Page 25 of Pierced Pages
“You’re doing an amazing job with that girl, and we’ve already discussed that I’m willing to help out however I can to get you more free time. I just want you to have some time for you.” She narrowed her eyes slightly. “But I still think there’s something else you’re not telling me about Saturday night.”
Rats. Gerri and her uncanny perception.
Danielle stalled by taking a bite of potato soup. It was delicious, and she mentally thanked herself, like she did every week, for prepping these Monday meals ahead of time. She was having trouble fully enjoying it while also trying to hide her secret plans.
But she couldn’t hide them forever. She’d at least need Gerri or Melanie’s help watching Lila, so she could go to this thing.
“Okay, so, it’s not a big deal,” she began. “But I might have agreed to go to Morgan’s sister’s wedding with her.”
Gerri’s eyes flew open wide as the fork clattered from her grasp onto the table. The other two teachers eyed them from across the room but went back to their own conversation once they realized everything was fine.
“What?” Gerri leaned in and whispered forcefully. “That’s definitely a big deal.”
Another teacher from the English department walked in to retrieve the Diet Coke with her name on it from the fridge. Danielle ate another bite of soup, then waved and smiled as the woman left.
“It’s not what you think.”
“Then tell me what it is,” Gerri said. “Because it sounds like you have a wedding date with a woman you have a crush on.”
“It’s not a date,” Danielle insisted. “And I don’t have a crush on her.” When Gerri gave her a sarcastic look, Danielle added, “Fine. I do. But we’re just friends.”
“So you’re going to a family wedding with a beautiful woman you barely know, but you’re just friends and it’s not a date. Is that what you’re trying to convince me of?”
Danielle had been trying to convince herself of that since Saturday night, and Gerri’s dose of Monday morning skepticism wasn’t helping that idea stick.
“We had a good time at Melanie’s thing, so she thought it would be fun to hang out again.”
“Assuming I buy this whole ‘not a date’ thing, why wouldn’t she take an actual date?”
Something pinched inside Danielle at the agreement that this was just a friendly outing. She didn’t want it to be a date. It couldn’t be a date. But hearing someone else say it stabbed at the tiny part of herself that wanted it to be something else.
“She has no more interest in dating someone than I do,” Danielle said. “So it makes more sense to bring a friend.”
Gerri chewed on more browned chicken and rice, taking her time with the bite as she pondered the information. “So why doesn’t she go by herself?”
Danielle struggled to find a way to say this. It was the part Gerri and later Melanie were going to have the biggest issue with. Heck, it was the part Danielle had the biggest issue with.
“Things with her family apparently aren’t great.”
Gerri chewed the last bite, then put her fork in the empty container and wiped nonexistent crumbs from her hands.
“Let me get this straight.”
Those were never good words to hear from Gerri. It usually meant she had it completely straight but wanted you to hear how terrible your logic was. Danielle wasn’t a fan of that phrase.
“She’s bringing you to a wedding to be surrounded by her crappy family members to either put you in the line of fire to take some heat off of her or to piss off some bigots.”
“She’s not putting me in the line of anything,” Danielle said. “She just wants some company while she deals with them, someone enjoyable and distracting, and we’ve already proved we make good company for each other at something like this.”
“Melanie’s recommitment celebration was nothing like how this sounds.” Gerri sighed. “There you were surrounded by love and acceptance. This wedding sounds like the opposite of that.”
Danielle glanced at the clock, and they both packed up their lunch gear.
“I know it sounds bad.” When Gerri gave her a disbelieving look, Danielle said, “I do. But she wants to be there for her sister, and I want to be there for her.”
They both stood and pushed their chairs in.
“You know this sounds like a relationship, right? That you want to be there for her?”
