“Thanks for this.” She picked up her fork and dug into the eggs.
Juni slid a piece of paper in front of her.
She flipped it around. “What’s this?”
“It’s a pros and cons list.”
“About Grace?”
Juni nodded. “I thought it might be helpful.”
It was a pretty extensive list. She read the first couple of linesand noticed the disparity in lengths between the two columns. “Well, if Ididn’t already, I certainly know how you feel about her now.”
“Yep.” Juni gathered her backpack and headed toward the door. “I’mnot going to lie. She’s not good for you, Dex.” She opened the front doorbefore she said, “You want to have coffee later this week? You can meet Josh.”
“Sure.” There was nothing she’d love more than watching hersister’s blooming romance when Dex knew she’d never have the one she wanted.
“We can go over your additions to the list then.”
“That’s assuming there are any.”
Juni pulled her eyebrows together. “I’m sure I missed at least oneor two.”
“Okay. That means you’re buying.”
“Whatever. I’ll call you.” Juni walked out the door.
Dex glanced at the list.
Cons
Self-centered
Shallow
Controlling
Manipulative
Pros
Protective
“Just one pro? Seriously?”
She couldn’t argue with most of the cons, but she had some thingsto add to the pro column that Juni probably wouldn’t agree with. She took a penfrom the jar on the counter and started writing. Juni would find that out soonenough.
Chapter Five
Brent carried in what was left of the groceries from the caras Grace began putting everything away. She’d picked up only a few things toget them by yesterday and needed to get more in order to start being domesticduring the week. She didn’t really mind doing that, but she just had no ideawhere to begin cooking on a daily basis. Her skills in the kitchen wereseverely limited. She’d become really good at one or two dishes because Brentliked them. Other than that, she’d never prepared much beyond grilled cheeseand tomato soup. Maybe a baked chicken breast to put on salad here and there.But that was it. She’d definitely have to call Dex for reinforcement.
“When did food start costing so much?” Brent said as he emptiedthe bags.
“It always has. You’ve just never gone to the store with me before.”
He held up the small bottle of truffle oil and studied it. “Whatthe hell is this stuff? Gold?”
“I use it to make that mushroom pasta you like.” It was one of herfavorites, too, and one of the dishes she knew how to make.
“Jesus. I thought pasta was cheap.” His voice rose. He obviouslythought the truffle oil was a waste of money.
“Not that kind of pasta.”
“We need to start watching what we buy since we’ll be surviving onour salaries.” He turned to Grace and nonchalantly said, “Maybe you should finda different job.”
“Why would I do that?” Grace still did the books at the gym aswell as manning the counter a few times a week, and Brent was on the fast trackat a prominent advertising firm in Chicago. They’d never discussed her changingjobs before.
“You’ve already found the man of your dreams.” He spread his armsout in front of himself.
She rolled her eyes. “I’m not leaving the gym. I get to work outfor free, and so do you now. Besides, you know I have plenty of money insavings.”
“That’s money your parents gave you, not ours. It needs to stay insavings.”
“What difference does it make where it came from?”
“It makes a difference to me.” He was tossing groceries into thepantry now.
“You’re just being ridiculous.” She grabbed the package ofspaghetti from his hand. “And stop throwing the food around unless you want touse a spoon to eat your pasta.”
“Just being practical. We need to live on what we make. That moneyis only for an emergency.”
Whatthe fuck? “So you’re telling me I can’t buy truffle oil anymore?”That kind of thing was not going to fly with her. No one told her what shecould and couldn’t do. Not even Brent.
He immediately stopped putting groceries away and took her in hisarms. “Of course you can, baby. We just need to keep better track of our money,especially if we’re going to renovate this place.”
Instead of buying a new place to live, Brent had moved intoGrace’s house just before the wedding. It was comfortable and also located inWicker Park, a booming neighborhood known for its live music, restaurants thathad become prevalent in the James Beard award-winning dining scene, andcountless art galleries. The way real estate was skyrocketing in the area, theyboth thought it was a good idea to keep the house and refinance to put it in boththeir names.
“And go back to Greece, or Spain, or Italy.” The excitement in hiseyes was clear, and Grace found it hard to stay irritated.
Every day was new and interesting with Brent. He made her want todo things she’d never dreamed of before. She never had to worry that everythingthey did would go perfectly, just as he said they would. Brent was definitely aplanner, and Grace loved that about him.
He gave her a quick kiss on the lips and went back to thegroceries. “So, I was thinking about what you said about Dex yesterday.”
“What’d I say about Dex?” She had no idea what he was talkingabout.
“That she might be lonely.”
“That wasn’t me. I think you said that.”
“Either way. I think Dex needs someone,” Brent said as he put thecereal in the pantry.
“You mean someone other than me?”
“Unless you’re sleeping with her. Yes.” He leaned up against thecounter. “Do you think she’s on Tinder or Plenty of Fish?”
“Hell, no. Dex would never sign up for something like that. Atleast not without telling me.” She couldn’t remember Dex mentioning anythingabout dating anyone in particular over the past year or so. Dex seemed to havehad the sporadic hookup here and there, but nothing serious. She’d always hadto pry those tidbits of information out of her. It
