“So, am I still invited to watch a movie?”
Another pause. “Yeah.”
“Want me to bring a pizza over?”
“That would be nice. Thank you. No silly toppings, though.”
I chuckled. “What’s a silly topping?”
“You probably eat pineapple on your pizza.”
I did do that.
“No way. Only respectable toppings for this Californian. I eat kale pizza. Sometimes I go crazy and get yams with hot honey. Maybe a little crème fraiche.”
“I’m hanging up now.”
“No, wait.” I struggled through my laughter. “Do you want to hear my acai bowl order?”
“I don’t even know what that is.” She sounded horribly exasperated. I loved it.
“Well, I’m making you one. I’ll be over at six thirty. No backsies.”
Joan sighed audibly. “You did not just say, ‘No backsies.’ What are you, five?”
“No, I’m twenty-nine. Which seemed like a very big deal to you. I would have thought you’d remember.”
“Don’t remind me.”
The clock on the wall said I was due back for the next scene and three minutes late. “I’ll see you tonight, Joanie.”
“Bye. Go be Dorian Masters. And there better not be pineapple on that pizza.”
I smiled all the way back to set.
seventeen
IAN
With a Mediterranean pizza in one hand, I knocked on Joan’s door at 6:28 that evening.
I’d been over to her house plenty of times at this point, but Georgie was usually with me when Joan and I made dinner together.
Nerves churned in my belly as I stood there waiting, like a teenager on a first date. This wasn’t technically a date, but it felt likesomething.
The door swung inward, and Joan stood there, looking frazzled and out of breath.
“Did you have to defend yourself against the creepy doll collection?” I asked.
She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. “No, just straightening up.”
I raised an eyebrow. A glance around the interior showed it just as tidy as every other time I’d been there, but I wouldn’t push it and tease her. I was nervous, too.
“Are you going to let me in?” I wondered.
She was still blocking the door.
Her blue eyes drifted toward the pizza box in my hand.
