"Did my mom say we need Gnocchi?" Nora asked Harry as he trailed behind her with the cart. "Or that we have Gnocchi...?"
"Erm—we need it, she said we need sauce as well." She grabbed three packages of the rolled potato pasta and put them in the cart.
"I want a really good sauce...not a red sauce though."
"A white sauce?"
"I don't know..." She hums, perusing down the small pasta aisle. Harry liked the tiny little specialty grocery store. Nora had said it was a run by an Italian man and his family. Plus, the amount of people inside was minimal and the age range was mostly late-forties and up. Of course, his beanie and reading glasses helped disguise him a little better. All in all, Uncle Giuseppe's was the perfect place for him to relax and grocery shop with Nora. The night before had gone much better than he'd expected and he was even more crazy about her now that he'd seen how incredibly rational she'd been when he told her the truth. She was so mature and it made Harry that much more attracted to her. He stopped the cart when she stopped in front of a small rack of sauces. From behind, he wrapped his arm around her neck and kissed the back of her head. "Bell Pepper, Rosemary and Mint cream sauce, Harry..." She gasped, excitedly. "We're getting it." Harry chuckled as she put three bottles in the cart. "Okay, now for a vegetable..."
"Does your family like mushrooms?"
"We're obsessed with mushrooms."
"Mum has a good mushroom recipe, that's quite simple, I think."
"Perfect, so mushrooms and...cauliflower?"
"Works for me." He says, easily.
"We're kind of good at this whole domestic thing, aren't we?" Harry mimics his move from moments before and as they walk, he shrugs his arm around her neck. She curls her fingers around his forearm and leans into him.
"We are. I like being domestic with you."
"Me too." She muses. "Should we get more wine?" He laughs at her topic change.
"Nora, your family's wine collection is massive...absolutely huge..."
"You're right, two or three more bottles won't hurt."
"Crazy girl." He says as she quickly places two Pinot Noir's and one Riesling in the cart. They grab the vegetables and then push the cart towards the register.
"Is that Miss Nora?!" A loud, Long Island accent came from out of nowhere and Harry looked around for the source.
"Gail!" Nora said, grinning. The woman came from behind the register and she looked like your typical Jersey-type house wife. Her hair was jet black and her fake tan was all too noticeable. She had blue—blue eyeshadow dusted across her eyelids and pink lipstick that stuck out like a sore thumb.
"How are ya, doll?"
"I am so wonderful! Happy New Year, by the way!"
"Oh, hon, same to you! You're big model now, I thought for sure you'd be in the city last night, partying that little tutus off!" Nora shook her head.
"It's been a crazy month...I just wanted to relax at home with the family."
"Well, it's very nice to see ya. Oh, and look here! We stocked up on your magazine..." Nora and Harry both looked to where she was pointing and Nora smiled.
"You guys are the best, I love it. Thank you!"
"We support our own! We're all very proud of ya, hon."
"That means so much to me, it really does." Gail waved her away.
"You're a gorgeous kid."
"Thank you." She giggled quietly and Harry noted how her cheeks turned a little rosy. Gail began ringing them out and then she finally looked to Harry.
"You're not a familiar face...he your boyfriend?" Nora looped her arm around his waist and he pulled her in.
"He is! He met the family last night!"
"Oh! Well, I won't tell Frankie that." Gail winked at Nora before glancing back at Harry. "My son loves her."
"Aw...he's so sweet." Nora said, laughing.
"Uh oh, have I got a bit of competition?" He joked and Gail made a strange face.
"Hell no, he worships video games and his motha's basement. He ain't gotta chance."
"He's very nice." Nora noted, kindly.
"Yes, he is." Gail concurred, "But he ain't gotta chance with lil' miss model here." Harry chuckled.
"I'm not sure any one is good enough for this one." Gail ate up Harry's sweet comment, grinning like a crazy lady.
"How adorable is that?! Nora, you lucky gal."
"I'm very lucky, yes..." The loud woman continued to ring up their items and when she read the total, Harry handed her cash before Nora could get her wallet out. "Gail, it was so nice seeing you. Tell everyone I said hi."
"Oh, hon, I will! You do the same. Thanks for shopping with us."
"Always!"
"It was nice meeting you, ma'am." Harry said before they walked out. The sun was just beginning to lower in the sky and Nora shivered as she turned the car on.
"Thank you for paying, you didn't have to do that."
"And your parents didn't have to let me stay at your house." He playfully counters.
"Fair enough." Instead of driving back the way they came, Nora turned and drove in the opposite direction. Due to the snow, the dock and surrounding area seemed like a ghost town. "I figured we should talk before we get back." She said as she parked the car in a spot facing the choppy ocean.
"What do you want to know?" She bit her lip.
"Do you think we cheated that first night?"
"I don't know. I feel like, no. We didn't, because I broke up with her. I told her how I felt and I ended our relationship. She was the one who assumed we were still together. I never intended to sleep with you that night, I really—that's not why I came to your hotel. I wanted to see you and I wanted to talk to you."
"So, sleeping with me was a perk." There was humor in her tone, but Harry shook his head fervently.
"I would have been perfectly fine not sleeping with you. I knew I liked you at that point and I just wanted to be with you, Nora. That's it."
"I feel...I feel guilty. I made Evelyn think that it was all you...that she wasn't wrong." Nora sighed, frustratedly. "I sat there and I told her she was better off without you, when little did I know..."
"You shouldn't feel guilty—"
"But I do, Harry. I do feel guilty. You should've seen her...she was the definition of broken and you did that."
"Are you angry at me for breaking up with her?"
"No—no, I'm not. Not at all. I just...I need you to swear to me that it wasn't for me. I need you to tell me that it was the relationship. I can't—I don't want to hear that I was your reason or your motivation. I don't want that."
"I didn't love her, Nora. I'd fallen out of love with her and then I met you." Nora's hand moved to Harry's face and she folded a curl behind his ear.
"Okay."
"Okay?" She leaned over and pressed her lips to his.
"Like I said last night, never, Harry Styles, never fucking lie to me again. I'll castrate you if you do."
"Don't do that." He said, his smile breaking through. Nora laughed lightly and now Harry leaned over. He wrapped his arm around her body and kissed her neck.
"So don't lie." He slips his tongue into her mouth and his teeth graze her lip.
"I won't." He holds his pinky out. "We're a team, baby." Nora locks her pinky with his and then he kisses their entwined fingers. "And I'm very crazy about you, I hope you know." She giggles.
"I have an idea, dork." She puts the car in reverse and begins to back up.
"Wait!"
"What?" She asks, responding to his quick protest.
"Can we make out for a few minutes?" It's like he read her mind. She puts the car back in park and smooches over, kissing him hard on the mouth.