Oh, hell. “Sorry. I was?—”
“Don’t be sorry. I don’t want you to feel like you can’t be yourself with me.” He hesitates. “I’m having a good day today, but there are going to be times I probably won’t be able to talk to you even though I want to. I’m the last person who’ll judge you for the occasional grunt.”
“I’ll make sure to switch languages more often, then,” I reply, and I can practically feel the tension leave him, even through the phone. I want to ask him about his selective mutism and see how what I read online applies to him, but this isn’t the time. We don’t know each other that well, and this is the first time he’s been able to speak to me. It can wait. “I have questions about Calla dating a baseball player, though. I guess I stereotyped her as only being into artsy people. Or business majors.”
“Fun fact: Polly was a business major. They were in some classes together. But Calla’s actually a rabid baseball fan, and after she and Blaise started dating ball players, we all got into it. Even Harold, who was on record as hating all sports.”
“It’s nice that you all support— Wait, did you say Polly?” Connections click in my brain, but it can’t be the same guy. “Not Brad Polling?”
“Yep.”
“Calla’s college boyfriend is now a professional ball player?”
“Yeah. They split up years ago, but they’re still besties. We see him all the time. Personally, I think they just weren’t ready to be together before and that’ll eventually change. I’m pretty sure they still hook up.” He pauses. “I don’t know why I told you that. We’re friends, right? So you gotta keep my secrets.”
My smile is immediate. “I’m a vault,” I promise. “Even if I’m tortured, I won’t tell. I’m impressed, though. I don’t like a lot of sports, but baseball is one I enjoy. It’s cool that you’re friends with a pro athlete.”
“Two,” he says.
“Huh?”
“Blaise’s boyfriend is Jordan Marks. They’ve been together since college, even though it’s long-distance half the year.”
Marks is another player I’m familiar with. I vaguely remember hearing something non-sports-related about him a couple of years ago…. “Blaise… Warden? The costume designer?”
“Warner,” Phil corrects. “And yeah. Do you know him?”
“Not really. We met at a party a while back, and someone else mentioned that he was dating Marks. Or asked him about him. I don’t remember.” I do remember thinking about hitting on Blaise before I heard he was taken, and I’m relieved I didn’t. That could have been awkward.
You know, now that I’m planning to date one of his friends.
Because it’s only taken fifteen minutes of conversation for me to know that’s what I want.
It’s too soon to tell Phil that. I need a plan first… and probably to talk to Damian, since Phil’s a designer I’m working with.
So I say, “Interesting that so many from your college friend group ended up being high-achieving in your careers. Two pro athletes, you and Calla successful owners of a luxury fashion brand, a Hollywood costume designer who’s been labeled the one to watch…. Who else you got?”
“I like when you say nice things.”
I’m not imagining the flirty note, am I?
“Let’s see… Harold is consistently the top-earning interior designer at his firm, and he has a waitlist for clients. Butchhas a showing at the Miller-Coombs gallery coming up. Xera’s kicking butt at whatever it is she does in finance. And Marty’s successfully teaching eight-year-olds not to be assholes, which honestly is probably the toughest job of them all.”
That gets a laugh from me. “My nephew—who’ll call soon, by the way, for his nightly ritual of singing to Vivi. So if I have to hang up in a hurry, that’s why. Vivi will make my life a misery if I deny her.”
“Intriguing,” he says. “I can’t wait to meet Vivi.”
I can’t wait for that, either, because it means Phil would be in my house. “We’ll set something up,” I promise. “Anyway, Carter’s only five, and I swear I couldn’t adore that kid more than I do—no way, no how, just not possible—but even I can admit that he has the occasional assholish tendency. My sister says the other normal parents they used to be in a playgroup with all agreed that it’s a natural kid thing.”
“The othernormalparents?”
I shrug even though he can’t see me. “Penny said the ones who disagreed were the ones who thought their kids could do no wrong. Like, the kid would push another kid over, and the parent would insist their precious darling was trying to catch them or something.”
“Ohhh, those parents. I know some people who were raised by parents like that.”
“I think we all do, unfortunately.”
“Hey, can I send you a photo? I’m embellishing jeans for Xera—the finance guru—and I can’t work out what’s wrong with my vision. Normally I get Calla’s opinion, but she’s not home.”
