Read Online My Nora by Holley Trent - Free Book Online Page B

becoming completely undone. He needed her in the house. Now.
    That didn’t happen. Karen pulled up and parked in her usual spot beside Matt’s motorcycle, although they didn’t hear her or separate until she got out, slammed the door, and clicked the lock button on her key fob.
    “I’m all for you getting laid,” Karen said cheerfully, adjusting her glasses so they sat higher on her nose. “But can you commence doing so inside? Mrs. Herring is having a good ol’ time watching y’all through her sitting room window.” They all turned on cue to look at the house across the road to find a small, wizened face beside a drawn-back curtain panel.
    “I … I’ve got to go,” Nora said, batting Matt’s hands down from her chest and then hoofing it across the yard toward her own.
    “Nora, wait!” Matt called, adjusting his pants as he jogged after her. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have — ”
    “No, it’s not you,” she said, quickening her pace. “I don’t feel used, so don’t even say it. I just … I can’t right now.” Then she took off at a run. Matt let her go because making her explain against her will didn’t seem right, either.
    *
    The following Saturday, Matt and Karen perched in a rickety tree stand on a property belonging to an old woman who had a hankering for venison for Thanksgiving. Not being a hunter herself and not having indulged in game meat since her husband died five years before, she put out an announcement through her church network and word eventually got back around to Matt, who jumped at the opportunity to hunt on a property that large. The women had held a raffle and the four winners got alternating weekend hunting permissions on her property with the caveat that if they felled a deer, she got half the meat.
    “So, what’s going on between you and Nora?” Karen whispered, holding her Remington 700 steady, waiting for the deer they’d spotted to quit nibbling and come out from the tree where it had taken cover. Karen generally preferred her bow over her gun since she didn’t have to wear ear protection when shooting arrows, but she’d accidently ran over her crossbow with her car the night before, not realizing it had fallen over from the wall it was usually perched against.
    Matt was slumped against the back wall of the stand with his Thompson/Center rifle across his lap, making no effort to line up a shot. He wasn’t in the mood for it, but since it was his name scribbled on the “Permission to Hunt” form, he figured he should accompany his sister. “Nothing’s going on. Haven’t seen her in a week.”
    “Doesn’t look like she’s moved her car all week, either. I saw her outside on Wednesday when I was driving home. She was talking to the contractor. He finally got that side wall put up now that the stairs are built in. She looked kind of tired and was yawning while the guy was talking to her.”
    “Hmm.”
    “Did you try calling her?” She squinted into her gun’s scope then muttered “shit!” as the deer’s shoulders became obscured by a large oak trunk.
    Matt scoffed and the small sound made the deer jerk back a few paces and scan the area for the source of the noise. “I don’t even know her phone number. Haven’t needed it.”
    Karen set her gun down flat again to wait, and turned to her sulking brother. “You know, I don’t need you to take care of me anymore. My feelings won’t be hurt if you decide to get married or whatever.”
    Matt crossed his arms over his chest and scowled at the waif laying in the stand opening. Maybe she didn’t need him anymore. The thought had crossed his mind several times before then. She had a pretty good job as a nurse’s aide at the hospital and was studying for the SATs so she could enroll in college to get a nursing degree. He knew she was good about saving her money so even if she did quit working to attend school full-time, she’d be okay for a while. Matt’s annoyance was due to her preposterous guesswork