Chapter Four

“You think you’re so sly, don’t you?” 

I had to hold my phone away from my ear as Celeste laughed uncontrollably. 

She caught her breath and finally spoke. “Well, you wouldn’t take it other wise.” Her voice whimpered as she tried to stop herself from laughing again. “I mean honestly Harper how perfect is this? All I had to do was secretly drop the book in your bag and the universe took care of the rest!”

“There is no way I’m actually going to do this.” My eyes jolted up to the bathroom door that flung open. A woman came in escorting her food covered toddler to wash his hands. I stepped back and turned my face to the corner of the room for more privacy.

Nolan and I decided to stop by a diner before heading out of town. I made my escape to the restroom to call Celeste while he looked over the menu. He was taking his sweet time. How hard is it to pick out what you want to eat for breakfast? The choices are pretty limited and I’m guessing there’s a reason for that. Who wants to make such a big decision so early in the morning?

“You can’t deny this.” Celeste’s tone grew more serious. “You’ve done the whole planning thing and it’s just not something that works…”

“Wow, too soon, but thanks.” 

“I’m sorry.” She sighed. “Promise me you’ll let this play out naturally. Don’t push it away and don’t pull it too close. Just go with it.”

I fumbled with my lips as I watched the woman and her toddler walk out. The door slammed shut behind them. I was alone once again. I stood quietly as I let Celeste’s words resonate. She wasn’t entirely wrong. 

I mumbled in gibberish.

A shrieking squeal came from Celeste’s end of the phone. “That means you’ll do it?”

After we ended our conversation I pulled the book out of my purse. I stared at the cover wondering how I would ever pull something like this off. Not that I was a big believer in love or anything, but maybe Celeste was on to something, maybe this was the article I needed to write to finally make my big break.

I put the book away and splashed a handful of cold water onto my face. I mindlessly stared in the mirror as I wiped myself with a rough brown napkin. I took a deep breath in and walked back into the diner. 

“Everything okay?” Nolan asked as I sat at our table. He’d only just put the menu away.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “Sorry, I just had to call my girl friend.”

Nolan’s attention diverted to the waitress that approached our table. “Are you two ready?” She asked as she pulled out a pen and pad.

“Do you need a minute?” Nolan looked at me. I could tell he was ready to eat and couldn’t wait a minute longer.

“No, I’m ready. I’ll have the scrambled eggs with toast, please.” 

“I’ll have the same, but with a side of sausage, bacon, and a cup of fruits.”

The waitress smiled and took away our menus. “I’ll have that right out for you!” She flashed us a corny grin.

I looked over at Nolan. He was so preoccupied with his phone he didn’t even know that the waitress had already pranced away. I watched as his fingers sped across the screen, occasionally dragging them up and down to scroll on what ever it was he was doing.

His eyes slowly peered upwards and stared at me questioningly. I released the tension from between my brows as my cheeks flushed with pink. I hadn’t realized how hard I was concentrating on his screen until he caught me. 

I rubbed the back of my neck and let out a soft pathetic, but mostly embarrassed, laugh. “Sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry. This is rude.” Nolan clicked the side button of his phone, shutting off the screen, and laid it down on the table. “I was just trying to get some work done. It’s barely 9 AM on the East coast and I’m already swamped.”

“Please,” I waved my hands gesturing for him to continue. “Don’t let me stop you.”

He smiled exposing his perfectly straight teeth. “It’s alright.” The drawl in his voice was so subtle I had only just now picked up on it. 

Seconds felt like hours as we both avoided eye contact. It was clear that neither one of us knew that this acquaintance would last longer than those couple of hours it took to drive here. 

“So-” I looked up just in time to see Nolan’s lips moving. 

“Are you-“

We obviously had the same threshold for awkward silence.

“Go ahead.” Nolan nodded his head forward.

“I was…uh…I was…” I couldn’t exactly remember what I was saying. “You know what, you go first.” This feeling felt so unfamiliar. I was never flustered like this. I could only imagine Celeste’s reaction. Her mouth would be gaping open wondering how a woman so stubborn and opinionated, and certainly filled with many words, could ever let the sight of a man distract her train of thought. 

And then suddenly it came back to me. “I was just saying-“

“Are you-“

We did it again. Or maybe I did it this time. I don’t know what had gotten into me. Why couldn’t I compose myself? I shouldn’t have called Celeste. Everything was going just fine until she had to put the idea in my head that meeting Nolan was basically fate. 

“Here’s some coffee while you wait.” Our waitress stood at the end of our table with a pot and mugs in hand. She poured some out and skipped back to the kitchen.

Silence had taken over again. We quietly maneuvered around each other pouring sugar and creamer and stirring our coffee. 

Nolan’s phone buzzed and caught both of our attention. He stared down at it for a few seconds with furrowed brows before clicking it off again.

“If you need to work please don’t let me stop you.” 

“It’s nothing.” He shook his head as he held his mug up to his mouth. “Not anything they can’t take care of themselves.”

“Are you a manager or something?” I couldn’t help but connect the dots. 

He shrugged his shoulders, unamused by the question. “I guess, something like that.”

“Well, your office is on the East coast, somewhere Southern considering your lack of pronunciation of certain words, and you mentioned you’re here for business, so you must be someone important at work.”

Nolan laughed nervously and leaned into his chair. He seemed taken back that I had so quickly picked up on him. “You must be a writer.” 

“How did you know?” If Nolan didn’t have my attention before, he certainly had it now.

He laughed again, this time entertained by the bewildered expression covering my face. “Lucky guess.” He winked and suddenly I had forgotten everything all over again.

Our waitress came with our food. 

I mainly stabbed at my eggs while trying to sneak glances of Nolan. His golden brown hair swayed gently as he leaned forward to shovel a mixture of everything on his plate into his mouth. Either he had a big appetite or it had been a while since he’d eaten.

“You’re not hungry?” He pointed to my plate with his fork. I’d taken a few bites, but it was still full compared to his.

I shrugged my shoulders, “I’m not really hungry anymore.” I said politely. What I really wanted to say was how unattractive it was to watch him inhale scrambled eggs.

Nolan looked down at his watch and took one last bite of his sausage. “We should really hit the road.”

It seemed like the weather had gotten colder in the last hour. I felt goosebumps on my arm as the cool air grazed it. I grabbed my jacket and threw it over my shoulders.

As soon as we pulled out of the parking lot a call came in for Nolan. Guessing by the way he didn’t say much except for an agreeing hum every so often and a casual, “okay,” I figured it was business. I was hoping it would be a more revealing call from his mom, or sister, or maybe even his wife. Something that wasn’t as boring as it actually was.

Wait a second, I thought to myself. I held my breath as I casually looked over pretending to admire the scenery through his side of the window. Nolan’s left hand was resting on top of the steering wheel, sans wedding ring. I exhaled a sigh of relief. I may not have been into the idea when Celeste first presented it, but I was starting to get a little too attached to the idea of this actually working out. 

Nolan’s attention was divided between the road ahead of us and the conversation he was having on the phone. This was the perfect opportunity to pull out the book and try to get in as many questions as I could.

I flipped through the pages reading parts of the introduction. I hadn’t heard of Alexander Nottingham before this, but he sounded like a total snooze. Then it dawned on me, was this how my writing was perceived? Is this why I was never able to land a job with a reputable publication? I shook my head. No way.

I grabbed the last few pages and let them fall from beneath my thumb. It stopped on a random page with a question that read, ‘do you remember the last time you sang to yourself?” 

“Sorry, I just needed a quick briefing before my meeting.” I jumped from my seat when I heard Nolan’s voice. “Hey, look it’s snowing.”

I looked up to see tiny droplets on the windshield. It was barely visible, but still enough to keep Nolan’s eyes away from me. I closed the book and slide it back into my bag. 

“What are you reading?”

My eyes widened “It’s a psychology study some professor wrote. It’s nothing exciting, but my roommate recommended it.”

The corners of Nolan’s lips curved downwards. “Sounds…like a good read.” He joked. 

I was hoping he wouldn’t ask any more questions about the book, so I tried to change the subject. Unfortunately the only other thing I could think of was the last thing I read. “Hey, so when was the last time you remember singing to yourself?” 

Nolan looked at me and laughed. “That’s a really random question.”

I shrugged my shoulders trying to play it off. “I was just thinking about the last time I was in my car. I would always sing along to the radio.” 

“Huh,” Nolan exhaled. “I don’t know.” He fell silent trying to recount the moment. “I don’t think I’ve ever sang to myself.”

“Come on!” I turned towards him a little surprised. “Everyone sings to themselves once in a while.”

“Okay, okay, the last time I sang was with my nieces at a book reading.” He said matter of factly.

“That doesn’t count.” I laughed. “It wasn’t to yourself.”

He grunted as he strummed his fingers on the wheel.

“How many nieces do you have?” From what I saw of Nolan I couldn’t possibly imagine him playing with children. He looked too stiff and proper to cut loose and relax. 

He smiled as he spoke. “Two. They’re six year old twins. Love them like they were my own, but I’m glad I can go home at the end of the day.” He laughed. “How about you?”

I shook my head, “no nieces or nephews…yet. But, my sister is a total cookie cutter type. She’s accomplished just about everything, so the next step would be children.” The snow flakes on the window were becoming larger and falling faster. 

“So weird.” Nolan mumbled to himself as he picked his phone up again. “I don’t remember seeing snow in the forecast.”

A few hours had past and Nolan and I had only started breaking down the barriers. So far, I’d gathered that he’s from South Carolina and has one older brother. He’s in management for some business that he didn’t bother to explain and felt a little shy even talking about it quiet frankly.

That’s as much as I could get out of him before he’d gotten another phone call. I took the opportunity to slip out the book again. I was just about to turn the page when Nolan’s car began to slow down to a stop.

I looked up to see a couple of trucks and a police car all with their lights flashing. 

Nolan dropped his phone, hoping the officer that was approaching our car wouldn’t see. “Is there a problem?” He asked as he rolled his windows down.

“All main roads are closed until they’ve been sanded.”

“You gotta be kidding me.” Nolan’s head rolled back as he covered his eyes with his hands. “How long will that take?”

“Considering that the city wasn’t prepared for the snow storm the roads probably won’t be opened until tomorrow morning or until the ice melts.”

That’s when I heard Celeste’s voice in the back of my head. “Just go with it.”