Page 94 of Ten Years and Then…
She’d made a point of avoiding the building, so she wouldn’t have to see for herself.
Well, now she knew. But she could hardly blame him, when she’d been dating Ben at the exact same time.
“What happened with her?”
“We—we only dated a few weeks,” he said. He wasn’t looking away from her, but she wouldn’t have expected otherwise. Daniel had always been honest, even when it was something painful. “She helped me practice for my interview. And she was—this won’t make sense, it doesn’t to me. She was totally different from you, but everything I liked about her was something I loved about you.”
It made perfect sense.
“But we broke up the day I got the letter—the letter with the job offer. I had her come back to my dorm—I needed somebody to be with me when I opened the letter, and when I did, and I read it …”
Nora didn’t need him to say what came next. Except, she did, because she was clearly missing something here. “Wait. That’s when you broke up with her?”
“We kissed—I mean, really kissed, and then we were on my bed, and—and she wanted to. And I wanted to. But I couldn’t.” He paused, took a deep breath. “Because she wasn’t you.”
The same reason she hadn’t slept with Ben. “I couldn’t, either,” she muttered.
And then Daniel truly shocked her. She would have spit out her drink if it had been in her mouth. “Of course you didn’t. Valerie totally isn’t your type.” It wasn’t just the words, it was the way he said it completely deadpan.
When she finally stopped laughing and collected herself, she said, “You really have changed. You finally have a decent sense of humor.”
“Well, I’m working on it. But,” he said, “I know what you really meant. The same thing happened to you, didn’t it?”
So she told him—about Ben, about that last night in his apartment, about how close she’d come and why she couldn’t go through with it.
“I think you were right, what you said a while ago. We definitely ruined each other for anybody else.”
She wished he was wrong. But, really, when had Daniel ever been wrong about anything important?
Daniel, an hour later
After their mutual confessions, neither of them said much for a while, other than joking about the mostly dreadful performances on stage.
It was like they were back in college, back in his dorm room, just being together without having to do or say anything.
He remembered everything about Nora, but he’d forgotten how much he missed the times like these. Comfortable. Safe.
Not in the boring way people usually meant it—safe with Nora had always been the best kind of safe.
“Oh, boy,” Nora said, breaking the latest silence.
Daniel saw what she was talking about—the two Kristins were making their way up to the stage, Red leaning on Blue as she gingerly hopped her way across the floor. They huddled with the emcee for a moment, then, when he handed them microphones, Red pointed directly at him. “This one is for our Team Leader. Here’s to you, Daniel!”
Then the music came up. He recognized the song, and felt himself blush. This was completely unnecessary and deeply embarrassing—and kind of the nicest thing anyone had done for him all year.
“Go up with them!”
He shook his head. “They don’t need any more encouragement.” His co-workers were belting out—with a lot of enthusiasm and not much talent—Holding Out For a Hero.
“You’re right,” Nora said. “What they need is voice lessons.”
Embarrassing as it was, Daniel couldn’t help but be touched. They actually did respect him; they saw him as a leader because of who he was, not just because Mr. Kincaid appointed him. They wouldn’t be teasing him like this if they didn’t.
Just like Nora always teased him, with not just love but respect.
It came to him then. It was silly, and he’d make a fool of himself on stage, but Nora would love it. He was pretty sure he’d seen the perfect song in the songbook when he’d been dragged up there a couple of hours ago.
“Get ready,” he told her. “We’re going up next, Nora.”
