Nora Ray (Ray Trilogy) (5 page)

Nora saw him take the deep breath and mistook it that he had changed his mind about going on the date with her.

She thought,
I think we are both going on this date with the same opinion, but we’ll see it through.

Somehow she felt comfortable about it now. She smiled at him, took his hand, and said, “
A deal’s a deal, right?”

He grinned, “
It sure is.”

They turned and waved bye to her parents and Danny peeking
around the kitchen door grinning from ear to ear.

Jeremy had driven a light blue 195
5 ‘to die for’ convertible into their driveway.

When she saw that car she almost swallowed her tongue.

“Do you like it?” Jeremy asked. “My dad let me drive his car tonight.”

By this time she had gotten her composure back. It had beige leather seats and beige and blue accents on the rest of the interior. She felt like she could inhale the beauty of it. When she could get three words together she said, “
I love it.”

He opened
the door and she got in taking care to arrange her cancans and flaring skirt.

They watched a movie with lots of dancing and singing. They ate popcorn and drank a soda. She loved every minute of it. Her tummy was full and her eyes were shining from the roma
nce and music of the movie.

She and Jeremy got back in the car for him to take her home because her dad had given him a very stiff curfew when to bring her home.

“We have a few minutes, would you like to drive around?” Jeremy asked as he started the car.

“
Well, okay, I guess.” Nora hadn’t thought this far into the date. She hadn’t thought about really ‘date’ dating him. She hadn’t paid any attention to him putting his arm around her during the movie; she was so engrossed in the dancing and music. What if he wanted to kiss her? She felt a small knot of panic began to develop in the pit of her stomach.
What had she gotten herself into this time?

She had never dated while they lived on the dairy. She didn
’t feel like she had the time considering the chores she had to do seven days a week. Since they had moved into town, it seemed she was always getting herself into situations totally out of her element. Taking a deep breath she reminded herself of her resolve that she had on the thinking rock. ‘She was used to trouble and she would face trouble head on’. She braced herself. S
he could handle this
, she told herself.

Jeremy pulled into the park and stopped. He turned toward her with his right arm thrown across the back of the seat.

“So,” she said frantically trying to think of something to say, “Your dad has a really nice car.”

He smiled and nodded.

“What’s his occupation?”

“
My dad is Donald Littlefield, of Littlefield and Swartz Attorneys at Law. You may have heard of him. Yes, he makes lots of money and that’s why he has a really nice car.”

“
Oh.” She could think of nothing to say immediately so she picked up her small handbag and turned it around on her lap while she tried to think of something.

Jeremy leaned his head around to try to look in her face. “
Nora, I feel like I’ve never had a chance to talk to you, to get to know you. That’s all I’m doing here.

She relaxed and turned toward him. “
I feel like I have never known you. You seem so different than I ever knew before.”

He laughed, “
Because of my singing.”

She r
eturned his laughter. “Yes, majorly. You embarrassed me at school all the time.”

“
Remember our deal,” she reminded him jokingly. “You promised.”

Holding up his fingers, he agreed, “
Scout’s honor.”

“
Whew!” she let out a breath. “I’m glad we got that settled.”

He laughed at her. “
I think I should get you home because if you enjoyed yourself tonight I would like to date you again.”

Jeremy seemed like a totally different person than what he was at school. “
Do you think you will study to be a lawyer some day?” she asked.

“
I’m still debating that issue.” He continued thoughtfully, “I am working at the law office during the day this summer trying to get a feel of it. To see if it is something I could do as a profession. Graduation is only a year away and I need to make some decisions soon.”

Nora now understood why he was never around when she was walking the sidewalks waiting for him to pounce on her, so to speak.

When they got to the front door, Jeremy stopped, “Thank you for going on a date with me, even if I did bribe you.”

She laughed, “
Well, we got through it,” she laughed. “I really had a good time. I enjoyed being with you and the movie.”

Bolstered by her comment he quickly brushed a kiss across her lips.

He surprised her by saying, “I’ve wanted to kiss you for so long.”

My
, she thought,
this night is full of surprises.
What she said was, “I had no idea.”

“
Get used to that idea, my beautiful Nora.”

Her mom and dad had already gone to their bedroom. She was so thankful that she didn
’t have to face them. She had so many whirling emotions going on, she needed to be alone. To think all this through was going to take a while.

Chapter Five

Nora’s dad seemed to feel better after they had moved into town. He read the paper, visited with the neighbors, and discussed politics with anybody who wanted to stop and visit with him on his porch swing. He took more interest in Nora’s and Danny’s everyday life, at least Nora thought so. Now that they didn’t have to spend every minute of the day working, everybody seemed more pleasant, almost like a personality change.

Nora, though, was used to being busy and she looked around for something to do. She walked around to the back yard. There stood a tall oak tree. S
he guessed it to be about forty feet tall with a diameter of about fourteen inches. That would make a great tree for Danny a tree house. On the other side of the back yard was a pile of rubbish piled up where an old storage shed used to be but it had collapsed from neglect and old age.
What an eyesore
, she thought.
Dad’s probably not well enough to clean that up, so I will.

She went into the house and donned some of her old jeans and an old shirt that she used to wear on the dairy. She went to find her dad
to see if he would drive the pickup into the alley for her to pile the old rubbish and debris into it to be hauled away.

“
Dad,” she asked, “do you mind if I clean up that pile of stuff out of the corner of the back yard?”

“
First, I want to go back there and see what you have in mind.”

“
Okay,” she walked around back with him. “See over there?” she pointed. “I want to clean up that mess.”

“
Sweetheart,” I’ll get that cleaned up someday.” He patted her on the shoulder, “Don’t you want to get with some of your girlfriends and fix hairdos or something like that?”

Nora looked at him in shock, “
Why would I want to do that?” she asked with a sour look on her face.

Amused at her, he said, “
I’ll get the pickup.”

After he drove around to the alley and parked the p
ickup, she mentioned, “What do you think about a tree house in that tree for Danny?”

“
I’m sure he would love to have one but I don’t think I’m able to hammer the nails and do the lifting that would be required,” he hung his head sadly.

“
If you bought the boards and other materials, do you think you could tell me how to do it?”

“
If I bought everything you needed, I still wouldn’t want you to build a tree house.”

Now he had hurt her feelings, “
Why not? Don’t you think I could do it?”

“
I don’t doubt that you would put forth your best effort, but sawing those boards and hammering the nails is not easy work even for a man unless he’s used to doing it all the time.” He lifted her hand, “See that pretty hand?”

She looked at her hand, “
So?”

“
Hammers are not kind to fingers.”

She shrugged.
I’ll have to find another way
, she thought.

“
Okay, I’ll think about the tree house some more,” she surrendered for now.

He smiled at her tenacity and went back into the house.

Nora tackled the rubbish. Someone had thrown all sorts of bottles, cans, old weeds and other things; she wasn’t sure what all it was. She had to find a hammer to break some of the boards apart to be able to throw them into the pickup.

After a few hours of cleaning and breaking the old building apart, the pickup
was almost full. She felt satisfied with a good since of accomplishment. She wasn’t finished but by tomorrow evening, she should have it all cleaned up.

She went in and turned on the water to take a bath.
She crawled in the warm water.
Aah,
she sighed,
that feels good.

After the dishes were done, the family went out to sit on the front porch to enjoy the evening breeze which they had become accustomed to doing. Often Jeremy came by to visit for a few minutes in the evening. Soon he ambled up and sat do
wn on the porch steps near Nora.

“
Jeremy, you should see what Nora has gotten herself into,” John said with a slight brag.

Jeremy glanced at Nora with a question in his eyes, “
Oh, yeah?”

“
Nora, take Jeremy around back and show him the mess you’re cleaning up.”

Obediently Nora and Jeremy walked to the back yard, “
There,” she pointed. “That whole corner was filled with all kinds of rubbish and there was an old shed that had crumpled with old age that needed to be torn down and taken out.”

“
Wow!” Jeremy exclaimed. “You sure picked yourself a job here.”

“
Well,” she shrugged her shoulders. “Yes,” she drawled, “I was bored.”

“
You sure find unusual ways to entertain yourself,” he said in amazement.

She rolled her shoulder with a dismissive flair, “
I’m used to work.”

“
See this tree?” she walked over and touched the oak.

“
I want to build Danny a tree house to put up about eight feet high with a ladder up the tree. I want a climbing rope and a swing hanging from the bottom of it so it has to be really sturdy.”

“
And you’re going to build it?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“
Dad says that he isn’t able and I would ruin my fingers.” Her disappointment showed through. “I will find a way to get it done but I haven’t figured it out yet.”

Jeremy looked around the back yard a
nd his mind popped with excitement.
I would put in a patio to the left of the back door with a lawn table and four chairs since there are four of them. I would surround the edges with monkey grass on three sides. A big pot of geraniums next to the door would give extra color and a hanging basket of fern on the other side of where the table would set . I would plant holly bushes along the fence row to always have extra color in the winter. I would plant a Japanese elm in the corner behind the patio. After the shed is taken out where she is cleaning out the corner, I would build a sitting area with a concrete bench surrounded by flowers and a few Rose of Sharon bushes sprinkled around to give privacy, then I would plant Crepe Myrtle along the fence behind the seating area which would create flowering bushes until frost.
Then he said to her, “I see lots of possibilities here. If I bring a couple of my buddies with me, we could build this tree house in a few days.”

“
Are you sure you have the time? Don’t you work for your dad? I know you have responsibilities at your dad’s law firm.”

“
I do have responsibilities there but I don’t do physical work. There I just file papers, answer the phone some. They’re trying to teach me a little about paralegal work. I’m just bored most of the time. Building this would be fun compared to what I do there.”

“
Alright then,” she sighed with relief knowing that she had one of her problems resolved. “I would be happy for you and your friends to come help build Danny’s tree house.”

“
My dad and I built a tree house together when I was little and it meant so much to me. I would like to give Danny an experience similar to what I had.”

“
Let’s go talk to my dad and see what he says.”