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Grandpa nodded. “The world’s a different place now.”
I rubbed my temples. “The Academy isn’t that progressive, Mara. And maybe neither am I. I kept thinking about Dax, and I don’t think I could take disappointing yet another guy.”
Her forehead creased, and she tilted her head to the side as she took my hands. “Honey, Dax left because he’s an asshole.”
“Exactly,” Grandpa agreed, raising his mug.
I snorted softly. “I’m sure that’s what the twenty-year-old he left me for thought too. You know, the one he chose over me.”
She shook her head. “He did you a favor, B. Are you seriously telling me you were happy with the way he ate spaghetti?”
Now I was confused. “What?”
“He slurped the noodles last time we were at La Belle. It was so disgusting. And I thought, my poor best friend has to listen to this for the rest of her life.”
Grandpa nodded. “Those things will drive you crazy after a decade or two. You know it took a bit to get over the way your grandma left her teabags laying around when she was done steeping her tea.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, you two worked it out, and Mara, I’m sure you’ll forgive spaghetti slurping for the guy you love someday.”
“Of course not. The guy I love will be suave, debonair, rich, have neck tattoos, and probably a pierced tongue.”
I made a side-eye at my grandpa, who was blushing and hiding his face behind his coffee cup. “I know Dax wasn’t right for me,” I said. “There were a lot of things I looked past, but Grandpa and Grandma are the only people I’ve ever seen in love like they are in your novels. My parents only slept in the same bed so the maids wouldn’t gossip about them. My brother’s at work all the time even though his wife is amazing. I thought what Dax and I had wasn’t that bad.”
“Not that bad?” She let out a sigh and faced Grandpa. “What’s your advice then? What are we doing wrong?”
Grandpa finished sipping from his cup. “You’re looking,” he said. “Love isn’t something you can find. It finds you, and usually when you least expect it.”
Betsy came back, crowding our table with plates full of food before walking away. As we ate, the subject changed to the restaurant, to work, and eventually to goodbye. I needed to get to work, and Mara had writing to do.
Grandpa Chester gave Mara a hug, then held me tight. “You might not see it, Bird, but you deserve the best. Someone who would actually let you bring Ralphie home. Someone who loves you for you.”
I smiled, thinking of Cohen and how he’d admired me the night before. “Thanks, Grandpa. I’ll come back soon, okay?”
He waved. “Don’t be a stranger.”
Mara and I went to her car, and I buckled into the passenger seat, feeling much better than when I’d walked into the restaurant. I was still disappointed about how the night before had gone. I’d gotten in my own way with all that overthinking.
“What?” Mara asked as she drove toward the school. “What aren’t you telling me?”
I shook my head and relayed the entire embarrassing night to her.
“Okay, that’s definitely going in a book.” She laughed. “And when is the not-date?”
“It’s not happening.”
“What?!” She leaned forward and turned toward me. “You’re kidding! This was like the best foreplay ever.”
“Oh my gosh, can we pause with the sex talk?” I said, blushing. “It’s not going to happen because he never got my number. And he wouldn’t call me even if he had it. He probably felt sorry for me.”
Mara pulled into the school parking lot, putting the truck in park. “Ifeel sorry for you. Missing out on a silver fox like that.”
I lifted a corner of my lips as I reached for the door. “Me too. I went to his house, and all I got was this stupid shirt.”
14
Cohen
The next day, I picked Ollie up after school and took him to Waldo’s Diner for milkshakes. It had been way too long since we’d had a chance to just sit and talk. I wanted to see how he felt about me dating. It was one thing for his mother to get remarried—which she had, a year after the divorce—but it was another for me to start dating when he spent five days out of the week with me.