“No can do. She’s helping me map out some of these demographics. I never was very good with all this spreadsheet crap, you know.” John winked at her, and Norah was briefly sure he had some sort of idea what he was doing, trying to sequester her with Chase for them to work through their adolescent drama.
“One of the boys then.”
“They’re headed down the road to help assemble the med tent.”
Norah squinted at him, her annoyance escalating by the second.
“Already? Isn’t that a little premature?”
“We’re up to a reported 1,200 cases. And those are just the ones who’ve already sought medical attention. At this rate, our R0is more like 4 instead of 3. The local hospitals are already overrun, and the city hospitals are about to be. What exactly do you propose we do with the newly infected people? Let them prance around New Orleans and cough all over everyone?” John crossed his arms and squared his shoulders. He was annoying, but he was also right.
“Point taken. I guess Dr. Durgin and I are taking a trip to the big city then.”
John stood, smiling, his victory clear on his creased face.
“I guess you are.”
It wasn’t a secret that Norah had been avoiding Chase since they’d arrived in Louisiana. Whenever Chase found her sitting alone, eating an army-issue TV dinner, Norah would flag down one of the other soldiers, a CDC nobody, basically anyone she could to join them. When that didn’t work, she had some conveniently timed phone calls from her boss back in Atlanta to answer. Their near-hourly meetings were always well attended, never leaving space for Chase to speak privately with her for even a second. Once or twice, Chase had thought about going to Norah’s tent again, but the move felt too invasive. Clearly, Norah was keeping her distance for a reason. And she’d clearly meant it when she said she just didn’t want to talk about their past. Norah’s coldness was evident, but Chase was also sure she could still feel the chemistry between them buried deep in there, glowing like a smoldering fire. Or it was just wishful thinking.
“Come on. We’re going to New Orleans.” Chase was just sitting down with her morning coffee, the heat already beating through the threadbare T-shirt she wore, when Norah found her.
“Now?”
“I don’t know. Maybe we could wait until a few more people get sick? Up to you.” Norah kept the table where Chase sat between them, not bothering to join her. She wore a hunter-green tank top that edged out the hues of her irises just enough, the golden tint of the skin of her toned arms radiant in the sunlight. Chase felt a vague warmth emerging low in her belly as a quiet corner in the back of her mind resurrected an image of Norah naked, wrapped in a bed sheet, smiling down at Chase in theirtiny apartment. The picture was foggy, distorted, like a faded Polaroid that had been sitting in a box for years. But the feelings it brought with it were anything but.
“Right. No. That would be stupid.” She stood quickly, wiping her palms on the front of her shorts and praying Norah couldn’t tell just how turned on she’d been.
Norah shrugged and raised her eyebrows expectantly. Chase recognized the gesture as so classically Norah Bishop, her heart joined the game of reminiscence her libido was already playing.
Their gazes met, and Chase must have lingered longer than she meant to. Her face was notorious for giving everything away, and she was pretty sure Norah knew exactly what was going through her head. Still, that realization didn’t cause her to break the stare. Chase licked her lips and pushed some of the hair off her forehead. Norah had never appeared more beautiful, more unobtainable, more…everything.
“I don’t like the way you’re looking at me right now. We better go,” Norah said, her tone clipped.
“Huh? I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Chase was grinning now, noting how Norah had held her stare just as long.
“So then, let’s go.” Norah pouted in what was so clearly feigned annoyance at Chase’s subtle advances. But before Chase could respond, Norah was already clomping off toward God only knew where.
“Where are we going anyway?” Chase struggled to keep pace with her. It had rained the night before, and her ancient Converse sneakers hardly had the tread necessary to fight the mud in her pursuit of Norah. She immediately regretted not wearing her boots.
“Tulane.”
“The medical school?”
“The hospital. We’re going to meet some of the patients.” Norah continued to breeze gracefully through the grass and down the dirt path that led to the parked army vehicles, her long legsemphasized by the khaki shorts she wore that basically forced Chase to notice her ass.
“You know what this reminds me of?” Chase was still three paces behind, her breath getting a little short the closer they got to the jeep. “The two times you made me go running with you at Brown.”
Norah stopped so abruptly Chase nearly barreled into her.
“Don’t.” She kept her back turned.
“I’m sorry.”
Norah started walking again, faster this time if that were even possible, and Chase scrambled to get her feet moving.
“Don’t worry about it. Let’s just not. Okay?” Jesus, how could she talk so easily going at this pace?
“I was just being friendly.”
