Page 29 of Pierced Pages
Kim shook her head. “The books have to have some kind of sapphic relationship with a main character, but they don’t have to be romance genre books.”
Danielle mentally browsed her to-be-read list, trying to land on something she’d been dying to read. This would be the perfect opportunity to finally get to some of those. And having company to do that with would be nice.
Her phone rang on the cushion beside her. When she flipped it over, she couldn’t believe the name on the screen.
“You can take that in the bedroom if you want,” Melanie offered.
Kim, who stood over Danielle and most likely couldn’t help but see the caller’s name, made a soft noise of acknowledgment. “You should definitely answer that.”
Danielle answered the phone right where she was, deciding that answering in the bedroom was far too intimate an action. Even if just in her head. The fluttering in her chest confirmed that was the right choice.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Danielle. It’s Morgan. I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
The sound of that rich, high-energy tenor set Danielle’s heart fluttering. She tried and failed to contain its excitement at hearing the owner of that voice. Danielle hadn’t expected to hear from her again until closer to the wedding. Although the clock was winding down to that.
“No,” she said. “I’m actually at your cousin’s house.”
“Tell Kim hi from me.”
Danielle looked up at Kim and said, “Morgan says, Hi.”
Kim frowned and gestured with her hands for Danielle to get back to her call.
“Kim says hi back.”
“I won’t keep you long,” Morgan said. “I just didn’t want to text this. Felt like it needed some explanation.”
“Is it about the wedding?”
Danielle’s stomach sank with the realization that she could be uninviting her. Not in a bad way. Just in a situation’s changed kind of way. Or her best friend could go with her after all.
Or she found a real date to go with instead.
“Sort of,” Morgan said. “Actually, yes. It is.” There was a long stretch of silence before Morgan finally spoke again. “Do you have plans tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow?” Danielle reflexively glanced out the window. Lila was in the middle of the yard, holding a treat in one handand a raised palm in the other as she worked with Prince on his stay command from a lying position. Azalea bushes created a colorful backdrop as their early-season fuchsia blooms dotted the branches. “Just picking up Lila from a sleepover and catching up on grading. Why?”
Danielle’s insides twisted as she imagined all the reasons Morgan could be asking that question. And something tied to the wedding at that. Danielle hoped it wasn’t some pre-wedding family event. She wasn’t sure whether she could handle that. Handling Morgan’s family, yes, but also handling being so close to Morgan in a smaller situation. The intimacy level would be higher, and Danielle wasn’t sure she could keep her heart in check through that.
“Well, I was wondering if you’d let me take you shopping.”
“Shopping?” Danielle looked around the room at Melanie and Kim, who both looked as confused as she felt. “I already went shopping this morning.”
She always did her weekly grocery run early on Saturday or Sunday mornings. It was much less crowded then, and getting them early in the day meant she had more time to meal prep her lunches for the week.
“No, sorry. I didn’t mean house stuff.” An awkward silence stretched through her explanation once again. “I wanted to take you clothes shopping. For the wedding. An outfit, I mean.”
The words were clipped and hurried, revealing an energetic chaos in her speech.
“You want to take me wedding-outfit shopping,” she repeated as much to keep Melanie and Kim in the loop as to convince herself she’d heard correctly. “That’s thoughtful, but I’m sure I have something to wear.”
“She doesn’t!” Kim shouted loud enough to be heard through the phone before crossing her arms and giving Danielle a smug grin.
Melanie slapped her arm gently.
“What?” Kim said, giving her wife an innocent-looking smile. “I was going to suggest she come to the boutique, but this is way better.”
