‘Maybe you can go out on the town with Jean?’ she replies, now deep into a choreographed routine. ‘I mean, you have the same dress sense.’
I grin, whipping her with my dishtowel. ‘Nonsense. I think you’ll find thatmygrey cardigan has pockets, unlike hers.’
As she laughs, her face suddenly changes to one of intrigue. ‘Oh my. Either Jean’s son is a hottie, or some random dude just decided to hug our favourite grandma.’
As I turn to look, I suddenly forget how to breathe.
‘Nora, you alright?’ I hear Vic ask, but I’ve already dropped my dish towel as I walk towards Jean’s table. She sees me and waves me over.
It can’t be.
Jean beams with pride and introduces me to the man sitting beside her. The I only knew for a week but feel like I’ve known forever. ‘Dora, this is my son—’
‘Will?’
I hear Victoria gasp behind me.
It’s him. It’s really him. Shorter hair and he’s lost a few pounds, but it’s him. He stares at me in disbelief. ‘Nora?’
‘You two know each other?’ I hear Jean ask. ‘How extraordinary.’
We both nod, unable to take our eyes off each other. As he stands to face me, I’m instantly transported back to last year. To bootcamp. To the moment we said goodbye. To that kiss.
‘Well, what a coincidence!’ she chirps. ‘Wilbur, I’m just going to use the ladies’ and then we really should leave. I don’t want to miss the opening number.’
I step aside to let Jean pass as she hums ‘Look Down’ fromLes Misquietly to herself.
‘Wow,’ he says, exhaling loudly. ‘How are you?’
‘I’m great,’ I reply, which is a lie because my heart is beating out of my chest right now. Impending seizure does not insinuate ‘great’. ‘But I think I need to sit down.’
I take Jean’s seat and glance over at Victoria who’s doing a terrible impersonation of someone trying not to stare. She mouths, ‘Is that THE Will?’
I nod covertly.
‘Shit,’ Will says, ‘I can’t believe it’s you. This is too weird. You work here? My mum knows you?’
‘I own this place,’ I reply. ‘Your mum’s been coming here for years.’
‘This is too weird,’ he repeats.
We both sit for a moment, waiting for the world to make sense again and aware that Jean will be back at any moment, and he’ll have to leave.
‘I’ve thought about you often,’ he says softly. ‘Admittedly, my mum wasn’t part of the scenario but…’
I laugh a little louder than intended and he smiles.
‘Yeah, I’ve thought about you too,’ I admit, pulling my gaze away from his dimples. ‘You know, every now and then.’
Every now and then? God, it’s taking everything I have not to blurt out that I’ve missed him every single day.
‘I wanted to get in touch,’ he says. ‘I even looked you up on Facebook. Turns out there are eight Nora Browns on Facebook, all private and none with your picture.’
I cringe from the outside in. ‘Um, did you see one with a cat holding a gun?’
‘Seriously? That was you?’
I nod. ‘My daughter finds it hilarious to change my photo to random shit she finds online. A couple of weeks ago, I was Kanye West.’
