“Thank God for that.”
She hummed a response before gazing out the window again, and the rest of the drive passed in a comfortable silence. It wasn’t until I turned onto the gravel road, where twenty cars lined the side, that she perked up. “There’s quite a few people.”
“I imagine there’s Boy Scouts or high school kids volunteering here too.” I squinted and saw a school bus for a local district. “I think sports teams even volunteer together for bonding.”
“My parents would tell me to pick three places a month I loved, and they would donate large funds to them. I always thought…” She stopped and let out a long, sad sigh. “I assumed that helped.”
“Money does tend to assist, but this is better sometimes, more gratifying.”
She swallowed so hard the back of her throat clicked, and I parked the car, undid my belt, and got out. The ground crunched underneath my boots, and I fought a grin as she took her sweet-ass time exiting the car and looking around. Despite her wearing jeans and boots, she looked so out of place. Maybe it was her horrified facial expression, or how she walked like the ground wasn’t worthy of her feet. I wasn’t sure. But when a dog ran along the side of the parking lot and shook, spraying pieces of mud on Nora, she squealed.
“Ugh,” she said, shaking her hands and sticking her tongue out.
“What’s that, Atwood? I would assume you weren’t afraid of some mud. You do spend lots of time with plants, right?”
She narrowed her eyes at me but remained quiet, despite her rosy cheeks giving her away. Flustering her brought me a lot of joy, and while I should probably have worried about why that was, I ignored that twinge of guilt. This was fun.
“Volunteers! Please check in at the table, get a bag and gloves if you didn’t bring any, and we’re going to break off into four groups. Each group will head to a different section of the lake and start collecting any debris. Restrooms are on the back of the trailer here. If you have any questions, find me. Name’s Billy.”
Nora tensed as she scanned the two porta-potties, and I smiled. “Ever used one before?”
“Dear God, no.”
“Hope you didn’t drink a lot then.”
“Fritz,” she said, her voice shaking a bit. “I can’t…is this really necessary?”
“Is what necessary?” my buddy Steve Smith said, slapping me on the shoulder and eyeing Nora like she was the new kid at school.
She sort of was though. The fact he seemed interested in her was a good sign. All I told him was that I had a friend who was fun and wanting to date. He didn’t need to know any of the details. She could handle that end.
All I needed was to get her off her hunt for Anthony.
“Nora, this is my pal, Steve Smith. He’s a great guy. He’ll be with us today.” I jutted my chin in his direction and winked, hoping she could read social clues.
Nora blinked a few times before she twisted her lips up in a smile, staring at Steve. “Hello, Steve Smith.”
Steve’s grin widened, and he held out a hand. “Dope hair. Love the pink.”
Nora blushed and ducked her head, looking at the ground after she shook his large hand. It was interesting to see her act this way, all demure and shy. This was not the chick I knew. Not at all.
They didn’t have time to talk before Billy, the lead, shouted to the group to head to our section. The three of us checked in together so we were located on the southern part of the lake, paired up with the National Honor Society students from the high school. I snorted, imaging my Grace’s students being here. Some people hated the small-town life, but I didn’t mind it. There was something homey and familiar to it that just felt right. Especially when I’d never had that growing up.
“Tell me about yourself, Nora,” Steve said, the two of them walking ahead of me.
Their voices carried over the wind, and I focused on picking up the trash near the water’s edge. There was so much of it, and it pissed me off. There were literal trash cans around the lake, and people still just tossed cans into the water?
“I plant. I plant a lot. I love them. Plants are my dream.”
Leapin’ lobotomies.I shut my eyes and rolled my shoulders to rid the tension. Nora was weird, but that was not the best opening. Steve owned a bar downtown and was the definition of the average twenty-seven-year-old dude. He drank beer, watched baseball, and loved women. He was relatively clean, liked a good night out, appreciated his family, and was looking to settle down. But “Plants are my dream?”
Goddamn it, Nora.
“So what, you got a garden or something?”
“A huge greenhouse, actually. Well, not here. At my parents’ location up north. I’m just here to show them I can survive on my own. It’s not going…well. It’s not horrible. But it’s not wonderful.”
Steven glanced my way with one arch brow, and the look in his eyes was easy enough to read.What the fuck.
