Noah (27 page)

She stared at her phone for another moment then decided against
replying,
tossing it on her bed. 
The day awaited her. She’d already warned Noah
that
she m
ight
not make their workout tonight. The mall after Christmas would be worse than it was the weeks before it. Every store was having clearance sales and Veronica needed
an
entire new wardrobe for work.

It was going to be another wet one out but this couldn’t wait. If she was going to make a clean start then she need
ed
the clothes to go with it.
She g
rabb
ed
her commuter
mug and
headed out her back door.

Noah had replaced her windshield wipers the day before when she told him about her day of shopping. He knew the rest of the week was supposed to be miserable. She smiled remembering his words “I don’t wanna have to worry.”

He was such a sweetheart. She sighed. If only he was a few years older damn it. She hopped in her car slipping the keys into the ignition. The car made a hacking noise followed by a wheezing sound but wouldn’t turn on. Her shoulders dropped. “Nooo!”

She tried again
,
and again the noises but no power. Her head dropped against the steering wheel and she gave it a minute. Silently praying
,
she tried it again. Nothing.

“Damn it!” She slapped the steering wheel then it hit her. This was the worst time her car
could
break down. Her first day of work was less than a week away.

Sitting up
straight,
she thought fast. What to do?
She leaned over quickly and grabbed her
purse
then pulled the keys out of the ignition. Within
minutes,
she was on the phone with
the
auto club.

It would be at least a
half
hour before the tow truck would even be there to pick it up. Her day of shopping was shot. She tried Nellie. Maybe by some miracle she was free for the day. She hadn’t spoken to her since before she left on her cruise a few days
before Christmas
.

To her surprise, she answered. “Hey stranger.”

With
nowhere
to go Veronica plopped herself on the sofa. “How are you? How was the cruise?

“It was wonderful. How was your
Christmas?
”

Veronica almost said it was wonderful also but she knew better. “Quiet. We watched a movie marathon most of the day.”

“Oh good. I was worried maybe you’d spent the day alone. Noah was with you?”

Veronica rolled her eyes trying hard not to feel resentful. Nellie had been home for days from her cruise and she hadn’t bothered to call. Veronica had to remind herself of all the selfless effort Nellie had made to get her back to feeling human again. “Ye
s,
he was here. It was nice.”

“What are you
up
to now?”

“Sitting here waiting for auto club. My stupid car won’t start and I start work next week. I need to make sure it’s running by then.”

“Well that stinks. But at least you have a few days to get it going right?”

Veronica frowned. She thought about it for a moment before mentioning it. She hoped with all her might Nellie would offer to pick her up.
“Worst thing is I was supposed to go shopping today for work clothes. I was all set to go and the car wouldn’t start.” She waited, her fingers crossed.

“Oh man. Well maybe you’ll get it back before then,” she paused and Veronica heard her sigh. “Honey, I’d offer to take you but since we were gone for the holidays we’re making our rounds this week. Rick’s packing the car now. We’re headed up north today to his sister
’
s for a few days. Otherwise you know I’d be there for you.”

For some stupid reason that brought hot tears to Veronica’s eyes. Besides Nellie all she had was Noah and something deep inside her
knew
it was just a matter of time before he was gone
,
too.

“I know you would,” she said willing her voice not to
brea
k.

“I won’t be back until after the New Year, hon but we’ll make a date and go shopping then okay?”

Veronica nodded and wished her a safe trip. She sat there feeling as
pitiful
as ever. She stood up reminding herself that soon she’d be back at work and in touch with everyone she’d lost t
rack of in
the last two years. She
’d
had
more
friends. They just stopped calling when she never returned their calls.

Her phone was a slider and she slid it up and down,
again  and again,
staring at it as she stood at the kitchen counter. She slid it open again and scrolled down to her last text from Derek.

Happy New Year to you too
.

Her thumb swirled over the send button a few times before she hit it.
Almost in a huff, she set the phone down on the counter
,
walked over to the stove and pulled out a
saucepan
from the cabinet. This
was ridiculous
,
it was just a simple text. She pulled the
Abuelita
hot chocolate from the pantry. She was working on breaking the pieces
of chocolate
apart when
she heard the
ping from her phone
. Her fingers continued to break the pieces apart but her mind was on her phone so she set the chocolate down and walked over to the counter and picked
it up
.

Hey it’s good to finally hear from you. How are you?

Weird things were going on in her stomach but it wasn’t for good
a
reason. She had a bad feeling about this
from the moment she
’d
considered responding. Things of this nature were the very reason why she feared Noah would not be in her life for much longer. Just the thought of mentioning to him that she’d been in touch with Derek again put a huge knot in her stomach, but the reality was she owed him no explanation. In fact, if he was truly her friend she should be able to talk to him about this
right?
So why was she seriously considering not responding to Derek?  

With a deep
breath,
she
shook her head
.
Nonsense
. She was a single woman
.

I’m good. Thanks for asking. I’ve just been busy. I go back to work next week
.

Her thumb tapped against the screen of her phone as she waited for a response. The phone suddenly rang and she nearly dropped it. It was an eight hundred number and she answered it knowing it would be the auto club. The service rep informed her the tow truck was out front. Veronica hurried out the front door and saw the truck backing up into her driveway. She pointed to let the driver know the car was in the back.

She set her phone in her pocket as she dealt with explaining to the driver where he should take the car and signed papers releasing it.
F
inally
she
pulled her phone out of her pocket and saw she had two texts from
Derek. The first:

That’s great I’m happy to hear it. And I’m glad you’re staying busy
.

The second:

So what
have
you
been
up to?

She took a picture of her car being
hau
led onto the flatbed of the tow truck and laughed softly as she sent it to him with no caption.
Whenever things that couldn’t be helped happened h
er mom always used to say, “You just gotta laugh. What else are you gonna do? Kick and scream?”

His response was immediate.

What happened? Are you okay? 

She explained to him about her car and her shopping day being shot. They went back and forth for a while as the tow truck driver finished securing her car. Once inside the house she was just thinking about the silliness of texting. All this time she could’ve been talking to him but there was something about hiding behind the safety of a text that felt so much easier. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to talk to him. It’d been almost a year.
And then her phone rang. It was Derek.

Shit
. There was no way out of it. She’d just sent a text
so he knew she was near her phone
. The knot in her stomach got tighter and she answered. “Hey.”

“
Veronica, i
t’s good to hear your voice.”
His voice was exactly as she remembered. It brought back painful memories but in a weird way she was glad to hear
him
again. 

“It’s good to hear you, too.”

“So you’re stranded
for the day
?
”

“Yeah, looks like it.”

“
I was gonna say
,
s
ince your plans are shot how do you feel about getting together for some coffee
?
”

No way in hell was she inviting him over for coffee.
“I uh… I dunno.”

“We don’t have to be out
the whole day
,
just an hour or so. We can grab a cup of coffee and check out the latest exhibition at that photo gallery you like downtown. When’s the last time you did that?”

Veronica smiled running her finger over the grout between the tiles on her counter. “It’s been forever.”

“
That’s what
I figured.
Let’s
go Roni, for old time
’
s
sake
.
I can pick you up in ten minutes, have you back before
noon
.”

He
a
r
ing h
im
call her that made h
e
r
stomach
lurch
.
She knew it was irrational to think that she
sh
ouldn’t
go
because Noah might
…
hell who was she kidding he’d definitely be weird about it. She remembered how the mere mention of her working on her social life had struck a nerve with him.
Maybe this is just what she needed to do. Go have coffee with a friend and break the ice. She was bound to get a life eventually and he was just going to have to get used to it right?

“Just an hour?”

“I’ll be there in ten.” She could almost hear the smile
i
n his
voice
.

The moment she hung up she felt the urge to call him back and cancel. What was she thinking? She paced back and forth in the kitchen for a few minutes chewing her thumb nail. Twice she picked up the phone to call him back then put it down
again
. God she needed Nell
ie.

Derek was there in under ten minutes. She practically ran out the door not wanting to give him a chance to get out and
expect
to
be
invite
d
in. She leaned in the window of his car and smiled before opening the door.

“Wow, you look good,” he said. “You lost a lot of weight. What did you do?”

She shrugged. “I’ve been working out. I have Nellie to thank
.
S
he’s the one that dragged me to the gym.”

Derek looked the same.
Clean-shaven
but with an edge. Being a dean at one of the toughest high schools in the
Los Angeles
area had done that to him. He’d told her some of the stories. He’d had to disarm students with knives and even a gun once. The kids had to think
of him
and see him as a bad ass with no compassion
.
I
f he didn’t
put up that act he was toast. Veronica had to admit that
the
tough guy act had turned her on a little. He had it down to a science. The obstinate death stare was the best. It reminded her of her own dean back in high school. He silenced an entire hallway as he walked through it. Now she wondered if he
’d
been
just as soft as Derek but putting up an act, too
.

They made small talk until they reached the coffee place by the gallery. It was a miracle he didn’t have to circle the block twenty times before finding a parking space but then it was a holiday week and this was near the court
’
s district. Most of the offices in this area were still closed down for the holidays.