Page 57 of Reeling in Love

“Nice. Say hi to them for me.”

“You should come over too. They’d love to meet you.”

I can see the indecision in her eyes. We were all good friends until Josh’s father decided to be Nora’s father’s lawyer during the divorce. She never really spoke to Josh much after that. I tried to tell her it wasn’t Josh, but his father, but she simply couldn’t.

“Nah. I’ll pass. Maybe next time.” She looks up at me. “You’ll tell them about us? The gang?”

“About last night? No!”

“Not that, you idiot. That never happened, remember? I mean, about us supposedly dating.”

“Um, I guess I should, right? I mean, if it were real, I’d tell them, so I think I should. What do you say?”

She nods, comes over next to me, and takes a selfie with me.

“Yeah, you should. But keep it as minimal as possible. I’ll do the same with Carla and Mom. The fewer details we go into, the better,” she says, her gaze fixed on her phone as she posts the photo.

“Is this okay? I think you should cross-post this,” she says, showing me the photo and the text - ‘With my beau at his home. #LoveIsInTheAir #LoveBeingInLove.’

I nod, but all I can think of is kissing her all over her body and giving her all the pleasure and happiness that she deserves.

We go down for breakfast. Mom and Dad seem to have already eaten. The cook is waiting to serve us. Nora has only fruits and a boiled egg while I pile up my plate with bacon and toast.

“Wow!” Nora says, scrolling through her phone. “Guess who just congratulated us?”

“The President? Bill Gates?”

“Haha. Hilarious. TruthSeekerBob.”

“The one you’re always picking up some fight with?”

“I don’t pick those fights. They just happen. His views are… well, weird and ancient.”

“Isn’t he the one who used to position himself as some crusader of truth?”

“Yeah. Same. Except that now he’s the one who has become the gossip-monger of the town. Anyway, please accept his congratulations on our supposed relationship.”

“Thank you. Thank you,” I say, bowing down and kissing her hand.

Mom and Dad come in from the garden right then. “Morning to both of you. Wow! Gabriel, isn’t that a bit much for breakfast?” Mom says, giving me and my plate a disapproving look.

“Well, he burned quite a few calories last night, dear,” Dad says with a wink.

Shit! He has no sense of what to speak. Their bedroom is right next to mine, so I guess they heard some stuff. I cast a furtive glance at Nora and she has gone red as a cherry.

“George!” Mom reprimands him, thankfully. Then she turns to me. “But perhaps you two should stay downstairs in the guest room if you plan to stay on.”

They both leave, leaving us stunned and silent, with Dad’s chuckles still reverberating in my ears.

“Well,” I say, after a bit. “That should take care of their believing we’re a couple part.”

Nora arches her eyebrows and looks at me with a twinkle in her eyes and we both burst out laughing. God! I love to see her laugh. What wouldn’t I do to keep that smile and that laugh on her face? Anything. Everything.

Chapter 24

Nora: #Mom’sFoodIsTheBest

Gabs stops the car outside my childhood home. It seems even smaller than it used to be, especially after spending the previous day at his parents’ enormous home. The house is as it has always been, a smallish two-floor white-colored house with brown doors. Nothing to set it apart from all the other houses on the street except the garden.

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