Page 78 of Just My Type
Me
Now, I think my head is still in a weird place. I’m not sure if I should be making life-changing decisions of the permanent, deciding where to live my life variety right now.
Hallie
Fair. Just let me ask you this. Does Boston make you happy?
Me
It sure does.
Hallie
Then I think that’s something to think about too.
“Hannah Evans, just the person I was hoping to see!”
I stop on the sidewalk and look up from my group chat with my sisters, relieved for the momentary reprieve from having to think about my life choices. Cece is sitting on the front stoop of her brownstone, eyes full of fun behind her purple-framed glasses and her face lit by the late afternoon sun. Her bright red sundress is spread out around her, and she has some kind of bright pink cocktail in one hand and is petting Elliot’s dog, Killer, with the other.
I want to be her when I grow up.
I look up at her, bringing a hand up to shield my eyes from the sun. “Hey, Cece, what’s up?”
She grins down at me. “What’s up is that I’ve been sitting up here waiting for you to walk by and it’s a good thing you’re here now, because your drink is still cold, but it won’t stay that way for long in this heat.”
“My drink?”
She gestures to a second glass full of the same pink cocktail she’s drinking that I somehow missed. The movement wakes the dog up, and she jumps off Cece’s lap and bounds inside the open front door of the brownstone. “You were waiting out here with a drink for me?”
“I mean, it’s not for one of my boys. They’re not really pink cocktail types, except for Cooper—that man loves himself a fruity drink but he’s working late for a change.” She rolls her eyes, but the look on her face is all affection for her youngestgrandson. “I can’t be too mad about that, though, because the rest of his life is going to start at that law firm, and he needs to be there for that to happen. Jo and Amelia would definitely drink a pink cocktail, but I happen to know that they went to a yoga class, so they’re not around. But you?” Cece smiles at me, but her eyes are sharp behind her glasses. “You’re usually a margarita girl, but you’ve mostly sworn off them since Vegas, so I thought you’d like this instead and look—you’re right here to enjoy it.”
I stare at Cece, probably a little slack-jawed, trying to absorb the sheer quantity of information she just unloaded and unable to grasp any of it except for one single thing. “You know I swore off margaritas after Vegas?”
Cece smiles serenely. “I surmised. When a person gets drunk on margaritas and accidentally gets married in Vegas, it stands to reason that they would swear off that drink for a while. Come sit down, Hannah.”
Cece’s voice is a soft command that I heed immediately. It’s a good thing Noah told me Cece figured out what happened in Vegas, because I’m almost positive that little revelation right now would put me right over the edge. Climbing the six stairs, I prop my tote down against her front door and take the drink she hands me.
She clinks her glass to mine. “Cheers, Hannah.”
I take a sip of my drink, but evidently Cece isn’t finished.
“Congratulations on all the writing today.”
I splutter and choke at her words, stopping myself just short of spraying this excellent cocktail all over her. “How did you know I was writing today?” I manage, grabbing my water bottle out of my bag and taking a long sip.
She chuckles. “I just know what I know. Is it presumptuous of me to ask how the book is coming?”
I give her a wry smile. “Would it matter if I said yes?”
She pats my hand and smiles. “Nope, it sure wouldn’t.”
I sigh, taking another sip of my drink. I glance around anddecide there’s something kind of special about sitting on a front stoop on a quiet Boston street on a late July afternoon, drink in hand. It makes me want to tell Cece all my secrets. At least the ones that she hasn’t already figured out. “The book is going well. Really well. Too well.”
Cece tilts her head and studies me. “You’re afraid you’ll lose it again. Your writing.”
“Give the woman an award,” I mumble into my glass.
She grins at me. “I accept any and all awards.”
