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But still.
She’s smiling, and he’s staring.
My stomach plummets.
It’s not even eleven on a Saturday! She’s usually asleep at this time. And she usually goes straight from bed to her noon Pilates class.
“Hey.” Lexi waves me over with a smile. “Working hard, as always.”
“Uh-huh.” I approach.
“How’s the hangover?” Lexi laughs. “Wow. That feels good to say. Amazing actually.”
Fern, the second oldest Beau grandchild, laughs. She has the same hearty laugh Ida does. And the same effortless elegance. She’s wearing a linen dress and wedge sandals, her dark hair cut short, her square face framed by her square sunglasses. “Hey, Deanna. It’s been forever.”
“I saw you running earlier—you looked hot in your jogging outfit,” North says. She’s a few years younger than Fern, in her late twenties, and she’s every bit as elegant as her sister. Only in that casual,I barely try to be this coolway. She’s in high-waisted shorts, a loose white tee, and seafoam Converse. “Do you really run every day?”
“Most days,” I say.
“She swims at the gym the other days,” Lexi says. “She makes me look like a slacker.”
“I throw myself a parade if I walk up the hill,” North says.
“Please. You go dancing for three hours straight, three times a week,” Fern says. “Did she tell you she’s competing now?”
“Only for fun,” North says.
“Fun makes it sound like she’s not talented, but she’s as good as one of the dancers on that show with the celebrities,” Fern says.
“Only in bachata,” North says.
“And tango,” Fern says. “What’s the other one? The new one?”
“Are you two going to let Deanna get a word in?” River asks.
They trade a very sisterly look.
As much as I want to stop and appreciate the bonding, I can’t. I have work.
“Are you heading out?” Fern asks. “That’s too bad. Grandma and I are going to the beach.”
“You, too?” I ask North.
“No. I’m exhausted,” she says. “I got up early to beat the traffic.”
“It’s Saturday,” Fern says.
“And I live in Los Angeles,” North says. “Where there’s traffic at all times.”
Fern nods sympathetically. “I don’t know how you stay here, Dee. This city is hopelessly uncool.”
“Not living next to Ida,” I say.
Lexi nods in agreement. “River and I are going, too.” She smiles at me.Look how well this is working. “Too bad you can’t join. Since you’re working.”
“No,” I blurt out.
Everyone looks at me like I’m nuts.
