Dani studied the painting for a moment, then nodded. “Not bad. Still doesn’t explain why you called me over, though. Don’t tell me you need me to clean up your mess again.”
“Hey, I don’t always call you for cleanup duty,” Sloane said, sitting cross-legged on the floor. “Sometimes I just want your sparkling company.”
“And sometimes pigs fly,” Dani quipped, opening the takeout bag. She pulled out two cartons of food and tossed one to Sloane. “Eat. You’ve probably forgotten how.”
The two settled into an easy rhythm, the sound of chopsticks clicking against the cartons filling the room. Dani was Sloane’s opposite in many ways: pragmatic where Sloane was impulsive, sharp-tongued where Sloane was playful. But they balanced each other, their banter a testament to years of shared laughter and mutual exasperation.
“So,” Dani said around a mouthful of noodles, “what’s got you all jittery today? Don’t tell me it’s just the show.”
Sloane hesitated, twirling a noodle around her chopstick. “I met someone.”
Dani froze mid-bite, her dark eyes narrowing. “Define ‘met.’”
“At the gala last night,” Sloane said, leaning back against a stack of paint cans. “She’s…different.”
Dani set her carton down, her interest piqued. “Different how? Like, good different? Or bad different? Because your track record with people who are ‘different’ is?—”
“Okay, okay, I get it,” Sloane interrupted, holding up a hand. “And for the record, she’s good different. I think.”
Dani’s grin turned sly. “Is this the part where you tell me she’s emotionally unavailable and completely wrong for you?”
Sloane rolled her eyes. “She’s not unavailable. She’s…complicated.”
“Complicated,” Dani echoed, leaning back in her chair. “Your favorite word. Translation: impossible.”
“Not impossible,” Sloane said, her voice softening. “Just…guarded. Like she’s spent her whole life building walls, and now she doesn’t know how to take them down.”
Dani snorted. “Sounds exhausting. You sure you don’t want to save yourself the trouble and find someone who isn’t a human Rubik’s cube?”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Sloane asked, smirking.
The smirk faded as she picked at the corner of her carton, her thoughts drifting back to the woman from the gala. “She’s different, Dani. She’s sharp and cold and, god, those blue eyes. Like she’s always two steps ahead of everyone else in the room.”
“And this is appealing to you, why?” Dani asked, gesturing for her to continue.
“Because it’s not just ice,” Sloane said, her voice dropping slightly. “There’s something underneath it. I saw it, just for a second. A spark, like she wanted to let herself feel something but didn’t know how.”
Dani stared at her for a long moment, then shook her head. “You’re insane, you know that?”
“Probably,” Sloane admitted.
Dani leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “Look, I get it. You love a challenge. But this woman, what’s her name?”
“Catherine,” Sloane said, the name rolling off her tongue like a secret she wasn’t supposed to share.
“Catherine,” Dani repeated. “This Catherine doesn’t sound like someone who’s going to jump into your chaos with both feet. She sounds like someone who’s going to run screaming in the other direction.”
“Maybe,” Sloane said, a small smile tugging at her lips. “But what if she doesn’t?”
Dani groaned, throwing a napkin at her. “You’re impossible.”
Sloane caught the napkin and laughed. “You’re just figuring that out now?”
The conversation shifted to other topics, but Sloane’s mind stayed on Catherine. As Dani cleaned up the remnants of their meal, Sloane sat cross-legged on the floor of her studio, the chaos of her surroundings fading into the background as she stared at the blank sheet of paper in front of her. A battered fountain pen rested in her hand, its tip already smudged with ink. She twirled it between her fingers, biting her lip as she considered her next move.
“Are you seriously writing her a love letter?” Dani’s voice cut through the silence, filled with amused disbelief.
“It’s not a love letter,” Sloane protested, though a grin tugged at the corner of her mouth. “It’s an invitation. Completely professional.”
