Page 91 of Shifting Gears

Riverwalk is everything and nothinglike Nora remembers.

The roads are the same, as are the shops, the cars. The grocery store is still packed with Friday-evening shoppers, the neon lights of the River Run sign still flash over a parking lot full of trucks, only now the streets are also lined with snowbanks taller than her car, each window frosted and glowing in the early-winter darkness. Lights twinkle around most of the buildings, and each street lamp hosts a holiday-themed decoration.

Ten minutes after Nora has pulled into the River Run parking lot, she still hasn’t left her car.

What if Dani’s mind has changed? What if, in the months that Nora has been gone, Dani moved on from their brief relationship? What if—worst of all—she’s found someone else?

There’s only one way to find out. After a few more minutes of solitary panic, Nora manages to open the car door and slide her way across the frozen pavement—no matter the outcome, she’ll never forgive herself if she doesn’t at least try.

The moment she steps through the door into the warm bar, she’s assaulted by sense memories. It smells exactly the same—beer, old smoke, and pizza from next door. The noise hasn’t changed either, the country song on the jukebox almost drowned out by the yells and cheers of the regulars watching a hockey game on the TV over the bar. Even Jenny is the same, barely looking away from the screen when Nora walks in.

“If you want a drink, get it yourself. I’m busy.”

Nora laughs softly. Her eyes track toward the back of the bar, where Dani’s usual table is, but someone sees her first.

“Nora?”

The deep voice that calls out isn’t the one Nora is hoping for, but it’s familiar. Sitting not far from the pool table is Owen, with Ryan and Mila crowding the table around him, and he’s staring at her with his mouth agape. In fact, they all are.

Nora shifts nervously from foot to foot as Owen stands up. She hadn’t been around to see their full reactions to her secret getting out, and she hadn’t said goodbye to anyone besides Dani. For all she knows, they could ask to have her thrown out of the bar.

Owen strides forward, his face breaking out into a genuine grin as he scoops her into a tight hug. “Itisyou! What are you doing here? We thought you left us for good!”

Nora wants to answer, but the truth catches in her throat as Owen lifts her an inch or two off the ground. Luckily Mila appears next, hugging Nora somehow even harder, and in the excitement of seeing her friends, the burden is taken from her for a minute.

The distraction doesn’t last long. Mila is the one to ask the question again as everyone settles back into their seats. “Seriously, what are you doing here? Not that we aren’t happy to see you! But we didn’t think you’d be back. Like…ever.”

Nora sits gingerly on the edge of the chair Owen pulls out for her. “I can’t say I expected a happy reception.”

“What, because of the whole secret-identity thing?” Mila says, scoffing. “Pfft. As if we care.”

It’s a performative kind of nonchalance, but Nora frowns. It’s a complete turnaround from the faces she saw when Kayla had spilled the secret, and Nora has a suspicion as to why. “Dani talked to you all, didn’t she?”

“Yeah. She helped us see your side of it,” Owen says, ruffling Ryan’s fluffy hair. “Especially this one.”

“I’m truly sorry, Ryan,” Nora says quietly. “I know you more than anyone must have been—”

“I got over it,” Ryan says, holding up a hand. “I wish you had just told us yourself, but I understand why you didn’t. You were afraid we’d hold your dad’s actions against you.”

“And that’s exactly what we ended up doing,” Mila says.

Ryan clears his throat. “Yeah. Sorry I didn’t take it so well at first.”

For a few seconds, Nora is speechless. On the TV behind the bar, one of the hockey teams scores—the regulars all groan in displeasure.

“You have nothing to apologize for. I know I deserved your anger,” Nora says, still half convinced that this is an elaborate prank and she’s going to be thrown bodily out of the building. She scratches at the table with her thumbnail. “I came prepared for you to pelt me with tomatoes.”

“Dani basically stood up in Town Hall to lecture everyone about not judging you too harshly,” Owen says, laughing a little. “Sarah was stubborn for a while, but Naomi told us all about how different CromTech is now. That helped a lot.”

Nora gnaws at her lower lip. That sounds like something Dani would do. “It’s Dani I came to see, actually.”

Owen shares a knowing look with Ryan.

“Coulda guessed that,” Ryan murmurs.

“Is she here tonight?” Nora asks hopefully, looking around the space as if Dani might appear from behind the jukebox.

Owen shakes his head. “We haven’t seen much of her lately. Even Sarah only sees her at work and at home. She disappears most nights and doesn’t come back until late.”

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