by Aurora Rey
“It looks like you’re going to finish that this afternoon.”
At the sound of Nora’s voice, Will turned and smiled. “I think so.”
Nora came up behind her for a closer look. “Is it wrong to be so excited about a closet?”
Will shook her head. “Not at all. Having things organized and tidy has a calming effect on the mind. Giving yourself ways of making that easier just makes sense.”
Nora nodded. “That’s a nice way of looking at it. Thanks.”
“There is an entire industry built around storage solutions.”
“Again, that sounds much more compelling than pretty closet shelves.”
“Since I painted those pretty shelves yesterday, all I need to do is put a couple of coats of paint on the walls and braces and we can finish the installation.”
Nora allowed herself to smile in anticipation. “It sounds like you’re at a perfect stopping point for lunch.”
Although tempted to say yes, Will wanted to get that first coat of paint on before taking a break so it would have a chance to dry. “I would love to join you, but I need about half an hour to get to a good stopping point. Will that work?”
Nora waved a hand. “I’m in no hurry. Come down whenever you’re ready. I’ll be in the kitchen.”
“Sounds good. Thanks.”
Nora headed downstairs and Will returned her attention to the closet. She popped the lid on the can of white enamel she used for the shelves and got to work. Because she’d painted the interior of the closet before, it only took about twenty minutes to paint the strips of wood she’d added and touch up the few spots she’d scuffed. She slid her brush into a plastic bag so it wouldn’t dry out.
In the kitchen, she saw no sign of Nora. The island she usually used for food prep was completely covered in boxes and bags and cans of food. Several canisters in different sizes lined the counter. A moment later, Nora emerged from the pantry with her hands full. She added to the pile on the island and looked at Will. “Hi.”
“I could help with that, you know.”
“Oh, you’re going to.” Nora had a playful gleam in her eye.
Will raised a brow. “How so?”
“Your comment about the closet got me to thinking about the pantry. I make a point of cleaning it out once a year, but I thought this might be the perfect time to implement—what did you call it?—a storage solution.”
Will laughed, in part because she loved that Nora got excited about closet renovation. More than that, though, was Nora being playful. That had to be a good sign. “I think that sounds like a fine idea.”
“Excellent. But first, lunch.”
Will went to the sink to wash her hands. “I hope you don’t feel obligated to feed me every day. Don’t get me wrong, I love it. I just don’t want you to feel obligated.”
“There’s always plenty.” Nora turned away to take plates from the cupboard. With her back turned, she added, “And the company is nice.”
Will wished she could see Nora’s face. But even without it, she smiled. “I enjoy it, too.”
As usual, they sat adjacent to one another at the table in the dining room. Nora had warmed up plates of shepherd’s pie for them and Will was doing her best not to inhale hers. It required more restraint than she cared to admit.
“You have some paint in your hair.”
Will looked up from her plate to find Nora studying her. Instinctively, she touched her fingers to her hair. Sure enough, she felt the roughness of dried paint on a patch of it near the front. “I should wear a hat.”
“Other than winter hats, I don’t think I have one I could lend you. I have some bandannas. You could use one as a kerchief.”
Will laughed. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m not sure my butch sensibilities could handle a kerchief.”
Nora laughed as well. “Fair enough.”
“You have such a great laugh.”
Nora raised a brow.
“I mean it. It’s warm and authentic. I try to think of ways to inspire it without making a complete ass of myself.” The words were out of Will’s mouth before she’d thought about them. But she meant it and didn’t regret saying so.
Nora’s expression softened. “I guess I have a tendency to be serious.”
“Have you always been that way?” Will meant the question in a lighthearted way, although she was curious as to how Nora would answer.
Nora furrowed her brow and frowned. “Mostly. I’ve always had goals and a pretty intense focus to accomplish them.”
“Emerson was the same way. So determined. Such a rule follower.” Even in Will’s accomplished high school days, she’d done what came easy. Discipline had never been a virtue she could claim.
Nora tipped her head to the side. “There’s something to be said for following the rules.”
Will couldn’t be sure, but she sensed a ruefulness in Nora’s tone. It made Will want to erase all her worries, show her a more carefree way of being in the world. “There’s also something to be said for throwing caution to the wind.”
Nora smiled slightly, but her face reflected a deep sadness. “I tried that once and it did not end well.”
“What happened?” Something told Will that if she knew the answer to that, she’d have the key to understanding how Nora worked.
Nora blinked a few times and her face changed. The vulnerability of a moment before vanished. In its place, the cool poise Will had come to know so well. “Just some foolishness on my part. It cost me dearly at the time, but I learned my lesson.”
Will wanted desperately to know more. She decided to press her luck. “Foolishness can prove very seductive. I’ve had my fair share for sure, along with the consequences.”
“Is that so?”
“Sure.” She might not enjoy talking about Kai, but she figured she owed it to Nora to be honest. Besides, being open might make Nora more inclined to reciprocate. “I fell for a girl who made me feel like the center of the universe.”
“Seductive indeed.”
“Kai worshiped the ground I walked on. She made me feel like a hero—strong, handsome, like I could save the world.”
“And then?”
Will sighed. “And then anytime she didn’t feel like the only and absolute center of my universe, we fought.”
“Ah. The jealous type.”
“Yeah. At first it felt like a compliment. She thought I was so incredible that anyone who met me would be attracted to me.”
“But?” Nora’s face was kind, like she might already know the answer.
“But the compliments turned into accusations, and the accusations came with threats. At first, she’d pick fights, insist I was looking at another woman or flirting with customers at the store where I worked.” Will swallowed, looked down at her hands. “After a while, the fights got physical.”
“Oh, Will.”
“Not abusive, or at least not like you’re probably thinking.”
Nora tried to keep her face calm. As far as she was concerned, physical fights were the definition of abuse. Not to mention the emotional abuse that came with that level of jealousy and possessiveness. Did Will not see that, or was she trying to downplay it now? “It sounds like her behavior crossed the line.”
Will nodded. “It did. I mean, she hit me a couple of times. It didn’t leave a mark, but I know that’s unacceptable.”
Unacceptable was putting it mildly. But if her own experience was anything to go on, indignation wouldn’t make Will feel any better. Nora reached across the table and took her hand. “I’m so sorry.”
“Thanks.” Will nodded. “I won’t excuse or condone her behavior, but part of it was my own doing. When it was good, it was really good. I stuck around longer than I should have.”
“Don’t feel badly. The pull of a charismatic personality is a powerful force.”
“Isn’t that the truth? So, what about you?”
Nora sat quietly. She’d told so few people about Jordyn. But Will had opened up
about something just as painful. Even more, she talked about the decisions that got her there. Something about that resonated. Nora wanted to assure Will she wasn’t alone in making bad choices. She took a deep breath. “I was swept off my feet, too. She was passionate and had a fiery temper. She made it seem like I was the best thing that ever happened to her and made me feel like, together, we could conquer the world.”
“Until?” Will’s face showed genuine concern, not a desire for a juicy story.
Nora pressed on. “Until she raided my bank account and vanished.”
“Oh.”
“I never saw or heard from her again.” Even now, after all this time, it made her chest tighten to think about what she could have lost.
“Did you involve the police?”
Nora shook her head. “I’d put her on the account, so it would have been hard to make a case. And I was humiliated.”
“What did you do?”
“I’d sunk almost everything into this place, so there wasn’t all that much to steal. I borrowed some money from my sister to make ends meet, worked for two seasons without hiring any extra staff so I could pay her back.”
“You could have given up, but you didn’t. And look how far you’ve come.”
Not wanting a shared moment to turn into pity, Nora lifted her chin and squared her shoulders. “And I do my best not to look back. Well, with the exception of remembering how foolish I was.”
Will smiled. “It’s good to remember. And to remember that one bad experience doesn’t speak for all women, or all relationships.”
Nora was less sure about that, but she didn’t want to come across as bitter. “It’s good that you haven’t hardened your heart. It’s easier said than done sometimes.”
“Agreed. So…” Will trailed off, seeming to defer to Nora on where to take the conversation next.
Nora’s mind churned with Will’s disclosure, on top of the fact she’d just shared a part of her past she typically held close. She didn’t like the swell of emotions, or the intimacy of this much sharing. She plastered a smile on her face and stood. “So, I’ll let you get back to work.”
Will’s face reflected surprise at the abrupt shift. To her credit, she stood as well, and didn’t press it. “Do you want me to look at the pantry now?”
Although it made sense, Nora needed a few minutes to collect herself. Alone. “I’ve still got plenty of cleaning to do. You go finish upstairs. We can talk whenever you’re done.”
“Okay. Did you decide on shelf liner? I can lay that for you once the shelves are in.”
Nora could handle that herself, but giving it to Will would keep her busy a little longer. She picked up the bag full of rolls and handed it over. “That would be great. Thank you.”
Will peered inside the bag. “Should only take a couple of hours.”
“Let me know if you need anything.”
“Of course.”
Will smiled at her. Nora couldn’t tell if it was encouraging or sympathetic. Neither sat well. She turned away and busied herself with picking up plates from the table. Will went back to work and Nora returned to the kitchen. She did the few dishes, then stood looking at the chaos of pantry items covering every available surface. She considered doing her usual cleaning and putting everything back. Suddenly, the idea of working in close quarters with Will on yet another project made her uneasy.
Why had she chosen to confide in Will? Will hadn’t even pushed, really. She’d merely asked. And Nora answered like it was no big deal. Will had made it seem like no big deal.
Nora shook her head. Each day she spent with Will seemed to open a new door, shed light on another dim corner. She’d initially applied that analogy to learning more about Will, but it seemed to be working both ways. That should give her pause. But, in spite of herself, she wanted more and more to see where it would lead.
Chapter Thirteen
With the linen closet done, Nora had Will tackle the downstairs guest room next, figuring the stairs would require a solid week of not being used. Even with that large project remaining, she was pleasantly surprised by how much they—Will—had accomplished. Nora headed to the laundry room with a basket of towels, wondering if her room might deserve a fresh coat of paint, too.
As she walked past the basement stairs, the sound of running water made her pause. She looked down at the laundry in her hands. It was her first load of the day, so it couldn’t be the washing machine. She set down the basket and opened the basement door. The sound grew louder. That couldn’t be good.
She flipped on the light and started down the stairs. The sight of a puddle, rapidly inching toward her, stopped her in her tracks.
“Will?” After calling her name, Nora realized how much panic was in her voice.
She heard footsteps overhead. “Is something wrong?”
“There’s water everywhere.” Yep, panic.
Will came the rest of the way down and joined Nora on the small patch of floor that remained dry. “Do you know where it’s coming from?”
Nora shook her head. She tried to channel the calm, logical part of her mind, but couldn’t get it to work. “I have no idea.”
Without waiting for Nora to say more, Will sloshed in. The water only came up the side of her work boots, but it didn’t do anything to assuage Nora’s anxiety. Her basement wasn’t wet; it was flooded. No, flooding. Present tense. And she had no idea how to stop it.
“It looks like your water heater.” Will had disappeared around a post, but her voice carried clearly to where Nora stood.
Nora braced herself and followed, trying to ignore the way water immediately soaked through her canvas house shoes. “The water heater? How do you know?”
She rounded the corner and saw Will on her hands and knees next to the water heater. Meanwhile, water poured out of the top of the tank. “If I can shut off the supply, it should stop.”
How did she know that? And how was it she remained so level headed when water was gushing right above her head? “Okay. It’s, um, I think the valve is behind there maybe?”
Will stood up. “I got it.” She reached over and turned the knob located on the pipe coming out of the top of the tank. The water slowed to a trickle, then stopped.
“Oh.” Why was Will on the floor, then?
“I just wanted to shut the gas off first. If there’s any back flow of water into your gas line, you’ve got even more problems on your hands.”
“Right.” Again, how did she know that? “Um, thank you.”
Will shook her head. “I stopped the water, but I haven’t fixed the problem. Your water heater is toast.”
Nora looked from Will to the tank, then back to Will. This time, curiosity won out. “How do you know?”
“Because this is almost always how they go.”
“Hmm.” The fact of it didn’t surprise her. She hadn’t replaced it when she bought the place and her inspector had indicated it was close to ten years old then. But she’d never experienced a blowout before. For not ever being a homeowner, Will seemed to know exactly what was going on and what to do about it. Nora realized, had Will not been there, she’d be standing in her even more flooded basement trying to Google how to make the water stop. “You stopped the flood. That counts as saving the day in my book.”
Will smiled in that way she had—full of charm, but with a trace of shyness. Combined with her dirty hands and soaked pants, the result was enough to kick Nora’s heart rate up a notch. No, it was the adrenaline of the last twenty minutes. Thinking about Will that way at a time like this was beyond ridiculous. Wasn’t it? Nora realized Will said something and she’d missed it. “I’m sorry?”
“I said you’re going to have to get someone to come in and replace it. That’s far beyond my level of expertise.”
“Oh, of course. I wouldn’t expect you to.” Nora could not stop staring at Will. Nor could she stop her mind from imagining what it would be like to peel off her wet clothes. Would she be soft underneath, or hard? Proba
bly the perfect balance of the two. Nora swallowed. “I’ll call a plumber.”
“It’s not an emergency, but you won’t have hot water until you do. You can decide how urgent that is.”
Nora laughed. “Pretty urgent, as far as I’m concerned. I’ll go look up a number now. I…let me get you a towel.”
“That would be great, thanks.”
Nora led the way upstairs. She went into her linen closet and grabbed a couple of bath towels. She returned to find Will sitting on the stairs to the basement. “I’m just taking off my boots so I don’t track water all over the place.”
Nora looked down at her own feet. Soaked. And a trail of wet footprints leading down the hall. “Don’t worry about it.”
Will accepted the towel and started dabbing at her pants. “The least I can do is not drip.”
Nora’s shoulders slumped. “I’d offer you a shower, but without hot water, it seems rather cruel.”
Will stood. “I’m okay.”
“How about you let me throw your pants in the dryer at least. It should only take a little while to get them mostly dry.”
“Um, sure.”
The implication of her words hit her. “I didn’t mean…I probably have a pair of sweatpants that would fit you.”
Will grinned, then. Nora would have been hard pressed to classify it as anything but suggestive. She felt a sudden and compelling need to escape. “I’ll be right back.”
Nora fled to her room. She found a pair of light green joggers in the bottom drawer of her dresser. Not Will’s style by any means, but she figured they’d do for the moment. She brought them out to where Will had been, but she was gone.