Page 42 of Anatomy of a Meet Cute
“Not quite. At this rate, I think Duesa would make me do it without you, and that wouldn’t be any fun.” Grant laughed and shook his head. “I’ve been thinking about places that might work for your mom’s party. And I’ve got a couple in mind. If you want to go check them out, I think we both have next Thursday off.”
The wordgreatwas on the tip of Sam’s tongue when Jehan’s voice giving her a hard time echoed in her head. Given the unexpected energy that had passed between them, Sam couldn’t help but feel that her friend might have had a point. Perhaps Grant was going out of his way for her? She shouldn’t inconvenience him when he was already helping her with the program. “I think that—”
“We could also get ice cream to celebrate.” Grant was halfway through his rush to fill the silence when he winced, slowed down, andadded, “Sorry. I’m from a family that talks over each other when we get excited. What were you going to say?”
Sam’s heart squeezed. She couldn’t bring herself to listen to Jehan. And really, what did her roommate know anyway? “Just that I think that sounds fun. And I love ice cream. And my family talks over each other too.”
“Oh ...” Grant gave Sam a shy smile as if he hadn’t expected the answer to be a straightforward yes, then remembered himself. Pulling his shoulders back, he said, “Well ... then I’ll pick you up on Thursday.”
“You know where I live.”
“That I do. See you around, Dr.Holbrook.” Although he used her formal title, his tone was soft.
“See you, Dr.Gao.” Sam felt heat rush into her cheeks. Giving him a small smile, she forced herself to walk down the hall without looking back, although she was almost sure that if she had, she would have caught him looking back too.
Sam dragged herself up the stairs behind Duke, who was happily babbling about the early results of his research on pregnancy post–cancer diagnosis. She had to appreciate how easily he shook off defeat, as if they hadn’t just lost a game to the SF Central Swishers, a team so bad that fourth graders could have beaten them.
“I promise, this time, I’ll be quick,” Duke said, as he unlocked the door and sauntered toward the shower like he’d never met the wordhurryin his life.
“Yeah, right,” Sam mumbled as her phone buzzed. When she looked down, a text from her brother popped up.
Heads up. Mom’s probably gonna call you in 20 minutes about sending the save the dates.
Sam winced as she walked into her room and dropped her gym bag on the floor. She really should have done this weeks ago, but she’d been so busy prepping for the interview and trying to get her research off the ground that it had slipped her mind. Now the activity that was supposed to help her fix things with her mom was making Diana more upset. Sighing down at the screen, she typed out,
Thanks for the warning. I’ll get on it.
I’m on the phone with her now. I’ll stall for you. Either send them now or put your phone in do not disturb.
Sam snickered at her brother’s joke.
I’ll do it now. Thanks for stalling. Love you!
Dropping onto her bed, Sam reached for her computer and tried to push her guilt aside. Sure, she was slow to send out her mom’s save-the-dates, but there was still plenty of time before the event, and at least now she could send Jehan’s and her mom’s at the same time.
Tossing her phone to the side, she pulled up the Glam Party Invites website and clicked over to Jehan’s save-the-dates. Pulling up her email, she downloaded the spreadsheet of guests’ addresses for her roommate’s party and dropped it on the desktop. Clicking back over to the invites, she uploaded the mailing info from the spreadsheet on her desktop as quickly as she could. Keeping one eye on her phone, she prayed she could at least tell the company to mail them before her mother called. Fishing around for her credit card, Sam absently clicked the various approvals while also scanning her work email for messages from Kaiya. Several are-you-sure-this-is-right clicks later, the save-the-dates were approved, and her mother still hadn’t called. Isaiah really was a peach of an older brother.
Bouncing out of her room, Sam checked to see if Duke was out of the shower—of course he was not—then spotted Jehan poking around the kitchen. Wandering over, she said, “Hey, just letting you know that I mailed out the save-the-dates. I’ll send a formal invitation in a couple of weeks once you and my mom have settled on venues.”
“You are the absolute best,” Jehan said, closing a mostly empty cupboard and bounding over to give Sam a hug.
“I wouldn’t go that far. Glam Party Invites is doing most of the work,” Sam said, laughing as her friend tried to squeeze the life out of her.
“You still did the hard part so I didn’t have to second-guess myself. Therefore both you and Glam Party are my heroes.” Releasing Sam, Jehan sniffed in her general direction. “Don’t get me wrong; I’m super grateful for your help. But you are damp, and you smell like a gym bag.”
“Well, I wouldn’t, if Duke would get out of the shower,” Sam called down the hallway right as Duke wrenched open the bathroom door and strolled back toward his room.
Without missing a beat, he chuckled and yelled back, “We’re running out of hot water. Shower fast.”
Chapter Twelve
Sam smoothed down the front of her bright-yellow dress and peeked out the window. The trick was to get out the front door without arousing any of Duke’s suspicions. It was just her luck that he’d asked why she wasn’t playing in tonight’s game while she was doing battle with an iron and a linen sundress. That man noticed details like no one’s business, and she was almost sure he hadn’t bought the excuse about wanting to wear something fun on a sunny day.
Okay, even she could admit that her excuse was a bit of a stretch. But what was she supposed to say?I want to look nice for a not-date with our senior fellow, who I may not hate as much as I thought I didseemed like a more detailed conversation than she wanted to have with either of her nosy roommates just now.
The shower shut off, and Sam’s eyes flitted to the bathroom door. Maybe she should just wait in her bedroom. Really, wouldn’t it look weird to—
She cut the thought off as Grant’s car pulled up in front of the apartment. Snatching her purse and sweater from the kitchen table, she bolted for the door, only stopping long enough to yell, “Headed out. See you later!”
