“Actually, he can make jokes inseverallanguages.”
“He could, but does he? I’m going to go out on a limb and guessnein.”
From where we were standing it was just possible to glimpse the less than boisterous grouping of Will, Terry, and Arden. As we watched, he angled his phone above himself and Terry. She started to smile, but a glance at Will’s pained expression nipped that in the bud.
“Does he think they’re in a perfume commercial?” Alex whispered, bending close to my ear.
“He’s probably very artistic,” I retorted. “Look at how he dresses, and his ... deportment.”
“Yeah. You could take a guy like that anywhere. Libraries. The opera. Funerals.”
“You’re just—” I bit back the wordjealous. That hit a little too close to home, though I felt I’d behaved with admirable magnanimity in ceding the field to Terry.
“Please.” He swept a hand through the air. “Enlighten me.”
“He’s a better match for her, okay? I’m sorry if that wounds your ego.”
Alex glanced across the bleachers. “You think those two make a good couple?”
“There’s potential.” At the very least they’d look good in stark black-and-white photos.
He shook his head. “No way.”
“Excuse me if I question your objectivity.” That was easier than asking myself how I’d ended up on this side of an increasingly ridiculous argument.
“Suit yourself.” He shrugged as if it didn’t matter to him. “But when it all falls apart, remember I called it first. No spark.”
I crossed my arms, looking away. “We’ll see.”
“Zero chemistry,” he murmured, standing near enough that my fingers would have brushed his shirt if I hadn’t been clenching them so tightly. “If she was interested in him, she wouldn’t keep looking over here.”
I darted a glance at Terry, but she was listening to Will, who had unbent sufficiently to use hand gestures as he spoke.
“Maybe she wants me to get her some candy.”
“Are you sure that’s all it is?”
“As opposed to what?” It sounded like he thought Terry was looking athim.
His eyes glinted in an extremely disreputable fashion. “The two of you might be, you know—”
It was the eyebrow twitch that tipped me off. “Having a torrid affair involving lots of pillow fights in our skimpy pajamas?”
“I was going to say, ‘plotting something,’ but I like your version better. What kind of jammies are we talking about? Those little short sets or a nightie?”
“You’re incorrigible. Has anyone ever told you that?”
“I can honestly say you’re the first,Mary.” It was a testament to his Vronsky-ish ways that he made even my name sound suggestive. He could probably give a word likemucilagea saucy twist.
“Answer me this,” I said with as much dignity as possible. “Would you tell your best friend to date you?”
“Absolutely not. Jake’s a pig. I don’t think he even knows where his toothbrush is. There’s no way I’m letting that tongue in my mouth.”
I closed my eyes. “You know what I mean. How about your sister? And obviously not the literal you, because that would be incest, but someonelikeyou.”
“Which sister? I have three.”
My eyes flew open. “You—” I swallowed the urge to compare notes or ask if by chance he had an annoying little brother too. “It’s a hypothetical question.”
