Page 44 of Love Is…?

A horrified look fell onto Grace’s face. “Tessa! No! I can’t. She’s my mum and that would feel so uncomfortable. I need this to be from my heart and it’s you who’s helping but you’re not my parent. It’s different.” Then Grace slid a sly look at Tessa. “I mean, this poem is about new love. New, well, infatuation. Like a crush, I guess. Yes, a crush. I’m letting him know what I think about him. That I like him, but I’ve never felt this before. You have.”

“I have?”

“You’re thirty. Sure you have. I mean, with women, I’m guessing, but a crush is a crush, right?”

Tessa froze. Apparently, sometime in the last month, she’d outed herself. Grace rolled her eyes.

“You’re queer.”

“Yes.”

“So.” Grace leaned forward. “You’re writing a poem to your crush. What does it feel like to you? What would you write to Jayde?”

Tessa inhaled, then coughed on her own saliva. “What?” she croaked. “I don’t have a crush on Jayde.”

Grace gave Tessa a long look. “My theatre studies teacher would fail you for that performance.”

Tessa narrowed her eyes. “Let’s get on with wooing Michael, shall we?”

“Okay.” Grace turned to her laptop, then spoke to the screen. “You think about her, and get all flustered.”

“Jayde doesn’t occupy a single neuron in my mind. Let’s worry about Michael.” Tessa tapped the desktop and Grace grinned.

“Maybe not a single neuron, but definitely four-thousand of them. All in the ventral tegmental bit.” She tapped her head. “Here.” Then she laughed at Tessa’s scowl.

“I don’t know why I even signed on for this job,” Tessa muttered, which produced another laugh.

“You signed on so you could hang out with me while Mum and Sam work stupid hours.” Grace splayed her fingers, pointing to each one as she listed her reasons. “Because it’s impossible to clone Tom, my schedule is a bit crazy, and you have a thing for the journalist who is at our house more than necessary.”

“I don’t have?—”

Grace stared, then blinked slowly. Tessa held out for as long as she could, then she sighed elaborately.

“I have a thing for Jayde.”

Grace beamed, wriggled the mouse, and enlarged the blank document. “That wasn’t too hard."

“Shut up.”

Chapter

Eleven

It wasstrange to feel nervous. It was just Tessa, and this was just fun, and just dinner, and just a silly challenge. It wasjustTessa. Jayde stared at her wonky reflection in the silver doors inside the lift. She’d told Tessa to dress casually but here she was, doubting whether she looked good enough. Surely black jeans, a white collared shirt, and black sneakers would suffice. Coupled with her leather jacket that she’d bought impulsively at the markets last year because it was so soft that she could cuddle up to it and have a reasonably long nap.

Tessa’s apartment was directly in front of the lift, which didn’t give Jayde’s nerves any time to procreate. She knocked on the door and it was immediately opened by a woman who was maybe forty, about Jayde’s height, dressed in ripped jeans and a shirt proclaiming that Janelle Monáe was always welcome. The choppy ends of her blonde hair shot out in all directions and a caterpillar of circular earrings climbed up the outside of each ear. She stuck out her hand.

“Hi there. You’re Jayde. I’m Angel, and I really hope you’ve heard about me because I’ve heardallabout you and information exchanges should balance, don’t you think?” She grinned, and pushed the door open so Jayde could enter.

Tessa’s voice drifted from the lounge area. “Hi. I’m sorry about my cousin. I’m still looking for her filter, but I think it got eaten by next door’s cat.”

Jayde turned, and breathed through the ‘O’ made by her lips.Wow. Tessa’s idea of casual was skinny jeans—dark with white stitching—black boots, a fitted white long-sleeve shirt with a V-neck and all three buttons at the top undone. The neckline featured tiny lace stitching which Jayde immediately wanted to run her fingers over. Tessa also wore the same earring clip that she’d worn on Sunday night. Jayde’s hum of appreciation was supposed to be inaudible, but apparently Tessa possessed supersonic hearing because a pink flush drifted up her neck.

However, it didn’t stop Tessa’s gaze travelling up and down Jayde’s body. It was an assessing gaze and Jayde reckoned she’d scored highly because Tessa’s blush didn’t abate.

Jayde realised she hadn’t said a single word since arriving at the apartment.

“You look terrific.”

---