“Now you’re getting it.” Tay didn’t even pretend to be apologetic about it.
IT’S COMPLICATED…
After climbing off the bus, the WonderWorld Tour group scattered into smaller parties. It was natural, the way large groups seemed to divide themselves up for one reason or another. Marla and Josie huddled together with Patty and Denise, already debating which café looked like it would have the best pie. The married couples wandered toward the first restaurant they spotted, Ed lamenting to Roger that he wished this were a casino town.
I glanced around, not entirely sure where I wanted to go. I’d told Noah I was warm enough, but outside again, the cold seemed to penetrate my bones.
“Christine, come with me!” Babs had taken Mrs. Grady by the arm, veering them toward the opposite side of the street. “I’ll bet that diner has homemade cobbler. Didn’t you mention wanting something sweet? And then we can see if one of these cute little stores sell yarn.”
Mrs. Grady hesitated, glancing at her son. “Noah?”
He waved her off with a faint smile. “I’ll pass on the cobbler. You go on.”
Hadn’t Babs said the two of us, as the only singles on the tour, would stick together? I mean, not that I expected anything, but watching Babs dragging the other woman away, I felt oddly…abandoned.
Before I could feel offended, I remembered what she’d said earlier—that she was going to dig up the story about Mother and Son Grady. And then as she arrived on the opposite side of the street, Babs twisted around and sent me a not-at-all-subtle wink.
There was no chance the man standing behind me hadn’t seen it.
I chanced a quick glance up at him. He didn’t say a word, but I could see the laughter in his eyes. Of course, he wasn’t oblivious to Babs’s antics.
A person would have to be blind and deaf not to notice.
“Good gravy,” I said, watching Babs and Mrs. Grady disappear into a small café across the street. “She knows I’m single, and of course, she assumes you are too, you know...”
In other words. I had nothing to do with that.
Noah lifted an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth twitching like he was fighting a smirk.
I should have stopped there. Really. But I didn't.
“Because you're here with your mother.” Still nothing from him. So naturally, I kept going. “That is, unless your wife is perfectly fine with you running off to complete the Southwest Bucket List Adventure with a busload of senior citizens?”
Noah exhaled a short laugh, shaking his head.
I let out my own laugh, the sound a little shaky. When a few seconds went by and he still didn’t answer my super subtle question, I found myself scanning the street, looking anywhere but at him.
Despite Babs’s meddling, I refused to assume I’d be having lunch with Noah Grady.
And yet…as I stood there, adrift in a strange little mountain town, the full weight of alone hit harder than expected. It didn’t crash in like a wave. It snuck in silently, tightening the space under my ribs in an all-too-familiar sensation.
For two days, I’d been surrounded by voices and laughter, of people sharing pictures of grandchildren, who had liked what on Facebook, and also crazy-long lists of daily medications. But now, in the sudden quiet, it was like the noise had been holding me together. And without it, I felt untethered.
My skin felt a little too sensitive to the breeze. My breath, a little too shallow.
A dozen cafes lined this street. A dozen places I could go. But I couldn’t seem to move toward any of them.
Oh. My. God! Why was I afraid to be alone?
I’d spent so long anchored to Leo, to us, that without him, I was just…floating. Gran was gone. Dad was gone. Ashley was busy with her family. Mom and I were…
I folded my arms and tugged my jacket around me, oddly frozen despite a sudden urge to… Run? Run where?
Back to the bus?
“Luna?”
I lifted my gaze and stared almost unseeing up at Noah.
