Nora Goes Off Script

All through breakfast, Nora is anxious for the morning to be over. Once the children are gone, she and Leo go together to the tea house. She tells Leo she is “terrified” (104) of her feelings for him, and he agrees, telling her he hasn’t been in a relationship with someone he really knows. They make love in the tea house, and Nora is sure for the first time that he hasn’t been pretending to like her. She is convinced his feelings are genuine.

The two fall into a new routine: Every morning they watch the sunrise, get the kids ready for school, go for a run, then spend the afternoon together in the tea house making love. Nora tells Leo more about Ben, and he tells her about his mother, who recently died of lung cancer. Nora is reveling in being “Leo Vance’s girlfriend” (112), but in the back of her mind, she knows that she is living in a fantasy; Leo will leave eventually, and she’ll be forced to return to reality.

Meanwhile, Oliver Twist is progressing, and Leo takes his role as co-director very seriously. Too seriously, in fact, and he makes Ty, the 10-year-old playing Oliver, cry, as he tries to get him into character by imagining he is an orphan. He apologizes to Ty and his mother, and that night at dinner, he tells Bernadette and Arthur how important it is to own up to mistakes. Nora remarks that “some might call [his actions] parenting” (115), which she is used to doing alone. She feels like they’re becoming a family.

On a Saturday, the foursome goes to Bernadette’s soccer game, Arthur’s baseball game, and later a food truck festival, where admirers swarm Leo. They run into Nora’s friends Kate and Mickey, and, to Nora’s surprise, Leo invites the other couple over for a barbecue. Kate mentions how beautiful the hydrangeas are when they bloom in July, and Leo says he can’t wait to see them, even though he and Nora have yet to discuss how long he will stay.

On Monday, Ben calls unexpectedly. Nora doesn’t want to answer. She tells Leo that he calls every so often, asks to see the kids, and tells her he’ll call back in a few days after figuring out some “deets” (123). The conversation goes just as Nora predicted; Ben wants to come in two weeks to take the kids for the weekend, which would cause Nora to “drop dead of shock” (125) if it actually happened.

Nora and Leo go for lunch at the bistro in town, and Nora finally broaches the topic of the fast-approaching opening night and deadline for Leo’s departure. He tells her he doesn’t have anywhere else to be, but their conversation is cut short by the appearance of Vicky Miller, a woman who had an affair with Ben. After an awkward hello, Leo pesters Nora for more details of the affair. She tells him she never confronted either of them and wasn’t bothered by the affair. Leo asks if she would care if he slept with someone else. She replies that she would, and Leo seems relieved.

Mickey, Kate’s husband, and Leo become friends. He suggests that Leo visit a nearby bird sanctuary, so Leo and Nora decide to go on their next run. The sanctuary is beautiful, and when they reach it, Leo tells Nora that she is the first woman he has ever been in love with.

Returning one Thursday night after a particularly successful rehearsal, Nora finds a package on the porch addressed to Leo. Inside is a script with a note urging him to call immediately. Leo doesn’t make a big deal out of the note, but after dinner, he makes a long phone call in the tea house. Nora tries to ignore her “awful premonition” (132) as she cleans up after dinner, but when Leo returns, he announces he has been invited to audition for a huge action movie called Mega Man. He has to leave right away and fly to LA, but he promises to be back in a week, just in time for the opening night of Oliver Twist. Nora feels like her “heart is disintegrating into [her] intestine” (133). She sees how much her children count on Leo and regrets allowing them to become so close.

Arthur and Bernadette say their goodbyes and go to bed, leaving Nora and Leo alone. Leo promises to return, says he loves Nora, and wants to make things work. Then he is off.

Nora wakes up feeling devastated and guilty for the grief she caused her children. She finally breaks down when Kate visits but keeps trying to reassure herself that Leo will make good on his promise and return. She and the kids try to go through the motions of normal life, soccer, baseball, and rehearsals, but everyone keeps asking where Leo is.

Nora and Leo text and talk on the phone periodically, but Leo is busy, especially when the director is fired and a new director has to come on board. This change delays Leo’s return, first for one day and then another, causing him to miss the play. Nora feels “like [she’s] been punched in the gut” (142), but she tries to be strong for her children, especially Arthur.

The night of the big play, the romance writer in Nora still harbors a secret hope that Leo will appear. In her movies for TRC, the love interest always reappears right as the important community event starts; there is a kiss, and they live happily ever after. But Oliver Twist ends, and Leo never shows. He texts to see how the play went, tells Nora he loves her, and she goes to bed.

The next day, Saturday, there is no word from Leo. On Sunday, Nora sends him a text, but it goes unanswered.

Monday passes with no word from Leo. Nora tries to call, but he doesn’t answer. By Tuesday, Nora is convinced Leo isn’t coming back. Kate comes over again, and they discuss the strangeness of the situation. Leo told Nora he loved her and missed her, then stopped responding altogether. While Kate is there, a courier arrives with a thick envelope containing $21,000 and a note from Leo’s assistant explaining that the money is back rent from Leo’s stay. Nora bursts into tears. Leo paid her $7,000 for the first week he stayed, but after that, they were sleeping together and never discussed further payment.

She texts Weezie to say there was a misunderstanding, and the next day she heads to the city to return the money in person. Nora doesn’t know exactly why she’s making the drive. She has a vague desire for a change of scenery, to see where Leo lives, or possibly she’s “gone completely insane” (151). When she arrives at Leo’s uptown apartment, Weezie is delighted to see her, but Nora immediately regrets the visit. The penthouse is stark and uncomfortable, like a hotel room. Weezie tells Nora that Naomi decorated the place when she and Leo were dating. She goes on to say that they broke up while filming The Tea House.

Nora is shocked by this news. She tries to rush out of the apartment, but Weezie stops her, asking if she fell in love with Leo. Nora doesn’t have the energy to deny it. She tells Weezie how Leo declared his love and then vanished, and Weezie seems puzzled by Leo’s actions, saying it isn’t like him.

Nora is glad for Weezie’s honesty. Leaving the apartment, she tells herself to “face the very simple facts” (155). She never stood a chance with a man who dated women like Naomi. She needs to accept that her relationship with Leo was only a fantasy.

Nora returns, determined to get her life back. She tries to get back into her old routine, but memories of Leo are everywhere. She has to answer questions about him in town and feels so vulnerable that it’s as if she doesn’t “have skin” (158). She thinks everyone feels sorry for her, that everyone but her knew he would never stay. Kate tries to divert the attention as much as possible, protecting Nora from others’ questions. But one day, she too receives a payoff from Leo, a check for $100,000 for the organization she works for. Nora and Kate agree that Leo must be using money to erase his guilt.

When school lets out for the summer, Nora has paid off her credit cards and managed to save some money. She cannot face writing yet, so she takes her kids to visit her parents in the Adirondacks. Nora’s parents have a beautiful, supportive marriage, and Nora wonders if their model is what makes writing romance movies easy for her. At their house, Nora feels better. Her heart is still broken, but the reminders of Leo are gone, at least until he appears on TMZ one afternoon arm-in-arm with Naomi.

In the middle of July, Nora and the kids return to Laurel Ridge. Nora still cannot face writing and decides she would rather go back into debt than enter the tea house. The hydrangeas that Leo promised to be there to see are blooming, and Nora cannot look at them. She tries to reestablish a schedule, which she calls her “armor” (167), determined to make a new routine that will erase Leo once and for all.