“No. Just checking.” Grace held up the McDonald’s bag she’d hadclutched in her fingers. “I brought breakfast.”
“No coffee?”
“I knew you’d want your own. You always say it’s better.” Grace scrunchedup her nose. “So, you really had a good time last night?”
Dex pulled her eyebrows together. “Shouldn’t I have?”
“Oh, yeah. Sure. It’s just that Emma doesn’t really seem like yourtype. She brought a box of freaking cigars as a gift. Can you believe that?”
“I didn’t realize I had a type, and what’s wrong with cigars?” Shefilled the kettle and put it on the burner before lighting the gas stove.
“It wasn’t a bachelor party, for God’s sake.” Grace rolled hereyes as she took two breakfast biscuits from the bag. She pushed one over toDex and kept the other for herself. “I thought you liked girlie girls.” Shesmiled her amazing smile.
Dex’s heart squeezed a little, and she ignored the giddy feelingsit provoked. “You mean girlie girls like you?” Grace used how Dex felt abouther to her full advantage.
“Yeah, I guess so.” She shrugged and took a bite of her biscuit.
“Thus the reason none of the girls you set me up with worked out.They were all super high maintenance.” The pot whistled. Dex flipped off theburner, dumped a couple of scoops of coffee into the French press, and thenadded the boiling water. Then she took out a tin of tea, fished out a teabag,put it in a cup, and added water.
Grace raised an eyebrow. “Are you saying I’m high maintenance?” Shebroke off a small piece of biscuit and slid it into her mouth.
Dex shifted her eyes wildly from side to side. “High is anunderstatement. I’d say more like skyscrapingly so. No, Jack-and-the-beanstalkhigh.” She took a bite of breakfast sandwich.
Grace blew out a short breath. “I am not. And that’s not very niceof you to say.”
Dex raised her eyebrows and tilted her head “Yes. You are.Have been since we were kids.” She waited a beat before attempting to soothethe statement that seemed to shock Grace. “I’m just being truthful.” She smiledat the scowl dampening Grace’s beautiful smile, picked up the fancy tea tin,and pointed to the label. “The tea that comes in sachets. The only kind youdrink.” She opened the cabinet and tossed it back onto the shelf. “And,honestly, I love you for it.” She pushed the plunger on the coffee and pouredherself a cup. “I’ve learned a lot of things I never would have if it weren’tfor you.”
Grace’s scowl morphed into the smile that Dex adored. “Really?”
“Uh-huh.” She nodded, planted her elbows on the counter, andstared into Grace’s startling blue eyes. “Plus, you can be super sweet whenI’ve done something for you. It kind of makes me all gooey inside.”
Grace smiled softly. “Do you have any cream?”
“Just for you.” Her voice ended with a soft lilt as she took itout of the refrigerator and added a splash to Grace’s tea. She took a spoonfrom the drawer and dropped it into the cup.
“Do you think you’ll be that way with Emma?” Grace mixed the creamslowly with the spoon as she stared into the cup.
“I don’t know, but man, that girl can kiss.”
“You kissed her?” Grace’s voice rose, and her cup tipped slightly,sending small droplets of tea across the counter.
Dex spun a couple of paper towels from the roll and wiped up themess. “She insisted on driving me home so I didn’t have to take the L.”
“Well, that was presumptuous of her.” Grace sat back in the stool,seemingly not at all interested in her breakfast anymore.
“Presumptuous? Really?” She took a drink of coffee. “I thought itwas kind of sweet.”
Grace’s raised an eyebrow. “So, she didn’t spend the night, andyou didn’t sleep with her, right?”
“No. She’s not here, is she?” She shook her head and laughed.
“For all I know, she could’ve left after you—”
“Stop. You know I don’t do that anymore.” The thought had crossedher mind more than once last night, but she wanted to see Emma again, and thatwasn’t the way she wanted to start whatever it was they were starting.
“Not even with blind date number three?” Grace asked.
“Especially notwith blind date number three. Thank God I didn’t give her my number.”
“But you gave it to Emma.”
“I did.” She pulled her eyebrows together. “What’s going on withyou? You’re acting like you don’t want me to like her. You set the whole thingup, remember?”
“Well, technically, Brent set it up. She’s his friend. I don’tknow her all that well.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll go slowly with this one.” She smiled, thinkingabout the evening. “I like her.”
“Well, okay then.” Grace straightened her stance. “Missionaccomplished. Need any pointers on how to keep her interested?” She broke offanother piece of biscuit and put it into her mouth.
“Thanks, but no. I got this.” Emma was nothing like Grace. Herhelp would probably make her run far, far away with lightning speed. Dex reallydid like Emma and wanted to get to know her better. Much better.
Once Dex got Grace out the door, she picked up her phone andlooked at the text she’d received from Emma the night before. She read themessage again, and her stomach swirled. Panda jumped on the chair and stared ather in her usual manner. “I should really wait a few hours, right?” She set thephone on the counter and fished a scoop of cat food from the bag. “I don’t wantto appear too needy, right?” The cat hopped off the stool and followed her tothe dish. The cat food clinked as she dumped it into the bowl. Panda glanced upmomentarily before chowing down. “You’re right. I’ll text her. Who cares if shethinks I’m needy. It appears I am.” She picked up her phone and typed.
Iknow it’s early, but I was wondering if you might be free to get togethertoday.
She set the phone down and tried not to freak out when she didn’tget a response right away. Fifteen minutes later when the phone chimed, shesprinted across the room and picked it up.
Sorry!I was in the shower. I’m absolutely free today and would love to see you again.
Her heartbeat doubled as she typed.
Awesome!There’s
