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She met my eyes. “Why? What happened?”
“Nothing really. Just my dad, drunk and mad with a knife in his hand, and my sister breaking his favorite brandy glass. He lashed out. I got between them.”
She just nodded, displaying a surprising lack of perturbation. My eyebrow rose higher. “That doesn’t shock you?”
She shrugged, and I remembered what she’d said about her own life.
“Where is he now? Your dad?” she asked softly.
“Dead.”
She nodded, accepting it.
“Where’s yours?” I asked in turn.
She took a deep breath, “Do you know… I have no idea.”
“Mmh. Probably best.”
She huffed a laugh. “You’re probably right.”
I took a deep breath and shook it off. “So, I showed you mine. Show me yours.”
She met my eyes, her eyebrows raised. “Huh?”
“Tellmea story of woe from your life.”
She laughed. “Haven’t I told you enough embarrassing stories?”
“What? You mean like your boyfriend from out of town?”
“Yeah.”
“And the one stalking you at my club?”
She blushed, blowing out a loud breath, and gave me a look.
“All those are about what other people did to you. Tell me aboutyou, Nora Walsh.”
She jumped a bit, as if she was startled at me saying her full name. Or maybe no one had ever asked her for her life story. She shrugged awkwardly. “Not much to tell. I pretty much brought myself and my sister up. Parents were either drinking or fighting. Sometimes both.”
“But you got out.”
She sighed, looking tired. “Did I though?”
I leaned in and took her hands in mine, “You’re here, aren’t you?”
Her eyes were unbearably sad as she nodded.
She pulled her hands away from mine. “I gotta go,” she said, not even looking at me, and hurried back upstairs to change into her own clothes.
I took her mostly empty plate and emptied it in the trash before placing our dirty dishes in the sink and rinsing them. I could not figure her out. She was literally a mystery. I knew I had to crack her wide open if only for my own sanity.
She was back downstairs before I could figure out how, dressed in her sweats, her bag slung over her shoulder.
She gave me a tentative smile. “Um, thanks for breakfast and all,” she said awkwardly.
I laughed at her, coming right up to her so we were flush against each other. I looked down at her, feeling such uncharacteristic affection for her that I wondered why it didn’t perturb me.
