Page 86 of Shifting Gears

Nora pours everything she can’t say into the kiss. The idea of parting is like ripping a piece of herself away. It’s as if when she carved her name into that tree, it bound them together somehow. Dani is carved into her heart.

But it can’t go on forever. Their kisses finally slow, and Nora pulls herself away after one soft, final meeting of lips.

Dani strokes Nora’s cheek one last time before letting her hand drop away. “Goodbye, Nora.”

Before she can call this whole thing off, Nora tears herself away from Dani and gets into the car. When she shuts the door behind her, Kayla’s voice is right there beside her.

“One last chance to change your mind.”

Nora doesn’t answer. After a moment, Kayla turns the ignition, and Nora watches Dani shrink in the rear-view mirror—leaned up against her truck, arms folded, watching the progression of Nora’s Porsche down the driveway—until the car turns onto the road.

Nora has never been more grateful for Kayla’s presence. She keeps a steady hand on the wheel and the other laced with Nora’s while she cries. She gives steady company without judgment.The further Nora gets from Dani, the more it feels like a piece of her is stretching thin between them, refusing to let Dani go. A kite string holding them together.

It’s somehow both the longest and the shortest drive of Nora’s life. She collapses into the cold, now-unfamiliar bed in her dusty apartment just before 2 a.m. after an afternoon spent furiously outlining a plan for tomorrow’s meeting, and she sleeps fitfully out of pure exhaustion.

The moon seems terribly far away, cold and small and remote above the glowing city skyline.

Chapter 19

The look on Renée’s facewhen she sees Nora waiting at the head of the conference table the following morning doesn’t make up for the devastation of leaving Riverwalk, but it does help.

“Eleanor,” Renée says, her voice somewhat higher than usual but still managing to sound condescending. “You’ve finally graced us with your presence. How thrilling.”

Nora says nothing. As the rest of the board filters in, she maintains her silence, watching the way each of them fidgets under her gaze but none will meet her eyes. Kayla and Ash are the last in the room, shutting the door firmly behind them and taking their seats at Nora’s right and left hands.

“Since I didn’t call this meeting, I feel I need to ask,” Nora says into the stifling silence, “what’s this about?”

“We’re concerned that your investment in your job isn’t up to our standards,” Renée says, radiating a smugness that Nora can’t wait to dismantle. “You’ve been gone for months, letting your underlings run the show. The board feels that you’ve been an absent leader.”

“The board feels,” Nora says quietly.

The board is silent.

“We all feel that perhaps control of the company was given to you too hastily,” Renée says.

Nora shuffles her papers. She lets the awkwardness infuse the room, percolating down until even Renée looks uncomfortable.

“Despite being doubted at every turn,” Nora starts, her voice low and controlled, “I have increased profits in every quarter since I took this position. I’ve been responsible for green-lighting several products which have made this company—and each of you—a great deal of money. And my single period of absence this summer is nothing in comparison to the multiple month-long holidays my father took several times a year with his various wives.”

Renée’s cheeks turn pink.

“Whether any of us agree with it or not, it was my father’s belief that I was the best fit,” Nora continues more loudly as Renée opens her mouth to protest. “And nothing in my work ethic or accomplishments over the last five years has warranted the disrespect consistently paid to me here.”

It’s hard to gauge the energy of the room when Nora is so focused on not showing how much her heart is pounding. But Renée doesn’t look happy.

“And how do you explain your absence this summer? What do you have to present that could possibly have taken four months?”

“I spent the summer doing research. Integrating into the community,” Nora says, taking a steadying breath. “And I determined that a large-scale real estate development project in Bracken County isn’t feasible.”

Renée latches onto that like a piranha swallowing a juicy piece of bait. “So you’re telling us that eighteen weeks of your supposed work has amounted to absolutely nothing?”

“Quite the opposite. My work determined that the local population’s negative views of CromTech make it a bad candidate for the kind of development we intended. However,” Nora says, holding up a finger as Renée tries to interject again, “it also gave me the opportunity to reflect on this company’s direction.”

The proposal Nora finished two weeks ago to replace the Riverwalk development project is something she wouldn’t have dreamed of presenting to the board before this summer. Now,however, her investment in her job has waned so much that she has nothing to lose.

Why not shoot for the moon?

“We’ll be investing in a series of green-tech initiatives, and we’ll be finding the funding elsewhere. I’ve laid out areas where resources can be redirected, along with several new donor and investor opportunities,” Nora says authoritatively. “A small pivot, but a turn in the right direction.”

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