One of the waitresses brought another round of mimosas, setting down another plain orange juice flute in front of me. Everything felt so… prim and proper. The fundraisers Alderton-Du Ponte held often had dinners, but something about this atmosphere was so much more delicate.
Ivy would’ve loved it for the tea party.
Penn would’ve loved it for the gossip.
Nellie gently elbowed me under the table. “Don’t look too interested,” she whispered to me. “If you catch their eye, they’ll turn their attention to you next.”
“I hope they do,” I murmured back, reaching for another cucumber slice. “I’ll tell them about the heels youforced me to wear, and how my pinky toe is in the process of being amputated. I’ll drop it on one of their dinner plates.”
Nellie let out a really ugly laugh, drawing everyone’s attention to us.
“What’s so funny, dear?” Mrs. Conan asked her, voice tight.
“Oh, I just—I had a… tickle in my throat.” Nellie gave her signature Alderton-Du Ponte smile at the woman. “Daisy, though, actually was saying?—”
“It’s a shame Mrs. Giovanni isn’t here,” Raelynn said suddenly, cutting Nellie off as if she hadn’t started speaking. Everyone’s heads now swiveled toward her. “I’m sure you and her would’ve loved catching up, Daisy. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I mean, you and Dalton broke up last summer, so you probably didn’t see his mom much after that.”
The table went quiet. Man, Raelynn and Lydia reallydidbody swap. Or maybe that’s just how they both got when they felt threatened—catty. “I ran into her at Senior Night, actually,” I said finally, tracing shapes into the tablecloth. I imagined a girl, lying on her side, eyes shut, maple syrup pooling around her. “It was lovely.”
I could see the gears working in Raelynn’s head as she tried to come up with another probing question.
“Lydia,” Nellie piped up, looking across the table pointedly. “Are you still in touch with Carter at all?”
“O-Oh, yes!” Lydia caught on, swallowing her bite of sandwich hard. “I am, in fact. Here and there. It might nothave worked out romantically, but he’s a great friend. Yours, too, right, Nellie?”
Nellie nodded.
“Friends,” Ms. Jennings muttered woefully. She twirled the stem of her mimosa flute, nearly losing her grip on it. “I’m not living vicariously through you youths for boringfriendship. Where’s the drama? The excitement? The rendezvouses?”
“Ms. Jennings, we can’t just steal each other’s boyfriends or anything.” Raelynn gave a laugh, and I could hear the threadiness in it. Then, lower, she added, “Maybe some of us can, I guess.”
Dang, she’s really going for the throat?—
“Daisy, did you tell everyone that you’re dating Jamie?”
I sucked in a breath now as all the heads swiveled tome, their eyes wide with surprise. “You’re dating Jamie?” Mrs. Conan asked, shocked.
“Jamie?” Mrs. Holland echoed, sitting at Mrs. Conan’s side and blinking in confusion. “He’s interested in dating? I always thought he was the sort who—well, you know—keeps to themselves?—”
“Maybe she got him out of his shell,” Ms. Jennings mused, sitting back in her seat and lifting her flute to her lips. “That’swhat I’m talking about. A secret relationship. Scandalous! Give us the juicy details, Daisy.”
Oh, right, the juicy details. Did she mean like how he lifted me onto a dresser like he was some hero in a romance novel? Or maybe how he knelt down in front of me and kissed my palm? Or, actually, maybe she’d want toknow how his hands had held my hips as we’d danced together, until we both shared the same breath?
Knowing Ms. Jennings, she’d want all of the above. In detail.
Yeah. Maybe Ididn’twant everyone’s attention on me.
“It’s… recent.” I looked at Nellie.Please, jump in, I thought to her, but my best friend pretended to be too focused on stuffing a turkey finger sandwich in her mouth, leaving me to the piranhas. “Um. We thought we’d… try it out.”
“Try it out,” Ms. Jennings echoed, wrinkling her nose. “Well, that’s distinctly less romantic than I’d been hoping for. Alice, did you know?”
I froze, half afraid to look at Nellie and Jamie’s mom, half afraid of her answer. “Of course I did,” she replied breezily, and when I got the courage to look over, I found a soft smile on her face. “Only recently, though. They’d been keeping it quite a good secret.” Her eyes found mine, curving and conspiratorial.
I looked to Nellie, who gave the barest nod.I filled her in.
I suddenly wanted to flee the table, though. It was far more entertaining to soak up the drama, like watching a TV show; farlessentertaining to be at the center of it.
Especially with the way Raelynn was looking at me. “What will you do in the fall?” she asked tightly. “When Jamie leaves for New York, and you’re still here?”
