She looks down at the wooded path, then back at me. “I better not.”
I let out an irritated sigh. “So I come up with one fun thing thatIwant to do, and you won’t do it.”
Marjorie’s eyebrows bunch together. “It’s just that… I’m not supposed to.”
“You’re not supposed toalone. But you won’t be alone. You’ll be with me.”
“I… I still don’t think I should.”
I fold my arms across my chest. “Well, I’m going down the trail. If you don’t want to, that’s your choice. And it’s too bad, because I thought of a really fun game we couldplay.”
I can almost hear the little wheels turning in Marjorie’s head. This is the first time she’s hung out with a friend in, like, her whole life. She doesn’t want to blow it.
“Fine.” She lets out a breath. “We can go down the path. Just for a little while.”
“That’s great.” I smile at her. “And you’re going to find this game so much fun.”
She returns my smile. “What’s it called?”
I glance into the wooded area, which is completely deserted, as far as I can see. “It’s called Hunter and Prey. You’re going to love it.”
Chapter 26
Present Day
As usual, I’m the last person to leave the office.
Harper shut off all the lights in the waiting area, so it’s pitch black when I come out there. It takes me several minutes of fumbling before I find the light switch, but I’m scared if I don’t, I’ll end up nose-diving into a chair.
I’m used to the busy pace of the waiting room, so it’s eerily quiet in the evening. Harper left behind her biology book on her desk. I walk over and flip through the pages, seeing her meticulous notes scribbled in the margins. I remember when I used to study biology, back in college. My whole life was ahead of me then. It was a chance to leave my past behind.Nobody has to know who you are,my grandmother told me on the day I left for college.
And now somehow, I’ve gone and blown that. But to be fair, it’s not my fault.
I take the stairs two at a time down to the lobby. I can’t wait to get home. I have a feeling this might be my last nightof quiet before the reporters start banging on my door. Maybe I’ll take a nice hot shower. Or better yet, a bath. When was the last time I had a bath? It might have been a different decade.
But then when I get down to the lobby, somebody is waiting for me.
“Nora?”
I flinch. “Brady, what are you doing here?”
Brady is standing in the lobby of the building, his hands shoved into the pockets of his open jacket. He takes a step towards me and I take a step back.
“Can I talk to you?” he says.
“No. I’m afraid you can’t.”
“Nora…”
I frown at him. “What do you want to talk to me about? Look, we had some fun. You made your feelings pretty clear. Just… let’s leave it at that.”
“Can I have five minutes?” He holds up his hand with his digits outstretched. “Five minutes. And if you don’t want to see me ever again after that, I promise I will leave you alone forever.”
I let out a sigh. I can tell that if I say no, he’s going to keep at me. Might as well get this over with. “Fine. Five minutes.”
I look down at my watch pointedly. Making sure he knows his five minutes have officially begun.
“So here’s the thing.” He shoves his hands back into the pockets of his coat. “My divorce was a mess. The only reason we got married in the first place was because she got pregnant. All we did was fight the whole time. And I just… After it was over, I never wanted to have another relationship again. It was one of those things that soured me forever.” He furrows his brow. “And then I saw you sitting at the bar, and I remembered what it was like to be happy with another person. And I wanted to start dating again. Does that make any sense?”
