Page 45 of Shifting Gears

While Kayla and Ash aren’t wrong about her tendency to overlook flirtation, if Dani harbors any attraction, she’s been perfectly platonic so far. It’s Nora who has been succumbing to embarrassing fantasies, and the last thing she wants is for her lack of self-control to ruin what’s turning out to be one of the most genuine friendships she’s ever had.

* * *

When one of her planned lunch days with Dani dawns with pouring rain, Nora is proud of her initiative in heading out early to pick up their food and bring it to the garage instead. The daily lunch special at the restaurant is turkey club sandwiches, and Nora grabs two side salads to accompany them—she’s discovered that when they don’t eat together Dani usually ends up eating hot pockets or protein shakes, and she’s endeavoured to introduce healthier foods to Dani’s diet.

Nora enters the shop through the office door in the back, as Dani has told her to do more than once by now. The rain is so loud against the roof and the large windows that Nora doesn’t hear voices until she’s almost reached the door to the garage.

Sarah’s voice is first, ringing out in exasperation.

“It’s clear that you’re crazy about her, that’s all I’m saying.”

Nora’s hand freezes on the doorknob. She hears Dani’s awkward laugh follow.

“Kinda an overstatement, isn’t it?”

“I don’t think so. Sheisyour type.”

“And she’s totally off-limits, so it doesn’t matter,” Dani says firmly.

Nora’s heart sinks. Between everyone in Dani’s circle, only a few women could be considered completely off-limits. She shuffles through them like a Rolodex—Naomi is unlikely considering Sarah’s involvement in the conversation. Jenny is an unlikely candidate. Could it be Mila? Being married certainly makes her off-limits.

The weight of Nora’s belligerent, summer-long denial of just how much she wants something with Dani beyond friendship is coming to bear all at once now that it could be off the table.

It was stupid to think Dani might be interested in her in the first place.

“Has she specifically told you that?” Sarah challenges.

“She doesn’t have to.”

“Come on, I saw the way you were looking at her at the potluck. We all did, Casanova.”

“She’s stunning,” Dani says. Something about the way she says it, the low sureness of her tone, sends a wave of something hot through Nora, even if it tragically isn’t directed at her. “Of course I was looking at her. Everyone was!”

It’s all a little bit too much for Nora’s overheated brain. She takes a step backwards, but she can still hear their voices.

“Nobody looks at a girl the way you were without wanting to get down on one knee,” Sarah says before pausing and amending. “Or both knees. Whatever. Either way, you should get to it.”

Images of exactly what that would entail jump to Nora’s mind immediately. The wave of jealousy that follows is so strong that Nora almost drops the container with Dani’s lunch in it.

“Sarah!” Dani hisses, as if someone could be listening to them. Which, Nora realizes with an equal wave of guilt, is indeed the case. “You haven’t made a move with Naomi either.”

“That’s different.”

“How so?”

“It just is!” Sarah grumbles. “Naomi and I have, like, twenty-five years of friendship at stake. What’s holding you back with Nora?”

Nora’s heart skips several beats.

The course of this conversation has been a roller coaster, from a crushing low up to a dizzying high; she might even have stopped breathing in her sudden eagerness to not miss a single word from Dani’s mouth.

It’s not Mila that Dani is interested in. It’s not Naomi. It’sNora.

“What’s holding me back? Are you kidding?” Dani says. Her voice quiets. She suddenly sounds solemn in a way that she didn’t when Sarah was teasing her. Nora could hazard a guessat what Dani might bring up next—that Nora is emotionally unavailable, that she’s pretentious, that she’s not worth the effort of cracking the shell.

“Of course I’ve thought about it,” Dani says instead. “But she’s out of my league. She’s a beautiful, intelligent businesswoman with a billion university degrees, and she’s going back to that life soon. She’s amazing. I’m just some hick mechanic. Outside of the physical, what could I possibly offer her? Why would she ever give me a second look?”

Something shifts in Nora, a new light on the negative self-image she’s always clung to. It’s pried open by the fact that Dani thinks so highly of her, and, in fact, is under the impression that she has nothing to offer toNora.In what world?

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