“Puh-leeze.”
Christ and all his apostles. “On onecondition.”
“What?”
She’s supposed to sayanything you want,Ter, but at this juncture, I’m not going to point that out.“Three hours. If you don’t find what you’re looking for in threehours, I’m out of there.”
“It’ll take fifteen minutes. I found thedress and the headpiece at Nordstrom. I just haven’t bought themyet.”
I’m not going to ask the obvious. I’m not.Yeah, I am. “Then why haven’t you bought them yet?”
“Because I want you to see me in them firstto tell me if they’re all right.”
I melt. This is the core of Sofia. She’seager to please, yet knows her mind. She’s young, and this is howher inexperience expresses itself. In the years to come, she’llwelcome my opinion, but she won’t hinge her decisions on it. Rightnow, she’s vulnerable and she needs someone who’s not family toprop her up. I’m honored she looks to me for that.
“Cara. I’d be happy to.”
“Thanks, Ter. Really.”
“Here’s a suggestion. Buy the dress andheadpiece. I’ll be up on Saturday, and we’ll do the fashion show atyour home. I’m sure I’ll love it, and then we can go out tolunch.”
“You know,” her voice is thick with emotion,“you’re the big sister I never had.”
Yeah. Melting. “And you’re the little sisterI never had.”
For a moment I heard nothing. Sofia must’vemuted the phone. Her hormones are all over the place and she criesabout almost everything right now. She sounded watery when shecomes back on and asks, “What time are you going to be here onSaturday?”
If I leave before nine, it should take meabout an hour and a half to get to her house. “About ten-thirty.That work for you?”
“Perfect. I’ll see you in a couple of days,Ter.”
Sofia hangs up, and I want to call Matteo totell him she’s a mess, but I don’t. She needs time to work throughall this. Plus, she’s pregnant. I don’t know how that feels, butwhen my sister Laura was pregnant with her first kid, she was amess. Talk about weepy phone calls.
Boo goes off, barking and twirling at thefront door. The mailwoman has arrived, and the sound of the metalflap on the exterior mailbox going up then down is tantamount tosounding the alarm in Boo’s world.
“You know,” I tell Boo, “you do this everyday, and every day nothing changes. Are you cottoning on yet?” Hesits and looks at me with a tilted head with an expression thatsays,you don’t get it, Mom. He’s right. I don’t. I waituntil I’m sure the poor woman has left the stoop before opening thedoor.
Bills, bullshit, a notice from the gardencenter, Ross. I go to back to the kitchen, drop everything exceptthe TLC envelope on the counter. Then I go over to the couch tosavor his letter.
Hey babe,
If I didn’t know biology, I’d agree, there’ssomething floating around, and the people you know are catching it.But it sounds like this time, it’s a good thing.
My brother has two kids, and before he gotmarried, I would’ve sworn he’d never do that. After he got married,they traveled and had fun for a couple of years, and I thought,they’re too into each other, they’ll never have kids. When his wifebecame pregnant with their first kid, he became a wolf. Heprotected her like she was made of glass. And when their firstchild was born, he was wolf PLUS. He wasn’t any different with thesecond pregnancy, and he’s wolf PLUS PLUS now. He told me they’restopping at two kids, which I think is wise since I can’t imaginehim more protective than he is. What I’m saying is, it sounds likeyour friend will be fine.
I finally made it back to the falafel joint.They’re Israeli, and the wife, who I had talk into Notes so Iwouldn’t fuck this up, told me they use chickpeas, garlic, cumin,crushed coriander seeds, salt, a touch of white pepper, and choppedparsley. She was happy I asked, and when I told her you usedgigantes, she said they’re tasty, but the traditional Israelirecipe doesn’t add any other beans. She went on to explain, like Isaid, she was jazzed you were interested, she uses tahini paste,lemon juice, and garlic to make her tahini sauce, which is reallytasty. I’m no connoisseur, but I figured you’d get what she wastelling me.
And, just saying, you know you can put arattan couch in the greenhouse. The floor’s going be hard.
Ross
Shit. How am I supposed to go to work whenhe’s sweet and sexy in the same letter? I decide I won’t thinkabout greenhouse floors or rattan couches until I get home tonight,have a glass a wine, and spend some time with my vibrator.
Ross,
While I’m waiting for my ride to my friend’swedding, I thought I’d bring you up to date.
Last weekend I played fashion consultant. Ifyou’re rolling your eyes right now, it’s okay. I’m so happy for myfriend, I’m a little gushy, so bear with me. My friend doesn’t wanta traditional wedding dress, so she bought a lovely ivory dresswith delicate pink, blue, and yellow flowers (you know I loveflowers) down part of the front and part of the back of the dressfrom a department store. It’s off the shoulder with a scallopneckline and sleeves. I’m not doing it justice, but she looksmagical in it.
