Page 44 of Shifting Gears

The connection crackles.

“Really?” Kayla says.

Nora drums her fingers on the countertop as the kettle starts to boil.

“How long? A couple of weeks?”

“Until August.”

“August?” Ash says loudly. “You’re going to take another whole month?”

“Two, actually. I’m leaving August 28.”

“Christ, Eleanor,” Ash says after another long silence. “When we said take a break, we didn’t meanfour months.”

“No, this is good. If she needs the time to recharge, she should take it,” Kayla cuts in. “But can you at least send us your report? Renée has been getting uppity about it.”

Nora freezes in mid-pour.

“It’s not really her place to make demands,” Nora says quickly. “I agreed to present it in quarter four.”

“Hold on. Is it not finished?”

“That’s not relevant.”

“It’s very relevant!”

“This is new. You never procrastinate,” Ash pipes in. “Ever. In fact, when I rather think you should be procrastinating a little, you work harder.”

“I’m not procrastinating,” Nora insists. “I’ve already booked the moving trucks.”

“And the report?”

“It’s going through some edits,” Nora says edgily.

Kayla’s voice takes over—Nora assumes the phone has been passed. “Such as?”

The report is in fact not undergoing edits so much as it’s completely stalled out. Nora has been less confident in it the longer she’s been in Riverwalk, and she’s more comfortable putting it aside until she can get a handle on what she actually wants to do. “I’m reassessing the methodology. You’ll find out when it’s finished.”

“Does it really need reassessing? Wasn’t this whole thing supposed to be a simple slam dunk?” Ash says, his voice going high-pitched in confusion. “To fund your eco-tech?”

“It was. Itis,” Nora corrects quickly. “I just want to make sure I’m doing it in a way that’s beneficial to everyone.”

“This doesn’t happen to have anything to do with that hot mechanic you didn’t sleep with, does it? Are you flinging after all?”

Nora rolls her eyes. She grabs her mug, settling in on the living room sectional and grabbing the latest in her pile of library books. “Leave Dani out of it, please. She’s given no indication that she’s interested in anything beyond friendship.”

“Yes, because you’ve historically been great at determining when you’re being flirted with,” Kayla says sarcastically. “It took Lydia putting her number into your phone underfuckbuddyfor you to get the message.”

“Unfortunately Dani isn’t in my phone as anything,” Nora says thoughtlessly.

She winces into the stunned silence that follows.

“Do you not have her number?” Kayla asks, her crackly voice a mixture of disbelief and amusement. “Haven’t you two been hanging out, like, every day?”

“We usually run into each other in town. Or I call the shop.”

Kayla sighs heavily. “Eleanor Cromwell, your love life is a disaster of international proportions.”

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