Page 18 of Meet Me in Montreal

Dani nodded her agreement with that fact.

All the while, time stretched and looped, taking on beautifully blurred edges. The grass on the expansive lawn seemed to glow a vivid green. Vanessa paused to take another long sip of her punch while Dani glanced at her, stirring her punch with the little straw, then putting it in her mouth with a speculative look.

“What?” Vanessa prompted when Dani remained silent.

“So, what happened earlier? With you know who?”

“Oh, that. He didn’t sign. Again. And somehow, he found out I’ve been dating someone new. He cornered me and said some crazy shit. Like he thinks we’re getting back together, aftereverything. Can you believe that? It’s been three years.Three years.”

Dani didn’t laugh or affirm that it was crazy even though her mouth was now slightly parted with surprise. “Since when are you dating a new guy?”

Vanessa was silent, unsure if she should have blurted that part out. Instead of responding, she bit into her ham and cheese baguette sandwich.

“I know this isn’t something we usually talk about, but I’ve been wondering if you’d tested the waters out there. Gotten your feet wet in the sea.”

Heat rolled through Vanessa at the question. “That’s a lot of metaphors you’re mixing,” she remarked, and Dani twisted her lips at her.

“Okay, Miss Undergrad English Lit 101. A simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ would’ve shut me up.”

“There’s something I could say that would get you to stop talking? If I’d known it was that easy…”

“Ugh. Ssser’sly.” There was a slight slurring in Dani’s pronunciation now. Vanessa thought she had said “seriously,” but who knew at that point? “Not to get up in your business but I’ve wondered. Are you really sure you’re done? With Tino.”

Vanessa sighed, taking a sip to steady her suddenly jangling nerves. “Yes. I’m done with him. I have a new person. Or maybe I have a person since it’s so new. But it’s time.”

Dani leaned her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her fist, her eyes searching Vanessa’s face. Under the scrutiny, Vanessa felt herself flushing hotter. To combat the heat, she fished an ice cube out of her glass and sucked on it. On impulse, she pulled her phone out and showed Dani Scott’s picture, as if it would make him more real, somehow.

Her sister-in-law didn’t remark on his ruggedly handsome face. “How did you meet?” Dani finally asked.

“The Holidates app. Four months ago, the St. Patrick’s Day parade after-party. The date went really well, and we’ve been hanging out ever since.”

“What’s he like?” It was difficult to interpret the expression on Dani’s face. She seemed genuinely interested, but she wasn’t smiling. There was a shadow ofsomethingbehind her eyes. Maybe it was the rum.

“Well,” Vanessa said, well past keeping her mouth shut. This fucking punch was like over-priced truth serum. “He’s about forty. He started a green tech firm with his brother and a college buddy about ten years ago. He lives on Riverside Drive in this beauuuutiful pre-war building, but he’s from Woodlawn originally. He’s really down to earth. He’s street smart but also book smart. Divorced, and no kids. He’s like everything I put on my dreamboat checklist when I was sixteen.”

Dani ate one of her straggler fries with a thoughtful expression, the space between her eyebrows slightly wrinkled. “He sounds amazing. Does it feel like you’re getting to the serious phase?” She brushed salt crystals and crumbs off her fingertips with a swiping gesture.

“I think so. We…” Taking a deep breath, Vanessa released it in a rush. A flurry of words came tumbling after. “He’s taking me to the Montreal Jazz Festival for a week. I was going to go by myself but then Robert and Zoe wanted to go and when he said he’d come too so I wouldn’t be the third wheel I said ‘yeah, sure’ and I just really, really want to get fucked and move on already, you know? So, yeah. That’ll be our first time together, if everything goes well. And beyond that, I think this trip will be the test. I’m thirty-five years old. I’m tired of being alone, and I just want to have my family already.”

Dani absorbed that information with wide eyes. “Wow.” She seemed lost for words. “Wow.”

“I know, yes, wow, it’s a big deal. But I think I’m ready. I haven’t been with anybody but Santino all this time and I need to see if Scott and I could be a thing.”

“So, you haven’t slept together in all these months? Areyoulistening to those podcast girlies now or what?” Dani spluttered with a giggle.

“Can’t no podcast girlie tell me anything, okay? I realized I rushed into things too quickly with Santino. We went from zero to one hundred so fast it made my head spin, and I got caught up. If I’d taken my time getting to know him, maybe I would have seen he was still all about that bitch ex of his.” Seemed like the punch had loosened the anger she usually held in check around Dani, as well as her tongue. “All this would be different. I wouldn’t still be fighting for my freedom from someone who doesn’t love me. I don’t even think helikesme, as a person.” Abruptly, she forced herself to shut the hell up. She didn’t need to rehash this with Dani or anyone else. “Things are still early with Scott, but it feels really fucking good to be dating a grown up for once, that’s all.”

Dani’s face was now somber. “I haven’t wanted to ask since we became friends, but I’ve always felt like there was something missing from this story. I know you and Tino fought a lot over things, and maybe I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with you guys as a couple, but it seemed like real love. Did you really break up with him because he got on the app to get Nico a date with me, or because he was friends with his ex? I mean, I know that seemed disrespectful to you, but was it something you couldn’t work through?”

Pausing, her mouth dropping open with shock, Vanessa asked, “Is that what he told y’all? That I’m so fucking insecure that him chatting it up with her on the phone was the whole reason I left my marriage?”

It was Dani’s turn to look surprised. “There was something else?”

“Yeah,” Vanessa said, her voice riding on a hard, sharp laugh. “There was something else.If I tell you what happened, will you promise to keep it between us? You haven’t had any liquor in you in a while, and you might get a little lippy.”

Dani made a face. “What, me? Pssh. Baby, I am Fort Knox. Wonder Woman’s lasso couldn’t get a secret out of me,” she scoffed, swaying indignantly on her stool. Then she took another long sip and made a beckoning gesture with her hands. “Bring it. Mix dis punch wit’ some tea, Jamaican gyal.”

“Alright.” Vanessa took another swallow. The drink opened her well of memories wide as the sea, the beautiful, crystal-clear waters of Aruba. She dove in headfirst, almost relieved to finally tell her side of the story. “Santino took Antoinette to Aruba for an overnight trip two weeks after we all got back from the San Gennaro Festival. To the resort where he and I eloped.”

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