Chapter 28 – Dean
I hadn’t seen Charlie since the charity gala, but he called at the perfect time and invited himself over for dinner. His business partner Olivia coming along was a given.
Of the three of us, Charlie was the better cook, but Olivia actually enjoyed it. Well, she enjoyed cooking as long as we did cleanup. Tonight, she was pan frying us salmon steaks. The potatoes were baking in the oven, along with dessert.
“Things never worked out with Blaire?” Charlie asked, knowing full well he was just setting me up to talk about it in front of Olivia.
“Who’s Blaire?” Olivia asked, turning around with tongs in hand. She blew a rebellious strand of her blonde hair out of her face. The rest of it was wrangled back in a gigantic alligator clip.
“She’s someone I went on one date with. Charlie’s messing with me.” I leaned out from the stool I was sitting on and gave him a kick to the shin. He returned the favor.
“Oh, I know that. Just tell me whatever story I’m missing out on.”
“I’d actually like to hear Charlie’s version.” I waved my permission with my hand. Blaire seemed like a long-ago thing, even though it had only been a few weeks. But it was fresh in Charlie’s mind because it was the last thing he associated with me. We didn’t get together as often as we used to. He and Olivia were the kind of friends who called out of the blue, and we always continued exactly where we left off.
Charlie stroked his red beard. “It’s a familiar tale. A beautiful woman is on the hunt for a man with certain… assets. She tries a little too hard, and Dean’s interest in her, as a result, drops to dangerous levels.” He swooped his hand down mimicking a plane crashing into the granite countertop. “He even tried to dangle me in front of her as bait. Like that would work.”
Olivia reached out and patted his arm. “You pretended to be really poor, didn’t you?”
“Works every time.”
I pulled the salad bowl towards me and stole a crouton. “It wasn’t about her not being subtle, you guys. Like if she just played harder-to-get she would have kept my interest.” I had never been that shallow, even if, yes, I had previously enjoyed not having to work so hard for a woman’s attention.
Charlie smiled. “Fair. But you might have looked a lot less desperate to ditch her.”
“Burn his salmon, Olivia.”
She gave me a salute and turned around to check the food. “I would, but it goes against my code as a chef. But he’s definitely getting the smallest portion. This baby thing right here.”
“There are four salmon steaks over there,” Charlie pointed out.
“I know. Dean and I will split a second one. It works out perfectly. Now help me plate, you guys. Everything is ready to go.”
We jumped up and helped her, and although she gave him some serious side-eye, Olivia let Charlie have his full portion and the tiny extra .
I would have been happy to eat at the counter, but Olivia made us move everything to the table and sit down like civilized people.
“Charlie said you’re doing a major reno for a gym?”
Olivia nodded. “This could be huge for us. If we stay on budget.”
“And on schedule,” Charlie added. “And if we don’t send anyone to the hospital. You’d think gym people wouldn’t mind a little extra walking, but they keep trying to shortcut through the jobsite. Someone is going to fall into an empty pool, I know it.”
Olivia laughed. “There was this one guy yesterday who put on a hard hat and tried to blend in on his stroll through. Kinda hard to sell the construction-worker look when you’re also wearing a tank top, flip flops, and a towel around your waist. I told him this wasn’t a costume party, and he’d have to assemble the rest of the Village People and perform the YMCA for us if he ever came back.”
I laughed, and she stuck her finger out at me. “See? That is the correct response. The guy didn’t even get my joke. Uncultured swine.”
“It’s because they lose all their brain cells in the sauna.” Charlie shook his head. “That’s where they’re heading when they cut through our jobsite. The gym won’t let us close the sauna down during the reno.”
Charlie asked me about my work, and then when there was a lull in the conversation, Olivia put her hands together under her chin and studied me. “So, um, we have a question for you. Charlie’s too chicken to ask, so I will.”
“What kind of question?”
They exchanged a look.
“Like you need a favor?”
“No. It’s about the gala.” Olivia looked embarrassed. “Charlie says your dad was there with someone a little bit young, and maybe you and his date were, um, making eyes at each other from across the dance floor?” Seeing my raised eyebrow in response to her question, she added, “Whatever you say doesn’t leave this room. We were just…”
“Dying of curiosity and your speculation wasn’t getting you anywhere?”
“Sorry.” Olivia covered her mouth. “I’m so sorry.”
I stared them both down, letting them stew in their discomfort, since they totally deserved it.
Charlie looked embarrassed, but not enough to stop him from eating.
“You two are the worst gossips I’ve ever met. But I’m glad you asked, because this is not a big deal, at least not in the way you’re thinking. You’ve met Isaac, right? That was his sister, Grace. My dad is their godfather. He took a family friend along as his plus one. Not a date.”
“Oh.” Olivia reached over and smacked Charlie in the arm, making the bite of baked potato on the way to his mouth spill from his fork.
“Ow. How is this my fault?” he asked, rubbing his arm.
“It just is.”
I cleared my throat. “But yeah, I definitely have a thing for Grace. If things had worked out better, she’d be here tonight, but she’s not sure she’s sold on me yet, so I think she’s avoiding me.”
That earned me a shocked silence.
“You’re doing the chasing.” Charlie raised his eyebrows. “I love it. How can we help?”
“You can’t help.”
My phone, which I’d left on the counter, started ringing, and we all stared at it. “It’s not her,” I said, as both Charlie and Olivia jumped up to check.
“It’s her.” Olivia clapped her hands. “It’s totally her. It says Grace.”
Afraid she was just messing with me, I came over to see for myself, and then walked out of the room with my phone still ringing, amid boos from both Charlie and Olivia. Once I was in my room with the door closed, I answered it .
“Hi, Grace.”
“Hi. Do you have time to talk?”
“Of course.” I sat down on the edge of my bed and smoothed a hand over my comforter.
“I just wanted to tell you that tomorrow night is good for us, if you still want to grill hamburgers.”
“Yep, tomorrow night works.”
“Okay, good. Should we bring anything?”
“How about chips? And maybe a dessert?”
“Will do. We’ll make cookies after school tomorrow.”
It was the kind of exchange that easily could have happened over text, which meant either she was the one coming up with an excuse to call me, or there was something else she wasn’t saying.
“Grace, is everything okay?”
“Yeah, of course.”
I waited, and then I heard a soft sigh. “Okay, I called to apologize, but I’m really bad at it. My plan was to work my way around to it.”
“What do you have to apologize for?”
“Everything.”
“Everything, huh? Well, that narrows it down.”
She laughed. “You know why I’m apologizing.”
“Because you don’t return my text messages?”
“I am truly sorry about that. Rob called earlier this week, asking about dinner when he was in town. That’s where we were tonight. I froze you out this week so I wouldn’t have to think about you at the same time.”
“Ah.”
“But I didn’t tell you. I just… thought about me. About what I needed. Survival skills are not the same as people skills. I think I’m stuck in survival mode. And that’s not an excuse. I just thought you should know so you can call me out on it. You know, if we stay friends after this. ”
“We’re staying friends no matter what.” I smiled, so relieved to hear what was going on in her head. “I wish I could hold your hand right now.”
“Dean.” She said it on a sigh. “I’d love that. But maybe in a platonic, friends-holding-hands kind of way?”
“Is that the survivalist in you adding that caveat?”
“Yes.” Her answer came out grumpy. “But you also talk me into things that are totally inappropriate, so it’s partly your fault.”
“I’m loving this apology. I think we should continue it in person.”
She laughed. “Piper’s staying the night at Isaac and Carmen’s. I could stop by for a little bit.”
“I’d love that.” First, I’d need to kick some people out, but that wouldn’t be a problem. “How soon are you coming? I have some old friends who came for dinner, and I know they’d love to meet you before I tell them to get out. But only if you want to meet them.”
“You have guests over? You said you had time to talk. Did you ditch them when I called?”
“They’ll be fine. They’re probably finishing off my food as we speak.”
“You were still eating?”
She was dying at my appalling manners, and I loved every second of it. “Yes. I’m hiding out in my room, so feel free to tell me what you really want to do. They won’t know any different.”
“I’d love for you to stop hiding in your room and get back to them. Are you sure they’d want to say hello to some rando who stole you away in the middle of dinner?”
“They already saw your name on my phone. You’d be doing me a favor by saying hello. I’ll get fewer questions this way.”
“Then yes, I’d be happy to meet your friends, Dean. In person or on the phone.”
I opened my door and returned to the kitchen to see Charlie and Olivia had started dessert without me .
I muted myself for a second. “I’m going to let you guys say hello to Grace. She might be coming over. Don’t embarrass me.”
They looked offended that I would assume such a thing, and then proceeded to embarrass me as thoroughly as possible the second I put Grace on speaker. But they genuinely liked her, and vice versa, so I was calling it a win.