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ONE
NORA
Nora Ledger stood in her family’s ice cream shop, head in the freezer chest, one hand prone over the mint chocolate chip tub while the other clutched a waffle cone with a little bit too much force. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to crush it, and then she would have to start all over again. That wasn’t exactly good for business.
Just scoop the ice cream. It’s not that hard, lady! Pretend he isn’t even there.
At least the freezer’s cold air was nice on her face. Her cheeks were doing that annoying blush thing they always did whenever she sawhim.
It was ridiculous.
Actually, her situation wasbeyondridiculous. She left silly behind and took a sharp left right into pathetic a while ago. Even now, she didn’t know how to stop herself from going full-on schoolgirl whenever Jack was near.
Because being anywhere close to Jack Hayes was probably the most challenging thing Nora ever did.
The worse part? Jack didn’t even have to be near Nora for her entire body and mind to go completely haywire. He could be across the street, and she could see him through the shop’s window, but it didn’t matter. All the blood in her body gathered in her cheeks while her tongue decided to turn into cement in her mouth.
She didn’t know what the cure for this crush was, but surely, if therewasa cure, time should’ve fixed it a long time ago. Along, long,verylong time ago.
“Nora?” Jade asked. “Are you okay?”
Nora blinked down at the green ice cream.Get it together.Scooping way too many balls of the frozen goodie on the cone, Nora purposefully kept her eyesoffthe huge bay window where she was sure to spot Jack again.
Nora put her head back into the freezer, hoping to keep her eyes too busy to stray toward the man she could never have. She needed to talk to him first, and her ice cream had a better shot in hell than she did of ever talking to Jack without completely losing her cool.
Jade leaned onto the high counter, wiggling her eyebrows. “I see you looking, you know. You really need to work on being subtle.” She winked, letting her know it wasn’t really a rebuke, more of a piece of advice.
It wasn’t easy being friends with someone as shy as she was. Jade was one of the few people who didn’t get overly annoyed by it.
Some people even thought Nora was a bit of a snob, but she wasn’t! She just didn’t really like talking to people. She preferred people-watching and fading into the background.Muchsafer that way.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Nora shrugged.
“Oh, come on. Are you ever gonna tell Jack that you’re into him?”
“What?” Surprised by the question, Nora crushed the cone in her hand. She gasped and exchanged a quick look with her friend. They burst into laughter.
“Wow. Okay, Nora. That’s an epic reaction that means you gotta do it.”
“Do what? Stop gripping fragile, crispy things so hard?”
Jade arched a brow. She wasn’t buying her innocent act. “You should tell Jack you have a crush on him. I bet he would ask you out.” Jade’s smile was usually contagious, but not this time. Nora’s frown was there to stay … and it wasn’t because she had to clean ice cream from the floor. The ruined cone lay in the trash with a couple of otherincidentsfrom today.
She scrubbed a little too much at a stain that wasn’t even there. “If Jack was interested in me, don’t you think he would’ve made a move already? He comes in every second day for two scoops of mango tornado.”
“Grossest flavor ever,” Jade snorted. “You know he is the only one in town who likes that flavor, but you choose to carry it specifically for him. That’ssomething, Nora.”
“Mango tornado isn’tbad,” she grumbled, eyeing the bright and nearly violent shade of orange. No ice cream should be that color, but Jack loved it.
And if Jack loved it, she would make sure to have some for him. It wasn’t much, but every time he came in for some ice cream and asked for his scoops of mango tornado, Nora imagined all kinds of things about the man. Some of these things were naughty, not that she would tell anyone, especially not Jade. That would just be borrowing trouble.
“I’m a professional,” Nora insisted. “I don’t judge people’s taste in ice cream. All I do is make the cones.” She scooped a few more dollops of mint chocolate chip for Jade, pouring all of her energy into her task.
At her feet sat a compost bin where she stashed the crushed cones whenever she spotted Jack. Nora had to change the subject. She didn’t want to talk about Jack anymore. She also didn’t need Jade to put ideas into her head. Hope was dangerous for a wallflower like her.
Besides, Nora had already imagined telling Jack he was the bees’ knees. Or something like that. In any case, in her little daydreams, Jack always liked her right back. But that’s all those were. Daydreams. As impossible as Nora becoming an astronaut.
It wasn’t happening.
