Grace: I’m the last person you need to impress.
Actually, she was the only person, but I was relieved to be able to tell her anyway.
Dean: I faked getting sick. You are the world’s worst lip reader.
Three little dots came and went, and then my phone lit up with an incoming call. Grace launched in with, “I’m a great lip reader. I thought you were trying to be funny.”
“In what way would that be funny?”
“I don’t know. Because she was all over you, and it would be funny to pretend you hated that.”
“I did hate it.”
“Like, all-the-way hated it? You know what? Never mind.”
“Grace, don’t you dare hang up on me.”
She sighed. “I wasn’t planning to, but now I sort of want to.”
“You’ll show me.”
Grace laughed. “I can’t help being contrary. It sneaks up on me. And I’m getting it all back with Piper.”
“No, you’re not. When you have an actual holy terror child, you’ll know. And yes, I all-the-way hated it. Blaire came on way too strong for a blind date. So, I bailed. It wasn’t my finest moment.”
“You took a blind date to a ten-thousand-a-plate dinner?”
“It was a favor to my mother.”
“Oh.”
We were both quiet for a minute. Grace was probably dwelling on how stupid rich my family was, but I couldn’t get over her need to know if I all-the-way hated having another woman draped all over me.
“Am I too touchy with you?” I asked.
“What?”
“Do I take liberties? Do I make you uncomfortable when I lean in, or when I say dumb things to make you turn red? Do I touch you too much?”
Chapter 21 – Grace
Did he touch me too much?
It was a good thing he couldn’t see me, because I was pretty sure I was turning the reddest he’d ever made me. An earnest Dean was way harder to deal with than a flirty Dean. No, he didn’t touch me too much. I didn’t even get to dance with him tonight. He definitely didn’t touch me enough. I stared up at the ceiling. I was in no way telling him that.
“We’ve known each other a long time, and you’ve never crossed any lines with me, Dean.”
“Okay, good.” He sounded so relieved. Maybe he was afraid his flirting had led me to assume things about him. Like that he believed in commitment. I had never once thought his flirting was in hopes he could someday marry me so we could have that holy terror he’d been referring to.
“What are you doing right now?” he asked.
“I’m unwinding now that Piper’s in bed.”
“Unwinding how?”
I had my feet up on the ottoman in front of the couch. I was in pajamas. Not the ugly kind. I’d actually bought the current set I was wearing at the grocery store because I reachedout to touch them and they were soft, and the checkered pattern called to me. Why grocery stores decided to get in the clothing business was beyond me, since I was pretty sure tumbleweeds flew through that section of the store most days, but I’d grabbed them on my way to get laundry detergent and a bottle of liquid hand soap.
“I’m working on an illustration for a maybe job.”
