For Nevermore Season 1

what sort of family’s moving in.” Of course, Noella said nothing about how the mysterious stranger who had haunted a lifetime’s worth of dreams, was staring at her from the bedroom a dozen or so hours before.
    “What makes you think it’s a family?” Josie asked.
    Noella shrugged, “Seems like they’ve got a lot of stuff, so I just figured they have kids. Have you seen anyone yet?”
    Josie shook her head. “No, I heard the truck pull up yesterday, but my head was in the crapper. After that, I crawled back into bed.” Josie wrapped her arms around Noella, then pulled her into a gaze. “I have to work tonight, okay?” she said, apology pulling at the edges of her mouth.
    “There’s nothing I can do about it. Lindsey’s daughter has pneumonia, so I’ve been assigned to cover her shift. I know it sucks, but we’ll celebrate your birthday tomorrow, I promise. I’ll be home around 11, if you want to wait and have cake then, but it’s probably better to wait until tomorrow. Besides, that gives Randy one more day to cool off, and that has to be a good thing, right?”
    Though Noella hadn’t wanted to do anything on her birthday, she certainly didn’t want to spend it at home, alone. Or worse, with Randy.
    “I know your birthday is already starting out in Suck City,” Josie said, sensing Noella’s sadness, “but we’ll celebrate extra tomorrow and it will be great. We can eat anywhere you want.”
    “I dunno. Randy will probably say we can’t go out since I’m on blackout.”
    Josie hugged Noella tighter. “I’ll take care of Randy,” she said. “I promise!”
    Noella buried her face, deep in the chest of the closest thing she’d ever had to a mother, and held her close for several minutes, until Josie kissed her on the forehead and went into the kitchen to boil some water for tea.
    Noella continued to Hoover, Windex, and Tidy-Bowl, setting her stare across the street with every pass in front of the window. Somewhere between her morning bowl of cereal and her afternoon ham and cheese, the phone rang – Tony calling from Keefer’s to tell Noella that Jamie was calling in sick.
    Of course, Jamie was calling in sick. Just like she had on Halloween, when The Smoldering Coals were playing the Palace, and a dozen other times when she wasn’t really sick, showing Noella how insignificant her social schedule was in comparison.
    “Can you work?” Tony asked.
    Noella could hear the clanging of cups and the whir of the espresso machine on Tony’s end reminding her of how busy Fridays were.
    She wanted to say no. Especially since Tony didn’t even acknowledge it was her birthday. But there was only one thing Noella wanted to do less than pull a shift at Keefer’s on her birthday, and that was be home when Randy got home. She told Tony to hang on and turned to Josie, “Looks like everyone is calling in today. Tony wants me to work tonight. Think Randy will mind?”
    “No, he’ll probably be happy to have you out of the house, what with the guys coming over to watch the game. If you really wanna work on your birthday, go ahead.”
    “Sure,” Noella said into the phone, “What time do you need me?”
    “Five to closing?” Tony asked, surely afraid that she’d change her mind once she heard the word “closing.”
    Closing sucked on Fridays because Keefer’s was one of the few places for teens to hang out in the town, and they’d always push their luck, lingering as long as they could. Closing at nine meant you might not get out until an hour or hour and a half later, sometimes.
    Noella said, “Sure, whatever,” then started moving through the list, and the house, at double speed. She wanted everything barracks-neat before she left. Fridays with Randy were as predictable as the rest of the week. He’d get home from the station sometime around 5:00, with his buddies arriving around a half hour after that. By 7:00 they’d all be rowdy and half drunk.
    Most of the men were harmless, and while they made cracks here and there to annoy Noella, it was mostly for sport. In front of company, Randy was as charming as a prince. It was only under his breath, or just out of earshot, when Randy took the gloves off and bruised Noella’s soul. And it was always worse when Josie worked late or wasn’t there to protect her.
    By the time Noella was finished with her chores and was freshly showered, Josie was cleaned up and ready for her shift at Sunset Senior Center. They climbed into either side