41. Norah

Norah wasn't sure she believed in heaven, but if it existed, she thought it would resemble this fenced-off patch of dirt, with these four giant hysterical dogs.

She'd been out back collecting her dogs when Ishir had appeared.

"I was wondering where you went!" he cried, beaming at her. "Shall we throw sticks to the dogs for a bit?"

Of course Norah wanted to throw sticks.

"Banjo—fetch!"

Ishir tossed a stick in the air and Banjo leaped like a clumsy elephant. Not to be outdone, Thong, Converse, and Couch also leaped, their mismatched levels of height and coordination resulting in a cheerful dog pileup on the grass.

"Ishir!" An irate-looking waitress poked her head outside. "What the fuck are you doing? There's a full house in here. Get your ass back inside or I'm quitting!" She retreated without waiting for a response.

"Again?" Ishir said to the dogs, who all nodded.

Norah couldn't remember when she'd last enjoyed herself so much. She particularly enjoyed admiring Ishir's flexing biceps. Today he was wearing a bow tie decorated with Bert and Ernie on it. The man had style, no doubt about it.

"Do you want a turn?" he asked Norah.

"No, no," she said. "You're doing a great job."

"Must be weird," he said, between throws. "Being back here after all this time."

"It is."

"Not good weird, I'm guessing?"

He tossed the stick again as Norah contemplated this. At this moment, at least, it wasn't bad weird.

"I think my sisters are more freaked out than I am. I get it. Some scary stuff happened to us here. But for me, the scariest thing was always the prospect of being separated from Alicia and Jessica. Honestly, coming back here without having to fear that… it feels kind of good."

He watched her thoughtfully, seemingly unaware of the four dogs thrashing around at his feet.

"Besides," she added, "I don't blame Port Agatha for what happened to us. It's hardly the town's fault. I kind of like it here."

He threw the stick. "Not gonna lie, I was hoping you'd say that, because I've got a very old car, and I'm not sure if it could cope with driving back and forth to Melbourne every week."

Norah felt a zing in the center of her chest. "You're not very good at playing it cool, Ishir."

"No," he agreed. "Never have been."

"How's it working for you?" she said, in her American Dr. Phil voice.

"Well, I'm divorced," he said. "And I had two serious girlfriends before I was married, and one since. All of them dumped me." He threw the stick again. "So I'm gonna say not well."

"I've never married," Norah told him. "I date occasionally, mostly to get odd jobs done around the house for free. I broke the nose of my last date and sent him sexy pictures in exchange for not going to the cops."

Ishir winced. "Did it work?"

"Naturally." She was about to offer to show him when she noticed his blush.

"This is fun," he said. "Being out here with you."

Norah could see he meant it. It was extra sweet as she hadn't even shown him her boobs.

"Here… your turn." He handed her the stick. "Go on. Try it. It's fun."

Norah threw the stick and watched the motley crew crash into one another in their eargerness to fetch it. They looked as happy as she was feeling.

"You might be interested to know," Norah said, "that not playing it cool is working very well for you this time."

The dogs went crazy around them as they grinned at each other like idiots.

"Ishir, you asshole! Get back behind the bar before I call your mother!"

Ishir's grin faded. "Well," he said. "I guess our date is over."

"That was a date?"

"I hope it was."

It didn't resemble any date she had been on before. No meal, no exchange of awkward personal information, no list of odd jobs that needed doing.

No nudes required. No videos.

She didn't hate it. She didn't hate it at all.