Shit. Gretchen had referenced turning forty “at the end of the summer,” and of course, I’d known she was taking possession of the new building—she’d done that virtual walk-through with her contractor—but she had never said the exact date of either.
“Can we crash the party?” Jack asked, then added, “Jack Branksome. We also met at Wild Arts.”
“I know. You’re the guy who turned down Blair Kellermoon.”
“I am indeed,” Jack said with an odd cheeriness.
“And you want to come to the party,” Rory said, her tone quizzical.
“Wouldn’t miss it.” He smirked at me before turning back to Rory. “Also, I’m procrastinating my book.”
“All right. It starts at six.” She reached for a business card and scribbled on it. “Here’s the address.”
“Can we bring anything?” I heard myself say. What? Like I was Martha fucking Stewart all of a sudden and I was goingto go whip up some canapés? I was utterly befuddled by this invasion of Gretchen’s reality.
“Nope. And it’s a demolition party, so if you get any ideas about spiffing yourself up, don’t bother.”
I looked down at my ratty cutoffs and Metallica T-shirt. “Noted.”
“But maybe change your shoes. The contractor says no sandals. Not sure if those count, but…”
Yeah. I was wearing the orange rubber monstrosities.
“Don’t tell Gretchen we’re coming,” Jack said. “It can be a surprise.”
“Hopefully a good one,” Rory said, narrowing her eyes at me.
18
TRUTHS
Teddy
Was I… friends with Jack Branksome now? Like, in reality?
In some ways, that felt like the biggest change I’d undergone in the past two months, though I recognized that objectively, there was no way that was true.
It was wild, though. He took me to his condo, ordered some food, and reverted to his usual silent self.
I crossed to a wall of windows and looked out. Jack lived exactly where you’d think he would—high in a condo building overlooking the Mississippi River. “Killer view.”
“Yeah, I bought this place with the advance on my first book. Hopefully it’s appreciated enough that I won’t be in the red when I have to sell it because I have to give back the advance for my second book.”
I turned. “You want to talk about this?”
I guess we really were friends now.
“Not really.”
Or not.
“You’re the one who keeps bringing it up,” I said.
He shrugged. “I guess I’m trying to get used to the idea that I might have been a one-hit wonder. Saying it out loud helps.”
I thought about giving him a pep talk, but then I thought, baby steps on this whole friends thing. We watched a movie and ate Thai food until it was time to go.
The setting for Gretchen’s new studio was totally different from the strip mall. It was a cute little main street, in what was probably once its own stand-alone small town, as the buildings looked historic.
