Chapter 13 #2
“I know. But, god, you know what I mean, right? Like, I’ve been convinced you hate me.”
“You’ve been—I don’t hate you.”
“I thought you were mad I didn’t take your side in everything and so you wouldn’t want to talk to me.”
“I…” I shook my head. I felt so unsettled, so…
ungrounded. In a good way. I couldn’t describe it, just…
hoping. That maybe things didn’t have to hurt the way they had been.
“Everyone stopped talking to me, stopped reaching out to me, stopped inviting me to anything. Same for Cat. Of course I’m going to assume everyone who’s doing it is on the same page.
Why would I have been reaching out to you first? ”
She shrugged. “I guess I didn’t see things like that. I’m sorry.”
I looked down, adjusting some things on the table, just… keeping my hands busy. “No, I’m… I’m sorry too. I know I haven’t been making it easy to talk to me.”
“I miss our friendship, though. So, um… can we move past this?”
I sighed, and I rummaged around in my boxes to pull out another candle, this one wrapped in parchment with a little gift tie on top. “Here,” I said. “To seal the deal.”
“Is this—a candle?”
“No, Daniela, it’s a grenade,” I deadpanned.
“I’m blowing us both to kingdom come. Yes, it’s a candle.
I guess I was thinking the same thing and ended up absentmindedly making you a candle.
You know how you always brush me off when I ask what you like best, oh it’s all good?
Alyssa outed you that you liked the sea salt ones, so here you go.
Sea salt, balsam, and cardamom. Like a cozy beach house. Enjoy.”
She laughed, unwrapping the package. “That’s the most aggressive pitch for a gift I’ve ever gotten,” she said, pulling out the candle, swirled white and blue designs. “Oh, god, it’s so cute though. And it smells perfect. I just wanna take a big bite out of it.”
“I beg of you, no.”
She laughed, turning to me with the sweetest smile. “I don’t know what to say,” she said. “Thanks. I’m going to have to get you a gift, too, because I owe you something way more than you owe me.”
“I wasn’t doing this to make you buy me something,” I laughed.
“I know, but I’m obstinate. Luckily there’s plenty of gifts here. Talk about last-minute shopping.” She beamed at me. “So… come around for dinner at my place sometime? You and me and Alyssa, and you can bring Cat, too, if she wants to come.”
“I… that’d be nice,” I said, my voice thick.
This was what Alyssa had been trying to do…
why she’d wanted so badly for me to be at this market, why she’d been talking to me about how things had happened with Daniela, why she’d left Daniela here with me once we were talking.
She’d probably done just as much on Daniela’s side to get her to talk to me, too.
Just because she wanted to. Making my day better, making everyone’s days better, in a place she wasn’t even planning on staying, just because she wanted to.
“It’s a plan,” Daniela said. “In that case, I’m off to do some shopping, too. But I’ll keep you in the loop. An evening this week?”
“Yeah, sounds good to me.”
“Awesome. I’ll update you. But let me know if you have any requests. It’s been a minute since you’ve been lucky enough to have Daniela Holman cuisine.”
“Ha. Get on out of here and do your shopping, Daniela Holman.”
There were a few people who came around to shop after Daniela left the table, a few sales, and a few people who just wanted to chat with me, people who mostly knew me through the market and didn’t know the Birdhouse drama and were just happy to see me again.
But despite it all—despite the rush of activity and the chatter with the other vendors and the continuous adjustment of my table to keep it enticing for buyers—my mind stayed fixed on one point, one topic, and that was the girl who came back with a box, lighting up as she thrust it across the table towards me.
Alyssa Taylor. That damn woman, blue eyes and smiles and everything.
“Look what I got,” she said.
Got me a friendship back. “A box,” I said. “It’s beautiful.”
“I know. And furthermore, I’ve been told there’s even something cool inside the box. As a bonus!”
“Oh, wow. Living large.”
She giggled, standing up taller. “It’s a board game! I thought it’d be fun to play with you and Cat at some point if you’re down. I’m still trying to find more people to invite. I’ve always wanted to have a board-game-night party.”
God dammit. I had a crush on Alyssa Taylor.
She just came in and swept everything up like a whirlwind, slapped me in the face, and the next thing I knew, I had all these feelings for her I didn’t know what to do with.
It wasn’t just how frustratingly pretty she was, just…
her. Her and those damn eyes and that damn smile.
I wanted to kiss her, and now that I’d had the thought, I couldn’t get it out of my mind.
I hated pretty girls.
“One problem,” I said.
“Ooh. What’s that?”
“Cat’s incredibly cutthroat when it comes to games. She takes no prisoners.”
She laughed. “I’m cool with that,” she said. “I’m terrible at them, so she’ll love having the chance to beat me.”
“We’ll make a night of it, then,” I said. “Maybe after dinner. Daniela invited me around one of these nights. Told me to bring Cat too, if she’s down.”
She blinked. “Oh—seriously? I wouldn’t be intruding?”
“Not at all.” Please come have dinner with me. My god. I wasn’t ready to have a crush on someone right now. “It’ll be the board-game-night of your dreams.”
“I’m so glad.” She squeezed the box to her chest, absolutely glowing, and I was completely, totally lost.