Page 28 of Ten Years and Then…
Out of nowhere, the thought came to him: if he and Nora ever had a baby, what would he look like? Which one of them would she take after? What would they do when that hypothetical child got hurt?
His mother patted his head. “When your time comes, whenever that is, you’ll know what to do. That’s something I can promise you.” How had she known what he was thinking?
Because she was his mother, and she always knew. Maybe he should have trusted that more.
Nora, the same time
“Nora? Are you home from school?”
After the conversation with her mother, Nora considered opening up her father’s liquor cabinet with the key he thought was cleverly hidden, and drinking enough vodka to forget all about her parents’ love lives.
She’d thought better of it, though. Once the hangover passed, Joelle and Jean-Paul would still be there, plus Dad would be livid. So she called Aunt Rachel instead.
“I wish I wasn’t. Did you know Dad has a new girlfriend? And she’s barely out of high school?”
Rachel didn’t quite laugh. “Yeah. She’s a year younger than me. That was a surprise. But I’ll tell you something, I think she really cares about him.”
“Maybe.” Nora didn’t want to admit it, but she had gotten that same feeling from Joelle. She still didn’t want to be a party to it. “And my mother’s got somebody, too. I just—I can’t do this, Rachel. Can I come down and spend Christmas with you?”
There was no hesitation at all. “Of course, honey. Except—it won’t be with me. I’ve got to fly out tomorrow night. There’s a crisis in the London office, and apparently only I can handle it.”
Well, that sucked. Still—all alone in Rachel’s apartment in Manhattan, or a third wheel with both of her parents and their new partners?
Wait—Manhattan was part of New York City. And so was the Bronx.
Where Daniel’s house was.
“Can I come anyway? I don‘t mind staying by myself.”
Now there was hesitation. “I don’t think you ever told me where your boyfriend lives, Nora.”
She’d blurted it out too fast. Of course Rachel guessed what she was thinking. “He’s in the Bronx.”
“Nora Kathleen Langley, you have to promise me. On your honor. If I let you stay in my apartment, that boy doesn’t stay over.”
“Daniel.”
“Daniel doesn’t stay over. Do you promise?”
Nora thought about crossing her fingers. Or just saying whatever Rachel wanted to hear and ignoring it when the moment came. But she couldn’t. Even if Rachel wouldn’t find out, she couldn’t lie to her like that. Anyway, it would be enough to see Daniel without having him up to the apartment. It would be more than enough.
“I promise, Rachel. Thank you so much!”
Chapter 9
Christmas Break, Part 2—Bronx, NY/Manhattan, NY
Daniel, December 21, early afternoon
Daniel was sitting in his bedroom, thinking about everything his mother had said, for—God, was it really two hours?
It wasn’t just Mom’s words that were going round and round in his mind. There was also the sudden, crazy idea that had popped into his head while they were talking—a baby? With Nora? Where had something like that come from? Neither he nor Nora had said a word about the future. He was only nineteen, she was just eighteen, he wouldn’t even graduate for two and a half years!
It was because Mom had gotten him so emotional, and she was talking about parenthood and stuff. That made sense. It wasn’t even his own thought, really. He could just forget it, he never needed to think about it again. Nice and easy.
It probably wasn’t going to be nice and easy when he went downstairs, though. His mother would have told his father about Nora. Obviously she would have. And Dad would have something to say about it, especially with his grades. Which weren’t even that bad. Yes, it was mostly B’s with only one A, rather than mostly A’s with a couple of B’s as it had been last year. But that was still solid, he only needed to maintain a 3.0 GPA to keep his partial scholarship and he was well above that.
However much he didn’t want to be lectured, he had to go downstairs sooner or later. He might as well get it over with. And, anyway, his stomach was rumbling, and the kitchen was downstairs, too.
