Page 90 of Ten Years and Then…
“Thanks,” Nora said, surprised. “You didn’t have to tell me that. You could have kept it to yourself.”
“I probably should have. Before last night, I think I would have. But you didn’t have to take time for me. Fair is fair.”
Nora knew that was an exaggeration. Last night’s dinner might have been the final straw that turned over a new leaf—she had to laugh at herself for that thought. Her high school English teachers would’ve had a stroke over that metaphor, and Jack Elliott would probably fire her on the spot if she said it out loud.
But whichever metaphor she wanted to use, Annette must have been stewing over things for a while, and Nora had only given her that last little push she needed to start acting more like a halfway decent human being.
“Okay, in that spirit, if I manage to catch him and I get anything good, I’ll give you a heads-up.”
Annette smiled—a genuine, heartfelt smile. “Thank you, Nora. I’ve got one more thing for you. Totally not work-related, but you did say last night you haven’t had any fun in ages.” That wasn’t what she’d actually said, but there was no point in being pedantic. “I hear there’s going to be a big crowd from the conference at this karaoke bar—a little place called Second Verse, it’s on Walnut Street, four blocks or so from the hotel. A room full of tech geeks singing off-key all night—how can you beat that?”
That did sound like fun. It sounded like the kind of thing she and Daniel would have gone to, back at Albion. They’d have sat at the back of the room, laughing at the terrible singing, and at some point Nora would have gone on stage, dragging him with her kicking and screaming.
Not that Daniel had ever kicked or screamed. He would have pouted, and then surprised everyone by singing better than anyone would have guessed.
She’d never heard him sing, come to think of it. They’d dated for eight months, and that was something that had never come up. What else had they missed out on?
Never mind. That was then.
She shouldn’t dwell on him—no matter how often he crept into her thoughts on this trip. “You sold me. I’ll go. Want to go over together?”
Daniel, the same time
The big demo was over, and it had gone better than Daniel could have hoped.
The room had been full—a hundred people, most of them city and county executives with real authority to make decisions. He and Thomas made the case for the benefits of contracting with QNS to install fiber optic lines throughout their localities: how it would improve property values, make local businesses more efficient and more profitable and make them personally appear more decisive and forward-looking. Blue came in at the end with ten minutes about why QNS wouldn’t interfere with any local cable TV and phone contracts they had, not to mention the potential federal subsidies they could qualify for.
Still riding the high, they walked back to the booth—only for Daniel to stop short when he saw Red. She was sitting on a stool, her leg propped up on one of the podiums.
“I thought I told Edward to take you back to the hotel.”
“You did,” Red said. “But as the senior person left at the booth …”
Edward snorted. “By three days!”
“Whatever,” Red said. “I made a command decision. I didn’t want to leave Bryce all alone for twenty minutes.”
She was an adult, and a sprained ankle wasn’t exactly life-threatening. “Well, the floor closes up in five minutes, so let’s get everything shut down for the night, and then Edward and I will both help you back to the hotel.”
It didn’t even take five minutes to close the booth up. They really were a good team. Daniel was trying to think of something fun for them to do tonight, but Bryce beat him to it. “I heard from one of the AOL guys, there’s going to be a party at this karaoke bar, a place called Second Verse. It’s not far from where we ate last night. What do you all think?”
A room full of tech geeks singing off-key? Thomas spoke up, saying pretty much what Daniel would have, “Could be either hilarious or a couple of hours of torture, depending how much you have to drink.”
“Let’s go—I mean, it’s not required or anything, just if you want to. But I think it’ll be fun.” Daniel looked over to Red. “I’ll get a cab for you so you don’t have to walk all that way, and no arguments.”
Karaoke was something he and Nora hadn’t ever done—why did he keep thinking about her? She’d been in his mind this whole trip.
But she would have loved karaoke. He could picture it—she’d be laughing at every butchered song, until she got up the nerve to take the stage herself. And she would have dragged him up there right alongside her.
And he would have loved it.
Chapter 28
Karaoke—Kansas City, MO
Nora, July 16, eight o’clock
The karaoke bar was right in between a diner and a used bookshop. “Of course it would be,” Nora muttered to herself.
