Ugh.Good company.Please.
Nora scrunched her nose and reached over to touch his forearm covered in tattoos, and her lips parted. “Mine would be spent in a greenhouse.”
I waited for her to finish the sentence. In a greenhouse…talking to her plants, naming her plants, singing and playing podcasts for her plant babies. But she didn’t add anything. She stopped and went to her phone.
“Okay, next question. If you were given a million dollars right now, what would you do?”
Tessa chuckled and said, “Pay off my parents’, sister’s, and my debt. Buy a house. Travel the world.”
Nora nodded, a bit too much, and I finished my beer before I answered. “Invest in businesses that are organic and green, focus on helping the local community. Provide jobs for our town while keeping the earth safe.”
“Damn, dude.” Dave looked proud of me for a second. “Why don’t you just do that?”
Shit.Shit.“Uh, well, I can’t.”
“Yeah, Dave. It’sifhe had a million dollars.” She spoke to him, but her large brown eyes softened as she studied me. Even as Dave talked about opening a tattoo shop, hiring local artists, her gaze never wavered from mine.
“What about you, Nora?” Tessa asked, leaning forward.
I knew what Nora would do in a heartbeat. I waited for her to say it, for her to share her passion for a therapy greenhouse where she’d sell jewelry from the old guy at the farmer’s market, but she clicked her tongue and tilted her head to the side.
“I’d open a business.”
“What business?” Dave asked, nudging her shoulder. “You gotta be more open than that, Nora. We all shared details.”
“A greenhouse, specifically.” Her cheeks reddened, and my irritation wound around my mind, squeezing it until I got angry.
Why was she hiding this?
“More than a greenhouse,” I said, my tone harsh. Everyone turned to look at me, and I forced my face into a neutral, playful expression and leaned back into the booth. “Don’t be shy, Nora. I’ve heard you talk about this a million times.”
She narrowed her eyes at me, fire spewing from them as she gripped her phone tighter. “No, it’s just a greenhouse.”
“Sick,” Tessa said, holding up her beer. “Maybe we can all play the lottery and get really, really lucky?”
I cheered her glass, keeping on the façade that this was normal and a good time when really, I counted down the minutes until it was over. Until I could ask Nora what was up. This wasn’t her. The shy, soft-spoken woman who only shared small bits of herself. She was loud, an explosion of color, and wore her emotions on her sleeve.
Did she think this was better? Pretending to be someone else?
“I’m going to use the restroom, excuse me.” Nora slid out of the booth, and without thinking of how it looked, I motioned for Tessa to let me out.
“I’ll get the next round.” I gave Tessa a quick smile and made my way through the restaurant toward the back hallway where the restrooms sat. One thing I liked about this place was that they didn’t have gender specific signs. Just one-person restrooms. Nora twisted the handle, and I followed, marching next to her into the room.
“Fritz, oh my God.” She put a hand to her chest and jumped back. “What are you doing?”
“Why are you pretending to be someone else right now?” Jesus, I could hear the fucking hypocrisy of my voice.Pot meet kettle.
“What do you mean?”
I moved closer to her, forcing her to tilt her head to look up at me. “Just a greenhouse? That’s not you. It’s so much more than that.”
“You told me not to freak people out talking so much about my plants,” she said, pointing her finger at my chest, hard. “I was trying to tone it down. Be cooler. Experience this shitty life in every way I can.”
“Yeah, by still being you!”
“I’m still me, just not talking about my plants. I get too into it—you told me. That guy ghosted me because of it.” She blinked a few times, and her cheeks were totally red now. “I don’t understand why you’re angry.”
“Because I hate seeing youthinkyou need to change to be interesting to someone. You don’t.”
