, I can’t help but tell them. It keeps playing through my mind on repeat.
“It was just a fluke, though,” I say. “She doesn’t like me like that.”
It’s obviously true. She may have been confused in Apple Ridge, but I haven’t heard from her at all beyond the texts we exchanged on Friday. All of her friends were at Garbage Fire’s concert at Silver Star Brewery on Saturday, but she was notably absent.
She was presumably at work. Still, it felt like she was drawing a boundary—and I was on the other side of it.
Ann shakes her head. “Son, what does this woman have to do to show you she likes you? Strip down naked and climb on top of you? My goodness, you young people and your games. She wouldn’t be pressing her mouth to yours if she didn’t want to be. You can depend on it. She likes those shirts you’ve been wearing.”
“Maybe she likes me a little,” I amend. It certainly felt like she did for a while there. “But not enough to risk an awkward situation with our parents.”
“Oh, tosh. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a crumpled ten-dollar bill. “Now, you show her a good time on Monday. Buy her an ice cream cone. Nothing gets a woman in the mood as much as a nice ice cream cone.”
“I’m not taking your money,” I object, horrified.
She’s already pressing it into my hand. “You don’t need to worry about it. My George is coming to visit the weekend after next. He’s going to take good care of me too. Just you watch.”
Dottie raises her eyebrows skyward, indicating they’ve had this conversation several times. I try to give the bill back, but Ann presses it more firmly into my hand.
“Please tell me you’re not meeting this manalone,” I say, accepting the money for now. I tell myself I’ll sneak it into her bag later, or use it to buy something for her.
“Honey, I’d like to do lots of things to him alone.”
Dottie and I exchange a glance, and I turn back to Ann, all the more determined. “Tell me where you’re going. I’ll sit at another table in the café.”
I’ll get Liam or Mick to go with me, and we can collectively intimidate whoever this guy is into leaving Ann alone. No offense to her, but she is obviously not meeting with a movie star next weekend. If some trafficking weirdo with a taste for old ladies is going after her, he’s going to have to deal with me first.
Okay, more realistically, he’s going to have to deal with Liam or Mick.
“Don’t fuss yourself,” Ann insists. “I know exactly what I’m doing.”
“Let the boy feel useful,” Dottie urges.
Ann gives me a pointed stare. “I’ll only agree if you’ll follow my advice with Nora.”
“Haven’t I been?” I’m wearing the shirts she badgered me into buying, and I’ve been making polite overtures.
“You’ve been following the letter of the law, but not the spirit of it,” she says primly. “Did you tell her what you want?”
“That would be difficult. I don’tknowwhat I want.”
She sniffs as if this is as much as she should have expected from me.
“If you don’t even know whether you want the girl, how can you blame her for not wanting to risk everything to be with you?”
I sigh, feeling a swarm of anxiety. “Look, I want her,” I admit, the words coming out firm but too loud. “I know that. But up until a couple of weeks ago, dating her felt as far-fetched as…well…as you dating a celebrity.”
“See,” Ann says, as if I’ve proven her point. “Miracles happen every day, my boy.”
“Maybe so, but I can’t picture that happening at all. I don’t know what it would be like. With our parents, and…” I wave a hand.
The truth is, I’m not at all sure what the future holds. I do want to stay in Asheville. It’s hard to imagine ever living anywhere else. At the same time, Kenji has renewed his campaign to get me to move to San Francisco. It would make sense, given that we’re working on the foundation together.
I could do that. I could leave and start a new life.
A month ago, I was actually weighing the possibility. I’d have to leave the band, obviously, which would be a shitty thing to do, but I could do it. I could quit Garbage Fire, rent out my house, and go.
