“Nora’s different now,” she finally said. She sighed and the tension in her shoulders lessened. “You really did a number on her back then, so she’s much more careful in her decision to let herself fall.”
“She let herself fall for Beau.”
“Not really,” she countered. “Their relationship is not what it seems, at least I don’t think it is. They sort of just ended up together, but there’s a reason she still lives with me and hasn’t taken the next step with him. She might not know it for sure yet, but I’m pretty sure the reason is you.”
“What do I do?” I asked her. The desperation I was feeling was unlike anything else. “How can I make her see that I’m the one she is supposed to be with?”
“Keep fighting for her,” she said with a smile. “Make her remember how and why she loves you.”
“Didn’t plan on stopping,” I told her. “I’m going to get her back.”
“Okay,” she said reaching out to rest her hand on my shoulder. “Life is too damn short to not be with the person you love. And for what it’s worth, I hope she picks you,” she added.
Georgia’s words were motivation when I was feeling defeated, and knowing that she was on my side didn’t hurt matters any, either. Nora had left the party with Beau, but after talking to her sister I was pretty sure she’d left her heart with me. All I had to do was convince her that mine had always been with her.
*
How exactly do you fight for a girl who keeps running away from you? You go to her. Nora had been avoiding me for days. I’d gone to the diner, the grocery store, and every other place I thought she might be, hoping to get a chance to talk to her. No luck.
Things were about to change though. It was the weekend and it just happened to be her friend Lydia’s birthday. Thanks to a little cyberstalking—yes, I was stooping to Brett’s level—I was able to discern that Lydia was having a party at Vera’s and Nora had RSVP’d weeks ago. I might not have been invited to the party, but Vera’s was public property and I’d be damned if another night was going to go by where I didn’t see her.
I’d thought about calling or texting her, after Georgia’s little pep talk, but I needed to see her in person, where she couldn’t hide behind her fear and hang up on me.
Brett and Hoyt had offered to join me at Vera’s, but I told them I thought it would be best if I went alone. I needed Nora to see that I was making a concentrated effort and not just coincidentally bumping into her.
The party started at seven, so I waited until nine before I went to the bar. Gave her a little time to loosen up and unwind from a long week before I showed up uninvited. When I walked in and found an empty barstool, among the chaos of dancing people and loud music, I looked around until I spotted her. Mingled in with the other girls on the floor, tossing her hands and hair around like she didn’t have a care in the world. The smile on her face. The happiness of just being with her friends, it made me reconsider talking to her. I’d caused her a lot of pain. Did I really want to risk ruining her night of fun by forcing her to talk to me? To think about the decision I was asking her to make? I’d been in Halstead a little over two weeks and I’d already managed to make her run away from me a handful of times. The usual confidence I had about what we could be was dwindling. Could I really handle her rejecting me? And, for Beau?
I drank a beer while I contemplated what I was doing there before I decided that tonight was not the night for another battle with her.
As I was standing to leave, she noticed me and her eyes lit up briefly before she waved me over. So much for exiting unnoticed. I’d play it cool. I’d walk over and say hello. Tell her it was good to see her and ask her if we could talk later this week. Maybe if she saw that I wasn’t desperate to have her back, that I wasn’t pushing her too hard to pick me, she’d come to the conclusion that we should be together on her own.