Page 8 of Crossing Paths
Norah focused on the eggs so her sister couldn’t see her expression.Even more than you know.
***
Norah tried to research Leifsen, but she kept expecting messages from him to pop up on her screen. Although none had—yet—that evening, the possibility ruined her concentration.
After a few hours of fruitless attempts at working, she couldn’t face any more time in her closet bedroom. The walls were pressing in on her, trapping her, while the tiny window made her feel exposed. It bothered her that Devon Leifsen could make her feel that way about her beloved space, but she couldn’t focus on research while jumping at every tiny noise.
With a huff, she packed up her things and hurried down the stairs. Cara was curled on the couch with her cell phone pressed to her ear, ignoring the laptop open in front of her. From the soft look on her face, Cara had to be talking to Henry. Notwanting to have to explain why she’d been chased out of her room, Norah just mouthed “Chico’s” to her sister and headed toward the front door.
Cara gave her an acknowledging wave and pushed off the couch, moving toward the alarm panel. Without pausing in her phone conversation, she disabled it to let Norah out. Once she was on the porch, Norah waited until she heard the faint beep of the security system being turned back on before she headed down the porch steps. Even though the alarm had been circumvented several times—including once by their mom—they still used it religiously. It’d protect them from break-ins by non-tech-savvy fortune hunters at least.
It was a chilly night without a visible moon, and the streetlights seemed too far apart to cut through the surrounding shadows. Clutching her laptop bag strap with both hands, Norah hurried toward the intersection. As she passed Mr. Petra’s house, she glanced over to see his entry light was on, and her neighbor’s slight form was silhouetted in the window next to his door.
Rather than feeling reassured by his presence, she shivered and hurried her steps. Mr. P’s featureless glare felt menacing, and she let out a breath of relief once she’d moved out of his line of sight. She didn’t slow her quick pace for several blocks until Chico’s came into view.
As she stepped inside the coffee shop, her heart finally returned to its usual rhythm. Although Chico’s was a bit shabby, it was cheerful and wonderfully familiar. When Norah was young and Jane had her sketchy friends over to the house, Molly would bring her sisters to Chico’s. The baristas never seemed to mindhaving a group of kids hanging out for hours and even snuck them hot chocolate with extra whip, pretending they’d messed up an order and would otherwise have to throw the drink out, even when no other customers were in the shop at the time.
The coffee shop was about half-full, with people scattered around the mismatched couches and armchairs as well as at the more traditional wooden tables and upright chairs. The sound of milk being steamed and the muted chatter of the customers drove out any lingering worries, and Norah’s shoulders lowered as she relaxed.
Although she hated that anxiety about Leifsen had driven her out of her house, visiting Chico’s had been a good idea. Not only would she get the security of being in a crowd, but she could also justify the visit. After all, one of Leifsen’s connections, Chloe Ballister, was known to frequent the place. Norah could pretend to herself that she was doing a little field research rather than just running away from Leifsen’s looming shadow in her too-quiet, too-solitary bedroom.
She ordered her usual drink—hot chocolate with extra whip—and waited until it was ready. Large ceramic mug in hand, she wove her way through the mishmash of furniture to the overstuffed armchair in the back. When she saw that a twentysomething guy reading a battered paperback had already claimed her favorite seat, she settled in the corner on her second choice, a love seat, and took a sip of her drink before putting it on the convenient end table.
The hot chocolate was sweet enough to make her teeth hurt, but the happy memories it brought back made it worthit. Pulling out her laptop, she settled it on her knees and booted it up.
The love seat bounced as someone settled on the other side. Internally, she cringed, bracing herself to rebuff an interested guy. When she turned her head, she had to blink a few times in surprise. The person sitting next to her was none other than Chloe Ballister, friend—or at least former friend—of Norah’s skip and stalker, Devon Leifsen.
“Oh, sorry,” the tall woman sharing her seat said. “I should’ve sat somewhere else, shouldn’t I?”
Still startled that a person of interest—Norah’s very excuse for running to Chico’s—had just dropped down next to her, Norah didn’t reply.
Chloe made a face as she glanced at the empty chairs surrounding them, making her long blond braids fly out as she turned her head. “Yeah, I just made things awkward. Good thing I don’t have the equipment to use a urinal. I’d be guaranteed to pick the one next to the only other person in the bathroom.”
Norah gave a choked laugh, recovering enough from her surprise to start to feel hunted.Did Leifsen send her in here after me?Pushing down her panic, she forced herself to speak. She tried for nonchalance, but her words came out squeaky. “It’s okay.”
“No, it’s weird.”
Despite her racing heartbeat, Norah was starting to feel a little excited. This was the perfect opportunity to find out more about Leifsen’s whereabouts. She’d wanted to do field research; here was her chance dropped right in her lap—or at least rightnext to her lap. Taking a steadying breath, she tried to channel one of her more outgoing sisters. “Well, a little, but I’d rather you sat here than some person who was trying to hit on me.” Norah frowned. “You’re not going to hit on me, are you?”
Chloe laughed, the sound full and irresistible.
To her surprise, Norah found herself smiling back.
“Well,nowI’m not.” Chloe laughed again. “I’m Chloe, by the way.”
“Norah.” She wasn’t sure whether to offer a hand to shake, so she just sat there and gave a sort of awkward nod. Part of her felt the usual discomfort of not knowing what to say to a stranger, while the other felt a panicky urgency to see what Chloe knew about Devon Leifsen. “Are you…um…meeting someone here?”
“Nope, so don’t worry.” Chloe settled back on her side of the love seat. “No one will want to kick you off your half.”
Her complete acceptance of sitting so close to a stranger while not trapped in an airplane somehow made the experience humorous rather than uncomfortable. Instead of wanting to flee, Norah found herself relaxing back against the cushions, even as she reminded herself to keep her guard up. This had to be a setup engineered by Leifsen.
“How about you?” Chloe asked.
“Oh no.” Norah’s mind raced, trying to think of an excuse to be there, before she remembered that she honestlywasn’tthere under false pretenses…well, not completely. “I just needed to get out of the house.”
“Same.” The way Chloe smiled at her made Norah feel like a member of an exclusive club. “Also, coffee tastes better whensomeone else makes it.”
Norah considered that for a moment. “True.”
