“Good night, Elton.”
Chapter 9♥The Bright Side Has Better Lighting
Betty was in raptures over her invitation to the murder mystery dinner party, and as George predicted, as soon as she stopped gushing about how thankful she was to be invited, she asked if Jane was going. Which was why he’d stopped by Betty’s apartment on his lunch break while Jane was at the office. Betty would have asked right in front of her niece and thought nothing of it.
“Betty, take this opportunity to get out and let Jane stay with your mother for once. Trust her when she said she wasn’t interested.”
Betty wrung her hands. “Oh, I don’t know. I’m sure Jane would be a better fit for a party like that.”
That reaction was what George had feared. Betty always thought of others before herself.
“Betty, I’m invitingyou.” George stared her down until she finally nodded. “If you want, I’ll pick you up, and we’ll arrive together.”
“And you’re sure it’s okay with your friend, Emma?”
“I already asked her.”
Betty bit her nail. “Then I’d love to, but what would I even wear?”
George showed her the two option pages with costumes, and Betty chose the nosy neighbor wondering about the noise next door. She was supposed to wear curlers in her hair and slippers.
“Oh, this will work fine, I know it.” She thanked George again and took the instruction sheet and invitation inside, humming to herself.
With that out of the way, George’s mind was free to dwell on other things, like the fact that he’d almost kissed Emma, and she hadn’t seemed too opposed to the idea. What he did with that realization was another thing entirely. Did they pretend it never happened? What if it happened again?
His mind took off with that possibility, and he stomped back to the office to the rhythm of NO, NO, NO, telling his imagination to dial it back in. He’d ruin their friendship and make family functions forever awkward if he was misinterpreting her signals.
Knowing he had to tell Jane she was staying with her grandmother while Betty went out definitely helped squelch any thoughts of Emma trying to linger. What if Jane did want to go? Would she be offended he didn’t ask? He had back-to-back appointments, but before they closed, he caught Jane at the front desk while Lois was in the ladies room.
“Hey, Jane. Your Aunt Betty was so excited about my friend’s murder mystery dinner on Friday night that I invited her. Would you mind staying with your Grandmother while she’s gone? Or did you and Finn have plans?”
Jane didn’t look particularly miffed, which was a relief. “Not any specific plans. We could stay in and watch a movie or something. I’ll let Finn know.” She pulled her phone out of the purse hanging on the back of her chair and opened her messages, starting to type something.
George didn’t mean to be a snoop, but the last message between Jane and Finn was right there, and the words practically jumped off the screen.Make up your mind about us.
That was a little bold on Finn’s part, though maybe Jane had been keeping him in the friend zone for a long time, toying with the guy when it was convenient. Okay, he was way overthinking something that was not only none of his business but not worth caring about. Maybe Emma’s reality TV shows were getting to him.
***
Emma juggled the clothing store bags in her arms until she could reach a hand out and blindly stick her key in the lock.
Her latest client had done well with their shopping appointment, but being only five feet tall, some of the things they’d picked out for her had to be hemmed. Some clients could afford to let the stores handle that, but not everyone. Years ago, Emma had found a dirt-cheap, but high quality, alteration place in a strip mall next to a Chinese buffet. The only problem was their weird hours and propensity to not answer the phone.
After knocking on the shop’s door with no success, Emma took everything home.
“Harriet? Are you close?” Emma called, stumbling through the door.
“Oh, Emma. Let me help you.” Harriet’s shoes echoed on the hardwood as she came over. Emma released her death grip on the things in her left hand as Harriet pulled them away.
“Thank you.”
“You could have made two trips, you know.” Harriet was used to Emma bringing her work home by now and took the bags she’d relieved Emma of and walked to Emma’s room with them, laying them on the bed.
They walked back to Granddad sitting in the kitchen with his afternoon snack. Except for his end of the table, the rest of it was covered with knit hats, some lumpier than others.
“Wow, you’ve been busy,” Emma said, coming around to give Granddad a squeeze.
“Yes, well…” Harriet gathered them all up and stuffed them in the tote bag where she stored all her yarn. She let out a long sigh filled with so much melancholy she could give Granddad a run for his money on his worst day.
