“Yes… unless it’s meant to be funny.”
“It’s not.”
“Then I promise.” I wander away from the door and plunk down in an armchair.
“I want to buy myself a small cottage on the sea. Something I can fix up a little. I’d like to plant a garden and go out every day to check on it and give it some water, although to be totally honest, my house plants don’t fair all that well, so I’m not sure how the garden would do.”
“It’s worth a try anyway. People can learn to do better than they’ve done before.”
“True,” she says.
I smile even though she can’t see it. “Tell me more about your cottage, which sounds wonderful by the way.”
“Thanks,” Nora says. “I want to sit on the deck, listening to the waves lap against the shore while I read great books and on occasion, have a few friends over for dinner for no reason at all, other than the fun of it.” She pauses. “That probably sounds stupid to you.”
“It sounds amazing.” Which it does.
“Are you just saying that to be nice? The life I want would be a massive downgrade for you,” she says, sounding slightly self-conscious.
“I’m not. It sounds a lot like freedom to me. That’s what life should be about—balance and simplicity.” I sigh, all those thoughts of my life bubbling back up to the surface again. “Can I tell you something I’ve never admitted to anyone?”
“Sure,” she says, sounding sleepy and sexy. I imagine she’s lying in her bed on her side, and I’m there, facing her.
“Sometimes I’m filled with envy for people who can chart their own course in life,” I say, forcing the words out. “I think about my great-great-great-grandfather Alvaro, who started the company. He had a dream and started with one small distillery, then had the pleasure of working hard and watching it grow into something truly amazing. It would feel very different than having it all handed to you. That probably sounds stupid.”
“Not at all,” Nora says. “I think having to struggle is good for us. Then we know we’ve earned our success. I think that’s a completely different type of satisfaction.”
“Exactly.” I get up and cross to the balcony. “A sense of true pride in your accomplishments. For the most part, I’m happy with how I’ve taken care of the company and my family, but I haven’t built anything. Even the family I’m looking after is inherited—my brother, my mother—and doesn’t need taking care of. But I also have a stepmother who needs help from time to time. It’s not the same as if I had my own family, one I’d started with someone I loved.” Maybe you. “In another life I would have liked to build my fortune from the ground up, although I’m sure I’d spend that life wishing I’d been handed a fortune.”
Nora chuckles softly. “Human nature, right? We always want what we don’t have.”
“Sad but true.”
She yawns, and I realize how late it is. “I should let you go,” I tell her. “You need to sleep, and I should get back to my peephole. You know, like a reverse pervert.”
Nora lets out a loud laugh. “Gah! You can’t be funny at this hour. I’m pretty sure I woke my neighbours with that one.”
“Sorry.”
“No you’re not.”
“You’re right, I’m not. It was worth it to make you laugh, but give them my apologies tomorrow anyway.” I take a deep breath, then say, “Good night, Nora. Sleep fast.”
“You too, Theo.”
After we hang up, I spend a long time rereading our exchange and thinking about our conversation. She texted me, and it wasn’t because of some work-related thing. It was because she wanted to. She must have feelings for me, otherwise why would she send me a late-night message? A flirty, funny one too?
Talking to her is not like talking to anyone else I know. I want to tell her everything, every little thought and secret I’ve kept hidden away my entire life, because I know she won’t laugh at me. She’ll listen and understand. We didn’t grow up in the same world, but Nora Cooper understands me, and I understand her right back. There is something between us I can’t ignore. I don’t want to ignore it. I need to find a way to make this work, no matter what.
That’s it. Tomorrow I’m going to be brave. I’m going to find her, ask to speak with her alone, and tell her once this competition is over, and we no longer have a working relationship, I’d like to try a personal one. I’ll find a better way to put it than that, but I will do it. By tomorrow evening, I’ll know if I have a future with Nora Cooper. And I have a good feeling the answer will be yes.
* * *
Okay, so maybe I was a bit optimistic about the timing of things. It’s now after eight p.m., and I didn’t get a chance to talk with Nora. I saw her four times, but each time she was dealing with someone from the show. I couldn’t very well go back down to the lobby afifthtime. Not after the last time, when she narrowed her eyes at the sight of me and told the cameraman, who was in the process of complaining about the lack of variety of sunscreens in the resort’s gift shop, to excuse her and then turned to me. “Mr. Rojas, do you need something? You’ve stopped down here several times.”
I shook my head, effectively freeing my brain from any type of logic. “Nope. Nothing. I was just…wondering the same thing about the sunscreen.”
The man looked surprised. “Are you a big Banana Boat fan too?”
