“I’d love to see it.”
They raced from the room. “What’s up?” Hope asked as their feet pounded on the stairs.
“Jillian thought I was going to be her date tomorrow.”
“Oh no!”
“Yeah. I missed that part when she asked me to buy tickets.” I blew out a long breath. “She tried to play it cool, but she was pretty upset.”
“I can imagine.”
“What should I do? Should I call Peggy?”
Hope looked thoughtful. “No. If I were Jillian, you calling my mother would just make it worse. I think this is one of those cases where the best thing to do is nothing.”
“I feel really bad,” I confessed.
“It was an honest mistake. She has to know that.”
I nodded, but making the mistake honestly didn’t make it any less hurtful.
“There’s never an easy way to learn your feelings aren’t reciprocated. It’s best, though, to find out sooner rather than later—before you get over-invested.” Hope’s smile was rueful and self-deprecating. “And I mean that in every sense of the word.”
I felt a flash of anger toward her ex. What a jerk, deliberately taking advantage of her.
The girls burst back into the room, waving artwork from preschool. Hope turned her attention to them as I watched from the doorway.
Hope was so open and easy and kind and...lovely. The thought kind of startled me, because it was a girly word, not one I would usually say out loud, but it fit her.
She caught my eye over Sophie’s head. I remembered kissing her, and a whomp of attraction hit me right in the solar plexus. She gave me a soft smile that left me light-headed and happy and kind of buzzed.
Unless my radar was really off—and it could be; I was admittedly out of practice—the attraction I felt for her was a two-way street. I couldn’t wait to get Hope alone tomorrow and see where it led.
30
hope
Ipeered at my reflection in the highboy in Gran’s bedroom as I fastened the single strand of pearls around my neck, then turned toward Gran, my arms out. “How do I look?” I asked.
Gran clapped her hands from her seat in the rocking chair, beaming like a wrinkled cherub. “Oh, you’re beautiful! You look just like Audrey Hepburn!”
I moved to the cheval mirror in the corner and eyed myself. Wearing Gran’s vintage black sheath with my hair in an updo, I did, indeed, look like I belonged in an old movie. “All I’m lacking are elbow-length black gloves.”
“I have some, if you’d like to wear them,” Gran volunteered.
I was tempted, but I didn’t want to push “vintage” into “dressed for a costume party.” “Thanks, but I’d better pass.”
“Oh my, don’t you look pretty!” said Nadine. The aide had worked late, largely, I suspected, to see me off on my date. She turned to Gran. “I have your dinner ready.”
We helped Gran up and onto her walker. She’d no sooner gotten settled in the kitchen than the doorbell rang.
I hurried to answer it. My heart skipped a beat when I saw Matt standing there, wearing a fitted dark suit, looking, as Gran would say, “handsome as all get-out.”
He seemed appreciative of my efforts, as well.
“Wow!” he murmured.
I felt my face heat under his gaze. “It’s Gran’s dress. I didn’t pack anything for a big night out when I came to town.”
