Chapter 21 – Grace
Did he touch me too much?
It was a good thing he couldn’t see me, because I was pretty sure I was turning the reddest he’d ever made me. An earnest Dean was way harder to deal with than a flirty Dean. No, he didn’t touch me too much. I didn’t even get to dance with him tonight. He definitely didn’t touch me enough. I stared up at the ceiling. I was in no way telling him that.
“We’ve known each other a long time, and you’ve never crossed any lines with me, Dean.”
“Okay, good.” He sounded so relieved. Maybe he was afraid his flirting had led me to assume things about him. Like that he believed in commitment. I had never once thought his flirting was in hopes he could someday marry me so we could have that holy terror he’d been referring to.
“What are you doing right now?” he asked.
“I’m unwinding now that Piper’s in bed.”
“Unwinding how?”
I had my feet up on the ottoman in front of the couch. I was in pajamas. Not the ugly kind. I’d actually bought the current set I was wearing at the grocery store because I reached out to touch them and they were soft, and the checkered pattern called to me. Why grocery stores decided to get in the clothing business was beyond me, since I was pretty sure tumbleweeds flew through that section of the store most days, but I’d grabbed them on my way to get laundry detergent and a bottle of liquid hand soap.
“I’m working on an illustration for a maybe job.”
“What kind of maybe job?”
“A picture book about caterpillars turning into butterflies. They want some samples from me first.”
“I wanna see.”
I could just text him a picture, but I found myself saying, “Then come over and see.”
“K.”
If Dean still worried about being an annoying bother to me, then it was time to clear that up, starting with me being the one asking to spend time with him. Things were still sorting out between us, and one phone call wouldn’t be enough to settle our friendship into territory that was comfortable for both of us.
That was the only reason I’d invited him over. Well, that, and I liked the thought of having him all to myself. Tonight had been weird. For a lot of reasons. I set aside my tablet before I could get sucked into illustrating and forget about the time. I picked up all the toys Piper had left around the living room and then went to brush my teeth and put on a little bit of makeup. I’d removed the dramatic stuff from tonight, but he didn’t need to see me fresh-faced.