“Dating,” Natalie adds before I say something I have no doubt I'd regret asking.
“It seems that way. She’ll deny it day and night. Now I know where you get it from,” Quinn adds and playfully slaps me on the side of the head. “In the meantime, there are brownies.”
“Always brownies,” Natalie says, following my sister to the kitchen.
“Grandma Betty isn’t allowed to date,” I say, right behind them.
“Just because you’re a curmudgeon who can’t commit or doesn't want to doesn't mean the rest of us need to be like you.”
“I can commit,” I say in my defense, my gaze flickering to Natalie briefly. She’s just watching my sister and me with a smile on her face.
“Really? When and with who?” my sister asks.
“With …” I trail off.
She turns to Natalie. “Have you ever seen him with someone?”
Nat scrunches her nose and shakes her head. “I can’t think of anyone,” she says.
This is really not a conversation I need Quinn to bring up in front of Natalie, not now that I want her to be more than a friend. She’ll never look at me that way if that’s what she thinks.
My sister spins and crosses her arms, waiting for me to spar with her. Her look says she isn't going to lose, and to be fair, she probably wouldn't.
But at the same time, maybe I never found someone to commit to because I haven’t found the one yet. Or maybe I have found the one and just didn’t have a clue.
I have no idea.
This is new territory for me.
Fuck. Either way, I need to change this conversation.
“See, you can’t answer.” Quinn shrugs at Natalie.
Hell.
I pinch the spot between my eyes.
This is not going well.
“When does Grandma plan to be back? Is she going to the festival tonight?” I ask.
“Of course. The dance studio has something special planned, and Mike is taking her.”
“She’s not going with us?” I’m about to ask more, but Natalie snickers.
“What?”
“I love how defensive you are with Betty. You’ll make someone a very happy girl someday.”
“If he could commit.”
Jesus.
“Quinn. Stop.”
Natalie is full-blown laughing now, and I know it’s at my expense. I’d let my sister make fun of me day after day if I got to hear that laugh.
“Let’s go put our things away,” I say to Natalie and then nod at the stairway. “Quinn, are you on the couch while we’re here?”
