Yours, For Good (Cozy Latine Billionaires #4)

9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Date : October 3 To : Mr. Smith From : Eleanora Subject : A weird occurrence

My dear Mr. B.,

What a strange day today turned out to be! It was a gloriously sunny day, big fluffy clouds adding texture to an otherwise happy, blue sky. I was at the incubator's headquarters looking through the big windows, staring at the gorgeous city longingly, when Julia stormed into the room and— guess what— she asked me for a favor. That was Shock Factor 1.

She told me an uncle was in town and wanted to see her, but she was unable to drop her meeting with the mentors, and could I go entertain him for an hour or so? I agreed, wondering what on earth I could say to entertain an uncle (and a Pendleton uncle, at that), but not feeling like I could decline. Politics, you see, require more tact than that. She and I are cordial and I already knew how to find her building; what could I really say? And I'm pretty sure no one else was free, either.

So I went and found Mister Javier Pendleton of the House of Julia in the lobby of Julia and Sally's place.

First of all, he wasn't your standard issue uncle; he is a lot younger than I had imagined, probably only a few years older than Julia and Sally and me. Second, he is tall and handsome and (the true shocker!) fun to talk to. We went to a coffee place and the conversation was awkward at first, but we quickly found common ground and ended up discussing some of our favorite books extensively. We geeked out, like the youths say (or said— I don't know, I'm not really in the loop). When he laughed, there was this instant right after when he seemed self-conscious about it.

Anyway, we had fun. So much so that when we remembered to check our phones, I had five missed calls from Julia wanting to know where we were, and he was late for his flight. Oops!

Julia was angry at me. Apparently, her uncle is a bit of a family mystery. He called himself the black sheep, but the way Julia talked about him sounded like they want to keep him close and happy. She said she'd been shocked to receive his text, and had wanted to make the most out of the opportunity (isn't that telling?) but I ruined it by monopolizing him (!!!!!).

Yeah, I don't know about that. We clicked and it just happened.

He gave me his number at the end, before we met up with Julia and before he left for the airport. He seemed to hesitate before giving it to me and I understand— we had a great chat and I had a lot of fun, but what can we really text about? I guess we'll see what happens on that front. In any case, for those two hours, it felt like we had known each other for a long time.

Sally thought the whole thing was hilarious, by the way. She called me a big nerd, when she heard Javier and I discussed books and documentaries and, yeah, I own it! And I think Julia's uncle is one, too. Kind of reserved, too. I don't know; I think the contrast was interesting.

ANYWAY. From your shadow that day you changed my life, I know you're tall, Mr. B. After meeting Javier, I'm wondering if you're about his height. He has dark hair… did you have dark hair, too, when you were young? Are your eyes blue? And are you a big nerd? I have so many questions, and so few answers…

If you still won't assuage my curiosity, at least think of me tonight.

Nora

Javier

I didn't spend five minutes at home upon my return to New York, before I grabbed my duffel bag and raced to the pool. Alone as usual when I arrived late in the evening, I pulled my goggles over my eyes and secured my waterproof headphones in place. With one of my movie music playlists singing in my ears, I pushed against the wall and lost myself into the calm of the water.

When I swam, my thoughts cleared the same way they did as when I journaled. Not writing anything down and allowing my thoughts to flow served as preparation, in a way; like I was doing a mental warm up right as I let my muscles work.

I expected to do deep thinking that night. Nora occupied a lot of my mind; even if I hadn't read her email in the changing room fifteen minutes ago, I would have had no problems keeping her in my head.

Water rushed around me as I propelled forward. Meeting her in real life had turned my brain inside out. It pushed me; originally, the plan had been to get a read of the situation. Data to assess if things may ever go the way of a friendly acquaintanceship. Chatting with her, catching the gleam in her smart eyes, hell, even laughing with her…

While on the plane back home, I caught myself daydreaming of future coffee dates. Wait, no, not dates— rather, yes, dates, but platonic ones. It had pushed me, but not that far.

I reached the end of the pool, and I flipped, turned, and seamlessly started a new lap. Music continued to play, this time telling me about discovering planets at the edge of the known universe.

Knowing she had enjoyed our time together didn't make it easier. In her email she seemed as surprised as I had been that we had so much in common. I'd gone to San Francisco in ignorance of her love for sci-fi, or how easily it would be to talk to her about life in general. Now I wanted to repeat it.

Yet a twinge of guilt unfolded in my chest, that I knew this because she revealed her thoughts about me, to me, without knowing.

That emotion hid behind a cinder of hope. The ember turned red when I looked at it, my attention giving it oxygen to burn. The truth was I wanted her to reach out. Thinking of chatting with her wasn't only me trying to be good and offering her something. No, it was about my own enjoyment, too.

Fuck, I would be happy to be her actual friend.

It was rare. I had met Max when I was a pre-teen and it was easy to become friends back then. He had introduced me to Gabe and Jake and, through him, it had been easy to make friends with them, too. Gabe's parents were so warm and inviting they had seamlessly welcomed me into their family. But aside from those miracles, I didn't get close to people. It had been ages since I had been this interested. For the longest time, I had been happy and satisfied with my chosen family. I didn't need more. Curiosity about Nora did not fit that.

It was dangerous, too. I had made the choice to hide a pretty important part of who I was to her, from her. Between that and the John Grier program itself, there was no way what that ember waited for could happen.

But I spent a lot of time alone and she did, too. After having coffee with her, I was somehow much more acutely aware of the fact.

I reached the end of the pool again, and I turned around in another fluid motion. I kept going. In her email, Nora had said she didn't know what we could text about, and I got it. We didn't have anything— that she knew about— to keep us chatting. What was I supposed to do about that?

Nothing. I shouldn't push. Regardless of what I wanted, I had to give her as much freedom as I could within my rules and limitations. If she didn't text, I would accept it and wait.

The future was wide open. Julia would still be in San Francisco for the incubator for a few more months, giving me other opportunities. I still had a few months to extend my hand, and see if Nora would take it.

By the time I was done swimming, I welcomed the exhaustion. I didn't think I would have been able to sleep otherwise.