Page 18 of Love Redesigned
Isaac looked up and met my gaze, a question in his eyes.
“Truly. It’s a good idea.”
He shrugged, noncommittally, but the lift of his eyebrows told me he was pleased to have my approval.
The rest of the evening was easier. Lighter. Oddly enough, Rizzo influenced the mood for good. For a brief moment, I almost forgot I was at a table with a brother I didn’t really get along withandmy ex-boyfriend. I didn’t even mind the stories Isaac told about growing up as a twin.
“So many stupid questions,” Isaac said. “Do you have the same thoughts? Do you have a secret language?”
“Are you identical?” I chimed in.
“Oh, that one always killed me,” Isaac said. “And then when we’d say no, people would come back with something like, ‘oh, yeah, I guess your eyes aren’t the same color.’ Right, right. Eye color is absolutely more definitive than gender.” He pressed his hands against his forehead. “I mean, seriously, people.”
“I’m intrigued by the idea of always having someone around like that,” Alex said. “I was mostly an only child, at least when I was in Charleston with my dad.”
“But you had your stepbrothers in New York,” I said.
“Who were genuinely awful at every turn.”
“That about sums up having siblings,” Isaac said.
Rizzo and I laughed, but Alex didn’t. He just sat there, his lips pressed into a tight line. From what he’d told me about his childhood in the past, and it wasn’t much, I didn’t think the awful he’d referenced was the same kind of awful Isaac and I had been to each other. We’d fought like only siblings could, but ultimately, we came from a loving family. Our parents taught us to respect each other, to love each other. We didn’t have to like the same things or have the same friends, but we had to have each other’s backs, no matter what. That’s what being a family was all about.
I only half-listened as Isaac started another story, my thoughts stuck on Alex and his relationship with Victor and Gabriel. Alicio’s sons both worked at LeFranc so I saw them around the office occasionally. Gabriel, I didn’t mind too much. He was the quieter brother, always polite and quick to say hello when he passed by, but Victor made me want to jump out of my skin. The way he looked at me. The way he spoke with entitled arrogance and contempt. Even worse, the way he looked at Sasha, who would soon be hisstepmother.
“I seriously thought I was going to have to throw a rock through the window to get their attention,” Isaac said, pulling me back to the present. He scraped up the few remaining crumbs on his dessert plate with the back of his fork. We’d already paid the bill, but Rizzo had ended up ordering a bottle of wine for the table and desserts all around. “There I was, trying to do the kind and decent thing by giving them a heads up,” Isaac continued, “and they don’t even look up. They keep going at it, hands and tongues going everywhere. So I keep banging, louder and louder, and they finally look up literally seconds before Dad walks in.”
“Wait, what are we talking about?” I asked.
Isaac laughed. “Prom night, junior year. When I saved your make-out session from a Dad-flavored interruption.”
I raised my hands to my cheeks. “Oh my word! I was seriously so grateful for you that night. But in my defense, we did have a movie on, and the volume was up pretty loud which is a really good reason why we didn’t hear you knocking the first time. Also, there was nogoingat anything. We were just kissing. And badly. Jeremy had braces and I was scared I was going to hurt myself.”
Isaac pulled out his phone and clicked a few times before handing the phone to Alex. “Did Dani ever tell you she made her own prom dress?”
Alex took the phone. “Really?”
“You do not have that picture on your phone.” I leaned over, trying to see whatever Alex was seeing.
“Of course I do,” Isaac said. “It was amazing.”
I looked at my brother. I would have expected him to be joking, but he looked genuinely sincere, like he actuallydidthink my badly made high school prom dress was amazing.
“You should have seen the things she made,” he continued. “Out of nothing, too. She could take the ugliest clothes and turn them into the most incredible stuff.” He met my eye across the table and grinned sheepishly before taking his phone back from Alex and passing it to Rizzo.
“Ah, high school,” Rizzo said, looking at the photo. “So you’re a designer?” He turned his attention to me. “You make clothes?”
My eyes reflexively darted to Alex before I forced them to the table. “Oh. Well, not yet. I work for a designer, but I’m still just a PA.”
“She could be though,” Isaac said. “She could go out on her own and be incredible.” He looked at me one more time. “You still could, you know. It’d be better than getting coffee for the stuffed pricks you work with now.” His gaze darted to Alex. “No offense, man.”
Alex nodded. “None taken.”
The whole conversation had stunned me into absolute silence. Isaac had a picture of my high school prom dress on his phone. And he thought the clothes I’d made in high school were amazing.Andhe thought I should be designing on my own? I mean, he’d always joked about it in high school, but only at the same time that he’d called me a wannabe and a sell-out for wanting to work in New York fashion. I’d always assumed his opinions were a result of his general anti-establishment view of the world.
But now he actually sounded like he thought I was good at what I did. Or, rather, what Iwantedto be doing. It was disconcerting, to say the least.
Moments later, Isaac brought the evening to a sudden halt. “Well, it’s been real, Dandi,” he said, “but I’ve got somewhere I need to be.”
