Page 13 of Pierced Pages
She was right, of course. Some days they were a chatty bunch, full of ideas and opinions. All of her classes could get like that. Other days… not so much.
This wasn’t a Monday, but maybe they had the midweek Wednesday blues.
“You look perky for the end of the day,” she said. “I guess you’ve recovered from the weekend?”
Melanie waved a hand. “I was fine by Monday.”
She wasn’t kidding. Despite the nonstop dancing that night, Melanie had shown up to work like she’d had a relaxing weekend of reading with her feet up. She probably did just that on Sunday.
Danielle didn’t understand it. She’d have been an exhausted wreck for days after that eventful night. As it was, she’d been laid up with a migraine for most of Sunday, and she wasn’t even the one doing all the dancing.
“I bet you can’t wait for fall break now.”
Melanie’s eyes widened as she sighed. “Counting down the days.”
While her wife, Kim, could request off any time—except around the holidays—Melanie had decided it would be best to schedule their second honeymoon for a school break.
“Remind me again where y’all are going, so I can be extra jealous?”
Danielle knew exactly where they were going, and Melanie knew she knew. But it was fun to ask and remind her every once in a while.
“Destin. I’m so looking forward to sitting on some white sand with a breeze and a book. And coffee and a blanket on a balcony in the morning.”
“Sounds like a dream,” Danielle said.
“Oh, that reminds me of one of the reasons I came in here.”
Danielle didn’t think she was inviting her on their beach vacation, so she had no idea what about it could have reminded her of Danielle.
“One of?”
“Yes,” Melanie said. “First, Kim and I are thinking about starting a book club.”
“A book club?” Danielle had never been to a book club. While she loved reading, what she’d heard of those groups didn’t sound like something she’d be interested in. “I don’t know.”
“You didn’t let me finish my pitch.” Melanie laughed. “It gets better. Trust me, we’ve been to one of these, and I’d say no, too.”
“Okay, then. What are you thinking?”
Melanie waved her hands in the air as if she were showing off a neon sign. “Sapphic book club. Sapphic women reading sapphic books.” She put her hands down and eyed Danielle. “What do you think?”
Danielle considered the idea for a moment. “That does sound good. I mean, if I were to be in a group at all. Groups aren’t super my thing.”
It was pretty clear from Danielle’s habit of keeping to herself during school days and even keeping to herself during professional development days and other events. She was friendly with all of her colleagues and loved hanging out with Melanie and Gerri especially, but she preferred people one on one.
“I know. But this would be a small group,” Melanie explained. “No need to commit now or anything. Just throwing the idea out there for you to think about.”
“I will. Thanks for thinking of me.”
“Of course,” Melanie said. “Now for the second reason I came in here.”
Danielle was afraid of what was coming next. The book club sounded like a potentially good thing. What were the odds that Melanie had two good things to discuss?
“What’s that?”
Melanie put her hands on the large desk and leaned over it to whisper to Danielle.
“When were you going to tell me about you and Kim’s cousin?”
