My heart and smile needed to remember it wasn’t a big deal. It was a date.
A date.
A date I wanted to go on, not one I was set up on or tricked into. I hadn’t been this excited in a while. I kept trying to remind myself it wasn’t a big deal.
“Awesome. Can I pick you up on Saturday at six p.m.?”
“Mmhm,” Faith replied.
“All right. Night, Faith.”
“Night, Adam.”
I moved the phone away from my ear to end the call, and I’m pretty sure I heard happy squealing. My whole chest was lighter, like I could take a full breath of air for thefirst time in days.
“I told you that you were grumpy because you missed Ms. Faith,” Danny murmured as he looked out the window.
Chapter Twenty-One
FAITH
Rose added glitter near my eyes. “Girl, Adam won’t know what hit him.” She raised her eyebrows suggestively.
My cheeks flushed.
Marissa swiveled on a nearby chair at the kitchen counter. “Ohhh.” She saw me and shimmied her shoulders, holding the gingerbread cookie that she had taken a large bite of.
My fingers reached to spin my anxiety ring, but then I remembered I had taken it off for the dance. “Is this even okay? It’s kind of public, and what about Danny? What will people think?”
Rose rolled her eyes and picked up her eyeliner, adding a layer with her practiced hand. “People will think what people will think. That has nothing to do with you or what you choose.” She tilted my chin up, turning my face toward the light.
Marissa nodded. “That’s true.” She swallowed another bite. “Other people aren’t in your sphere of influence. You can’t waste time worrying about something out of your control.” She bit another big chunk.
“Sounds like someone has been making good use of therapy,” I teased.
“Maybe you should look back into it.” She raised her eyebrows. “I know someone if you need.” She grinned.
I chuckled. Marissa had been using my friend Sarah as a therapist.
“What really matters is what do you think? What do you feel?” Marissa added.
What did I think about Adam? What did I feel? How would this affect Danny? Then there was the fact that my past clung to me, refusing to let me go.
“I think…maybe it’s not that simple.” My brow furrowed.
Rose grabbed her lip stain. “It never is, especially once men are involved.” She unscrewed the lid. “It’s easy to fancy yourself special to someone in the glow of night, but in the morning the truth comes out.” She applied the stain a little rougher than necessary to my lips.
I pulled away from Rose and looked at her. “Rose…” My eyebrows lowered. Marissa hopped off her stool and came to her side.
Rose shrugged off our concern. “I don’t want to talk about it. I’m fine. I promise.” She stiffened her shoulders. “Besides, you should see what I did to his car.”
Marissa flinched.
Rose set her lip stain in her makeup carrier. “I stuck maxi pads all over his car. I hope it freezes and rips all the paint off.” She raised an eyebrow.
“Wait, I thought you said it was over with Blake already?” I pinched my brow.
“Oh, um, yeah.” She looked away from me and shrugged. “We just met up one more time.” She focused on her make up bag. “Anyway, enough about that. Follow me.”
