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“It’s his friends,” Nana Noel says. “They create personality difficulties in anyone they speak with.”
Dear Lord, we’re not about to have a full on conversation about King and Aillard. Before I can interrupt, Rita swings her gaze towards mine.
“Wait, didn’t I hear this morning that you were married to Thorin or something along those lines?” she asks. “It was on the morning news.”
My mouth gapes open and a squeak of air escapes but that’s it.
Nana Noel barely blinks as she continues stirring the pot in front of her. “Yes, Bex was married to him. A damn shame really. I always thought she could do better.”
I roll my eyes despite myself. Turning towards Rita, I give her a tight nod. “Yes, I was married to him briefly when I was younger. We decided that while we enjoyed each other’s company, it wasn’t the right time to intertwine our lives.” There. A completely amicable explanation of what happened without tearing into Thorin or his friends. I’d pat myself on the back if it wouldn’t look so out of place.
“The article said he was engaged when he married Bex,” Glenda tosses out, clearly eavesdropping. At her comment, several people stop what they’re doing to look at me for an explanation.
I slap my hand over my face, trying to regain some sense of sanity. Now is not the time for my life story to spill out, but they clearly aren’t going to continue cooking until they hear the whole sordid tale.
“Bex had no idea I was engaged when she met me,” Thorin’s deep voice cuts in from the entrance to the kitchen. All the little old grannies turn with keen eyes on him, desperate for their fulfillment of gossip for the week. “I was in a loveless engagement I wanted out of. I was a coward in trying to find a kind way to let down someone who at one time meant a lot to me. I left for the summer to try and gather my courage to end things when I met Bex. And for those months I didn’t think about the depression or spiraling my life had been up until her sunshine entered. Bex, unfortunately, was a casualty in my self-destructive actions. She’s an amazing person who is kind enough to offer her friendship to someone in desperate need of being in a non-judgemental environment.”
Several of the grannies melt at his words. A few look back at me, as though they’re grateful for my presence in Thorin’s life. A few simply look pleased enough with their gossip of the week. But Nana Noel is the only one staring Thorin down, an angry glint in her eyes I’ve only seen a handful of times.
Oh dear, this isn’t good.
Before I can step forward to redirect Nana Noel’s anger, she snaps at Thorin, “Yet you have no problem being judgemental in her life.”
A collective intake of breath can be heard throughout the kitchen.
Calmly, Thorin says, “I’m not the same person I was then.”
Quickly I move to block Nana Noel from Thorin’s path. Placing my hands on her thin shoulders, I quietly plead, “Let this go. We’re moving on, forming new memories, and being kinder to each other. I think after all this time, I deserve the chance to heal. Don’t you agree?”
I watch as the ire fades from Nana Noel’s eyes. She reaches up, squeezing my forearm tightly with one of her hands. “You deserve the world.”
“She does,” Thorin says, his voice far closer now than it was before. “And I intend to give it to her, if she allows.”
My eyes widen, though he can’t see my face since I’m still looking directly at Nana Noel. Her surprise mimics my own. Clearly neither of us thought this is something Thorin would outright state. His intention may not have been to say we were in a relationship, because we’re not. Yes we slept together, but I’m under no illusion that he’s interested in developing a long term relationship with me. Dating does not always equal commitment. But what he’s saying nowdoesand I have no idea what to do about it.
Nana Noel decides for me, looking over my shoulder at Thorin and stating, “If you offer her it, you better be prepared to pay the price. There won’t be any devastating her again, Thorin, I won’t tolerate it.”
“I would expect nothing less.” His hand briefly settles on the back of my neck before he drops a kiss to the top of my head and swans out of the kitchen as if he didn’t just deliver outrageous news.
My mouth fishes open and shut several times. What am I supposed to say? How do I respond to his outlandish claim on me?
“Well,” Nana Noel straightens her shoulders and tosses me a winning smile, “I like him.”
Rita comes up and pats me on the back. “You did well for yourself.” She pauses, “Again. We all like him.”
“I wish he was still single. With the way he just acted, I would love to have him be part of our family,” Glenda sighs. She narrows her eyes at Nana Noel. “I can’t believe you threatened to throw horse shit at him.”
She waves off Glenda’s comment. “If threatening to destroy his designer clothes wasn’t going to run him off, then I doubt anything else I say would have.” Nana Noel shrugs, turning her gaze back to me. “Are you alright, sweetheart? I take it you weren’t prepared for Thorin to state such a claim.”
Am I alright? I don’t know. Some part of me is thrilled Thorin is taking our dating life seriously, while the other part of me I try to not let fester into the light, is waiting for the other shoe to drop. “Wejuststarted dating,” I hear myself choke out. How can Thorin be ready to say something like that?
Nana Noel smiles at me. “Some people simply know.”
Her words ring in my head, repeating over and over again like a broken record even after she steps away to help Rita separate the tortilla shells for tacos onto individual plates.
I wonder if Nana Noel set this whole thing in motion simply to gauge where Thorin is emotionally when it comes to me. It wouldn’t surprise me to put something like this past her. Although her methods, mainly the influence of throwing horse manure at someone, is new.
Mindlessly I make my way to the station where we’re unstacking trays, passing them down a line so that Nana Noel and Rita can fit tortillas on them, then Glenda and her posse can add taco meat with options of cheese, salad, and salsa into small individual cups next to each other for the children and volunteers to pick from. I begin the motions, jumping in without giving it much thought as I think back to the past several weeks with Thorin in my life.
