The Captain I Married by Chance novel Chapter 357

"Why don't we go inside to talk?"

In the dead silence, Nathan was the first to speak.

His gaze swept politely over Valerie before settling back onto Nora.

Valerie watched in absolute clarity as the man's eyes shifted from cold indifference to a soft, melting warmth in a split second.

"Ah..." Nora finally snapped out of it. "Right, right. Valerie, come inside."

She hurried forward and picked up the duffel bag Valerie had dropped. Weighing it in her hand, she looked at her friend in shock. "This is all you packed?"

Despite Valerie's bold, fiery personality, she was notoriously indecisive, especially when it came to practical things.

Nora vividly remembered a college trip where everyone was told to pack light.

Nora had showed up with just a backpack—which included a heavy pathology textbook.

Valerie, on the other hand, had showed up dragging two massive suitcases, making them the freaks of the entire group.

Even the student council organizer had approached them to ask if they were lost.

Nora had wanted the earth to swallow her whole.

Valerie hadn't been embarrassed in the slightest. Her voice had boomed across the quad. "I know! We're going on a trip, right?"

The organizer looked completely bewildered.

"You're taking all of this... on the trip?"

"Did no one tell you? We're going to a rustic farm retreat up in the mountains."

Valerie had never been to the mountains, or even a rural town for that matter.

She patted her chest confidently. "Yeah, we're here for the farm retreat!"

Nora had never been to the mountains either.

Ever since getting Nora's phone call days ago, she had been desperate to finish her work and fly out to see her.

But she had been slammed with last-minute interviews and even had to fly out of the country for an assignment.

She had barely managed to clear her desk and submit her PTO request to make the flight today.

She was in such a rush to see her best friend that she didn't even bother packing properly. She figured she could just buy whatever she needed once she got there.

After all, a girls' trip mandated shopping anyway.

She didn't expect Nora to use her lack of luggage to mock her and dredge up her most embarrassing college memory.

After that trip, she had literally been roasted on the campus confession board!

Even though people weren't overly mean about it, for someone as image-conscious as Valerie, it had been social suicide.

"I flew all the way out here out of the goodness of my heart, I haven't even had time for a sip of water, and you have the nerve to mock me! Nora Hayes, how are you going to make this up to me? Tell me right now!"