Page 19 of Gracefully Yours

She raised an eyebrow. “That?”

“You know…” I winced. “Dating.” Ever since the wedding, the idea of it just sounded unappealing.

“I’m pretty sure for the last five years since I’ve met you, all you’ve talked about is how you want to find the right person. What happened?”

“Maybe it’s just not going to happen for me. The fairytale. Findingthe one.And that’s okay.”

That was the truth, after all. Nothing had happened. I just couldn’t keep going on all of those first dates anymore, trying to ignore the nauseous feeling in my gut.

Maybe I wanted it too badly, and that was why it hadn’t happened to me. So I’d sworn off dating for a while. I figured maybe if I stopped looking for the right guy, he’d show up. It was all I’d wanted for the longest time—someone to love me.

“I think someone’s here to see you,” Juily murmured, and when I looked up, through the little glass window in the wooden door, there he was.

The man I’d been avoiding for the last month. My best friend of nine years. Daniel Bradford.

A lot of things had changed in the last five years since graduating college, but there was one constant in all of it—him. He’d been my best friend since my freshman year. I had Noelle and the girls, too, but it was different between us.

But despite how perfect our meet-cute was, it wasn’t the beginning of my happily ever after. It wasn’t the romance story of the ages. In nine years, we’d only ever been best friends. Except for that one small moment where I thought everything might have changed, the one time where I asked him to kiss me—my first kiss—nothing had ever gone further. Until this summer, that was…

A mistake I was still trying to forget.

He knocked on the door, swinging it wide open.

“What are you doing here?” I said, unable to stop my surprise. When was the last time he visited me at the studio like this?

“It’s your birthday,” he said as a way of greeting. Like that explained everything. Like it explained the suit he was wearing or the flowers in his arms.

“I thought we weren’t celebrating until tomorrow?” I frowned. “Your sister made a reservation at some fancy Italian place.”

Daniel nodded. “Weare celebrating tomorrow. With all our friends. But I thought maybe you’d like to get dinner tonight.” He tugged at the collar of his shirt. “With me. Um. Just the two of us.”

“Oh.” I looked down at my leotard and tights. “I didn’t bring anything to change into…”

I had planned on going home, sitting on the couch with a tub of cookie dough ice cream, and pretending like I wasn’t turning twenty-seven years old.

Was spending the evening with him a better option? In some ways, it felt like it was more dangerous.

“We can swing by your place on the way.”

I grabbed my bag and water bottle off the floor next to me, moving to stand next to Daniel.

“These are for you. You know.” He looked shy, which was something I hadn’t seen from him in years. “I know they’re your favorite.”

“Okay.” I gave one last look to Juily, who gave me a small smirk before flipping out the studio lights behind us. I hadn’t told her what happened last month, but I suspected she had an inkling. She always had some weird sense about that kind of thing. “Lead the way, then.”

I followed him out to the parking lot, to his gray Tesla, and slid inside the car. It always smelled like him, with a faint air of apples and spicy musk. Relaxing into the seat, I inhaled deeply, and then let out a sigh of relief.

“You okay?” He looked over at me, and I knew he’d caught me smelling his car—him.

I bobbed my head. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

He pinned me with a look that saidyou know exactly what I’m talking about.The reason we’d gone from hanging out multiple times a week to me almost going radio-silent. We’d seen each other a few times, and when Angelina and Gabbi had been in the hospital last week, he’d picked me up so we could visit, but everything was… different.

He nudged me with his elbow. “You know why.”

“Oh.” I picked at the seam on my leggings. “It’s fine.” It was, wasn’t it? “We’re gonna be fine, right?”

He gave me a nod, and then thankfully, he dropped it, and even though I didn’t live too far away from the studio, I spent the rest of the drive deep in thought.

---