Chapter 12
Danielle
Kim extended a mug of coffee toward Danielle, where she sat on the old floral sofa that was Kim and Melanie’s favorite spot in their house.
While it wasn’t Danielle’s taste, she could see why they loved it so much.
It was comfy and a perfect spot to spend a weekend lounging together, surrounded by all of their books.
“Thank you.” She blew across the top of her mug, musing on how she spent so much time there that Kim knew exactly how she liked her coffee.
Heavy on the sugar, light on the almond milk they loved.
She took a sip then asked, “So how many people are coming to this inaugural sapphic book club meeting?”
Danielle had been hesitant when Melanie first told her about the idea, but ever since she’d told her she’d like to join, Danielle had grown more and more excited. She was going to meet new people and read good books and break out of her routines. Just a tiny bit at least.
And Lila could come with her if they met there, because she loved nothing more than the couple’s goofy beagle mix. That’s where Lila was at that moment, in fact. In the small backyard, teaching Prince the trick of the week.
Kim and Melanie exchanged a quick glance before Melanie shrugged her shoulders. “Three?”
Danielle took an unnecessary headcount. “We have a book club with just us.”
So much for meeting new people.
“Well, for now.” Melanie waved a hand in the air. “Don’t worry. We’ll find more.”
“There’s a girl at my store I’m going to ask.”
“A girl?” Danielle tried to keep the horror out of her voice and hoped it merely expressed her concern. The last thing she wanted was to be in a book club with a teenager. No matter how well-read they were, it would be inappropriate.
“Sorry. That was rude of me,” Kim said. “She’s not a kid. Just a good bit younger than me. I think she’s in her mid-twenties. Anyway. We’ve talked about books before, so I’m going to see if she’d be interested.”
“In the meantime,” Melanie said. “You can help us brainstorm books for our reading list.”
That sounded fun.
Danielle took a sip of her coffee and considered the task. “Is it just for sapphic romance books?”
Kim shook her head. “The books have to have some kind of sapphic relationship with a main character, but they don’t have to be romance genre books.”
Danielle mentally browsed her to-be-read list, trying to land on something she’d been dying to read. This would be the perfect opportunity to finally get to some of those. And having company to do that with would be nice.
Her phone rang on the cushion beside her. When she flipped it over, she couldn’t believe the name on the screen.
“You can take that in the bedroom if you want,” Melanie offered.
Kim, who stood over Danielle and most likely couldn’t help but see the caller’s name, made a soft noise of acknowledgment. “You should definitely answer that.”
Danielle answered the phone right where she was, deciding that answering in the bedroom was far too intimate an action. Even if just in her head. The fluttering in her chest confirmed that was the right choice.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Danielle. It’s Morgan. I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
The sound of that rich, high-energy tenor set Danielle’s heart fluttering. She tried and failed to contain its excitement at hearing the owner of that voice. Danielle hadn’t expected to hear from her again until closer to the wedding. Although the clock was winding down to that.
“No,” she said. “I’m actually at your cousin’s house.”
“Tell Kim hi from me.”
Danielle looked up at Kim and said, “Morgan says, Hi.”
Kim frowned and gestured with her hands for Danielle to get back to her call.
“Kim says hi back.”
“I won’t keep you long,” Morgan said. “I just didn’t want to text this. Felt like it needed some explanation.”
“Is it about the wedding?”
Danielle’s stomach sank with the realization that she could be uninviting her. Not in a bad way. Just in a situation’s changed kind of way. Or her best friend could go with her after all.
Or she found a real date to go with instead.
“Sort of,” Morgan said. “Actually, yes. It is.” There was a long stretch of silence before Morgan finally spoke again. “Do you have plans tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow?” Danielle reflexively glanced out the window.
Lila was in the middle of the yard, holding a treat in one hand and a raised palm in the other as she worked with Prince on his stay command from a lying position.
Azalea bushes created a colorful backdrop as their early-season fuchsia blooms dotted the branches.
“Just picking up Lila from a sleepover and catching up on grading. Why?”
Danielle’s insides twisted as she imagined all the reasons Morgan could be asking that question.
And something tied to the wedding at that.
Danielle hoped it wasn’t some pre-wedding family event.
She wasn’t sure whether she could handle that.
Handling Morgan’s family, yes, but also handling being so close to Morgan in a smaller situation.
The intimacy level would be higher, and Danielle wasn’t sure she could keep her heart in check through that.
“Well, I was wondering if you’d let me take you shopping.”
“Shopping?” Danielle looked around the room at Melanie and Kim, who both looked as confused as she felt. “I already went shopping this morning.”
She always did her weekly grocery run early on Saturday or Sunday mornings. It was much less crowded then, and getting them early in the day meant she had more time to meal prep her lunches for the week.
“No, sorry. I didn’t mean house stuff.” An awkward silence stretched through her explanation once again. “I wanted to take you clothes shopping. For the wedding. An outfit, I mean.”
The words were clipped and hurried, revealing an energetic chaos in her speech.
“You want to take me wedding-outfit shopping,” she repeated as much to keep Melanie and Kim in the loop as to convince herself she’d heard correctly. “That’s thoughtful, but I’m sure I have something to wear.”
“She doesn’t!” Kim shouted loud enough to be heard through the phone before crossing her arms and giving Danielle a smug grin.
Melanie slapped her arm gently.
“What?” Kim said, giving her wife an innocent-looking smile. “I was going to suggest she come to the boutique, but this is way better.”
“What I mean is I’d like to buy you an outfit for the wedding.”
Danielle’s jaw went slack as she processed what had just been said. She shook her head as if Morgan could see the motion. “I can’t let you do that. That’s… I know I’m on a teacher’s salary, but I can buy a dress, I promise.”
Kim loudly mouthed Let her!
Melanie silently clapped her hands in excitement. Then she whispered, “You promised me you’d let me know when you need a nudge. Consider this your nudge.”
Danielle ignored the nudge as a thought occurred to her.
What if Morgan was afraid she’d wear something inappropriate?
Now Danielle was worried she might wear something inappropriate. How fancy was this thing, anyway?
“I believe you. And I believe you’d pick out something gorgeous. And I still want you to pick out whatever you want.” Morgan said. “I’d just like to pay for it.”
“That really isn’t necessary.” Part of Danielle, however, had decided this was very necessary. But she wasn’t letting that part run this show.
“I’d like to, though,” Morgan said. “It’s the least I can do for you agreeing to go to this with me.”
“You already bought me earrings. It’s fine. I’m glad to go.”
“Good. Then you can be glad to go shopping with me.” Then, without giving even the tiniest break for Danielle to insert another objection, she said, “So tomorrow works then? We can do next weekend, but since there are only two weeks left, I figured better to go sooner if we can.”
Kim and Melanie were both waving their hands at Danielle now, giving her encouragement to go on even without having full context for the situation.
Danielle glanced out the window again. Lila was now throwing a tennis ball for Prince and laughing as she wiped dog drool on her jeans.
“We’ve got her,” Melanie said. “Whatever you’re considering, do it. Lila is always welcome here. And we can pick her up from her friend’s house, too.”
There was really nothing to stop her.
Except her good sense, which was screaming that this was a bad idea.
“Okay,” she said. “I could use a second pair of eyes picking out something for this. I haven’t been to anything really fancy in a while. But I insist on paying for my own outfit.”
“You’ll have to fight me for that last part.”
Danielle’s heart jumped at the idea of wrestling with Morgan over anything.
No.
No wrestling.
“We’ll see about that,” she said with a laugh.
Danielle heard a voice on the other end of the call.
“I need to get back. A new customer just walked in,” Morgan said. “Text me your address to pick you up, or I can meet you wherever you want.”
There was a long, awkward silence in the room as Danielle stared at her phone.
Kim sat beside her on the couch. “You know you’re going to tell us all about that, right?”
Danielle smiled. “Aren’t you going to hear about it from your cousin, anyway?”
“We don’t talk that much outside family stuff. Which neither of us goes to anymore.” Kim shrugged. “She’s great, though. I like her for you.”
With a frown, Danielle said, “There is no ‘for me.’”
“Ignore her,” Melanie said. “Just tell us what all of that was about.”
Danielle grimaced. “I think I’m getting paid to be her not-a-date.”
“Let her buy you the dress. Or pants. Or whatever,” Kim said. “If you’re dealing with my family, I can see where she wants to give a thank-you gift.”
“Wait, are you two not going?”
Kim exchanged a look with Melanie. “We’ll be sending a gift.”
Danielle’s eyes widened. “It’s your own family, and you aren’t going?” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “What have I gotten myself into?”
“You’ll be fine,” Kim said, with a hand on Danielle’s knee. “It’s not my sister, so I don’t feel obligated like Morgan.”
“This feels like a bad idea.”
“It makes you anxious,” Melanie said. “That doesn’t make it bad.”
Danielle wasn’t sure about that. But she was sure she wanted to do this. Even if it was a bad idea.
“So I guess I’m going dress shopping tomorrow.”
Tomorrow was such short notice. It only added to her anxiety.
“Good,” Kim said. “Like Melanie said, we’ve got Lila. We can pick her up, or you can drop her off. Whatever’s easier for you.”
“Thank you both,” Danielle said. “I appreciate it.”
“You can pay us in telling us how it went and showing us what you pick out,” Melanie said.
Danielle smiled wide. “You’ve got a deal.”