Page 6 of Resorting to Romance

“Hey, Super Noah, what’s new today?” Chloe takes a seat next to Noah, showering him with her undivided attention, as usual. They are two peas in a pod, those two.

Noah fills Chloe in on his school day and the All-About-Me project, giving her way more details than he offered me when he got home. I serve up cookies on two plates, then I pour milk for each of them. They chat away, taking bites interspersed in their stream of words. I lean back on the counter, cherishing the sight of my son and one of his favorite people on earth, both of them far more confident and outgoing than I am by nature.

“Hey, think I could grab a minute with your mom while you put away your backpack?” Chloe asks Noah after they’ve each devoured two cookies apiece.

“Sure, Aunt Chloe.” Noah pops off the barstool and grabs his bag without another word.

“So …” Chloe turns to me. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t it be?”

“No reason. At all. Really. Just … checking on you.”

“I’m fine. We have a new couple here today. Two more guests coming in whenever the late ferry lands. Areyouokay?”

“I’m great. I just wanted to make sure. I’m glad you’re good.”

“You are acting weird. Even for you.”

Chloe laughs. “Yeah. I am. Don’t mind me. I’ll just put these dishes in the washer and get to work. Oh! And what are you doing tomorrow night?”

“Probably the usual. Serving dinner here, putting Noah to bed. Grabbing my Kindle and a cup of tea and curling up with a romance novel.”

“Sounds good. Only, could you change your plans if I wanted to … let’s say … have a girls’ night?”

“A girls’ night?”

“Yeah. You know? A night where friends get together without guys and hang out together. Maybe watch a movie. Go dancing. Eat out. Something to break the monotony. What do you say? I think Alana’s back in town. We could invite her and Harry.”

Harry, as in Harriet, another friend I’ve known my whole life. She’s a painter and she lives a few blocks over.

“Who will watch Noah?”

“One of your fairy godmothers. You know they will. Let me see if Jasmin can cover the front desk so you can get away for a few hours.”

“I can talk to Jasmin. Don’t worry.”

“Okay. So, we’re set. Girls’ night. Saturday.”

Chloe makes a little squealing sound and bounces on her toes. It’s a little over the top, and out of character. Something’s off with her today. I just can’t tell what.

“You sure you’re okay?” I double check.

“Yeah. Yeah. Just … you know. Thinking about how life can change. And how things that aren’t what you may have been expecting can happen. And if that’s ever the case, I’m glad we have one another.”

“Spill it.”

“Spill what?” Chloe avoids my eyes, which means for sure she’s hiding something.

“Whatever is changing that I’m going to need you to help me get through.”

“Um. Nothing is changing for sure. It’s just a rumor. So, let’s … just forget I said anything.”

“Which will be easy to do, since you haven’t said anything. But you are going to say something. You can’t just come in here all, ‘Are you okay?’ and then turn around and start cleaning rooms as if you didn’t just set the stage for some mystery. I’ll go bonkers. I mean, my mind will run the gamut from something amazing to something catastrophic. Like, what if Brad were coming back?”

I chuckle. The thought is preposterous, but my brainwouldgo there. No doubt.

“So spill.”

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