One step down, so now she was eye level. At some point, it seemed they’d become the last ones in the greenhouse, though he hadn’t remembered seeing anyone pass them by. He knew they were on short time, that they’d have to go soon. But Nora was looking at him like she was trying to see straight into the past, and he wanted to let her. He didn’t want to think about the words that had stopped him from calling up to her that day. He didn’t want to think about rash, reckless, selfish; he didn’t want to think about the future.

He took his hands from his pockets, reached out to link his fingers with hers. When she stepped into him again, he kissed her, like he’d wanted to do all along. Not since this date started.

Since before, since before.

And when the final announcement sounded, when they pulled apart and smiled at each other in sheepish delight, he didn’t notice the way he held on to her as she turned away, her cheeks flushed and her eyes bright.

He didn’t notice that he kept holding on, right up until the second her fingers trailed away.

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

It was possible she’d taken it too far.

In the backyard, Nora stood beside Mrs. Salas, staring down at the six boxes she’d set out this morning, all but one full up, sorted by type: kitchenware, linens, clothing, books, electronics, and decor. In thirty minutes, the time limit she and Mrs. Salas had given to their neighbors would be up, and in an hour a van from a neighborhood mutual aid organization would come by to pick up their contributions for an upcoming charity sale that Nora had read about only a week ago.

“The thing about that lamp is,” she said, and Mrs. Salas made a sympathetic noise—a tiny hum that was neither curiosity nor assent. Knowing that Mrs. Salas had heard a lot of Nora’s ruminating back and forth today, she tried to quiet herself, but soon enough her unfinished thought swirled inside her like smoke, hot and uncomfortable, until she had to open her mouth again to let it out. “It’s from Italy.”

Mrs. Salas did the hum again, and Nora sighed.

This was difficult, that’s all there was to it, and she had no one to blame but herself.

And maybe also Will.