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She was paralyzed with shyness. Ironic? Not.
But on Sundays? Well, she could tell Adam to shove it, and she had no problem telling Cassie that shewaswearing too much eyeliner. All because there was no one else around. Besides, it would hardly be professional or pleasant for the restaurant-goers to witness a family squabble.
Adam and Cassie did it all the time. Usually, her parents joined in. And no one seemed to mind, but Nora didn’t care for the display. It had been like that ever since she was a little girl. She was pretty sure that was why she was so shy now.
There was a reason.
It came from growing up in the public eye of a small town. Life at The Spaghetti Bowl was basically dinner and a show in Half Moon Key because you would see one side of the story for dinner where Adam and Cassie were fighting and got into trouble for burning a batch of rolls, and then you would have dessert at the ice cream parlor where Mom and Dad would be trying to have a date night.
Their idea of a date night was working the ice parlor together because it wasn’t as busy until later when they had Cassie and Adam step in after closing the restaurant.
Every big moment of her life happened in front of an audience in her family’s businesses.
Nora didn’t feel like working at The Spaghetti Bowl on that night, but it was Sunday. If she missed it, there would be hell to pay later. She was halfway through a murder mystery novel, and it was so damn good. All she wanted was to make a pot of lemon tea and read the night away.
When she said as much to her sister, Cassie threw her head back with a laugh. “What? Nora, no. You can’t live life like that. Reading? You need to date. Find someone to shake things up with.”
“I’m fine on my own. I like reading.”
Cassie shuddered. “Reading feels like homework. This isn’t high school anymore. You know, if you need money to go to college in town, I talked to John, Adam, and Melissa. They all agreed that we can pool some money together.”
“What? Oh, my god, no. I don’t want to move away or get a college degree. I’ve got that hospitality program thing I did. That’s fine for what I need.”
Cassie frowned. “What you need? Or what is safe? Not the same thing, honey.”
That was when Nora noticed that a few tables of the locals … and regulars … were watching the exchange. Nora clamped her mouth shut. She didn’t want to have this conversation right then. Not with an audience, but of course, Cassie waited until therewasan audience, knowing that Nora wouldn’t be able to argue in front of a crowd.
“We’ll talk about this later,” Nora whispered.
“No. We can talk about it right now. You’re stuck in this life, Nora. You should go out there in the big wide world and find what makes you happy.”
“I am happy,” she pitched her voice low so only Cassie could hear. “Now, stop.”
“You’re my sister, and I love you, so I obviously want what’s best for you. I just don’t think you know all the options that you have.”
“I know what I need to be happy, and it isn’t in the big wide world. I don’t need to leave Half Moon Key to know this is where I belong.” Cassie winced at her words, and Nora immediately regretted them. “Shit. Sorry, Cass. I didn’t mean it likethat.”
This was another reason Nora didn’t like talking much. Shealwayssaid the wrong thing. What had Nora meant? She didn’t need to go to college and live away from home tochoosehome. What Cassie had understood was different.
Her sister heardI don’t have to leave home to realize I love home. Cassie had some guilt about the time she had spent away from Half Moon Key, and no matter what argument they had, Cassie always found a way to bring it up … either herself or by misinterpreting Nora’s words.
“No. You said it. It’s fine. Don’t backtrack now, little sis. You know, sorry for caring about you and wanting you to be happy. I should’ve known that it would be too much for you. Hell, you can’t even ask Jack Hayes out, and you’ve been in love with him since he moved to town a decade ago.”
It wasn’t a decade. That was a classic Cassie exaggeration, but her point stood. It had been a while since Jack had moved to Half Moon Key, and in all that time, Nora had never found a way to get to know him.
Well, if everyone was going to keep on shovingthatin her face, there was an easy solution.
“Fine. You want me to prove something? I’ll do it. I’ll ask him out.”
Cassie was shocked. “I’m sorry. Did you just say that you’re gonna ask Jack Hayes out?”
“Yup,” Nora said as she walked away in anger.
Of course, Nora sobered the second she was in the kitchen away from Cassie and the usual audience. What had she done?
I can’t ask Jack out, but I can’t let this be another thing we fight about.
Not when everyone in town would soon know about the very public conversation. There was no other way to avoid this topic from ever happening again, and that was to do the scary thing.
