Several clichés popped into Grace’s head on the way back to her place to change and get ready. The most prevalent one was about keeping her enemies close. That’s all she was doing.
11
There was no reason to be nervous aboutsome guycoming over to help her paint a room. Maybe if it was a guy she could see herself with, a guy who didn’t have more moods than she had fabric swatches, she’d understand her less than steady hands. Smoothing out the tarp to protect the floor, she looked around for her phone. How could she misplace something that she used so often? She spotted it on the coffee table.
Rosie had at least texted, which only slightly made up for bailing.
Rosie
Oh. My. God. It’s hard to say which of them are hotter.
Girl. How are you going to live next door to him without drooling?
Josh asked for my number. We’re going out tomorrow.
Where are you?
Text me back, damn you. I want details. All the details.
She deleted the text she saw from Tammy without reading it. She’d reply to Rosie later. Right now, she needed to chill thehell out, because if she wasn’t careful, she’d end up developing a crush on her grumpy neighbor and he might have plans but Grace had plenty of her own. He wasn’t getting in the way.
When her phone buzzed again, she was setting up a second tarp along the wall with the window. She smiled, wondering if he’d call her a cheater or appreciate her cleverness.
He should be there any minute. She glanced at her phone again, wary of it being Tammy. Her mom didn’t seem to understand the whole connection between actions and consequences.Ignore your kid for most of her life, putting yourself first, your child becomes an adult who doesn’t want much to do with you.
It was Morty. She smiled at all the errors. Whenever he texted, he muttered and swore, cursing big thumbs and small gadgets.
Jus becuz you mooed don’t mean you cant call a duh
She pressed on his number. He answered on the first ring.
“You coulda texted me back,” he said instead of hello.
“I could have. But I wanted to hear your cheery voice.”
“Ha.” After a winded breath, he asked, “You doing okay?”
“Yes, just trying to decipher your text. I’m guessing you don’t think I moo and you meant to call yourself a guy?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Nothing. Just check your text when we hang up. How are you?”
“I’m alive.”
She rolled her eyes but couldn’t help the smile. “This would be a weird conversation if you weren’t.”
“Be better if you didn’t pretend I don’t exist anymore.”
“I’ve been gone under two weeks.”
“Tilly wants you to come for dinner.”
She turned her head when she heard the knock, watched Noah walk in carrying supplies.
“Tilly wants that?”
“What can I say. She likes you for some reason.”
