Yep. Friendship is so much better than dating.
“Fine, you can sleep in the day bed,” Helen said. And if there was any doubt she’d only been teasing about Alix sharing with Matt, she added, “I just put fresh sheets on for you.”
Paul punctuated the end of Helen’s sentence with a meow when he sauntered into the room. As if they were old friends, hebumped Grace’s leg on his way up to the bed, turned in a circle, and dropped onto a pillow.
“Sorry, dear. I’ll get him out. Just make sure you keep the door closed or he’ll sneak right back in. I shouldn’t let him nap in here, but?—”
“No, please. If this is where he sleeps, he’s more than welcome to stay,” Grace said without adding that she’d much rather have the company. Even as a kid, she hated sleeping alone and nearly always snuck in with her mom. “I have two cats at home, so I’m used to it. I actually wouldn’t know what to do with a bed all to myself.” She forced herself to stop rambling by slamming her jaw shut.
Helen laughed and then gave Alix a pointed look. “I guess that’s one way to make sure you remember your allergy pills.”
“Mom.” Alix sighed, but she sounded more amused than annoyed, like she finally understood her mother had been teasing her. “We’re not dating and she’s in Miami. How would I even?—”
“Miami, where you spent Thanksgiving?” Helen turned her head to the side as if to sayCheckmate, kiddo.
“Mom—”
“Okay, okay.” Helen put both hands up to show she was unarmed. “Then you won’t have any trouble not sleeping together while you’re here either.” She smiled like she didn’t believe them for one minute. “Grace, dear. Do you need anything else before we let you freshen up?” After Grace thanked her again, Helen looked between her and Alix before adding, “I’ll let you two say yourfriendlygood night, then.”
To make her point, as if they’d otherwise miss that she thought they were full of shit, she closed the door behind her.
“So why exactly did you think I wouldn’t like your mother?” Grace raised both brows at Alix.
“Listen,” Alix whispered dramatically. “I don’t know who that woman is, but she’s not my mother.” She shook her head, dropping the game but keeping her voice low as if sound carried remarkably well through the walls and wood floors. “She’s never been so… chill?”
Grace stepped closer and couldn’t stop herself from reaching for Alix. Hand lightly around Alix’s wrist, Grace held her gaze. “Sometimes a person’s absence is the only way to see just how important they are. How incredibly special and needed they are.” She paused to offer a gentle smile. “She’s obviously missed having you around. Maybe things look different with a little distance.”
“I don’t think I would have come here without you, Grace,” Alix said without a hint of jest. “Thank you.”
Grace’s heart raced a burning path up her chest and lodged itself like volcanic rock in her throat. She couldn’t swallow it down. Couldn’t stop the flutter in her stomach that felt like a roar. She didn’t trust what she would say next. What she would confess. So she dove headfirst into a joke.
“So the Roberts girl, huh?” Grace smirked. “You know, I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to do thatafterprom.”
Alix laughed, the light returning to her glistening eyes. “Well, I’m sure I would’ve, but she dumped me before the big night for Brittany, a college freshman interested in equine medicine.”
Grace’s eyes widened, relieved to have somewhere to put all of her nervous energy. “Certainly not Wellington Vet Brittany of three-children fame.”
Chuckling, Alix touched her finger to the tip of her nose. “Normally, I would have thought my mom dropped that little tidbit to show me how I fucked up a picket-fence future, but she couldn’t have known about Brittany.”
“Just standard, universal, I’m-going-to-die-without-grandkids guilt, then.”
“Apparently,” Alix said, like she still couldn’t believe it. “All right, I’ll let you get some sleep.”
Before Grace could admit that she wasn’t ready to say good night, Alix was turning toward her bag and squatting down to get something from the fanny pack dropped on top of it.
“Here.” Alix handed her an unopened lip balm. “The dry air is a bitch. Apply liberally and often.”
“Got it.” Grace’s thumb lingered over Alix’s when she took the small tube. If she’d had even a drop of alcohol, anything to get her out of her own head, she might have said something insane like there were better ways to stay moist.
God. Moist.The terrible word choice knocked her out of her haze.
“Have sweet dreams about Roberts in the hayloft,” Grace joked because she’d lost control of herself.
Hand on the doorknob, Alix looked back at her with an expression Grace had never seen before. It was dark and hot and destabilizing. Her gaze dropped from Grace’s eyes to her mouth, lingering there for a beat too long before meeting her eyes again.
Alix smirked, destroying Grace with a casual, “I’ve always preferred the future over the past.”
Chapter Twenty
