Take Nova home with me? Best idea ever, I thought, nodding along with Noni as a plate plunked down in front of me a little harder than necessary.
Mr. Lewis narrowed his gaze. “I’m sure you can make do until the washer is fixed. Right, Nova?”
“Actually…” Nova said, dragging out the word. “I have no choice but to do laundry since I hadn’t had a chance to do my own for a few days.”
Noni huffed. “Meaning the girl has no clean clothes. Honestly, Nova. How can you take such good care of me, but not do the same for yourself?”
“Are you sure you don’t mind?” she asked, skating around Noni’s question.
“Positive,” I said, taking a bite of my sandwich to keep from smiling. Mr. Lewis didn’t need any more reasons to not trust me with Nova.
We ate as quickly as possible so Nova could get a head start on what she proclaimed to be a mountain of laundry that needed to be washed, dried, and folded.
Before we could leave, Noni made sure to stock Nova up with Mr. Lewis’s laundry supplies. I carried both boxes I’d carried in back out as Nova gathered her coat and purse.
Noni noticed I hadn’t touched my hot chocolate and insisted I take it with me, so she dispatched Mr. Lewis to find a travel cup, refusing to let us leave until the cup was in my hand.
“Take care of my granddaughter, young man,” Noni said as I held the door for Nova.
“I will, promise. We’ll see you in the morning. Thanks for dinner,” I said, making a point to include Mr. Lewis in my farewells.
He came up behind Noni and put his hand on her shoulder. Her hand came up and squeezed his, staying there as they watched us get into the truck.
“He’s in love with her,” I said, putting the truck in gear as Nova waved.
She sighed. “He’s been in love with her for what seems like forever. Instead of telling her how he felt, he waited. Now it’s too late.”
I thought about that for a second. “I don’t think it’s ever too late to tell someone how you feel. Besides, have you noticed the way it seems to help her to have him around?”
“They’ve known each other since he moved here. I think they were teenagers when they met,” she explained.
“And they’ve been friends all this time?” I asked.
“I think there was a time where they were more like acquaintances. They were friendly toward one another, but each had their own life, if that makes any sense.”
“It does. How long were your grandparents married?” I asked to keep the conversation flowing.
“Not long. Noni doesn’t talk much about my grandfather. He passed shortly after my mom was born, so she’s been alone for a long time. And Stanley lost his wife about eight or nine years ago,” she explained.
“Here we are,” I said, pulling past the house and then backing the truck in just as the wind picked up and Mother Nature upended a bucket of snow that swirled in my headlights.
I shut the truck off and handed her the house key. “Can you unlock the front door?”
She did, and held the door open for me as I unloaded the truck.
“I swear I’ve carried that box more times than I can count,” I said, setting the bulging box down next to its traveling companion.
“I guess I shouldn’t ask you to carry it over to the washing machine then?” Nova asked, covering her mouth to try to hide her smile.
“Nope. Not gonna do it,” I said, leaning over and shoving the box along the floor until it was up against the wall closest to the washer.
Nova shoved the other one into place. “Figured I’d help since you got roped into helping me today.”
I tapped her on the nose. “That’s what friends are for. Now, how do you want to tackle this? I say do small loads with lots of soap, set it on pre-soak, and select the disinfectant setting.”
Nova goggled at me. “You weren’t bluffing. You really do know how to do laundry. I thought all guys dumped their clothes in and hoped for the best.”
“They do until that one red sock turns everything pink,” I said, lifting the lid on the washer. “What’s first?”
Nova curled up on the couch as the first load of laundry sloshed away inside the washer. She was asleep in less than a minute flat. I didn’t have the heart to wake her, not even to tuck her into the spare bed I had. So I did the next best thing and pulled a blanket from the closet. After covering her, I stepped back and drank in the sight of her as she slept. She was beautiful even with the dark circles under her eyes.
Life hadn’t been easy for her since she returned home. Life wouldn’t be easy for her for a long time yet. And there I was, smack in the middle of it all, hoping I didn’t throw a monkey wrench into the whole thing.
I moved the clothes to the dryer and started a new load, leaving Nova fast asleep on the couch. She needed the rest—had probably needed it for a long time. While I waited for the dryer to finish, I pulled out my laptop and shot a quick email off to Roman Flint explaining everything that had happened with Nova since I’d reconnected with her.
Once the message was sent, I checked my inbox and found a few emails from Murphy, who’d been tasked to send me information on land parcels to look into. When the email opened, it looked like a jumble of nothing more than numbers. It took me a second to realize what they were. Coordinates. Once I made the connection, I copied the first set into the navigation app and plugged them in.
The dryer droned on in the background as I viewed image after image of satellite shots. Land from the air always looked the same, to me anyway. Property could be picked based off images, or by walking the ground to see if it would fit for what it was needed for.
After going through several sets of coordinates, I flagged two pieces of property to go look at some point during the following week. Then I shot Murphy back an email, telling her I’d do my best to get to them. With winter closing in, I wouldn’t be doing much trekking around the wilds of Alaska to look at land. When that happened, all I could do was pull land documents and spend hours reading through EPA reports and tax bills. I yawned, bored with it before it even began.
There were a few other emails from the guys, and one from Paige. I answered them back with a quick email, giving them a brief accounting of my moose encounter, and then the situation with Nova. It kept me busy until the dryer buzzed.
My heavy-lidded eyes ached as I folded the last of the whites, leaving them in neat little stacks for Nova. It was more than a little odd to be handling her underwear, but I did my best to ignore it, focusing only on getting done so I could go to bed. The other load could stay in the dryer overnight. I’d restart them in the morning to get rid of wrinkles.
I had one last thing to do before I could fall face-first into bed, and that was to make the bed in the small spare room. Once it was made, I collected Nova from the couch with a little bit of finagling, then carried her to the freshly made bed. When the covers settled over her, she fisted them and rolled, cocooning herself, but never once woke up.
Chapter 8
Nova
With a freshly brewed cup of coffee in one hand, and a bag of Noni’s clean clothes in the other, I stepped to the side so Eli could knock on Stanley’s door.
He looked a bit harried when he gestured for us to come in.
“I demand to be taken home this minute, Stanley,” Noni snapped as she entered the kitchen.
“Good morning, Noni,” I said, leaning in to give her a kiss on the cheek, and then handed over her freshly washed clothes. “Special delivery.”
She huffed, taking them from my hand. “I’ll go change…and then you can explain to me, on our way home, what the devil is going on.”
I nodded as she marched off.
Once she closed the bedroom door firmly behind her, I turned to Stanley. “How bad was it this morning?”
His hand curled against the back of his neck as he winced. “It took her a few minutes to calm down, but once she did, she remembered who I was.”
My heart sank. “I’m sorry
. I should have been here.”
“Actually…” Stanley said, pausing to take a deep breath before continuing. “It didn’t take her long to adjust at all. What aggravated her the most was that I wouldn’t take her home. The rest she was able to handle. I think maybe if we can set that room up to look like hers, it will help even more.”
I sat, clutching the coffee cup close to my chest. “Yeah, until she claps eyes on the trundle bed and wonders what the heck I’m doing camping out in her room. This isn’t going to be easy at all. It was bad enough when she was confused in her own home. Now there’s not even a home for her to be confused in. At least not until it’s fixed. And even then, we’ll have to replace some of the furniture and the drapes. What happens when everything’s fixed and we get back home, but it’s not quite home anymore?”
Stanley put his hand on my shoulder and gave it a brief squeeze. “One day at a time, Nova. That’s all we can do.”
Eli, who had had remained silently standing off to the side, stepped forward. “Is there anything I can do?”
Stanley chuckled. “You wouldn’t happen to have an extra room, would you?”
“As a matter of fact, I do,” Eli said. “Do you need to move stuff around? I can take the spare bed out, and you can have the room to store whatever you need.”
“Good, but leave the bed. Nova’s going to need a place to sleep,” Stanley said, settling his hands on his hips as he gave Eli his best fatherly stare. “This is for Noni, so we can keep things as normal as possible.”
Eli nodded. “I understand. Nova, are you okay with this?”
Was I okay with it? I wasn’t comfortable not being in the same house as Noni, but at least Stanley was with her and he wasn’t a total stranger. And it wasn’t as if I had a lot of options. Nome was expensive, and there wasn’t a lot of housing. I didn’t have a job, so there was no way I could pay for rent anywhere. I had my savings and could probably swing a small monthly payment to Eli to cover renting the room.
“I think I can swing it. Are sure you’re okay with having a roommate?” I asked, wishing Stanley wasn’t staring between us as if watching a tennis match.
Eli’s face scrunched. “Swing it?”
“To cover rent for the room,” I answered.
“Why would I charge you rent?” he asked.
“Why wouldn’t you?” I countered.
Eli shook his head. “Because that would be a jerk move. What kind of person charges their friend when they’re down on their luck?”
“Good point,” Stanley said as Noni walked into the kitchen muttering to herself.
“Nova, can you please take this?” she asked, holding out her purse so she could put on her jacket.
“But Noni…”
“Nova, show her. Maybe it will help,” Stanley said.
I fought the urge to sigh and stood. “Eli, can I borrow your truck?” He handed me the keys without question. I palmed them and waited for Noni to get her jacket on.
Noni flicked a glance at Eli, her mouth firming into a thin line before she said, “I remember your face, but I don’t recall your name. What are you doing with my Nova?”
Eli smiled at her. “Chauffeuring her around. It’s getting cold out there.”
Noni snorted. “You haven’t felt cold yet, young man,”
Stanley chuckled. “Hope you bought some stuff from the Army Surplus store. A good pair of bunny boots won’t come amiss, either.”
“Bunny boots?” Eli repeated, looking at me for clarification.
“Extreme cold weather boots,” I explained.
“Oh. Yeah, I bought a pair the other day,” Eli said, looking relieved.
“Good. You’ll definitely need them. Can’t believe you’re using those. Aren’t your feet cold?” Stanley asked, eyeing Eli’s boots.
His brow quirked as he followed Stanley’s gaze and looked at his boots. “Actually, these are pretty warm.”
Stanley snorted.
“Thank you, Stanley… for what, I don’t know, but thank you all the same. Nova?” Noni said, making her way to the front door.
“Guess that means we’re leaving. See ya in a little bit,” I said, catching up to Noni.
“Well, it’s not uncommon,” Noni said, looking at the sparse living room. “No one was hurt. That’s all that matters. I suppose Dale and his wife have gone to stay with her sister.”
I nodded. “He came by yesterday.”
“Tried to give you money?”
“I wouldn’t take it.”
“Good. I wouldn’t have either. He’s a good man. Too bad his son turned out to be such a disappointment. Maybe now he’ll do like he always talked about and move somewhere warm. Come to that, maybe we should, too,” Noni said, smirking.
“You’d leave Alaska?”
She shook her head. “You know me, Nova. There’s no place like Nome.”
Everything inside me relaxed hearing her say that. Bringing her to the house could have gone one way or the other without warning. “Well, I guess that just means you get to do a little online shopping. Once the repairs are done, it’ll be like a brand-new living room.”
Noni turned her wizened gaze on me. “I hope Stanley is prepared to put up with us until the thaw. If he isn’t, he better get used to it real quick. Come along, Nova, it’s cold and depressing here,” she said, leading me out of the house.
I’d left the truck running since the temperature had dipped, and I was grateful for the warmth blowing out of the vents. The days would only get colder, and the nights longer, as we moved into what I’d dubbed the deep freeze.
“I didn’t check to see if my bed was okay. I’ll be needing it,” Noni said with a huff.
A groan lodged in my throat. Leave it, Nova, she’ll figure it out when she sees it again, I thought and then changed the subject. “Stanley’s been a good friend, Noni. He even got us a storage container to put our stuff in.”
“Stanley might be able to get a few friends to help pack up what’s not damaged,” Noni said, clasping her hands in her lap.
“I’ve already packed everything. It’s in the storage container.”
“By yourself?”
“Eli helped me.”
“Eli? Is that a new friend of yours?”
My heart wrenched. “Let’s get you inside.”
I woke to the smell of coffee brewing and hummed with appreciation as I listened to Eli move around in the kitchen. It was a domestic sound I was used to. Noni had always been an early riser. She’d be up before the sun and usually humming as she moved around the kitchen. The only noise missing was the sound of a newspaper being turned.
Staying with Eli would take some getting used to. And it wasn’t really him that I had to acclimate myself to. It was my new surroundings.
He hadn’t hovered or catered to me. In fact, he acted like we’d been roommates for years, which put me at ease immediately. There was something about him that kept me calm. I had no idea what it was, or why, but I was grateful for it all the same.
The bed creaked under me as I sat up. Clasping my arms around my legs, I propped my chin on my knees as I fought off the last dregs of sleep.
For once, I took my time getting dressed and then made the bed before wandering out to the kitchen.
Eli looked up from behind his laptop and gave me a sleepy smile. “Morning. You’re up early.”
“I’m on Noni’s schedule. Up before the sun most days,” I answered, moving to the coffee pot. I poured a steamy cup and then doctored it up, as Noni called it, before carrying it over to the table.
Eli kept working away behind his laptop, giving me a few more minutes to clear the last of the morning cobwebs out, so the day started fresh and new, which was another of Noni’s sayings. I could picture some little cartoon character with a push broom sweeping the sleep away, and it made me smile behind my coffee mug.
Eli reached for his coffee cup without looking. Bringing it to his lips, he tipped it, and then pulled it back with a frown. He sighed as
he got up and carried the empty cup back to the pot for a refill.
“Are you going to be working today?” I asked, wondering how I could go about asking to borrow his truck without feeling like I was taking over everything he owned.
“I’m almost done with what I needed to do. What’s up? Need a ride to Mr. Lewis’s?” he asked, sliding into his seat.
“Noni should be up, so I want to get there as soon as possible.” There wasn’t any need to expand on what I meant. He’d seen Noni at her worst.
“I can take you. Give me a few minutes to wrap this up, and then we’ll head over,” Eli said, setting his cup down and focusing on his laptop.
I left him to it and finished off my cup. After I took it to the sink, I grabbed my purse and set it on the table, ready to go whenever he was.
A few minutes later, he shut down his laptop and then closed it.
“You didn’t have to rush. I just wanted to make sure I was ready so you didn’t have to wait on me,” I said, feeling guilty.
He smiled. “I didn’t rush. I just had to finish up a report. I’m ready whenever you are.”
I pushed back from the table, making a point to look at his sock-clad feet. “Might want to put your boots on first.”
He laughed. “I’ll grab yours, too.”
My toes curled in my socks. “Coats and boots… the last things you put on before you head out the door.”
“And the first things you take off when you come in,” Eli added.
As soon as I pushed the chair under the table, my cell phone rang.
“Nova?” Stanley sounded more than a little off when I answered the phone.
“I was just about to head over. Is everything okay?”
Eli stopped when he heard the tone of my voice. One hand resting on the doorknob, he turned to listen.
“She’s having a really bad morning. I think it might be best if you wait for a bit to come over,” he said.
“Why? She’s had bad days before. We always get through it,” I said, scooping up my purse.
Under Northern Lights (The Six Series Book 6) Page 6
