Page 77 of Make Room for Love

Cat smiled. “Aww, Isabel. You’re a big softie. I’ve always known that about you.” At that, Isabel scoffed. But she couldn’t help smiling, which probably looked ridiculous on Cat’s phone screen. “Don’t worry about it, okay? I’m happy to talk any time. I mean it. So, how’d you break your wrist?”

Isabel groaned in resignation. She recounted the events of the last several days. “What?” Cat said. “You went out and tried to shop for groceries with a sprained ankle? Just so you could make dinner for this girl? Because you wanted to, what, apologize to her?”

Isabel grimaced. “Pretty much.”

“Oh my god, Isabel. Here’s the thing. I know you thinkmyrelationships are messy, but I’ve never done anything like?—”

“Okay, okay, I get it.” She deserved that. Thank god Cat was here to make fun of her. She needed some of that mixed in with Mira’s infinite compassion.

“You are ridiculous. You have no right to judge me for anything I tell you after this. You know, it sucks now, but this is going to be a good story for your wedding someday. I’m not going to forget.”

There was a familiar tug in Isabel’s chest, the one she always felt when she thought about making a future with Mira. “Who says I’d invite you?”

“Yeah, like you’re going to get a different DJ? Come on.”

Isabel grinned. The muscles of her face were unused to smiling so much. “Can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.”

“Do you really think Grace and Kevin are happy?”

“Oh, they definitely are. Okay, look, I’m going to be honest with you. If I were in Grace’s situation, and I grew up with two older sisters with, let’s just say, extremely strong personalities?—”

“Hey,” Isabel said, mildly indignant. “I know I’m overbearing. But Alexa—” She stopped herself. If Grace had found Alexa overbearing at times, growing up, it wasn’t actually any of Isabel’s business.

Maybe Alexa hadn’t been perfect. But she had been a good sister, and she had been so loved. And if that was true for Alexa…

Isabel shook her head. “Never mind.” For once, she didn’t need everything to be spelled out for her. “What were you saying?”

Cat rolled her eyes. “If I had twowonderfulolder sisters who were just a little bit overbearing—your word, not mine—I might want to marry a guy who’s pretty chill and just loves her and does whatever she tells him to do. I’m just saying. Make of that what you want.”

When Isabel hung up, she was still smiling. She wasn’t going to talk herself out of what she had to do next. If she was stuck in the apartment, she could at least do this.

“Hi.”Grace didn’t sound happy about Isabel calling her.

“Hey. I want to say sorry for being a condescending asshole and not treating you like an adult who can make your own choices. I’ll listen to whatever you want to say to me. I mean it this time.”

Grace sighed. “Did Cat put you up to this?”

“We talked. She didn’t tell me what to say. It was, uh, mostly my girlfriend.”

“You have— All right. I don’t want to talk to you about this over the phone. Can you come here? Maybe next weekend?”

“I can’t. I sprained my ankle and broke my wrist.”

“Oh my god, really? At work?”

“No.The ankle is from work.” Isabel explained everything a second time today. It wasn’t any less humiliating.

“Wow. So you’re dating your roommate.” Grace paused. “I have a dress fitting in Manhattan today. I could come to your place afterward at around three. You’re still in the same apartment, right?”

“Yeah.” Isabel glanced out the window. A few flakes of snow were falling. “It’s going to snow. Hope you’re not driving.”

She could practically hear Grace rolling her eyes. “I’m taking the LIRR. See you soon.”

Mira tookoff her headset and reached for her coffee cup. It was empty. Hadn’t it been full just a moment ago?

She rubbed her eyes. She had been making calls or tabling outside in the cold all day, in between training other grad students to do the same; if they were getting involved on the day of the election, well, better late than never. It was almost four o’clock, two hours before the polls closed, and she was tired. She’d collapsed in her own room at two in the morning after helping Isabel get to bed, and Isabel had clearly resented needing help even as she’d put on a brave face about it. Old habits died hard.

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