Page 19 of Love Is…?

Grace, ensconced in the big lounge chair that Tessa loved because it was like being hugged by a giant swathe of fabric, stretched her long legs and flopped her heels onto the coffee table.

“Thanks for your excellent advice about that chapter inEmma,” Grace said.

Tessa struggled to recall exactly when she’d given such excellent advice and, in fact, what the excellent advice was.

She blinked at Grace. “Homework! Right. Yes, looking at that scene from Harriet’s point of view. Yep.” She was blathering, and Grace, a whip-smart human radar for blathering and bluster, allowed a slow smile to drift across her lips.

“Yes. That’s the advice you gave me.” The smile held. “Five minutes before Jayde arrived.” Grace seemed to be holding back laughter.

Tessa glared at her, which Grace flung back in the form of a shrug-eyebrow-lift combination laden with sass.

“Okay.” Grace untangled her body. “I’m off to put that excellent advice into practice.” Then she paused and studied Jayde. “Thanks, by the way.”

Jayde frowned. “What for?”

“For being cool. Some people like to.” She waggled her hand. “Infiltrate our family. You’re, like, protective, I guess. That’s nice for a journalist.”

“No worries, Grace. I’m not into infiltrating. Seems rude.” Jayde grinned.

Tessa laughed. “Besides, Jayde is probably not about to leak secrets. She’d have to deal with the wrath of three women in the family, because…” She lifted her fingers and air quoted, “women are more dangerous than shotguns.”

The other two stared.

“What?” Grace wrinkled her brow. Wrinkled her lips. In fact, her whole face wore a complex collection of confused lines.

“Oh! Um…” Tessa grimaced. “I was referencing…Never mind.”

Grace stood, and slowly grinned. “The Godfather, 1972, Francis Ford Coppola.” Then she pointed, and rolled her grin into a smirk.

Tessa gaped. “No. You can’t be that good. That’s completely unfair.”

Jayde laughed loudly, collapsing sideways into the back of the sofa.

“Too easy, Tessa.” Grace’s eyes sparkled. “Okay. Homework. Going.” After a quite affectionate smile at the adults, Grace strolled out of the room, and Jayde and Tessa stared at each other.

“I walked into that.”

“Oh, you sure did.” Jayde’s grin was firmly in place. “She’s a film kid. That door was wide open.”

Tessa shook her head. “I’m so glad she’s cool with my role. Can you imagine what she’d be like if she disliked her chaperone?”

“Probably incredibly polite like she was speaking to the paparazzi at a red carpet event.” Jayde shrugged, and Tessa laughed.

“Oh, I can see that. Ugh. Well, I can tell you, quite proudly, that in just under three weeks, I have not received one red carpet reaction.”

Jayde laughed.

Then Tessa pointed. “Anyway, how are you? How goes theLove Is…reconnaissance?

Jayde settled into the corner of the sofa. “It’s good. Abby’s easy to interview. I’ve got a plan in mind, and Tilde’s idea of breaking the profile into four parts to insert throughout the magazine, helps me structure it more easily. So, I’m thinking that part one will be about a love of place.” She bobbed her head sideways. “Like a love of where you are.”

Tessa nodded. “That sounds great. I understand that type of love. I have it for Melbourne. I loved living in Canada but I didn’tlovelove it, you know. There were things I missed, like the wonderfully eclectic food market at the Art Gallery. Things like that. Canada wasn’t my home.”

“Exactly. Abby says Melbourne is her home.”

“Yeah, she does say that. What are the other parts about?”

Jayde bobbed her head from side to side. “Well, I thought I’d centre the next section in love of family. Like her parents. Where her history is. Then part three will be about the love in her life, Grace, and Samantha, who I’m yet to meet, but Tom tells me that she’ll insist I call her Sam.”

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