Isa lowered her menu. “Okay, that was harsh.”
“No, it wasn’t,” I said.
“Grace…”
I scowled. “James would say the same thing.”
“Maybe,” Isa said, “but he’d be charming about it.”
“I was charming!”
“But with a bitchy undertone,” Ev murmured, chuckling when I kicked him under the table. My skin numbed when I felt him put his hand on my knee.
“And James isn’t here,” Isa said pointedly as my heart began to race. “Is he?”
Before I could answer, our server arrived with a carafe of water. “Hello, my name is Adrien,” he said. “Welcome to Jean-Georges. I will be your server this afternoon.” He filled each of our water glasses. “Will we be sticking with water, or would you care for another beverage?”
Isa, Ev, and I looked at one another.
Should we try?our expressions asked.
“I’ll have a glass of champagne, please,” Isa said, surprising me again today.
Adrien nodded. “Veuve Clicquot?”
Isa stayed in character. “Yes, excellent.”
“And for you?” Our server turned to Ev.
“Stoli up with an olive.” He ordered the martini easily. It had been his dad’s signature.
Another nod from Adrien, and then it was my turn. “Last but not least?”
“A cosmopolitan,” I said.
“All right, wonderful,” Adrien said. “You can expect those”—he checked his watch—“in three-to-five years, when you are indeed twenty-one.”
Isa blushed, Ev shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and my mouth might’ve dropped.
Adrien pretended not to notice. “Can I get you anything else to drink?” he asked. “While you wait for those birthdays?”
There was a beat of silence.
“I’ll have a lemonade,” Isa said.
“Iced tea,” said Ev.
“Ginger ale with a splash of grenadine and cherries,” I said.
Adrien gave me a bemused look. “So a Shirley Temple?”
“Yes,” I said, trying to play things cool. “A Shirley Temple, heavy on the cherries.”
Isa and Ev cracked up once Adrien had disappeared. “You and your Shirley Temples,” Ev said, smiling and shaking his head.
I rolled my eyes. “They’re delicious!”
“They’re meant for little kids!” Isa said as Ev squeezed my knee. The two of them exchanged a smirk before she changed the subject…back to my brother. “Has James texted you again?”
