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“Why does it have to be one or the other with you, Norah?” he asked. “People have relationships and jobs at the same time, honey. Hell, I’m not going to quit my job if you agree to move in with me,” he said. As soon as the words left his lips, he wanted to take them back, but it was too late. The deed was done and from the look on Norah’s face, she wasn’t receptive to his idea.
“Move in with you?” she asked. Why did she have to sound so horrified by his proposal? “I’m not moving in with you, Colter,” she insisted. “I knew that this was a mistake. I shouldn’t have let you talk me into all of this—” She swung her hands around as if that was going to help her come up with the right words to use. Norah let out a little frustrated growl, that he’d usually find adorable, stopped her bare foot on the dance floor, and marched off in the direction of the beach house.
“What the hell, Colter?” Savannah asked.
“I asked her for more,” he whispered more to himself than her. “I just wanted her to move in with me.”
“Oh,” Savannah breathed, “then, maybe you should go after her.” He watched as Norah disappeared over the sand dunes, trying to decide if Savannah was right or not. If he followed her up to the beach house, would it change her mind about moving in with him? Probably not, but he was willing to try one last time. What did he have to lose besides what little dignity he had left? Nothing—that was what.
Norah
Norah wasn’t sure how she had read the whole situation so wrong. She was having so much fun at the reception and then she was blindsided by Colter. How dare he ask her for more. Asking her to move in with him was going too far, not that he wanted to hear that from her. She saw the hurt in his eyes when she told him that she wasn’t going to ever move in with him. There was no coming back from the way that he looked at her. They were over, and the only thing she had left to do was pack her stuff and leave the beach house, as much as that would kill her. It was time for her to move back home to DC and then, she’d be able to put this summer behind herself and move on with her work at NASA. It would be the only way that she’d be able to forget Colter, no matter how much she threw herself into her work.
She had just about made it back to the house when Colter caught up to her. He grabbed her arm, and she pulled it free from his hand. “Don’t,” she spat, turning to face him. “Don’t tell me any more of your ridiculous plans that have you falling in love with me and asking me to move in with you.”
The hurt in his eyes was nearly her undoing. “Why shouldn’t I tell you that I’ve fallen in love with you, Norah?”
“Because it can’t be true,” she insisted.
“Well, I hate to break it to you, but it’s true. I love you, Norah and you demanding that I don’t say it isn’t going to change the way that I feel. It won’t make me stop loving you. Nothing can stop me from doing that,” he promised. Her heart wanted to believe him, but the little voice in her head was telling her not to be a fool. And that little voice sounded an awful lot like her grandmother. She always liked to point out when Norah was acting like a foolish girl. Her grandmother never let her give in to foolish fantasies that the other young girls had that she knew. While other girls were dreaming of fairytale lives, her grandmother was filling her head with the truth. There was no such thing as a fairytale life, and the sooner she realized that the better off she’d be. It was a hard lesson learned at a very young age.
“Please don’t say that,” she begged. Norah worried that her heart was going to take over and let her mind believe him.
“I can’t stop saying it because it’s the truth,” Colter said. “I’ve fallen in love with you, and I’d like for you to move in with me.”
“That’s a horrible idea,” she insisted.
“Why’s that?” he asked.
“Because I won’t be moving in with you. So, you saying it makes it a horrible idea, trust me,” Norah said. “I’ve told you repeatedly that I can’t be with you because I’m concentrating on my career.”
“Right, and my place is closer to NASA than your place is,” he said. “Plus, my place is closer to necessities like groceries and some great places to eat out.” He wasn’t playing fair. He knew that her place was on the outskirts of the city and away from everything. She usually had to drive to the city for everything and Norah had to admit that being within walking distance to some of her favorite restaurants sounded pretty good to her, but it wasn’t enough to give up on her dreams and move in with Colter, even though her heart was screaming at her to do just that.
“None of those reasons are going to persuade me to change my mind, Colter. I won’t do it. I’m not going to fall in love with you and I refuse to move into your place. We are friends, and that’s it,” she lied. God, her heart was screaming at her to shut her mouth and stop denying her feelings for Colter, but her mouth seemed to be dialing the same channel as her brain. She was going to walk away from Colter, even if it was going to break both of their hearts because it was the right thing for her.
“If you say so, honey,” Colter breathed. He seemed to lose some of his fight and that alone broke her heart for him. She hated seeing him so defeated, but she only had herself to blame for the sadness she saw in his hazel eyes.
“I do,” she whispered. “I’m sorry, Colter, but I need to go. I’m going to head home in the morning.”
“The morning?” he almost shouted.
“Yes,” she breathed, “I was supposed to be in DC for a meeting in two days anyway. I’m just leaving a little bit earlier than planned. I’ll sleep on the sofa tonight.” The thought of separating their beds now or even sucking it up and sleeping next to him one last night was too much for her to take. Norah had her fun, now it was time to return back to the real world and accept her reality—alone.
“Goodbye, Colter,” she said. She turned and left, knowing that it wouldn’t be the last time she ever saw him, but wishing that it might be. Seeing Colter at her friends’ gatherings and on special occasions would be unbearable—even if it was because of her own doing.
* * *
Norah had spent the first few days back at work thinking about how beautiful Savannah’s wedding was. Her best friend deserved to be as happy as she looked on her special day two weeks ago. Norah was supposed to go out to dinner with the newlyweds and all the rest of the gang from the beach house, but that meant that she would have to see Colter again. There was no way that she was missing dinner tonight because it was going to be her only chance to see Ginger before she and Jude headed off west to get settled before Jude’s new job started. She was seriously happy for Ginger, but she was going to miss her more than anything. So, seeing Colter was going to be the price that she had to pay to wish Ginger and Jude well before they left.
The day of Savannah and Brooks’s wedding, Colter finally told her how he felt about her. She could tell how he felt every time he looked at her, but she wanted to hear him say the words to her, not that it would change her mind about the way things needed to turn out. Basically, she waited for him to give her the words and then, she turned around and broke Colter’s heart. It wasn’t what she wanted to do but giving into her feelings never really worked out for her. She was determined to get this promotion at work and that meant devoting her life to her work. It sucked, but that was the way that it had to be. Still, telling Colter that she wasn’t interested and walking away from him was the hardest thing that she had ever done in her life—and something that she was quickly coming to regret.
Her office phone rang, and she quickly answered it. “Norah Water’s,” she said.
“Hey,” Savannah said on the other end of the line. “You’re still coming tonight, right? I got Ginger that going away gift that we talked about. I’ve also convinced Jude to bring her back to DC in a month for her surprise baby shower. Although, I believe she already knows about that. She’s so nosey, I bet she got the information out of Jude before he even knew what was happening. Maybe we should have warned him about her snooping and everything.”
Norah giggled into the phone. Her friend did like to snoop, but she thought that was one of Ginger’s best qualities. “I’m sure that he’ll figure it out at some point. Besides, Ginger would kill us if she found out that we butted into her personal life with Joel.” Not that they all didn’t stick their two cents into each other’s lives, even when unprompted, but this was different. Ginger was happy with Joel and sticking their noses where they didn’t belong never ended well for any of them. The three of them always worked it out, but Norah didn’t want to do anything to upset Ginger while she was pregnant or before she left for California for Joel’s new job.
“You’re right,” Savannah agreed. “So, you’re coming tonight?” she asked again.
