Chapter Twenty-One
Ali watched JT’s face, worrying that she’d said way too much.
Something about being away from home in a giant store made her feel like she didn’t have to hold back.
She wasn’t going to run into any of her students here, or their parents or, even worse, her own parents. No one knew her and that was freeing.
But JT wore an unreadable expression, and it made Ali worry she’d shared too much for people who were friends and kind of more than friends. She looked around for a way to change the subject. She found it in the next faux room.
“Okay, who is the person who lives here?”
“No one lives here, Ali, it’s a store.”
Ali shoved her playfully. “I know that, but looking at the way it’s decorated, who would you imagine living here?”
JT flopped down on the couch and put her feet on the ottoman. The room was painted a deep blue-gray. It had the vibe of a cozy mahogany-walled office or library. “A professor or a lawyer. Someone serious who watches PBS mysteries and documentaries and talks about nonfiction at dinner parties.”
Ali blinked. “That’s very specific.”
JT laughed. “You don’t get that vibe? It’s Ikea but it also feels like somebody who reads two hundred books every year and is like ‘oh I don’t own a TV’ would live here.”
Ali chuckled. “Okay, so if I tell you I like it you’re going to think I’m an insufferably pretentious person?”
“Oh my god, was this a trap? You showed me a room you love and then waited for me to say something offensive? Rude. If this is what you love, I think it’s great. And you are kind of a professional nerd. Your job is knowledge, so…”
Ali plopped onto the couch next to her. “My job is molding young minds, or something. But I do like this room. It’s so cozy.
If it had a couple of comfy chairs instead of a couch, I could curl up with a book and a heavy blanket and read until I fell asleep.
I think I could take some epic naps in a room like this. ”
JT scanned the room. “Okay, I can see that. But your room preference makes it clear you are way smarter than I am. But I share your love for a good nap.”
Ali rested her head on JT’s shoulder for a second before tugging JT to the next room. “Okay, what about this one?”
JT looked at the room with a wall of bookshelves and a desk. There was a lamp that curved overhead like a flower stem bending toward the sun. The walls were a pale gray. “It’s fine. I don’t know. What do you think? You’re the one with a house to furnish, not me.”
Ali thought about it for a minute. “I need a desk for my office but I don’t know that I like that one.
It’s a little bland.” She reached for the chair.
“I like the way this looks, though. It’s kind of mid-century modern.
” She sat in it. “Oh, no.” She popped up.
“It looks great, but I couldn’t sit in that for more than ten minutes.
The person who lives in this room cares more about how things look than how they function, and that is not for me. ”
JT tried the chair. “Hmm, I see what you mean. It doesn’t have a great butt feel.”
“A what?” Ali asked through a laugh.
“Butt feel. You know, they talk about wines having like a nice mouth feel. This does not have a good butt feel.” JT looked so serious Ali laughed harder. How did she not know how funny she was? But then JT cracked a smile. Oh, she knew exactly what she was doing.
“I think you just like saying ‘butt feel.’”
JT shrugged. “Maybe. But I’m not wrong. That chair is just off. Do you want to go try some more and see if we can find one to suit your butt?”
“Yeah, but I need a snack. I’m starting to get crabby.”
JT pumped her fist. “Yes! I was already hungry, but I didn’t want to stop whatever momentum we had. Cinnamon rolls, here we come!” She walked ahead of Ali and then turned back so she could face her. “Are you a meatball person? Do you get the salmon? Or are you strictly a breakfast person?”
Ali shook her head. “Watch out!” She grabbed JT’s arm before she crashed into an older woman who was perusing the linens.
“Excuse me, sorry,” JT said, looking embarrassed.
Ali tucked her arm into JT’s and dragged her to the center of the aisle. “You almost killed that lady. I’ll have to keep a tight hold on you, I guess, so you don’t run over any small children.”
“That’s fine with me. You can drag me anywhere you want.” Her eyes met Ali’s and Ali felt a jolt of electricity from JT’s cocky smile. “I’m all yours,” JT said in a lower voice.
Ali took a breath. “Okay, you big flirt. To answer your question from before you almost bulldozed that woman, I’m all about breakfast food. I could eat it at any point in the day. It’s the best meal. Although I also really love soup and that’s not a breakfast food.”
They sat at a table that JT insisted on wiping down before they ate. Ali found it sweet that JT found some napkins and wiped the crumbs and smeared icing off the table before pulling Ali’s chair out for her.
“Thank you.”
JT handed Ali a plate with a cinnamon bun on it and a cup of coffee. “I can’t vouch for the coffee, but I know the rolls are amazing.”
Ali tapped her cup to JT’s. “Cheers.” The cinnamon roll was enormous, and she got icing on her cheeks when she took a bite. But it was so good, sweet and full of sugar and cinnamon, and oh lord, Ali could eat about a thousand of them.
“This is my favorite thing about Christmas,” JT said, staring lovingly at the cinnamon roll in her hands.
“Ikea?”
“No. I love that everything is cinnamon. Cinnamon rolls and coffee cake, cinnamon swirl bread and apple crisp. Half of every meal has something made with it. And I love it. More than anything, it’s the thing I associate with the holidays.”
Ali stared at her plate. “Probably the only thing I miss about Christmas with Kyle is his mom’s cinnamon rolls. I don’t know what Deb put in those things, but they were incredible.” Ali smiled at JT. “But don’t tell my mom that either.”
“What’s your mom’s problem anyway?”
Ali smiled bitterly. “I’m not sure I know. For a while I thought it was her being disappointed by my failure of a marriage, but Christmas day was so weird it makes me wonder if there’s something else going on. But who knows what it is.”
“I’m sorry, that must suck.” JT sat quietly for a moment, taking a bit of her food. “Maybe seeing you all settled into your place, with furniture and everything will make it clear to her that you’re happy on your own.”
Ali bit the inside of her lip. God, she hoped that would do the trick.
JT misunderstood her expression. “I mean, if you are happy. If you’re not…”
Ali shook her head. “I’m definitely happy to be on my own.
I know this town and my mom can’t understand that, but I really am.
But if having my house together is what it’s going to take to convince her, we better get our asses back to picking stuff out.
The faster my house is finished, the faster she’ll be off my back. ”
They wandered through the store, jotting down notes on what items they needed to grab from the warehouse before checking out. It was a good thing they had the van, because they absolutely packed it with bookcases, side tables, a new dresser for Ali’s room and her guest room, and one cozy chair.
“I’m sorry, I know you wanted a couch, but I don’t think we can fit one in today.”
Ali shrugged it off. “It’s fine. This is going to keep me plenty busy. But once we get the books and stuff put on shelves, we can finally clear out so many of those boxes. Then maybe it will be time for a couch or two.”
“I don’t know if I mentioned it, but I’m really good at putting all this stuff together. I’m happy to help assemble everything and get it into the right places in your house. You know, if you want.”
Ali laughed and gave JT a hug. “I don’t know where you got the idea that I was considering doing this on my own. You are the biggest part of my plan. If that’s still okay.”
“I’m a master with an Allen wrench. Just you wait.”
Ali climbed into the passenger seat, trying not to think of all the other ways JT might be good with her hands. The trip was fun and flirty, and Ali liked the idea of setting up a house with JT a little bit too much.
Not that she wanted to have a house with JT—it was just that she liked having someone to do it with. She was fine on her own, she really was. It was only that some things were meant for teamwork. Carrying heavy flat-packed furniture was one of those things.
And if Ali wanted to spend a lot more time with JT, she could pretend it was so she wasn’t alone putting all those bookcases together. Sure, that was it.