Noah (5th Street series)

Chapter 16

"What are you up to now?"

"Sitting here waiting for the auto club. My stupid car won't start, and I start work next week. I need to make sure it's running by then."

"Well, that stinks. But at least you have a few days to get it going, right?"

Veronica frowned. She thought about it for a moment before mentioning it. She hoped with all her might Nellie would offer to pick her up. "Worst thing is I was supposed to go shopping today for work clothes. I was all set to go and the car wouldn't start." She waited, her fingers crossed.

"Oh, man. Maybe you'll get it back before then," she paused and Veronica heard her sigh. "Honey, I'd offer to take you, but since we were gone for the holidays we're making our rounds this week. Rick's packing the car now. We're headed up north today to his sister's for a few days. Otherwise, you know I'd be there for you."

For some stupid reason that brought hot tears to Veronica's eyes. Besides Nellie, all she had was Noah, and something deep inside her knew it was just a matter of time before he was gone too.

"I know you would," she said, willing her voice not to break.

"I won't be back until after the New Year, hon, but we'll make a date and go shopping then, okay?"

Veronica nodded and wished her a safe trip. She sat there, feeling as pitiful as ever. She stood up, reminding herself that soon she'd be back at work and in touch with everyone she'd lost track of in the last two years. She'd had more friends. They just stopped calling when she never returned their calls.

Her phone was a slider, and she slid it up and down, again and again, staring at it as she stood at the kitchen counter. She slid it open again and scrolled down to her last text from Derek.

Happy New Year to you too.

Her thumb swirled over the send button a few times before she hit it. Almost in a huff, she set the phone down on the counter, walked over to the stove, and pulled out a saucepan from the cabinet. This was ridiculous, it was just a simple text. She pulled the Abuelita hot chocolate from the pantry. She was working on breaking the pieces of chocolate apart when she heard the ping from her phone. Her fingers continued to break the pieces apart, but her mind was on her phone, so she set the chocolate down and walked over to the counter and picked it up.

Hey it's good to finally hear from you. How are you?

Weird things were going on in her stomach, but it wasn't for good a reason. She had a bad feeling about this from the moment she'd considered responding. Things of this nature were the very reason why she feared Noah would not be in her life for much longer. Just the thought of mentioning to him that she'd been in touch with Derek again put a huge knot in her stomach, but the reality was she owed him no explanation. In fact, if he was truly her friend, she should be able to talk to him about this, right? So why was she seriously considering not responding to Derek?

With a deep breath, she shook her head. Nonsense. She was a single woman.

I'm good. Thanks for asking. I've just been busy. I go back to work next week.

Her thumb tapped against the screen of her phone as she waited for a response. The phone suddenly rang, and she nearly dropped it. It was an eight hundred number, and she answered, knowing it would be the auto club. The service rep informed her that the tow truck was out front. Veronica hurried out the front door and saw the truck backing up into her driveway. She pointed to let the driver know the car was in the back.

She set her phone in her pocket as she dealt with explaining to the driver where he should take the car and signed papers releasing it. Finally, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and saw she had two texts from Derek. The first: