Chapter 36

Megan had arranged for a driver to pick up Nora at five the next morning. They drove through empty streets to the studio, where a young woman in slim brown pants and a black sweater came out to greet them. "I'm Katie. We're just going to pop you in for makeup."

They primped Nora, then ushered her into the greenroom. Katie offered her a coffee and a scone. Nora felt strangely calm. While she ate her scone, Katie explained how the show would go. Megan would introduce her and her story. A clip would air, taken from Megan's interview of Nora at the corner store. And then Megan would ask Nora a few questions.

Someone came for her and led her down a narrow hall full of TV producing equipment. They put a mic on her. Nora could see Megan behind a plexiglass desk, chatting with the weatherman. And then Megan looked at the camera and said, "Have you ever thought about the one who got away? After the break, we'll be talking to a woman who is trying to find the one who got away from her."

Someone yelled, "Clear!"Nora was hurried out to sit at the desk.

"Hi," Megan chirped. An employee pushed into Megan's view, and there was a whirlwind around them, then someone shouted, "Quiet on the set!"and someone else counted, and then lights were blinding Nora.

Megan began by talking about the way people generally viewed that one love interest who might have gotten away and how hindsight was twenty-twenty. But in Nora's case, that hindsight had come to her in a near-death experience. She gave a brief summary of what a near-death experience was. Then she turned and welcomed Nora to the set.

"Let's start with your near-death experience," Megan suggested. "Tell us a little about that."

Nora was amazed by how calm she was. How well she spoke. There was no uncertainty, no bees swarming in her. She'd told the story so many times now that it felt natural. She said the only thing she remembered about the accident was that it was cold, but that she'd technically drowned. She described the field of gold and her dog and the bright light. She mentioned Grandpa but left out his garden—that felt entirely too personal. She talked about the regrets that had come flying at her, all the things she'd left undone. And that when she recovered, she'd made a list of those regrets to create her reverse bucket list.

"A reverse bucket list. I love that. Can you tell us what's on it?"

Nora told them about cooking, painting, and playing basketball, a game she'd loved as a kid. She told them she had a garden now, and that she really, reallywanted to find a guy named Jack.

"Can you tell us what he looks like?"

Nora smiled for the first time since the fire. "He was tall. He had beautiful, warm blue eyes. His hair was darkish, and he wore this adorable hand-knitted scarf."

"What was it about him that makes you think he was the one?" Megan asked.

"Well... everything. I felt almost drunk with giddiness. He was so familiar and appealing, and it felt like nothing else in the whole world mattered, not even being held hostage in a robbery. He had this way of looking at me, like... he could really see me."

Megan smiled.

"I wanted to know everything about him. I wanted to bask in his smile. It's that feeling of wanting to pinch a baby's cheek because you can't contain your emotions, you know? I didn't want the night to end, if you can believe it." She remembered standing next to him before the policeman came to get them for their statements. She remembered the fondness and attention in his eyes when he touched her face and tucked some hair behind her ear. "Wow," he'd said.

"Is it possible that what you were feeling was adrenaline?" Megan asked.

Nora shook her head. "I wasn't scared. The robber was so inept."

Megan laughed. "If you felt so strongly, why didn't you get in touch with him after the robbery?"

"A great question," Nora said. "I didn't trust what I'd experienced. But I should have." She paused and looked at the camera. "I'm sorry," she said to Jack. "I am so, so sorry. I don't know why I let you get away. But I am so lucky to have a second chance at life, and I want to find you and see if maybe we can have a second chance too. But even if you've moved on, even if it wasn't the same for you, I need to tell you that you mattered to me."

"Well," Megan said. "I think I can hear the awwsacross Austin." She put her hand to her ear, then said, "My producer is telling me that during this segment, Taylor Swift has tweeted about you. She's in town for the F1 concert series, isn't she, Steve? She has over ninety million followers."

The camera crew began to applaud.

"Good luck to you, Nora," Megan said. She turned back to the camera and instructed viewers how to find Nora's social media posts.

Nora smiled at the camera again, willing her message to wing its way through the clouds to Jack.