“So what are you into, Nora?”
“Plants. Greenhouses. Growing them and maintaining them—trimming and naming and all of it. What about you? Are you into nature?”
“Ah, I like jogging on the trail, watching basketball. CrossFit. Typical dude stuff.”
“Oh, excellent.”
“Do you run?”
“No.”
Victor didn’t ask another question, and the awkward silence weighed down the room. Nora was goingfullNora. Not even pretending to be chill.
“So, uh, you’re living here for a bit. You like it so far?” he asked, no longer leaning in closer to her, his posture stiff.
“No. It’s tough living away from the mansion. I have to prepare my own food, do laundry, which, let’s be honest…laundry is hard. I mess it up each time and ruined a white shirt already. Did you know bleach stains? I didn’t. It also makes my hands smell funky, which I don’t love at all.” She laughed. “I’m learning how to use everything. Fritz had to show me out to use a microwave. I put foil in it! Could you believe it?”
“Wow.”
Don’t blame you, buddy.This was a train wreck, and I could feel Victor’s mood changing from ten feet away. He got on his phone, and Nora’s face dropped. She fiddled with the bracelets lining her arm. A dull ache formed in my chest, and I pushed myself off the bar. There was a line between supporting her and torturing myself, and I needed to go.
We made eye contact, and I waved before pointing to the door.
She nodded before turning her attention back to Victor, saying something about her campaign to sell bracelets at the high school.
Victor’s phone went off, and he held up a finger to stop her “What? No, okay, yeah. Of course.” He hung up, got up from his barstool and gave her a very insincere look. “My sister needs help. I gotta head out.”
“Oh no, what happened?”
“She, uh, had an accident.”
“What?” Nora stood up. “Where?”
“Don’t worry. She’s okay, but I need to go get her.”
“Of course. Oh, I’m so sorry. I hope she’s all right. Is there any way I can help?”
“No. Thanks though.” He clicked his tongue and looked at me, and I knew just from the sneaky expression on his face, this was fake. A fake call.
He was ditching Nora. Asshole.
“This has been…well, see you, Nora.” He waved and ducked his head down before taking off.
Nora’s brows furrowed. “Fritz, I sure hope his sister is okay.”
“He’s lying. There’s no accident,” I said, my voice harsher than I intended. My anger wasn’t at her. Not even a little bit. “He used the oldest trick in the book.”
She tilted her head to the side and frowned even harder. “What do you mean?”
Sighing, I rubbed the back of my neck with my free hand and set down a ten on the counter to cover her drink. “Let’s go home.”
“Will you explain why he faked that accident? Why he tricked me?” She adjusted one of the straps of her overalls, and while I didn’t want to dive too deep into why I could read her expressions so goddamn well, she looked hurt. Her eyes weren’t as soft and filled with awe.
“People have a backup plan when they feel like a date isn’t going well. It’s been done forever. A fake accident, a fake emergency. I’ve done it before, I won’t lie.” I pushed open the door for her, held it, and enjoyed the slight floral scent that always lingered around her. It was nice.
“Why wasn’t it going well?”
Shit. I had to be careful. We got to the truck—still on loan from my buddy who took payment in beer and getting to temporarily drive a Beemer—and she hopped in without a moment’s hesitation.Look at my little heiress, getting used to a beat-up truck.
