AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Okay, Lucy,” Emily says, grabbing her by the shoulder. “Take a breath. It makes perfect sense that Reynolds would want a moment alone with Nora after what they went through.”
“You know, your husband is making you entirely too pragmatic,” Lucy retorts, but with no real ire.
“And yours indulges far too many of your romantic whims,” Becca teases. She’s standing next to the man I don’t recognize, and I watch as he slides an arm around her waist. So that must be Seth.
“Darn right I do!” Stafford says with a wink. “How do you think she got this way?” He pats her fondly on the belly.
“Wow, Stafford, thanks for that,” Anderson says with a shake of his head.
Standing here, taking them all in, I’m reminded of that scene in the movie While You Were Sleeping where Sandra Bullock’s character Lucy announces that she’s in love with Jack and doesn’t want to marry Peter. The whole Gallagher family erupts into chaotic conversation. This group is just as loud and chaotic as the Gallagher family, but, also like the Gallaghers, is the overwhelming sense of love behind the chaos. The feeling makes my chest squeeze. These people–half of whom I only met today–all came here for us. To make sure that Jack and I were okay. We’re surrounded by so much love.
“Oh gosh, Nora, are you going to cry?” Mel, noticing my affected state, steps forward in concern. Everybody stops their chattering and turns to look at me. Then, like a quartet of synchronized dancers, the women surge forward and envelop me in a giant hug, pushing Jack out of the way in the process.
The tears start falling in earnest then, but they’re happy tears. Tears of gratitude and relief and release. All of my worry about not being enough leaks out of me tear by tear.
Maybe relationships aren’t about being enough for the other person, maybe they’re about finding people that love you regardless of what you have to offer them.
None of them show any signs of loosening up on the hug, so I just soak in the sweetness of the moments passing by. At least until Becca says, “Oh, Monica, I’m so glad you didn’t actually vacuum Ian,” and we all break apart laughing.
“Why is that funny?” Stafford demands, never one to be left out of a joke. “And who’s Monica?”
“Don’t worry about it, Nate,” Lucy says, going back to her husband and kissing him on the cheek.
“How did you all end up here anyway?” I ask as Jack wraps his arms around me once again.
“Jack told us you were here when you first arrived,” Anderson explains. “Said you’d gotten a phone call from your coworker and you were worried Connie Wharfman was going to hurt her. But then our dispatcher got a frantic phone call from a security guard named Frank saying that someone had kidnapped his girlfriend, one Connie Wharfman.”
“Something wasn’t adding up,” Montgomery adds. “And then we couldn’t get ahold of Reynolds.”
“Thankfully my phone was silenced,” Jack says. “So even though I knew you were calling because I could feel the vibration in my pocket, Stella had no idea. If she’d known, she might’ve hurried things along.”
“That was the buzzing I heard!” I exclaim, thinking back to how I’d thought anger was making my ears buzz.
“Yup.” Montgomery nods. “And when he didn’t answer any of our calls, we knew we had to race over here and check things out.”
“And a good thing too!” Stafford declares. “We got here just in time.”
“Hey, we were holding them off pretty good on our own,” Jack protests.
“‘My friend, two guns against one is never ideal,” Stafford tells him. “But yes, you were keeping them at bay between your shots at them and whatever Nora was doing with the office supplies.” He gestures to the ground. I can’t help it, I laugh.
In the moment, throwing office supplies at them seemed like the right move. In retrospect it’s just funny.
“And what about all of you?” I ask the women. “How did you end up here?”
“Oh, well…” Mel chews her lower lip, exchanging looks with the others.
“Is it really important how we got here?” Lucy asks. “The point is, everyone is okay and you two make the cutest couple.” She gestures to me and Jack, beaming.
“Okay, now I want to know too,” Jack says and Stafford nods.
“Me too actually.” He eyes Seth. “You came with Becca, Seth, surely you must know.”
Seth looks apologetic as Becca whirls on him, finger to her lips. “Sorry, man,” he says with a shrug. “All I know is that one second Becca and I were driving to get smoothies and the next she’s telling me to make a U-turn and head here.”
“Mel,” I press, certain she’ll crack after having to hold secrets in all day long.
“Don’t do it, Mel!” Emily cries, but it’s too late, her eyes have widened and her mouth has popped open.
