Noah (36 page)

“But—”

“Veronica
,
I’ve mad
e
my decision to try and work this out with Rick. If you had any idea what I’ve been through these last few months maybe then you’d understand why I have to at least try to incorporate some of the tools given to me in the counseling sessions and retreats we’ve taken. This is all part of regaining trust.
I couldn’t live with myself if I thought I had to be there next to him every breathing moment.” She crossed her arms in front of her. “And for your information, he did ask me to come, even said I should look into catching a flight out there and meeting him.”

Like a
sudden
flash
,
it hit Veronica. This wasn’t the first time she’d heard thi
s.
Every time in the past when Veronica had asked Nellie about Rick’s business trips she’d unwittingly hit a nerve and Nellie would somehow work it into the conversation that Rick had asked her to meet him on his trip, yet Nellie never had.

“Why don’t you?” Nellie started back to her front door and Veronica went after her. “Why, Nellie? Why haven’t you ever gone and met him
?
”

Nellie stopped at the front door and glared at her but there was more pain in her eyes than anger. “I told you. I have work.”

“Always?” Veronica pushed knowing she’d already pushed too far and hating Rick even more by the minute. How dare he do this to
sweet
Nellie?
“Is it because you’re afraid of who
you
’ll
find
him
with
?”

Nellie walked in the door
, the pained look in her flooded eyes killed Veronica
.
“You should leave.”

“I’m sorry!” Veronica cried out. “Please don’t be mad at me.”

“
Just
go.” Nellie closed the door just as the tears slid down her face.

Veronica leaned against the door and knocked softly. “Nellie, I’m sorry. Please talk to
me.
”
After minutes of no response she knocked again as her own tears slid down her face. “Call me if you need anything
,
okay? I love you.”

She wiped the tears away as she made her way slowly down the steps. Even this made her think of Noah. All this time she’d pegged him as
undependable and not serious boyfriend material
because of his age. Rick was almost thirty
, had seemingly committed to marriage
yet he was turning out to be the biggest lying asshole she’d ever known
. The guilt weighed even heavier now. This time for so unfairly lumping Noah in
the same category as
Rick
based solely on his age
. 

The guys
came over on Sunday and were there
all day
. It
’d
been a while since they’d had a virtual boxing fest like the old days. Noah checked with Roni first before okaying Hector to bring over his PlayStation3. They worked on changing the oil on Roni’s car
all morning,
then moved indoors for the boxing.

Noah told her she didn’t have to but Roni insisted on making them snacks and then lunch. She made sandwiches which she cut in half and piled high on a tray. Though the guys all said
they weren’t
hungry the pile of sandwiches were inhaled within minutes.

Her fussing over them had actually helped to distract her and get her mind off what she’d been moping a
bout
for days.
She
and Nellie were still on the outs and
Roni
was beside herself with guilt over having hurt Nellie’s feeling
s
.

Noah tried to tell her she’d been right to speak up and tell Nellie how she felt, especially given the fact that Roni said Nellie would have done the same thing had the tables been turned. Still as much as she tried to pretend nothing was wrong,
there was no masking
it. She was sad and he hated to see her that way.

T
hat afternoon Roni kept herself busy in the kitchen
and
later in her darkroom. She’d just walked out of
t
he darkroom and Noah turned
,
glad to see her smiling for a change.

Someone knocked at the front door and Roni walked through the front room to get it.
They’d ordered pizza but it was way too soon for that to
arrive
.
Since Noah had been living with her
,
the only people that ever came to the door were solicitors. Not once had she had any visitors. Even Nellie was yet to drop in since he’d been there.

They’d moved on from boxing to
Call Of Duty
,
a
military type game where they paired up in teams. “Noah
,
what are you doing?” Abel nudged him with his knee. “You’re supposed to back me up, he almost got me.” 

Hector laughed
,
going heavy on the bombs taking advantage of Noah’s slipup. Noah made a few maneuvers getting his man out of harm
’
s way but his eyes were back on the door where Roni smiled as she greeted whoever it was
.
She g
lanced back at Noah
with an expression he couldn’t quite make out before she walked out onto the porch closing the screen door behind her.

“Dude, can you fucking pay attention?” Noah looked back at the screen in time to see his man blown up. “You see?” Abel nudged him again.

The screen changed and Noah was down one life. He only had two left but he could
n’t
care less. He paid more attention now but still glanced back at the front door
repeatedly
. From the window that was partially covered with thin drapes he could see a
man
leaning against the railing of the porch but he couldn’t see Roni. She was probably leaning against the wall.

It could be anyone, a solicitor, a neighbor, but his already tightening gut told him otherwise. Since Roni had gone back to work, she’d mentioned reacquainting with old friends. That look she’d given him as she walked out put him completely on edge.

Noah managed to stay in the game for another fifteen minutes until h
e
and a
very
annoyed Abel were wiped out. Fifteen minutes was a relatively short time considering they could’ve gone on much longer had Noah actually
been
tr
ying
.

Noah stood up tossing his controller on the sofa. “Leave it off, Hector. The game
is
gonna start if it hasn’t already.”

“Oh yeah. The playoffs are on today
,
” Hector said
,
flipping it from the PS3 to television mode. 

Gio
,
who was always the first to catch on to what was going on in Noah’s head
,
didn’t miss a beat
asking in a curious but cautious tone,
“
w
ho’s that out there with Roni?”

Noah shrugged on his way to the door, but he was about to find out. He opened the door leaning
his upper body
ou
t
.
As
he sus
pected
,
Roni  was leaning against
the
wall just outside the door.
Noah recognized the guy immediately
and smiled feeling an immediate relief wash over him. No way could Roni be into this asshole, though he did wonder
wh
at
Kratz
was doing visiting her. “Small fucking world.” Noah reached out his hand to shake the
d
ean’s.

Roni shifted nervously.  “You know Derek?”

Like a flame doused with ice water the relief Noah felt just moments earlier was snuffed in an instant. “Derek?”

Derek shook his hand heart
i
ly with a smile. “Well
,
he probably remembers me  only as Dean
Kratz
, but yeah I remember Noah.
  How the hell are you?”

Noah nodded suddenly at a loss for words. The
d
ean was Roni’s ex?

“You two related?
”
The dean asked with a curious smile.

“No, uh,” Roni glanced at Noah then back at Derek. “Noah is my roommate.”

That fizzled the
d
ean’s smile a little. “Really?”

“Yeah, really.” Noah said, looking him square in the eyes.

Noah took in the Dean from top to bottom. He
hadn’t changed a whole lot since he last saw him. Still tall, well built for his age and he still carried that pompous
air
about him, but something was gone now. Maybe it was because Noah was no longer at the mercy of his rule or maybe it was that he’d just
jum
ped
to the top of
Noah’s list of all time assholes, but he was no longer as intimidating as he’d once been.   

“Roni mentioned her roommate was a boxer but I would’ve never made the connection. I remember you boxing even back when you were still in school.” The dean gave him a once over. “What are you a j
unior lightweight?”

Noah caught the
double ended jab
and chuckled. The guy was big but not as big as he obviously thought
he was
. He stepped out into the porch so the asshole could get a good look at his
lightweight
frame. “Light heavyweight actually.”

Derek raised his eyebrows as Noah crossed his arms in front of him.
A
car pulled into the driveway
grabbing all their attention for the moment
. The driver reached in the back seat and jumped out of the car with pizza box
es
. “
Oh
,
l
et me get my purse
,
” Roni said
,
stepping away from the wall.

“I got it
,
” Noah said
,
sticking his hand in his pocket.

“You sure?” Roni asked.

Noah nodded as
Gio walked out the front door pulling money out of his pocket
.
He
handed Noah two tens. “This is me and Abel’s share.”  

Noah took the money and
walked past Derek
. T
urn
ed
out
the man who once
towered
menacingly over him
was
exactly his height
now
. After paying the
delivery
guy he turned back to Roni who held the door open for him. Gio had already gone back inside. “The paper plates are in the pantry. I’ll be right in,” Roni said as Noah walked toward her. “I’m just gonna walk Derek to his car.”

Derek’s expression seemed
even more
off
put
by Roni’s sudden dismissal than Noah felt about the idea of her wanting even another minute alone with the douche. He
blatantly
smirked
at
Derek
then turned to Roni
.
“I’ll wait for you to eat,” Noah said meeting Roni’s eyes
and to his relief she nodded
.

The smug smirk he’d given Derek when Roni announced
s
he was
see
ing
him off whether he was ready or not
was all the goodbye the guy would get from Noah. His hypocrisy only went so far.
As much as he hated leaving Roni out there with Derek, he wouldn’t give him the pleasure of knowing it
,
but
pretend
ing
he’d been
even slightly
pleased to
see him again
had been as far as he was going
.

Noah slowed as he walked by Roni, giving her a knowing look. She may not have given him the go ahead to question her personal life like he
’d given her but
she
had
to know this was something that would be discussed as soon as he got a moment alone with her.