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“Um, if I can get away from work,” Norah said.
“Not good enough,” Savannah sassed. “You’re coming and that’s that.”
“I’m really swamped at work, but I’ll try,” Norah insisted.
“Don’t try, just do it,” Savannah said. “Be at The Rusty Nail tonight at seven, or I’ll skip dinner to hunt you down. Better yet, I’ll send Colter to find you.” Savannah knew that threat would hold weight with Norah. She just about ruined Savannah’s wedding because she foolishly ran away from her feelings for Colter.
“Not cool,” Norah breathed.
“I know, but neither is threatening not to come to the last dinner that we’ll have for a while with Ginger. This is important, Norah. I know that you’re dealing with a lot right now with your promotion and everything that has happened with Colter, but this is important—just remember that,” Savannah ordered.
“I will, you’re right. Just don’t sick Colter on me,” she begged. “I’m going to try to avoid him as much as possible. I’ll be polite but distant,” she insisted.
“Yeah, good luck with that,” Savannah said. “He’s called our place just about every day for the past two weeks, asking if I’ve heard from you. I don’t think that he’s going to let you avoid him, Norah.”
“Shit,” Norah breathed. “Fine, I’ll deal with him, but I’ll be there to say goodbye to Ginger.”
“It’s not goodbye, just see you later,” Savannah reminded. The three of them agreed to see each other once a quarter, so if it worked out, they’d be reunited four times a year. It was going to be an adjustment, but with technology and saved vacation days, they’d make it work—somehow.
“Right, see you later,” Norah agreed. She checked her watch and sighed. “I better finish up here if I’m going to get home to change before meeting you guys. I’ll see you tonight,” she promised. It was one she planned on keeping too. Savannah was usually the voice of reason and now was no different. She was going to meet her friends for dinner and Colter being there too wasn’t any reason for her to cancel. She’d meet them, eat a little bit of dinner, have a drink, and then, make some excuse about having an early meeting and need to get to bed early. Sure, Savannah and Ginger would be able to see straight through her, but she’d deal with them later. One problem at a time—that was her new motto.
* * *
Norah was only twenty minutes late and with the DC traffic, that was pretty good for her. She had even left work a little bit early to head back to her apartment across town, to shower, change and put on her best face. Changing her grumpy attitude was the hardest thing for her to do, but she gave herself a pep talk in the mirror before grabbing her purse and jacket and heading back out for the evening.
Most evenings, she settled in with takeout, wearing her pajamas, and either burying her nose in her work or listening to a murder podcast on her phone. She was a creature of habit—at least, that was what her grandmother used to say about her. Maybe it was true still, but Norah hated going out at night after a long day of work. It was probably why she was still single after all these years and the main reason why she was still a virgin until meeting Colter.
Flashes of him naked on top of her ran through her mind. God, she loved feeling the weight of his body on hers. She had never experienced anything like him before and she missed him terribly. Seeing him tonight was going to destroy her, but she’d wait until she got back to her apartment to fall apart. That was usually how she played things these past two weeks—happy face for the world to see and then, when she was completely alone, she’d cry herself to sleep missing Colter. Her heart liked to remind her daily that she was an idiot for walking away from the only man she had ever loved, but her brain kept her on track. Her grandmother used to tell her that a woman who listened to her heart had a fool as her council. Maybe that’s why her grandmother was alone her entire adult life.
She used to tell Norah the stories of how she met her grandfather at a protest during the Vietnam War. He was a wounded soldier who had just returned home, and she was holding a sign that said, “Give peace a chance.” Imagining her grandmother as a hippie was almost comical to her. She told Norah that she only went to rallies like that to upset her father who was a staunch supporter of the war and its efforts. And why wouldn’t he be? As one of the lucky contract holders, his company made most of the ammunition for the Vietnam War. It’s how her family made its money—by making weapons. Her great, great grandfather started the company during WWI and made a fortune. The generations who followed stayed the course and kept the business open as if waiting for the next war. During the in-between years, they still sold their products, taking advantage of wars going on in other countries around the world. Her family profited from wars and death, and that was something her grandmother hated.
Her grandmother was only nineteen when her father died. She took over the business and her first act was to shut down the factories up and down the East coast, closing the business for good. She sold most of the company’s assets to the US Government and got out of the business of killing people, as her grandmother liked to say. Honestly, it was the thing Norah was most proud of her grandmother for. It was one of the reasons why, after her grandmother’s death, she donated most of her family’s money to orphanages around the world. Most of the kids who were in those places were there because war had torn their families apart. It was good to feel as though that money was finally doing some good in the world after all the destruction that her family had caused.
She had kept just enough to pay for her college bills and start a little nest egg for herself. It was her backup plan to use that money if she couldn’t make it on her own after college, but she didn’t need it. That money sat in a bank account and stayed there, for a rainy day. She wondered if she’d ever need to touch it, but she liked the fact that she could make it on her own. Norah knew that her grandmother would be proud of her for what she had done. Sure, she wasn’t living in the lap of luxury that she had grown up in. Her grandmother’s penthouse in the Capital made her apartment look and feel like a cardboard box, but she didn’t have to live with the stigma that money brought with it. She was finally free of her family’s money and the heavy burden it brought along with it, and for that, her grandmother would have been proud of her.
She never told anyone about the money, except Savannah, Ginger, and eventually, Colter. Even when she was growing up, living in the lap of luxury, she never told a soul where her family got its money. Once her grandmother sold the business to good old Uncle Sam, most of the people around town forgot about where her family’s fortune came from.
As for her grandparents, her grandmother and grandfather were married for just ten years before he passed away. They were wed just after her father died and she sold the company. Her grandmother liked to say that was a wedding present for her new husband—getting rid of the company, but her grandfather liked to remind her that without the ammunition that her family’s company made, he’d likely be dead. Still, he was happy that she didn’t have the burden of the company weighing upon her any longer. They had one child—Norah’s father, before her grandfather passed, and her grandmother made him her entire life. She raised him on her own, and once her father left for college, her grandmother had no one and nothing to take care of. She threw herself into her charity work and tried to move on, but she became bitter. That was how Norah remembered her, sadly. Once in a great while, she’d catch a glimpse of the girl who had held the, “Give peace a chance” sign at the peace rallies, but they were few. Usually, her grandmother was stern and tough as nails when it came to raising her. She said that she didn’t want Norah making the same mistakes she had made in life—falling in love, only to have her heart broken and being left all alone. But wasn’t that who Norah had become? She had her heart broken because of her own doing and now, she was all alone when she didn’t have to be. Colter had made it very clear that he wanted her, and according to Savannah, he had asked about her every day since they had been back home. She was keeping herself in the bubble that her grandmother had created for her, and if she didn’t pop it, she was going to end up all alone and as bitter as her grandmother was. Norah didn’t want that, and there was only one way to change her fate—by begging Colter to forgive her for being an idiot.
Colter
Colter saw her as soon as she walked into the restaurant. He knew that seeing her again wasn’t going to be easy, but he wasn’t prepared for the way that she made his heart feel as though it might beat right out of his damn chest. She was dressed to kill, wearing a sexy little black dress and heels that made her legs look like they went on for miles. God, she was beautiful, and Colter couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her.
“You good, man?” Joel leaned in to whisper into his ear.
“No,” Colter admitted, “but, I will be.” Tonight, he planned on begging Norah for another chance. He was a fool for rushing things with her and he’d take her any way he could get her. If Norah just wanted him for sex, that’s what he’d agree to. He wanted to be with her any way possible, even if it meant he’d spend his life wishing for more from her, he’d do it because watching her walk away was the hardest thing he ever had to do in his life.
“Don’t fuck up this dinner, Colter,” Joel said. “I don’t want our last night together to end in a fight between you two. The wedding was bad enough.”
“It won’t end in a fight, and this isn’t our last night together,” Colter corrected. “We’re going to see each other in a fucking month. You aren’t moving to Mars.” Colter hated that his friend was moving across the country, but he planned on seeing Joel and Ginger every chance he got.
“Right, we’re not moving to Mars,” Joel agreed. “I just don’t want you to do anything stupid and make this night awful for Ginger. She’s already emotional enough with the baby and her hormones being out of whack. All she’s been doing is crying this week and I want her to enjoy tonight.”
“I will try not to make Ginger cry, but I’m not missing out on my chance to talk to Norah. This might be the only one I get, and I won’t give up on her. She won’t return any of my calls and I need to talk to her,” Colter said. He had tried to call her every day since they had been back. Hell, he tried calling her multiple times a day, even showing up at her place of work, only to be turned away by security. He hated that she was doing everything in her power to avoid and ignore him. If tonight was his only chance to talk to her, then he planned on taking it.
“Good luck, man,” Joel said, finally giving up the fight.
“Thanks, I think that I’m going to need it.” He watched as Norah walked across the room to the corner booth where they all sat. She smiled at Savannah and Ginger as they pulled her in for a hug and he wished she’d look at him that way again. He missed the way she used to smile at him and the way she smelled as he held her close.
