Steph laughed. “The trains are pretty good over here, Dad. You don’t need to worry.”
“Your father does nothing but worry, you know that.”
“Not true, Samuel. I worry about the important things in life and if I didn’t worry, who knows where we’d all be. Anyhow, we just wanted to check in with you guys. You need us to bring anything with us for Thanksgiving? We managed to sneak a few treats in our luggage, but are you missing any essentials?”
“Actually, we have a whole list of things we can’t get over here.”Ade peered at the shelf. “We had an agonizing trip to the market today, and I had to leave because I felt sick.”
“Oh, honey, that sounds rough.”
Ade imagined the crease of their pops’ brow in concern.
“What d’you need out there?”
“We’ll send a list. But don’t worry too much because we’re making do, aren’t we, Ade?” Steph shot a stern look in her direction.
“Sure. It’s just about us being together.” Ade folded her hands.
“Okay, well, shoot over that list, and we’ll see what we can do. See you both in a couple of days. Be good. Love you.”
“Love you.” Steph blew a kiss.
“Bye, Dad. Bye, Pops,” they said in unison.
Steph went back to her boiling pot, and Ade relaxed against the comforter, the sound of their dads’ voices echoing in her heart. She missed them now they were so close to arriving. The last eight weeks had been pretty lonely. She’d had to paper over a lot of cracks in her ability to build rapport with others.
There really had only been one person she’d clicked with on a meaningful level, someone who she could be herself around, like she was with Steph and her fathers: Sylvie. This week her absence had grown like a nagging doubt. She wasn’t used to that. Everything about Sylvie was new and scary. Too scary to interrogate too deeply.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Sylvie scribbledMonday’s date on her board and readied herself for the day ahead. Paul still hadn’t come through with her reduced timetable, so she faced another jam-packed week of lectures and seminars. It was for the best. Staying busy would keep her mind from wandering.
It had been a fairly easy task to avoid Ade for the week, once she stopped straying into their mutual locations. Just a lick of discipline and a little diary management was all she’d needed. She’d still procrastinated through her book edits for the whole week, but any progress was progress.
But even Isa’s midweek excursion to a poetry reading hadn’t totally rid her of the sense that her little world had grown quieter without her favorite Californian’s commentary. She spent the whole night thinking of how Ade would’ve loved to have been at the poetry reading too.
Popping open her calendar, she scanned today’s agenda. “What is this?”
Ade had requested some time with her this morning. She glanced at the clock. Three minutes to wriggle out of the tentative appointment, which was blinking away, slicing through her peace with its jagged edges. She could hardly say no. That would cause even more trouble, and she’d have to admit to herself that there was something she couldn’t face. There was only one way to handle this: be the professional she should’ve been all along. Keep her distance and definitely no sleepovers.
“Hi there,” Ade said softly, announcing her arrival as if she didn’t want to disturb Sylvie’s train of thought.
All at once, Ade’s presence filled the room, flooding Sylvie’s senses. Her clothes hung off her strong body with an effortless style, like she hadn’t even noticed what she’d put on that morning. But it had all worked out perfectly. Her scent floated in ahead of her, a unique, natural aroma so far away from the synthetic perfumes that made Sylvie gag in the malls.
“You’re early.” Sylvie cleared her throat and wished she could be more commanding and authoritative.
Ade frowned and flicked the screen of her cell. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Come on in.” Sylvie rubbed her palms. “Please take a seat.” Rolling back to a time before they were familiar with each other was going to be much harder than she thought.
“Is everything okay? Maybe now isn’t a good time. I saw that you hadn’t accepted the invitation I sent.”
“No.” Sylvie met Ade’s eye contact and froze in her gaze for a moment too long. She wasn’t going to be able to brush her off like this. Ade was a good person, and she didn’t deserve that. “Please, let’s talk. I’ve missed you this past week.”
“Me too.” Ade fiddled with her cuff. “Steph arrived from Barcelona. We went shopping for Thanksgiving.”
“Of course. Are you looking forward to it?”
“Sure. My dads arrive on Wednesday.” Ade’s expression lit up the room.
