Haven

8. Revelations

“Hey, Norah!”

Olivia opened the front door and walked in, coffee cup in her hands.

“Hey, Olivia, what are you doing here?” Norah stood up from her spot in the middle of the floor.

“I haven't seen you for a couple of days, and Wendy said writers sometimes hibernate so I thought I'd bring the coffee to you.” She placed a hot cup in her hands.

Norah’s eyes closed, enjoying the smell. “Thanks, you didn't have to do that.”

“Of course I did,” Olivia leaned against the kitchen table. “You're the only customer I like and after your break in the other day, I was worried when I hadn't heard from you.”

Norah didn't want to tell Olivia that one of the reasons she had been avoiding her was because of the break-in. She still liked Olivia, but her chicken nerves still got the better of her. “Sorry I kind of dropped off the planet. I just get in the zone sometimes and forget about everything else. Alice says I'm the most oblivious person she has ever met.”

“Who is Alice?” Olivia asked.

“My friend from back home. Her husband co owns this place with Jack.”

“Ah, okay! I think I can see what she means too, about you being oblivious.”

“Why?” Norah asked nervously. “What have I missed?”

“Not much, just someone taking an interest in you,” she said slyly.

“What, you mean, Brad? I've already told him –“

“No, I meant Rylan!”

Norah's whole body froze. “What?”

“Yeah, he's been asking how you are whenever I come home from work. I didn't even know you two had met, until he gave me this.” She pulled out an envelope and passed it to Norah. “I couldn't help myself, I had a peek at the contents. What did Rylan do to your couch?”

Norah opened the envelope and found a wad of money and a small note. She opened the note - Sorry about the couch, hope this will cover it, R.

“He did nothing,” she snapped and passed the envelope back to Olivia. “You can tell Rylan that I don't want his money.”

“You want his body then?”

“What? No!”

Olivia laughed. “Sorry just had to check. So, there's nothing going on between you two?”

“Nothing at all,” Norah declared and ran a hand through her hair, her fingers getting caught in the knots.

“If you say so.” Olivia sang and looked around. “So, are you doing okay, since the break-in I mean?” Her voice had softened and Norah nodded.

In truth, she had been doing better. Her sleep had been broken the last couple of nights, every small noise waking her, but there hadn’t been any more scary intruders, no more threats and no more weird nonsense. Apart from the wolf watching her on the cliffs. She had noticed him last night; all white, he had stood out on top of the cliffs, he was too far away for Norah to see properly but he looked quite large. She wasn't sure why the wolf was hanging around near the cliffs but she thought maybe there was prey nearby - as long as it wasn't her, the wolf could do what it wanted.

Olivia hung out for a few hours and Norah forgot all about the threats. Olivia had a personality that was hard to hate, and Norah couldn't understand why someone would tell her to stay away from her. Norah liked to trust her instincts, and Olivia didn't send off any alarm bells. After they finished arguing over who was the hottest Avenger, Olivia had to go home and Norah put on her running shoes and headed into town.