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Sonia’s voice turned icy. “Fortunately, that’s none of your business.”
“I’ll tell you the truth, Sonia. Your latest guy? He has my sympathies. Along with every guy after that.”
Marco walked away, giving up his spot in line. Sonia stared after him, her cheeks hot. In the space of about two minutes, Marco had managed to make her feel like an awful person.
“So?” Elena said hopefully when she returned.
“It was a colossal fuckup. Let's never speak of it again.”
“Yeah, Sonia, maybe don’t hit up your exes for money,” Trevor suggested.
“This was your idea!” Sonia snapped. Fortunately, a chime rang to signal the end of intermission. She hustled into the theater with her friends, trying to shake off the conversation with Marco.
But his accusations weighed on her, and it didn’t help that her phone was silent. She hadn’t heard a word from Brendan since Monday night.
Leaning her head back against the seat, she sighed. The house lights went out, and the stage lights bloomed. As Sonia turned off her phone, she found herself checking one last time for a message from Brendan.
12
Tuesday
11:45 p.m.
The scent of banana walnut muffins filled the quiet kitchen.
Sonia checked the molasses crinkle cookies in the oven — her grandmother’s favorite — and decided they needed a few more minutes. On the counter, yeast was proofing in a big glass bowl. Adding flour, Sonia kneaded the dough, folding and punching it on the counter. Finally, she plopped the ball of dough back in the bowl and put it in the fridge to rise for fresh-baked bread in the morning.
Okay, she’d gone a little overboard with stress-baking, but she needed an outlet after the run-in with Marco. In high school and college, she’d blown off steam by leaving her house or dorm late at night. She’d walked for miles, crisscrossing the same route, until her mind and body calmed down enough to sleep.
But Grandma Adrienne had expressed concern about Sonia doing that in DC, and Sonia didn’t want to make her grandmother worry. At least while she was living under Adrienne’s roof.
Checking the cookies again, she slid the trays out of the oven and set them on the counter to cool. She’d planned on a year as Adrienne’s tenant, no more. Her grandmother was beyond good to her, but Sonia knew she needed to stand on her own two feet.
She picked up a warm molasses cookie and munched on it, wandering over to the kitchen table. Adrienne had propped Ian and Diana’s wedding invitation against the bouquet of stargazer lilies.
A Post-it note covered the edge of the invitation, making it read:
Diana Natalie Cooper and Ian Michael O’Brian invite you to share in their joy as YOU SPEND THE WEEKEND WITH HIS DELIGHTFUL TWIN BROTHER.
Sonia tore off the Post-it note, her fingers brushing a second one.
WHAT’S BRENDAN’S MIDDLE NAME?
“Grandma, you never quit.” Sonia shook her head. There was a third note on the vase that held the lilies:
WHO GAVE YOU THESE, HMMM?
“I could have bought them for myself,” Sonia protested to the empty kitchen. Dropping the Post-its in the trash, she indignantly stacked the cookies in a glass jar and put the muffins in a container.
She wouldn’t have bought the flowers, though. Money was too tight, especially since the repayment period for her student loans had started six months ago. Maybe she should have let her parents help pay for college until she graduated, but after the first two years, there had been too many issues to continue.
After tidying and sweeping the kitchen, Sonia scooped up the vase of lilies before Adrienne could leave any more notes. That was definitely her one and only reason for taking it up to her bedroom.
On the way out of the kitchen, she fished the Post-its from the trash. She hoped her grandma still had many years to live; there was no reason to think otherwise. But even though she’d never been a pack rat, Sonia always hoarded these notes from Adrienne, keeping them in a carved wooden box in her closet.
During her visits every summer, the notes had been a constant, from the time she was a kid and they listed breakfast options to when she was sixteen and starting to explore sex. She’d bought some women’s magazines and left them out on the kitchen table. Adrienne had scribbled commentary beneath the headlines.
10 ways to blow his mind in bed
