Haven

22. Normal

Norah headed to the cafe early the next morning, an idea in her head for a scene to write. It felt like it had been so long since she'd written anything, her fingers were twitching with the need to put words to paper. She jogged into town, needing the exercise after all the eating she was doing at the Montoya's. She was happy she was going home tonight, and could eat what she wanted. Her notebook under her arm, she walked through the front door, bumping into Brad who was on his way out.

"Oh sorry," she exclaimed, brushing the drops of coffee that had spilled as their bodies connected.

Brad glanced at her coldly, and she guessed he still wasn't happy with her being involved with the Montoya's. "No problem."

He moved past her and she rolled her eyes. If he was going to be petty about it then fine. She would have been happy to be friends, but obviously Brad was incapable of being mature about the situation.

"Men," she muttered, sitting in her usual seat.

Gail walked over, placing a muffin in front of her. "Man troubles, Norah?"

"Not specifically, its more just men in general."

"Ah, I see. That's too heavy a subject for this time of morning." Gail pulled a red strand of hair back behind her ear. "Give us a shout if you need anything. Olivia should be in soon."

"Sure." Gail headed back to serve another customer and Norah opened her notebook, reading over her notes and the scene she had finished on. The scene she had in her mind, didn't follow on from her last point, but she felt it would be a good way to finish the story. The only problem was trying to find her way to that scene. Sometimes she would think of scenes that would be amazing, but she could never get the story to move in the right direction so the scene would fit in. 

She started scribbling down ideas for different plot lines which could help her. A coffee appeared in front of her and she murmured a quick hello to Olivia, recognising her perfume. Olivia disappeared and she kept writing, filling three pages back and front with ideas. A general plot had started to form by the time her coffee was finished and she reached for her muffin, but it was gone. Glancing up, she saw the last of her muffin being eaten by the man now seated opposite her.

"Is no food sacred?" she snapped.

Rylan grinned, licking his fingers. "Gail makes the best muffins in Bellvale. Don't tell Cassie I said that."

"What are you doing here?"

"I was hungry." She raised an eyebrow and Rylan chuckled. "Doing the coffee run for the Mill. I volunteered after Gail mentioned to Aston that you were here."

"How are they doing?" she asked quietly. "Are Logan and Aaron alright?"

He nodded. "Both back to their normal annoying selves. Aston's given them the day off though so I'm going to be working late tonight."

"Can I still go home tonight?"

He nodded. "I've asked the boys to keep an eye on your place until I get home. There's no chance they'll stay in the house all day and I'd rather they do something productive than go off and find trouble."

"Is that necessary?" she asked.

He reached over, grabbing her hand. "It's more of a precaution at t this stage. Last time I left you alone that stalker of yours got to you. I know you like your privacy, but humour me this once, okay?"

She consented to the boys keeping an eye on her house only because she wanted to go home. She loved the Montoya's, but she missed her own things, and her own space. It had been a mad week and she needed some normalcy.