“It’s playful. I like it.” But, I was transfixed on Maeda’s expression. So open, soft, and warm. Was she just playing it up for the camera? Probably.
“Okay, I’ll post it,” Maeda said.
“Hey, I was wondering, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but I was just wondering why you came back toPine Grove instead of moving to your parents? They moved to Nevada, right?”
Maeda swallowed a lump in her throat. “Yeah they did. When I went to college they moved and once I was out of their house I tried to come out to them. It wasn’t, well, it didn’t quite work. They refused to hear me. Then I got pregnant out of marriage and they said I put shame on their name. I haven’t heard from them since.”
I embraced her, but she was still stiff. “I’m sorry that happened to you,” I whispered. “No one deserves that.”
“Yeah, well, I get by,” she said as she got up. I stood up, too, and made my way to the door.
“So, I’ll see you tomorrow?” I asked.
Maeda shrugged. “Yeah. I’ll text you.”
I wanted to reach out. I wanted to calm the nerves in my stomach telling me that this was a bad idea that I would end up getting hurt. But, this was a road to Lucky Lanes. To owning the business I’ve poured my heart and soul into.
I had lost Maeda before. I wouldn’t lose Lucky Lanes.
Chapter Nine
Maeda
The next morning, my phone screen was a wall of notifications. It seemed that all of Pine Grove had liked my photo with Nikki. The caption had been simple: “Stars align.” It was misleading enough that people would assume that we were talking about romance, but really I was commenting on the fact that both of us had problems to be solved through a fake dating ruse. What were the odds?
I had a direct message from Tristan. He had sent me my own post with a question mark. I chose not to respond to that one.
I also had several texts from Tilly that ranged from excitement over Nikki and I going public as well as disappointment that I hadn’t confided in her earlier about the change in relationship status, until finally:
Tilly
Hey, so we made reservations for dinner tonight for the six of us. You and Nikki are not getting out of this! See you then!
Attached was a screenshot of the reservation.Great. I forwarded it to Nikki and got up to get Dolly ready for the day. I opened the accordion doors to the large closet in the living room, so I could get out of bed. There was only one bedroom in this apartment, and it was Dolly’s. It was her bedroom and playroom all at once and my full-sized bed fit in the inordinately large closet and gave me privacy. I hadn’t needed a whole bedroom.
I knocked on the door to Dolly’s room. “Time to tumble outta bed, sleepyhead!”
She was lying in bed, her hair reminiscent of a tumbleweed, with one foot hanging off the edge. She gave a slow, lazy stretch as I opened the window blinds. When we were both dressed and ready for the day, we grabbed our matching tote bags. We had hand-painted them, so hers had a lumpy heart with a smiley face complete with eyelashes and mine had a green gingham pattern with each of our handprints on top in pink. We went through her usual summer break routine. A trip to the library, a walk around town, and a movie after lunch so she could relax. This was the upgrade since she wouldn’t nap anymore. During her movie, I sat down to write. I managed to get some words down, but it was hard to focus, my mind constantly wandering to the looming double date. I felt like I would crack under Tilly and Danielle’s scrutiny, and the facade would crumble.
Nikki’s response to my screenshot was a thumbs-up emoji, and “I’ll pick you both up around 5.” That was it. For hours. I was redoing Dolly’s hair into a bun — her preferred hairstyle since that’s what ballerinas wore — when Nikki knocked on the door.
“Come in,” I said before introductions. “Dolly, this is mama’s friend, Nikki.”
“Hi,” Dolly said. “Do you like to dance or fight?”
Nikki was standing in my doorway still. “Oh, I’ve never been much of a dancer. You’ll have to teach me some moves.”
“There,” I finished Dolly’s hair and went to grab my tote bag. “Ready to go.”
Nikki helped move Dolly’s carseat over to her car, a small black truck with a sunroof, which Dolly was very excited about.
Before I got in, Nikki held the passenger’s side door open for me and asked, “Is it okay if I hold your hand tonight?”
I was flustered. By hand holding?Ridiculous, I thought to myself. I nodded my consent as I got in the car. Why was I so nervous? Or, was that the right word? No, I felt… exhilarated. A date with Nikki was something I dreamt of. Even if it was pretend, even if I hadn’t envisioned a double date, I was so happy.
When we arrived to the restaurant, Nikki opened the door for me again and then let me unbuckle Dolly from her carseat. Then, Nikki interlocked her fingers with mine. Her soft hands felt like a match to my own in shape and size. We found Tilly, Danielle, and Ben inside along the left wall. Ben and Dolly quickly got to work playing a card game that he was teaching her. Thankfully, Tilly waited until we ordered to start her interrogation.
“So, tell us, how did this happen?” She sipped from her Diet Coke, her sharp eyes flicking between us.
