“She’s my aunt,” Tommy says, as if it’s common knowledge.
Maybe it is; I didn’t know.
And it should really make no difference. It doesn’t mean she’s single. Doesn’t mean she’s thought of me once in the past six years.
But it does mean a wide smile stretches my face as I set up the cones again.
20
CLAIRE
Driving home from our weekly visit to Mom, Cassidy casually says, “You’re still free tonight, right?”
I glance in the rearview mirror at Tommy, who’s happily coloring in a picture book. Rather than scribble inside the lines, Tommy appears to be drawing soccer balls. Since he played with Otto, Tommy’s interest in soccer has grown even more.
It was a collision of worlds I was wholly unprepared for. It was one thing for Otto to invade work. Soccer has reminded me of him plenty of times. But my nephew asking me to set up the cones “like Otto did”? That was an unwelcome adjustment. Nearly as hard as watching Otto patiently play with my nephew was. Does he want kids? The closest we came to discussing the topic was a responsible conversation on preventing pregnancy.
“Claire?” Cassidy prompts, and I realize I zoned out.
“Sorry,” I say, eyes returning to the road. “Tonight. Yeah. I’m free.”
Cassidy’s Saturday nights with Josh have become a standing date at this point.
Yesterday’s game was away, against New Jersey, and a much-needed win, so I have tonight and tomorrow off. Icing the ankle Itweaked during a tackle while watching cartoons and eating mac and cheese is my plan for the evening.
None of my childhood friends live in Boston. We’ll get together around the holidays when they come back to visit family, but that’s it. I needed to be home with Mom, so I turned down most invitations from my Siege teammates, until they stopped coming. Now that Mom’s at Echo Glen, I could go out more, but I haven’t.
“Great,” Cassidy replies brightly. “I asked Lydia to watch Tommy.”
“Wait. What?” I glance at her. “Why did you do that? I told you I’d watch him.”
“Josh has a college friend visiting this weekend.”
It takes me a second, and then the pieces click together.
I groan, “No.”
“And we thought it’d be fun to?—”
“No,” I repeat more forcefully.
My sister continues like I said nothing, “He’s nice, and you could use a fun night out. All I’ve seen you do is work, exercise, and sleep. And worry about Mom. You’re coming out with us.”
“I hate double dates.”
“When have you ever been on one?”
Never, but an outing with my sister, her high school sweetheart, and a guy I’ve never met before sounds like a bad attempt.
Not that I doubt Josh has decent taste in friends. And Cassidy and I have been getting along surprisingly well, settling into a new routine centered around taking care of Tommy and visiting Mom. But I’m very much not in the first-date headspace. I’ll spend the evening comparing myself to Cassidy, who’s always been effortlessly popular with guys. Who knew what to say and what to wear while I never did.
Also, I had a dream about Paris last night. I woke up disoriented, wondering why the Eiffel Tower wasn’t in view past my curtains. And wet.
Warmth creeps across my skin as I recall it.
Steve and I broke up over a year ago. I’m not going to hook up with Josh’s friend, but I should at least consider dating again.
“It’ll be fun, Clairey. A chance for you to catch up with Josh. And we live together, but I hardly see you.”
