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“He sure did. Doesn’t Jenny have another roommate? The one that had you all in a twist, Denver.” The smile died on his face as he stared at Sadie and put it all together. “There’s only one roommate, isn’t there. This is the Sadie from your stories.”
Sadie turned to face me, and I slowly met her gaze. It was her dodgeball gaze. Unfortunately, I couldn’t dodge this. I rubbed her knee. “It really is a long story, you and I. Wouldn’t you say?”
“I would say.” She held up her paintbrush covered in navy paint. “Considering the mean things I used to say about you to Jenny, I shouldn’t be mad that you vented about me to your parents, and yet, I really want to paint a mustache on you right now.”
“You’ll need a thinner paintbrush, honey.” My mom handed her one. Of course she did.
Sadie dipped it in a tiny bit of paint. “It will only be a small one, and I’ll help you get it all off.”
“After we get a picture.” My dad pulled out his phone and started recording. “It’s all water under the bridge after this, right kids?”
Sadie nodded. “See? Your dad gets it.”
Was this happening?
I held still while Sadie took hold of my chin and very carefully gave me a curly mustache. At least, it felt curly. And wet.
“Feel better?” I asked.
“A little.” She pulled out her phone and took a picture. “Okay, a lot.”
Chapter 37 – Sadie
Denver’s parents were beautiful people. So beautiful, I was afraid I’d stepped into aTwilightnovel. And yet, I really liked them. I thought about how open they’d been, and how much they already knew about me going in as I walked up to my dad’s house for dinner.
I hadn’t told Dad anything about Denver. Not one little thing. Not even that I’d lived in his house for a month. He thought I’d moved into an apartment with Jenny from the start. And as I thought about trying to correct that, stress I hadn’t allowed myself to feel took over. Did Denver and I fit in each other’s worlds? We were having fun, and I was letting my guard down and accepting risks. But then what? Could this even lead anywhere, or was that a stupid thing to hope for?
I loved his openness with everyone, something he’d clearly inherited from his parents. But just because I was drawn to it didn’t mean I could match it.
I often got a sense about other people, innately knowing who would be a good fit for someone and what questions to ask if I wasn’t quite sure. I could give other people pep talks; I could give them a confident answer about who they should go talk to and what they should say, but I didn’t have anyone who could do that for me.
I loved Jenny and Carmen, but they couldn’t help me get out of my own head the way I needed to. Okay, enough dwelling. It was time to go in and not think about it for a while.
Gina answered the door right after I knocked. “Come in, come in.” She was a huggy person, and her perfume filled my senses as she gave me a big hug, rocking me side to side. Curly ran around our feet yipping.
My dad came up right behind us for his turn, and I got a big bear hug from him, too.
“Where’s Dan and company?” I asked. All was quiet except for Curly the toy poodle, which meant my nieces and nephews weren’t here yet.
“Kim has the stomach flu, so they’re not going to make it. I guess it’s something contagious that’s been going around the kids’ school.”
“Oh, no.”
I felt awful for them. And slightly sick for me. I was used to having them as a buffer and tonight I needed that more than ever. Plus, while Dan and I texted each other regularly, I hadn’t seen his ugly mug in a while. Going from seeing my brother every day in carpool to seeing him once a month was weird.
“What about your boys?” I asked Gina, somehow already sensing her answer.
“Not coming either. They had tickets to a game they wanted to see.” She smiled that knowing smile of a mother who’s been ditched out on.
It made me want to answer every call from my dad from here on out, whether it was convenient or not.
“So, it’s just the three of us,” Dad said, putting his arms around us both.
Great. All their attention on me.And why is that a bad thing?I could almost feel Denver’s steady encouragement, telling me this was an opportunity if I was willing to see it that way.
“We have so much food. You’ll have to take home leftovers.” Gina showed me where to hang up my bag, and then she picked up the salad bowl from the counter, and I followed her with the dressings, taking them to the table.
“Awesome, Jenny and I both love leftovers.”
