Page 37

I took a risk and video called her. It took a few seconds before she picked up.

Her face filled the screen and I stopped breathing for a second.

“Really?” she asked, looking annoyed. Her hair was on top of her head in a messy bun and she wore a loose T-shirt as she leaned against her couch.

“What? I wanted to get clarity on this whole Pilates situation.”

She scrunched her face up and glared at me. “There is no situation. I was just… Whatever. I don’t even know why I’m talking to you.”

“Because I helped you name your air fryer, Delaney,” I said, my tone serious. “Do you know how much time and effort I put into that?”

She rolled her eyes, but her cheeks were just the tiniest bit pink. “You didn’t have to,” she mumbled.

“No, but I had fun. I can name some other stuff in your apartment if you want. Maybe this is a whole new revenue stream for me. I bet I could get super rich people to pay me to name their stuff.” There was an idea if I ever needed some quick cash. Appliance namer to the stars?

“You’re such a weirdo,” Delaney said, but she was smiling.

“You’re the one who asked me to name your air fryer,” I sang.

“Oh my god, I’m not talking to you anymore,” she said, covering her face, but she was laughing. This was definitely better than just sharing messages back and forth.

“Hey, Delaney,” I said, purely for the pleasure of using her name. “I’ll see you at Pilates on Saturday.”

She huffed. “Fine.”

“Did you want to coordinate outfits? Just send me some options.”

“Bye, James,” she said and ended the call.

I couldn’t keep the smile off my face for the rest of the night.

Chapter Fifteen

Delaney

I hadno idea why I kept talking to James, but every time I told myself I was going to stop responding so she didn’t get the wrong idea, I kept writing back to her. And then I picked up on Friday night when she called me. There was absolutely no excuse for that behavior.

Her hair had been down and tucked behind her ears and her septum piercing was a little crooked. Not that I noticed. Her shoulders were visible as they peeked out from under her dark gray tank, and I didn’t notice those either.

I’d had to stop myself from staring at those shoulders and ended the call after she’d made me laugh a little too much in a way that had my stomach squirming.

The Pilates thing was…well, I guess I was trying to be nice. Or something. James had gotten to me this week and worn me down. As much as I tried to hold onto that grudge I had lovingly tended since before I hit puberty, she had chipped away at it with every new message and every joke and every glimpse of who she was now.

It was a challenge to reach down and search for that grudge. To remember the shape and size of it. By Friday night, I’d kind of given up. Guess I just wasn’t meant to be one of those lifelong grudge-havers. The kind of people who could rant for hours about someone who had done them wrong thirty or forty years before and still have just as much passion as the day the grudge was born.

Besides. There was someone else in my life who had done me more recent harm, and he just happened to be James’s brother. Maybe he’d used up all my grudge energy. Transferred it from one sibling to the other.

James sent me a picture on Saturday morning of a black sports bra and a dark blue pair of yoga pants laid out on a bed.

Cute? Or not cute?

Oh was she serious about the matching thing? I’d planned on wearing my new flowered bra and shorts set that I’d splurged on to make me feel better about the Connor situation.

It’s hard to tell when it’s not on a personI responded.

A few minutes later, I got a picture of her wearing the set and posing in front of a mirror, her head tilted to the side and her other hand holding up two fingers.

Isn’t this how the fitness girlies pose? Am I doing it right?