I laughed. “Pick me up at eight. Let the wooing begin.”
* * *
“What about a little extra eyeliner?” Grace asked. She’d come by the apartment earlier for a little cousin movie-watching date and stayed to help get me ready for my night out. She’d been dabbling with makeup tutorials and watching them online. I indulged her to an extent, but mainly when I was staying in. Tonight, I had a date.
I shook my head. “Less is more for me.”
“Well, you do have beautiful brown eyes and TV glamour. Not that I’m jealous.” She glared.
I stood and hugged her. “What do you have to be jealous of, Miss Super Achiever?”
She shrugged and plopped onto the bed where Micky was asleep on my pillow. He lifted his head, took Grace in, and went right back to the land of slumber. “Truth. I think I like someone, so I’m experimenting a little bit with stuff like makeup.” Aha, now I understood the tutorials. She held up a hand and her brown eyes went wide. “Don’t say anything to my mom, or she will go completely crazy and blow it out of proportion. Usually, I let her embarrass me, but this is different. I’ll die.”
I scoffed. “Um, excuse me. That’s what you have a cousin for. To not tell your mom when you like someone. Who is it?”
“Their name is Bobby and they have the sweetest smile. A little quiet. Very smart. And everyone likes them. Like, everyone.”
“And those are their pronouns? They / them?”
She nodded and I gave her a squeeze, thrilled to see her so excited about someone. It still blew my mind that she was old enough to date, but here we were. “And does Bobby have similar feelings?”
She threw up her hands. “How is a person supposed to know? That’s the infuriating part.”
“Infuriating, huh?” I was enjoying this and her blossoming vocabulary.
“Well, do they pay attention to you?”
She nodded. “And they bring me things. Like, when they go to the vending machine, they come back with two of whatever they get. One for me.”
“Oh, this sounds like hard-core love. Vending machines are telling.”
“They are?” She lit up and then went pensive, probably planning her next move. Grace was ambitious, always had been. She wasn’t a dedicated member of the chess club for no reason.
There was a knock on my door, and I checked the clock on my nightstand in accusation. “Oh no.” Carrie was five minutes early, and Grace and I had lost track of time to begin with, which wasn’t unusual when we hung out.
Grace stood calmly. “I’ll get the door. You put on the cute dress. Make an entrance. I hear that works.” She paused. “Does it? Sometimes I make things up.”
“It can.” I offered a salute, dashed into the bathroom, and slipped into the turquoise number with the cap sleeves that went perfectly with my silver strappy heels. From down the hall I heard the front door open.
“Hi, Carrie. I recognize you from Instagram. And the news, of course. Come on in.”
“I am. Are you…Grace?”
“Pleased to meet you. Sky is finishing up and will be out soon.”
I was hesitant to interrupt this meeting, amused at the way Grace held the room like a forty-year-old. Then again, she’d always been an old soul. “She’s told me a lot about you. You play chess, right?”
“I do. I’m the captain of my team and a big fan of the fianchetto attack.” She raised a shoulder, like it was a casual reference. “From the Dutch Defense, the Leningrad Variation.”
“Oh. Of course,” Carrie said confidently.
“Where will you two be dining tonight?” This kid.
I covered my mouth because here we went. I caught sight of Carrie nodding astutely at the question. “There’s a great little bistro not far from here. Alejandro’s. Do you know it? You’re welcome to join us.”
Oh no, she wasn’t.
“No, but thank you. And this is a date? A real one? Of the romantic variety.”
My cheeks flamed. We were off script. Grace was suddenly my concerned father.
“Um, yes. Is that okay?”
Grace nodded. “Definitely. Just checking in. So, you must like my cousin a lot?”
“I do. She’s pretty great.”
“I think so, too,” Grace said. “I especially like her kind heart. What about you? What are your favorite qualities of hers?” She folded her arms and waited.
Oh, man. She was a bulldog, and I needed to get in there before it went further. I made my entrance into the living room, intent on saving Carrie from what was inches from an interrogation.
“Hey, you,” I said.
Carrie looked up happily, her eyes dancing. Seeing me had done that, and my heart squeezed pleasantly. “Hi.”
“I see you’ve met Grace. She’s…inquisitive.”
She nodded. “In the best way. We’re getting to know each other.”
“Do you get to know a lot of people? When was your last relationship?” Grace asked, eyes narrowed.
I stared. “Grace.”
She rolled her lips in and relaxed. “Too much?”
“Probably so.”
“Just trying something new.” She held up her phone. “But would you look at that? Emory’s outside to pick me up.” She stood. “You two have fun. Don’t stay out too late.”
I smiled, hands clasped in front of me. “You got it.”
She looked from one of us to the other. “Safe sex is best.”
I covered my eyes. “Grace. Just…no.”
“Sorry.” She held up a hand in apology, tossed in a smile, and waved before slipping out the door.
“She can be a whirlwind,” I told Carrie once we were alone. “And she’s growing up incredibly fast.”
“Well, she seems pretty great to me. She loves you. Also, can we pause just for a moment? Because the way you look tonight is…” She exhaled slowly. “Yeah. Just…yeah.”
Oh, I was enjoying this. “Carrie. I do believe you’re blushing a little.”
“You do that to me.” She shook her head, and I admired the manner in which her sleek black cocktail dress hugged each subtle curve. The dip in the front offered only a conservative glimpse of cleavage, but I knew innately that I’d be preoccupied with the hint all night, as well as the way that blond hair, partially swept up, fell softly as if she’d meant for it to tickle her neck and shoulders. I hoped I’d be kissing those later.