“No.”
“Is there anyone you could call, to get updates?”
“No. It’s just my mom and dad and me. There is the house staff, but my parents always kept a firm line of business between them and us.” She pulled on one of her bracelets, and her tone got so sad.
It was like she reached into my chest and covered my whole heart with her hand and squeezed.
“We keep our circle close ever since we learned our closest friends were stealing from us in thinly veiled attempts at helping. They took millions over the years, and while my parents cut off contact with most of their social circles…I lost the only real friend I thought I had. I stopped trying after that because I couldn’t trust anyone’s intentions.”
Fuck. The realization we had nearly identical stories was like a bucket of ice-cold water being dumped on me in the middle of a blizzard. It chilled my bones and made me shift uncomfortably in my seat. Maybe we weren’t that different after all.
I tried to respond, but I had to clear my throat twice before words could form. “I’m sorry.”
She shrugged, letting out a deep sigh as she typed on her phone, and a heavy silence filled the car. I felt no need to fill it—rather, I used the quiet to wrap my mind around her confession. Was that why she was so weird? Did she put up these bizarre walls to keep people out? Or was that how she got into plants—a way to distract herself from the betrayal? God, I wanted to know so damn bad.
But I wasn’t going to ask.
God, how could I try to set her up with people when she clearly had trust issues too?
An hour went by before my stomach growled, breaking the comfortable silence. Nora slid me a look, and a hint of a smile curved her lip up. “Work up an appetite chopping wood today?”
“Yes. I chopped wood and started fires in the wilderness,” I teased her right back. “I need food, or I might just wither away.”
“No, you’re way too meaty for that.” She blushed as soon as she said the words and held up a hand. “I meant, strong. You know, you’re beefy. Buff. You have muscles. That’s what I meant.”
“Ah, thanks for clarifying whatmeatymeant. I wasn’t sure.”
“Ugh, stop.” She closed her eyes, but her smile crept out. “We can stop. I wouldn’t want you to be frail.”
“Thanks for your kindness, Doc.”
“That’s the second time you’ve called me that. Why?”
I pulled over for a fast-food joint and flashed her a grin. “Poison Ivy, Dr. Pamela Lillian Isley?”
“What?”
“Batman’s occasional love interest? Obsessed with plants? Gotham’s botanist? Nora, I refuse to accept you don’t understand what I’m saying.” I scoffed and shook my head as we pulled up to order food. I got two burgers, fries, and milk shakes. Even if she insisted she wasn’t hungry, she needed something, and if she hadn’t experienced the joy of dipping French fries into a milkshake, she’d learn on my watch.
The salty and sweet combination, the hot and cold, it was Midwest bliss.
“I’ve heard of Batman. I don’t live under a rock.”
“No, but you do live inside a greenhouse, so it’s possible you missed the greatest comics of all time. Poison Ivy is iconic.”
“Hm, well, I like that.”
“She has wild red hair too. Yours is pink, but close enough.”
“Doc isn’t an insult then?” she asked, her voice holding the tiniest bit of hope. That hope flooded my chest, making me feel warm and weird.
“Not even a little bit, crazy plant lady. Just promise me something,” I said, needing to lighten the mood. It wasn’t heavy, but it was different, and I didn’t like the way she was making me feel right now. Exposed. Like she saw beneath the charismatic persona I wore every day and liked me for who I really was.
But I couldn’t forget the bottom line. She wanted to marry me to get her inheritance, and while I knew she wasn’t a gold digger like Samantha, it was still manipulative. She wanted to use me. She wanted to be with me without getting to know who I really was—because I owed her a favor.
My gut twisted. I couldn’t forget that was her goal. To marry Anthony. Repeating that over and over helped the ice form back around my heart, keeping it cold and safe like I preferred.
“Sure, yes. What is it?” she asked, her voice a little shaky.
