“I’m planning to head back to Chicago in a few days. I have to get back to work and I’m sure Nora does too.”
“Ok, then dinner for sure tonight,” Alice says and Nora agrees, checking with me before she answers.
As we’re leaving Alice’s apartment, Nora asks if I’ve ever been to New York City, and wants to know if I want to see some of the sights. I’ve only been to NYC briefly for work, and the time I came to find Nora, so I agree.
We set off, catching a taxi on the corner and Nora directs the driver to the Empire State Building, and I can’t help but laugh.
“What?” Nora asks, as she gives my side a pinch and I laugh a little louder.
“You do realize I live in Chicago? The Sears Tower?” I say as if to let her know I’ve seen tall buildings in my lifetime.
“Isn’t it called the Willis Tower now?” Nora scoffs jokingly. “And I know you’ve seen tall buildings, but the Empire State Building is like tourist shit and today we’re tourists.”
“Tourist shit it is then.”
We spend some time taking pictures at the top of the Empire State Building before moving on to a boat tour of the harbor and the Statue of Liberty. We stop for lunch, buying New York style pizza from a small walkup, and we argue about which has better pizza, New York or Chicago with Nora arguing it’s definitely New York. But I hold firm on my point that there’s a time and a place for both. The convenience of being able to eat and walk totally goes to New York, but Chicago wins when you want to eat yourself sick.
As we walk hand in hand down the sidewalk to our next stop, I realize I have never felt so comfortable with someone in my life. It’s effortless being with Nora and I know all our efforts to find each other weren’t in vain. It doesn’t matter that it took thirteen years or that we barely know each other or that there were other people in our lives. We belong together.
I stop, tugging Nora by the hand and away from the crowded sidewalk. Pulling her close, I kiss her, my hands on either side of her face and I feel her smile against my mouth. I could kiss her forever and never tire, but I pull away, resting my forehead to hers, as I whisper, “There’s no place I’d rather be.”
A part of me wants to tell her I love her, wants to tell her the words she couldn’t say out loud just a little while earlier at her sister’s apartment, but I want her to know I mean it, that it’s not just something I’m saying in the moment.
“Me either,” she murmurs back, her eyes closed as she takes a deep breath, as if she’s trying to commit everything about our time together to memory. I feel Nora’s arms tighten around my waist and she rests her head against my chest, and says, “You smell exactly how I remember and it’s perfect.”
We finish our day of being tourists with the September 11th Memorial, and then pick up Chinese food on our way back to Nora’s apartment.
The silence in the cab ride back is comforting, with Nora sitting next to me, her head resting on my shoulder as we both take in the views. Tired but in the best possible way.
Nora immediately sits down in front of the coffee table on the floor, her legs tucked underneath her. I set the food down on the table and take a seat on the floor across from her. Opening the bag we both grab a few containers and the chopsticks. We ordered way too much but neither of us seems to care as we start eating right away.
After Nora has taken a few bites she retreats to the kitchen and returns with two beers and two bottles of water. Setting them down on the table, she trades me food containers and we both keep eating. Everything about what we are doing is so simple and natural, like we’ve been together for years rather than just hours.
Out of nowhere, Nora breaks the silence, “What’s your favorite movie?” she asks, a smile on her face knowing this is the way we started out. It’s that random question and answer, but still somehow enough to make us feel closer.
“Jaws,” I respond immediately and Nora gasps out loud.
“No shit! That’s one of my favorite movies, top three.”
We talk about our favorite parts and Nora grabs the DVD from a shelf and puts the movie on, and it quietly begins playing in the background of our conversation.
“You said top three, so what are the other two?” I ask, wanting to know more about her, even if it’s not too in depth.
“Well, Jaws obviously, Back to the Future, and you have to promise not to laugh,” Nora pauses and I nod my head, but I have a smirk on my face because obviously this is going to be good. “And Good Burger, but honorable mention goes to Star Wars.” She adds that last part in as if to make the fact that she loves Good Burger better.
I laugh out loud nearly choking on my beer, but I honestly can’t mock her. “I wouldn’t dare make fun of your choices,” I tell her. “If I had to give a top three it would be Jaws, Return of the Jedi and here it is, Sister Act, but not the first one, the second one.”
“Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit?” she questions, an almost comical look on her face. “You can’t be serious.”
“Good Burger? Like you have any right to question my choices,” I respond, teasing her as I reach across the table and tuck a few loose strands of hair behind her ear. My fingers brush her cheek, and as they do something in both of us changes. The room grows still and quiet, and Nora turns the TV off. I watch her wet her lips, the tip of her tongue slipping between them, as I feel something within me begin to heat up.
I want her. I’ve always wanted her, and not just because she’s stunning, but because I’m drawn to her. To her beauty, to her love of writing, to her intense need to find me, and everything else that makes her who she is.
I watch as Nora sits up on her knees, her elbows resting on the table but she’s now leaning closer to me. “I guess we can agree we both have our guilty pleasures.”
“I guess we can,” I respond, but before I can say anymore, Nora is across the table and her lips collide hard with mine.
Chapter Thirty: Nora
We’ve spent more time apart than we have together, but these last couple of days have felt like we’ve been together forever. I know it won’t last. We have to go back to our real lives, lives that aren’t together and I’m lying here in bed wondering how we will make this work.
I don’t want to leave New York and while I haven’t asked Elliot, I have no idea if he wants to leave Chicago or if his job would even allow it. This bubble we’ve been in is about to burst. I thought that once I found him all the stress and worry would dissolve, but that was just unrealistic because we have lives that have continued on without each other. Making this work suddenly seems impossible.
“What’s the matter?” Elliot asks, my eyes focused on the ceiling as the sun begins to stream in the bedroom through the slats in the blinds.
He can tell something’s wrong before we’ve even gotten out of bed and that should be a sign that he knows me, he understands me, and as much as I want to admit my fears to him, I’m hesitant. I don’t want him to think I’m already considering this thing between us a failure.
“I worry about how we’ll make this work,” I confess quietly in the comfort of the silent bedroom without the prying eyes of everyone who said what I was doing was crazy.