Chapter 16 #2
“It’s the foodie in me.” Gretchen laughed, leading the way. “Come on, I’ll show the rest of the art I’ve collected for the space.” She looked back as she walked to the back. “I was thinking of a gallery wall above the paneling.”
“Love that idea,” Dahlia said, following her past the swinging kitchen door.
Gretchen stopped mid-route and turned around. “Hey, listen, I appreciate you doing this. I know you have a full plate.”
“It’s no problem. I enjoy coming over here.”
Gretchen stared at her with big eyes. They were slightly darker than Noah’s but still beautiful. “Noah likes you, you know.”
Dahlia drew in a breath, not sure where this was going. “Well, the feeling is mutual.”
“He told me about your parents. I’m sorry. That must have been awful.” Gretchen’s blue orbs softened.
“It was. I had to grow up fast. Too fast.” Dahlia shrugged.
“I know a thing or two about that. I practically raised Noah with the help of my stepdad. If not for him, we’d have been in foster care, split apart.” There was a tick in her jaw.
Dahlia reached for her hand. “It all worked out the way it was supposed to.”
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?” Gretchen’s voice cracked.
“Isn’t that the truth?” Dahlia replied, wanting to share more, but stopped herself. She didn’t like withholding parts of herself, but she didn’t have much of a choice.
“Listen, I don’t want to scare you. And I know this may seem out of the blue, but I like you, and more importantly, I like you for my brother.”
Dahlia leaned closer, making eye contact, feeling hope glide across her chest. Gretchen’s approval was everything. And she was essentially giving it to Dahlia on a silver platter.
“But his ex, Josie, is crazy.”
And then her stomach dropped off a three-hundred-foot roller coaster. “How crazy? Like, fist fight crazy?”
“As in jealous, evil crazy. She didn’t want my brother, but she also doesn’t want anyone else to have him either.”
“How …?” Dahlia tilted her head. “What? Did something happen?”
“What didn’t happen? After the dust settled from the meme, people came out of the woodwork to support him.
Girls were leaving comments, sliding into his DMs faster than you could blink, and Josie couldn’t handle it.
” Her eyes narrowed with an inward gaze.
“I don’t know if she wanted him back or if she was just that nuts, but she threatened some of them. ”
Dahlia looked like a deer in headlights. She didn’t know what to say, but asked the question that was now at the forefront of her mind. “Should I be worried?”
“I honestly don’t know.” She shook her head.
“But I have to think she’s over it at this point.
All this happened in February when it finally aired.
Plus, she was called a bully all over social media, so she toned it down a bit after that.
And you’re in luck, because she cares about what people think of her.
Oh, and she may have roughed someone up once in a bar when she was drunk. ”
“How do you know all this? Noah?”
“Yeah, partly, but one of the girls she threatened was my ex.” She tsked. “She was just checking in on him, leaving comments on his photos, that sort of thing.”
“Wow, yeah. That’s cuckoo.” Dahlia smiled, while simultaneously wondering what she had gotten herself into. She was just glad he was no longer part of the show, at least for this summer. The chances she would run into this girl were virtually nonexistent. At least there was that.
“I felt it was only fair to warn you. Noah’s friends are planning a big birthday bash for him in the Hamptons tomorrow night, and she’ll probably be there. He wants to bring you.”
Dahlia’s gulp was audible. Was she even ready for this?
Did she need boxing gloves? “He does?” She bit the inside of her lip, not sure how she felt about all of it.
She’d never been on the other end of that kind of crazy before.
Spence’s sister was catty, difficult, and extremely passive-aggressive.
Dahlia became skilled at handling her and knowing when to let things go, but she was never involved in an altercation with anyone.
The face-to-face conflict wasn’t her style.
“He asked me to go too. I’m just not sure I can make it with all this.” Gretchen waved over the mess. “I still have so much to do before the opening.”
“I know that feeling all too well.” She had so much to do to get Lil’s house ready to go on the market. And time was slipping through her fingers like sand. Dahlia’s thoughts briefly drifted to the email she’d received from the gallery. Her palms suddenly felt clammy.
“I hope I didn’t overstep.” Gretchen winced, handing her some sage. “Burn this in the house. It will ward off negative energy.”
“Oh, thanks. I need all the help I can get at this point.” She laughed lightheartedly, even though her insides were clearly in turmoil.
“And no, I’m glad you warned me.” That’s what friends did.
This was what she wanted deep down. This felt like a subtle nudge to stay, even if for a little while longer.
“The art! Right.” Gretchen shook her head. “It’s in the office. No judging, it’s mayhem back here.”
“I would never. This is a judgment-free zone.” Dahlia followed her lead. What was she doing? She didn’t have time for any of this—yet here she was.