Page 81 of Shifting Gears

“What the hell?” Sarah says, flabbergasted.

Ryan pipes up from under Owen’s arm. “FuckingCromTech, Nora?”

“All summer you’ve been lying to us?” Sarah says, looking more disappointed than anything else. “Are you seriously—”

Nora doesn’t stay to hear the rest. She can hear Kayla calling out to her as she sends her chair clattering to the floor, but she doesn’t turn back. She doesn’t face the consequences of her months of avoidance.

Nora runs.

She runs harder than she’s ever run before, sprinting down a path she and Dani sometimes use to bypass Main Street, and cutting through the woods until she emerges into a blessedly empty soybean field. She wades past a few rows before hunching over to gasp for air, her eyes burning with tears she can’t hold back.

They all know now. The shock in everyone’s eyes was clear—anyone who didn’t figure it out the moment Kayla let it slip surely knows after Naomi laid it all out. The reactions spoke for themselves. It’ll spread through town like wildfire, and in a matter of hours, it’ll all be over.

It’s richly deserved, but the loss of her protective bubble is devastating. The anonymity of Riverwalk has allowed Nora to be truly, unrestrictedly herself for the first time in her life. Here she’s not the daughter who never measured up, not the perfect student or the hard-ass bitch. Not Eleanor, not MissCromwell, not Robert Cromwell’s daughter. Not the CEO of CromTech. Just Nora. And now that’s gone.

She can’t blame Kayla and Ash, really. She’s been deliberately shutting them out. She’s told them only the barest hints about her time here, so they had no way of knowing that nobody in town knew who she was. And she certainly can’t blame Dani andher friends for being angry about the fact that Nora has been hiding this.

Even so, it hurts like abitch.

Nora sinks to her knees in the dirt, savouring what she knows now will be her last day here.

She’s finally run out of time.

“Nora?”

Nora closes her eyes as Dani approaches from behind her. Dani’s voice is soft, and Nora can hear her hard breathing as she rustles through the soybean plants. She must have run to catch up.

“I’m sorry,” Nora whispers. She hears Dani settle beside her, and a warm hand lands on her arm. “I’msosorry.”

Dani says nothing. Nora opens her eyes; Dani’s hat is missing. Her ponytail is windblown, with tiny blonde fly-aways fluttering in the breeze, and her expression is soft.

“You have every right to scream at me,” Nora says. “I should have been completely honest with you from the start. I know how you all feel about CromTech. I was so—so fuckingselfish.”

Dani’s face, strangely, doesn’t change from its sympathetic expression. She just settles herself in the dirt right next to Nora and interlaces their fingers. “I’ve always known who you are.”

A genuine record scratch would be less disruptive. Nora replays the words in her head, in order, and yet they don’t make a coherent statement to her.

Nora looks down at their linked hands, and then back up at Dani.

“I saw your full name on the receipt the first time you came to the shop,” Dani says, shrugging as if this isn’t a massive fucking revelation that shakes Nora’s entire perception of the summer. “I have a degree in journalism, remember? And you had a CromTech key chain in your dashboard when I changed your tire.”

Nora blinks slowly.

From the moment they met, Dani has known who Nora is. What she does. So she’s known that Nora hasn’t been telling her the whole truth, and she’s wanted to spend time with her despite that.

“I don’t understand,” Nora says.

Dani squeezes her hand. “I figured you didn’t want the whole town knowing, especially after Ryan said all that stuff about CromTech. You seemed like you needed a break. And, like I said, nobody is entitled to know anything personal that you don’t want to share. Myself included.”

Even in Nora’s most indulgent, selfish daydreams, she never could have imagined that Dani would react this way. It’s so absurd that it feels disingenuous, even though Dani has never shown any signs of lying. “You didn’t tell anyone. You didn’t treat me any differently.”

“Of course I didn’t. You’re just a person like everyone else. I got to know you on your terms.”

Nora laughs humourlessly. “I’m not sure how you did that. I don’t even know me lately.”

Dani doesn’t let her spin into the vortex of self-loathing. She puts a finger under Nora’s chin to guide her until their eyes meet and speaks with a frank honesty that even Nora can’t ignore.

“I know you, Nora. You inspired Mila to start her own clothing brand, and you never treat any of us like we’re less than you,” Dani says, smiling softly. “You like to read and drink good wine and do 5,000-piece puzzles to relax. You’re a recovering workaholic. You’re the smartest person I’ve ever met, and you want to use it to help people. You’re an incredible woman. And I’m insanely lucky that I’ve gotten to spend this summer with you.”

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