Page 24 of Peppermint Bark

“Just for fun,” Kate shrugged.

“Talented artist, but won’t shame you for not knowing Renoir from Rembrandt. World’s strongest bullshit detector. Tits and ass for days.” As Mallory made curving motions with her hands, Kate stood to twerk into her shoulder. Mal smacked her butt and they both cracked up.

“My compliments to Cruz, your ass has never looked better.”

“I’ll pass along the praise,” Kate said with a mocking hat tip. “I never thought I'd hire a personal trainer, but his boot camp classes have the best playlists. He has a brown belt, so he incorporates martial arts stuff too, but it never feels uncomfortable even with Navy bros around.”

I considered Mariana’s search while snagging a dumpling with my chopsticks. “Would he teach a self-defense class?”

“Here at the studio?” Mallory asked, brows pinching in confusion.

“No, the domestic violence shelter needs an instructor,” I paused, biting my lip. “But we could offer one here too, for women who need it.”

“I can bring you to a class to find out if he’s interested,” Kate said. “The real decision is whether you want to join me at Motown Monday or Taylor Swift Tuesday.”

I consulted my phone calendar, wondering what the heck I was signing up for. “Um, Tuesday?”

Kate nodded in approval. “I didn’t take you for a Swiftie.”

"But it doesn't fit into our monthly membership," I said. "Could we make it pay what you want and donate the proceeds to the shelter?” My wheels turned about a new community partnership. We could also collect items for the shelter like toiletries and diapers. I made a mental note to include that in my email to the Rachel person Mariana mentioned.

“Absolutely. Can you interview him?”

“You want me to ask him?” I said, wishing Mallory would schmooze while I ran the background check and filed the employment paperwork.

“Why not? I'm swamped, and you’re the studio manager. Plus you convinced Alex to fly home, so I bet —”

“Alex came home? Way to bury the lede!” Kate exclaimed, her hand slamming on the table. “You sadist, you put poor Grace on Alex duty?”

Kate made a Sign of the Cross over my forehead in an exaggerated blessing and murmured, “Ave Maria, piena di grazia," before she leaned closer conspiratorially. “Is he still the hottest man alive?”

When I choked on my General Tso’s tofu, Kate smirked. “I’ll take that as a yes. Too bad he has to open his mouth and ruin it.”

She flipped to Mallory. “Is he still dating that redhead?”

Wait, Alex had a girlfriend?

“Victoria?” Mallory chewed her dumplings. “When I asked him, he said she had to stay behind to cover since they've got some big case or something. But who knows? He never tells me anything.”

My stomach churned at this glimpse of Alex’s personal life.

He kissed me two days ago. You shouldn’t kiss someone if you have a girlfriend.

Then again, it was barely a peck to amuse the kids, not a big deal.

But if the kiss wasn’t a big deal, he wouldn’t need to hide that he had a girlfriend.

If he had a girlfriend.

We spent hours talking today, wouldn’t it have come up if he had a girlfriend?

Not that I thought he told me everything …

And I hadn’t exactly spilled all my secrets to him, either.

“When he brought her to your parents’ anniversary party,” Kate said, completely unaware of my inner spiraling, “I thought they would have the world’s prettiest babies.”

“The prettiest, most arrogant babies.”

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