You can’t help men from being stupid, she would say. They were born stupid. All you can do is hope they figure it out before you end up six feet under. Then she would’ve made Kat homemade macaroni and cheese with freshly baked bread and filled her up with so many carbohydrates that there was no way she could think about any guy for at least twenty-four hours.
She rubbed a hand against the quilt, tracing the stitches. Would Lillian have liked Gavin? She wanted to believe she would have, although she probably would’ve threatened to take him over her knee for his behavior. Kat couldn’t help the laugh that burst from her when she imagined such a sight.
The doorbell rang, and Kat’s heart pounded, thinking the worst. But when she opened the door, it wasn’t a police officer or some angry gamer at her doorstep, but Grace Danvers instead.
“Hey there,” she said. “I was on my way to Jaime’s and wondered if you’d like to have dinner tonight? He’s cooking, so I promise it’ll be worth your while.”
Kat narrowed her eyes. “Did Gavin send you?”
“Not exactly. But we ran into him and he was even grumpier than usual, and I put two and two together.” Grace’s eyes softened. “Are you okay?”
The tears that Kat had held back threatened to come, but she swallowed and forced them away. “I will be,” she murmured. “And dinner sounds great.”
The two women arrived at Jaime’s—and now Grace’s—place only to be greeted with the sound of him yelling something in Spanish.
Kat raised an eyebrow. “Everything okay in there?”
“I can never understand him when he gets pissed.” Grace entered the kitchen, and Kat sat down in the living room, smiling as she listened to them talking.
“Are you yelling at the oven?” Grace asked, amusement lacing her voice.
“Yes, because it never fucking works.” Kat heard Jaime mutter something, and then Grace laughed.
She popped her head around the corner to say to Kat, “Everything’s fine. Jaime’s just being a drama king.”
“I am not a drama king!”
“Yes, you are. Accept it. I’ve never seen anyone be as dramatic about cooking as you.”
“I’m not dramatic. I’m passionate.”
Their voices turned to murmurs once again, and Kat could make out a giggle and then what were probably noises signaling kissing of some sort. She sighed. She appreciated that Grace had thought to invite her so she wouldn’t be alone tonight, but she wasn’t sure she had the juice to watch a happy couple being happy.
Kat was grateful when Jaime and Grace made a point to include her in the conversation, even when she fell silent and melancholy. She knew too many couples who would simply talk to each other if the third party wasn’t entertaining, and although Kat didn’t feel like talking much, she couldn’t fault them for trying.
“How’s everything at the school?” Jaime served himself some stuffed peppers. Handsome and talented, Jaime was the type of guy Kat would normally go for, but ever since he’d laid eyes on Grace Danvers, he’d been in love with her, and Grace with him. Although Grace had admitted to her that Jaime had taken a while to realize he loved her, which only reminded her of another man who seemed incapable of being honest.
Don’t think about Gavin, she told herself sternly.
“School’s good. I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving break, though.”
Jaime laughed. “Already?”
“Weren’t you just talking about how you couldn’t wait for the holidays?” Grace eyed him over her water glass. “I think your exact words were, ‘if I have to spend one more day with these interns…’”
He waved a hand. “That’s different. She gets to work with cute kids. I have to work with annoying twenty-one-year-olds. They think they know everything already.”
“Like you weren’t the same at that age,” Grace countered.
“Weren’t we all?” Kat smiled, thinking about how she thought she’d known everything back then, too. It was hard to believe it had been six years ago—it seemed both forever ago and just yesterday.
“Graciela here definitely was.” At her outraged gasp, Jaime laughed. “I remember a certain girl telling me that I was totally wrong about when blueberries were in season.” He looked at Kat as he continued. “Here I was, the executive chef, making all kinds of strides, and in comes this not-yet-graduated college student, looking all sweet and docile, and she pipes up and tells me I’m wrong about this one thing, to the point that she brings me three articles to prove she’s right later in the day.”
By this point, Grace was blushing so red that her entire face was aflame. “Do you have to remind us all?”
He smiled at his fiancée, which just earned him a scowl. “But you were so cute.”
The rest of the evening was taken up with Grace and Jaime bantering and Kat teasing them both as much as she could, but by the time they drifted to the living room to watch TV, Kat was content with just watching those two lovebirds coo at each other. Grace curled up on Jaime’s lap like a golden kitten, and he wrapped his arms around her as they watched TV. Kat took a spot on the couch opposite, munching on leftover empanadas de leche that were so delicious, she could’ve eaten an entire bowlful. Made of fried plantains stuffed with vanilla custard, the dessert hit just the spot for Kat’s broken heart.
When Jaime left to take a call, Grace got up to sit next to Kat.
“Now we’re alone,” she said in a conspiratorial whisper. “His parents always talk forever, so we have some time.”
Kat swallowed the last bite of empanada. “Time for what?”
“Something’s happened between you and my brother.”
She wanted to make a joke about not being interested in Adam, but her heart wasn’t in it. Sighing, she replied,
