All of it was accidental. Talking with her about everything, getting to know her. Rafael especially didn’t plan to let her get to know him. He still felt safe, though. Even if he was attracted to her, they hadn’t crossed any lines. All of it was perfectly friendly.
“What about you?” Grace had asked. “How’d you learn about architecture?”
Rafael thought for a moment. He certainly hadn’t studied architecture, even if he would have liked to, but he couldn’t help being fascinated by different spaces, how they were designed, how they were used, practical function and impractical beauty. “I don’t know,” he said. “It definitely wasn’t something anyone encouraged.”
Grace cocked her head at him. “Really? Well, let me be the first to encourage you. Your knowledge of the Alhambra was astounding.”
Rafael grinned. “And here I was thinking you were there against your will the whole time.”
Grace had thrown her head back in a silent laugh, and Rafael felt his heart speed up. In a perfectlyfriendlyway, of course.
Maybe they’d gotten to know each other and spent more time together than he’d anticipated, but this was a good stopping point. Attraction was easy to come by. A nice chat wasn’t so unusual. He and Grace would be friends, which was more than he expected, but that was all. It was nothing out of the ordinary.
“Well, I have to be nicer to you now that you’ve let me live with you,” she’d said.
He tried not to notice the way her cheeks turned pink when she laughed. He tried not to notice the way her lips gleamed after a fresh coat of balm. He tried not to notice the glimmer in her eyes when she teased him. All of that could be overcome. They could just benice, and that was enough.
CHAPTERNINE
“She didn’t believe me,”Marco complained as he perched on the edge of the huge metal desk after class.
“Didn’t believe what?” Grace tugged on the sleeve of her cardigan and scratched her arm. She liked dressing like a professor, and she liked how the cardigan looked, but she was also hot and itchy from standing in the front of the room, pacing around and lecturing her students about Futurism.
“That you liked her painting. I explained how I just wanted to show you, and she said you only told me you liked it to be nice. I think she’s self-conscious about it, but it’s hanging in our entryway! And it’s beautiful!”
Grace grinned at his enthusiasm. “Itisbeautiful. And I would be happy to tell her that in person and to see more of her work. I mean, I’m not an artist or an art critic. I have no connections, Marco. I’m just a fan, and I have no reason to pretend to think her painting is brilliant.”
Marco swung his legs back and forth. “But this is yourthing.You know this stuff better than anybody else in my life.”
Grace tried to reply, but she wasn’t sure what to say. She wasn’t sure she’d ever been admired by someone for her knowledge of art history. Most people seemed rather indifferent about it.
Marco jumped off the desk, oblivious to Grace’s inner struggle. “You should meet her,” he continued. “Could you come over to dinner? Or is that not allowed?”
“Well, I don’t think there are explicit rules against that, but?—”
Marco smacked his forehead. “Sorry, that was a weird thing to ask, huh? Felipe told me not to ask.”
“Who’s Felipe?” Grace swiped a hand across her forehead.
“My boyfriend. He explicitly told me not to be a creep about it. What if we met at a restaurant or something and you didn’t have to come to my house?” Marco turned his whole body toward her, tense with anticipation.
“I think that could work. Maybe we could do some kind of field trip. Invite the whole class. But does your mother even want to meet me? It sounds like she might not be very enthusiastic about the whole idea.”
Marco’s shoulders relaxed. “She will be. I know she will. Actually, I’m not entirely sure, because she doesn’t talk about her painting very much, and I kind of have to pry it out of her, but I can tell it’s something important. It means a lot.”
Grace tried not to show her skepticism. She wanted to meet Marco’s mom and get the full picture for herself. Pun intended. “Well then, we should plan something she will enjoy. I really would like to see her work in-person.”
“Yes!” Marco rushed forward and wrapped Grace in a tight hug before remembering himself and releasing her. “Sorry, I’m just too excited. Her work is amazing, and I just want her to be appreciated by someone other than me. Someone who knows about this stuff.”
Grace grabbed her bag and threw it over her shoulder. She couldn’t believe how easily Marco made her smile, and she was happy to return the favor whenever she could. “I’m excited, too. I would love to see more of her paintings.”
“It’s not so bad, is it?” Alma asked, her eyes darting around Grace’s little room.
Grace sat on her bed and stared out the small window. She loved the view. She’d been looking out the window a lot since she moved in. “It’s not so bad.”
“You’re comfortable? I feel terrible that you just moved across the world only to be displaced almost immediately.”
Alma dove onto the bed and began to analyze her best friend’s face in much the same way she had been eyeing the bedroom. Grace trained her expression into a smile, though she didn’t have to pretend too much. Everything was going as well as it could be, given the circumstances.
