Where the Allegheny Meets the Monongahela by Felicia Watson

what you‘re sayin‘, but I‘m not tryin‘ to close a
    merger or make a million dollars; I‘m dealin‘ with a person. I know
    Trudy says I‘m coddling Norah, but I can‘t help but think—‖
    ―Whatever it is, it can wait ‘til tomorrow.‖ Adam accepted their
    beers from the bartender, adroitly flipping him a twenty and saying,
    ―Keep ‘em coming.‖ Then he pointed at the TV, saying to Nick, ―Do
    yourself a favor. Worry about Dickerson coming up with one on and no
    outs and forget about ACC for one fucking afternoon. Deal?‖
    Knowing it was useless to argue with Adam in this instance, Nick
    nodded and resolutely fastened his attention back onto the game.
    Besides, whatever the impulse of the moment, he had never intended to
    pour out his doubts and misgivings about Norah to his friend. After all,
    it wasn‘t Adam‘s job to be that kind of sounding board.

    AT CLASS that Thursday, Nick began to think Trudy and Adam were
    right. Norah seemed, if anything, cheerful to the point of effervescence.
    She even volunteered to drive Tish and Cheryl back to ACC again.
    Nick tried to hide his eagerness as he asked, ―You sure?‖
    Norah shrugged. ―Yeah, why not? It‘s a lot closer to my place
    than yours, right?‖
    ―Thanks.‖ Nick wasn‘t sorry to forgo the drive that tacked forty
    minutes onto the end of a long day.
    Tish jumped into the front seat, saying, ―I‘m gonna be getting my
    own car soon‘s I get that job at The Carlton. Then I won‘t need the
    ‗Nick and Norah‘ taxi service.‖
    ―Hey,‖ Cheryl interjected as she took her place in the back, ― Nick
    and Norah —just like in them old-time movies.‖
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    Felicia Watson

    A grinning Norah slid into the driver‘s seat. ―Except she wasn‘t
    blonde,‖ she said while fluffing her hair in a pose of mock glamour.
    ―And he sure wasn‘t gay,‖ countered Nick, thumping the car‘s
    roof in a farewell gesture. When he swung back to the shop‘s entrance,
    intending to firm up plans for working on the car that Sunday, he saw
    Logan already standing there, still holding a ratchet wrench, with a
    guarded frown marring his handsome face.
    Oh, not this shit again. He was mentally preparing a tirade about
    Logan getting over himself about ―the gay thing‖ when their eyes met
    and Nick was stopped dead—again—by the blue-fire ache he found
    there. ―Somethin‘ wrong?‖ When the only answer was Logan‘s sudden
    interest in the wrench he was toying with, Nick grimly offered, ―If you
    can‘t make it on Sunday—‖
    Logan looked up sharply. ―No, I‘ll be here.‖ He reseated his
    baseball cap more firmly before adding, ―Anyways, I was thinkin‘
    ‘bout this Kennywood trip of yours—‖
    ―How did you know about that?‖
    ―That Sister Ciera—she told me. She arranged for my girls to go
    on it.‖
    ―Oh.‖ Until that moment, Nick hadn‘t realized that the last-
    minute additions belonged to Logan. ―I didn‘t know…. I guess I forgot
    you even had kids.‖
    ―Yep—Krista and Meghan.‖
    As he scratched at his stubbled chin in puzzlement, Nick said,
    ―Ciera left me a note, said the kids were twelve and ten.‖
    ―Uh huh, that‘s right.‖
    Nick tried to remember a birth date from the quick look he‘d had
    at Logan‘s file Could’a swore we were born the same year. ―Aren‘t you
    kinda young to have kids that old?‖
    Logan tucked the wrench into his back pocket while saying, ―Me
    and Linda was both twenty when our first was born.‖
    ―Huh, that‘s the same age I finally picked a major,‖ Nick
    muttered while his thoughts flew to his cousins in Kittanning and
    Freeport, most of whom had also married soon after high school. For

    Where the Allegheny Meets the Monongahela
    57

    the first time ever, he wondered whether—gay or not—only his escape
    to a college in Pittsburgh had ―protected‖ him from a similar fate.
    Figuring the time wasn‘t opportune for that kind of introspection, Nick
    decided to