NORA
As Jake drove back down the dirt road from the Prentiss place, Nora and her father drove to Comforts Café in Lovelock. Comforts was at the corner of Main and Cornell, at Lovelock’s only traffic light. That light had mattered once, back when Cornell was part of the old Route 40 and you could drive it all the way to Atlantic City, but now all people saw of Lovelock was the billboard near the interstate. lock your love in lovelock it said, next to a fading photo of a padlock on a chain, while the traffic light on the dead highway cycled patiently from red to green and back again. Nora waited until it gave her permission to park in front of the café.
Nora’s friend Britta was behind the counter, short and curvy in her blue apron, making espressos, counting change, and serving croissants
