Page 54 of Pierced Pages
“A deal?” Morgan said.
Danielle gave an awkward smile. “A deal.”
“Great.” Morgan couldn’t put into words just how great the prospect of having Danielle there was. Rather, she didn’t want to gush out just how grateful she was and sound like an overenthusiastic mess. Instead, she stood from the table. “I’m for real gonna let you get some rest now.”
“And eat some soup.”
“I hope you like it.”
“I’m sure I will,” Danielle said.
Morgan pushed her chair in and headed to the door with Danielle following behind her. It took everything Morgan had not to turn around and press her lips to Danielle’s again. Messy bun and cold germs and all.
“I’ll pick you up here on Friday. I can text you a time in a couple days?”
Danielle smiled at her, and Morgan’s knees went weak. If she kept smiling at her like that, Morgan wasn’t sure she could survive the rest of this week without actually pressing her mouth against that smile. Her heart was already pounding out of her chest at the idea of Danielle sitting next to her through that awful dinner. So close she could reach out and wrap her arms around her in gratitude.
With a small nod, Danielle said, “Perfect.”
Chapter 24
Danielle
Arpeggios floated on the air from behind the practice room door in the back of the local music shop, while Danielle sat on one of the chairs in the acoustic guitar showcase room. It rarely received much customer traffic, and when it did, Danielle always ceded the space for however long they were in there.
The room had the added bonus of being quiet. Quiet enough to read their book club selection while Lila was in her piano lesson.
Danielle had the room to herself today and a few minutes left before Lila’s lesson finished. She turned the page to begin a new chapter, but couldn’t bring herself to start it.
This book was hitting a little too close to home.
The next chapter was a wedding. One of the main character’s brothers was marrying the best friend of the other main character. There was a lot of buildup to this point in the story, and this next chapter seemed like it was going to be a pivotal moment for the pair.
There was just enough similarity to Danielle’s own situation with Morgan to send her down a path she’d been trying not to obsess over.
Danielle closed the book and held it over her lap as she stared at the wall of acoustic guitars. She tried to think about the wood grain. The strings. The sounds they must make.
Anything but Morgan.
But it was futile. She’d been thinking about Morgan for the past two days. Ever since she visited while Danielle was sick.
Ever since Danielle had agreed to go to the rehearsal with Morgan.
But that wasn’t even the biggest surprise of that day. It had filled her heart watching Morgan with Lila. She couldn’t believe how much that moment had burrowed itself into her heart. And Lila seemed to enjoy the interaction, too. Almost as much as Morgan appeared to.
Another surprising point.
Morgan had made it clear she didn’t want a relationship, yet she’d shown up with soup and tutored Danielle’s daughter. All while seemingly happy to do so.
It was all so confusing.
No, it wasn’t. Morgan had been honest and upfront about her relationship stance. And she was just being kind on Sunday. Danielle was reading too much into the gestures.
But Morgan had invited her to the rehearsal and dinner. That had to meansomething. Didn’t it?
It sure meant something to Danielle. Whether she wanted it to or not. Her stomach had been doing backflips when Morgan asked. Well, when Danielle reminded her she’d asked. Another evening with Morgan was another evening before all of this disappeared. Once this wedding was over and Danielle was done helping Morgan out, there would be no reason for them to be together anymore.
Be together.
