Page 31 of Love.V2
“I haven’t been on a first date in about twelve years, I have no clue what people talk about. I’m going to have some very interesting questions for the AI search later,” she mumbled, staring down at our hands. I laughed despite myself.
“Yes? Are you saying yes? Because I need to know there’s still hope here. After everything—tonight, these last weeks, this last year. I need to hear it, Tess.”
That little furrow re-appeared between her brows. Her nose scrunched the way it did when she was worried.
“Before we decide to start fresh, can I ask you one thing?”
“Of course.”Let me in. Let me in the way you haven’t in so long.
“I know I didn’t…get with anyone these last few months.” Her fingernails plucked at the raw skin again. Her shoulders curled inward, bracing for impact. “Did you?”
The air in my lungs escaped with a long sigh. “I thought you’d ask me a hard one.” I ran a soft finger over her sharp chin, nestling my thumb in the indent there when she finally looked up at me. “I haven’t looked at another woman since the day you walked into English Lit 102.”
The smile hesitated as it crossed her face, eyes melting into a shining gaze I didn’t feel like I deserved.
“Okay, then.”
“Yes?”
“Yes.”
***
“Gracie, I don’t have long, I’m about to walk into a…meeting,” I hedged, hesitant to reveal where I was really heading. My little sister was a romantic.
“You are literally always about to walk into a meeting. Every minute of your life is a meeting, even on Saturdays, apparently,” my sister complained. I shifted the phone to my other ear as I shuffled past someone on the busy Chicago sidewalk. Guilt bit at my conscience.
I’d made a lot of changes since Tess had left me, but Gracie and Grant had their own stuff going on with school. They didn’t see firsthand how much I’d changed.
It was hard for them to get used to the fact that I prioritized things other than work now. That they’d ever had to question where they stood on my list of priorities sank a rusty, clawing weight straight down my esophagus and into my stomach. It made me think uncomfortable thoughts about my relationship with our dad.
Screw playing it safe.
“If it makes you feel better, it’s really a date.”
Gracie’s high-pitched squeal was loud enough to cause radio interference. I expected a plane to come plummeting out of the sky at any moment. “WithTess?”
“Who else would I go on a date with?” The thought burrowed that spiky weight further into my gut. A couple of months ago, Gracie had cautiously asked if I wanted to move on.
That had been the night I’d called Henry Worther and told him I was moving to Chicago whether he liked it or not.
“Oh, my God! Does this mean you’re back together? Is she going to be around for Thanksgiving? I still haven’t figured out that epic fishtail braid she did last year.”
“It’s just…” Just the beginning. Again. My mouth went dry from a simmering combination of nerves and anticipation. “…a date. Don’t get your hopes up, alright?” I wasn’t sure if that last bit of advice was aimed at my sister or myself. “Anyway, what’s up, Gracie Lou? I know you didn’t call to talk about my love life.”
Gracie’s forlorn sigh echoed across the miles between us. “I can’t help but get my hopes up. It’s you and Tess! A world without the two of you together doesn’t make sense.”
“Agreed.”
She paused. “I’m proud of you, Dylan.”
I nearly stumbled on my own feet. “You are?”
I’d been in middle school by the time Gracie and Grant had come along, and sometimes the twelve years between us felt more like thirty. By the time they were two, and my parents’ marriage had officially ended, it had felt like it was just the three of us against the world. I kept vivid memories close to my heart of the nights when they were up with a fever, and I rocked them back to sleep. Or days when I was the only one home to tend to a scraped knee after school.
I was proud ofthem. They’d clung together through all that, forging their own way in the world. They were freshmen in college now, which blew my mind in the best and worst ways.
The fact that she was proud of me…I didn’t know what to say.
