Page 32 of The Disasters of Dating (Love Connections #6)

POPPY

You know there’s just one person who can help you figure out what to do next.

You might not be quite sure where to find them or even how to broach the subject, but you’ll figure it out.

Put that intuition of yours to work and figure out where to look.

Give them a call, send a message, or simply show up at their door.

You need them, and maybe you can return the favor.

Paisleigh stands at the foot of my bed, looking at her reflection in the mirror. “I don’t get it. You look so cute in this. But I just look…frumpy.”

I smile. “Frumpy? I hardly think that.”

She shakes her head. “No. This is genuine frump.” She heads over to my closet and rummages through the hangers. “What about this? Would this look better on me?” It’s a skirt my Grandma Alice sent to me.

I look at it. “You can take that one. I’ve only worn it once, and I don’t plan to wear it again.”

She frowns at me and then looks back at the skirt. “Why did you buy it if you hate it so much?”

“I didn’t buy it. My grandma bought it for me to get me to conform to what she thinks I should look like.”

She holds it away from her, like it might bite. “Grandma Alice?”

I nod .

She gives it the stare down. “I liked it before I knew she gave it to you.”

“You should try it on. I think it will look cute on you. And someone may as well get some use out of it. I’m sure it was expensive.”

She continues to frown at it. “But I’ll feel disloyal to you if I wear it. Like I’m agreeing with Grandma Alice. And I don’t ever want to agree with her.”

I smile. Paisleigh has only met Grandma Alice once. At my dad’s funeral. And let’s just say my grandma made an impression. Not a good one but an impression nonetheless. “You aren’t being disloyal unless you say you think I would look cute in it.”

She looks at me over the hanger and grimaces.

“You would look cute in it. But only because you look cute in everything. You have that kind of body shape.” She says the last part with a slight grumble in her voice.

Paisleigh is not fat. But she has always been bigger than she wanted.

As a dancer, she is crazy muscular and strong.

But she doesn’t always see those muscles as good.

And don’t even get me started on her flexibility.

I might have the smaller body shape—thanks to genetics—but that doesn’t mean I’m more toned or strong.

Because I’m not. Pais could take me in a fight any day of the week and twice on Saturdays.

“Well, it doesn’t matter because I have no intention of wearing it. It just takes up closet space.” I move over and start pulling other clothes out and throwing them on the bed. “Here, you can have all these.”

“Are these all from Grandma Alice?” Paisleigh picks up the hangers and looks through the clothes, checking the tags. “When and why did she buy you all these? They cost a lot of money.”

“Yeah, it’s part of her plan to buy my love and make me indebted to her.

” I scowl at the offending bribes. “Whenever we have a family gathering, she sends me something so that I’ll look ‘presentable’.

” I hold up a light pink dress. It is a cross-front wrap-around in a soft silk.

It is the closest thing to something I’d actually wear that she has ever bought me.

But still, it’s not quite me. And I’ll admit, there might be some principle that also holds me back.

“She sent this to entice me to come up for family pictures and the reunion.”

Paisleigh holds it up in front of her. “Oh, my heck. This is gorgeous.” She runs the shoulder across her cheek. “And feel how soft it is. I bet it feels fabulous on.”

I shrug. “Take it. I’ll never wear it, and the family pictures have already happened.” I look at my closet with pleasure. There is so much more space there now. “Take all of them. Whatever you don’t want, send to charity.”

Paisleigh holds several of the clothes up to her and looks in the mirror, tilting her head to one side.

It’s too bad she isn’t Grandma Alice’s granddaughter.

All the clothes will look great on her. She has the olive-toned coloring that apparently my grandma thinks I have—which I don’t.

Her hair is a lighter color than mine, which pairs well with her pale green eyes.

“Are you sure you don’t want to keep some of these?

Won’t Grandma Alice expect you to wear them when you see her? ”

I snort. “That would mean we actually have to see each other. I’m not going to Alaska.

And she sure as heck isn’t coming to Utah.

” I shrug and drape a crystal beaded necklace of amethyst and lapis lazuli around her neck.

“So, someone may as well get some use out of them before they are completely out of style. This necklace looks good with this shirt.”

Paisleigh looks over her shoulder. “Are you giving me the beads, too?”

I give her a shocked look. “Uhh, no. You can borrow them, or if you like them…” I give her an appraising look. She doesn’t usually want to borrow my crystal jewelry. Granted, she has had me make her a few things, so maybe I’m projecting right now. “I can make you your own.”

Paisleigh squints at her reflection. “Will you let me buy the beads this time?”

I stare into the mirror. Is that why she turns down most of my jewelry offers? Because I won’t let her pay me for them? “If that makes you feel better. But it isn’t necessary.”

She glances back at me. “But if you use your beads to make me something, you can’t use them to make something to sell in your Etsy shop. I know you need that money for school. So I hate to take inventory away from you.”

I sigh, but then sidle up beside her and sling my arm around her shoulders. “If I couldn’t afford to do it, I wouldn’t.”

She snorts. “You’re such a liar. You would give it to me for free, even if it meant you had to eat Ramen for the next month.”

I raise a brow at her. “Okay, maybe I would. But it’s because I love you. You’re my bestie. My ride or die.”

“Speaking of ride or die…” She looks back at her reflection. “How was your hike?” She asks, and I know it’s probably been killing her to wait this long before asking.

“It was good,” I say .

Her eyes widen. “Poppy Alice Ashcombe, don’t you purposely be vague with me! You just said I was your ride or die. That means you don’t keep date details a secret!”

I laugh and hold up my hands in front of me. “Okay. Sorry.” I put the necklace on my desk, making a mental note to make one for Pais. “It was good. We went to Silver Lake and then hiked over to Lake Solitude. We talked a lot and held hands.”

Paisleigh stills. “You like him, huh?”

I shrug. “I don’t know.” I bite my bottom lip. “I mean, he’s sweet and kind. And I like spending time with him.”

She tilts her head. “The hike was that good?”

I grimace. “The hike…La Vie En Fromage and Spoons for ice cream. And…”

“And?” she asks.

“And then I asked him to go to the U football game with me on Thursday night.” I grin and look up at her from beneath my lashes. “I do like spending time with him. And he’s rather aesthetically aggressive.”

Paisleigh’s eyes widen. “How aggressive?”

“Chris Pine aggressive.”

She gives me a little shove. “Shut up. Why have you been hiding this from me?”

“I haven’t been hiding it. I just don’t know if it’s going to go anywhere. Why get everyone in my life involved if it’s a fling?”

Her head tilts to the side. “Why wouldn’t it go anywhere? Doesn’t he seem interested? Is he a player?”

I’m not sure how to explain it. Paisleigh will wave it away if I say something feels off.

“I think he’s interested,” I sigh. “It’s a me thing. I need to figure a few things out, you know?”

Paisleigh looks at me. “I know it’s not my place to say, but I think you’re afraid of commitment.”

“What?” My mouth drops open. “How can you say that? I’m one of the most open people I know. I’m completely open to whatever the universe puts in front of me.”

She raises a brow. “I think you use the universe as an excuse more than being open to it. If anything goes wrong, you claim it’s the universe telling you not to move forward.

” She looks at me with her beyond-her-years stare.

“Sometimes, things go wrong, Pops, and it has nothing to do with the universe. It just happens.”

I’m not sure how to respond. Could the universe not have been steering me away from Keaton at our first dinner?

“I am too open. The universe told me not to see Keaton again, but I still have. Four times last week.” I look away from her.

“Which reminds me…can we maybe push our movie night back to Thursday?”

Paisleigh slowly straightens and stares at me. “Suurrre.” She stretches the word out. “What’s up?”

I lift a shoulder. “Well, I may have a date on Wednesday, but I won’t know until later this week. But I don’t want to tie up your week. So if we reschedule for Thursday, it will be our last carefree evening before school starts.”

“So, you have plans with him this week?” She pushes the clothes to the side and plunks down on my bed, pulling her legs up underneath her as she grabs a pillow and hugs it to her. “I’m proud of you. You’re not pushing him off, even though you’re not sure about things. Good for you.”

“We’re going for ice cream on Monday night.

And then to a laser show at the planetarium on Tuesday.

” I sit on the other side of the bed and lean back against the headboard, hugging Randy the Raccoon—the huge stuffed animal my dad won me at the Welcome Back Carnival just before he died—to my chest. “I don’t know if it’s the right thing to do.

I don’t want to string him along, but I also don’t want to end things yet. ”

“When do I get to meet him?”

I raise my brow. “Maybe never.”

She frowns. “If he’s Chris Pine aesthetically aggressive, I need to at least meet him.”

“But do you?”

“Me thinks she doth protest too much,” Paisleigh says. “I’m doubting his aggressiveness.”

I roll my eyes. “Using what you learned in that Shakespeare class, I see.” But I relent. “Okay, fine. Let me see what the plan is when I see him tonight.”

“You’re seeing him tonight?”

I bite my bottom lip and nod. “He flies into Salt Lake pretty much every Sunday night and then leaves on Thursday. He stops by the shop every time he comes in or leaves.” I rub at the worn spot on Randy’s paw that has soothed me for more than a decade.

“Yeah, I definitely think he’s interested, Pops.” She twitches her lips to the side.

A knock sounds at my bedroom door, and my mom pops her head in. “Everything okay in here, Soda? ”

I smack Pais in the arm and give her a look. “Yep. Just cleaning out my closet.”

“Hey, Paisleigh. How are you doing?” My mom asks as she leans against the door frame. I guess she’s planning to stay for a while?

“Good, Mrs. Ashcombe. How are you?”

A look flashes across my mom’s face, but I have no idea what it means. If I didn’t know better, I’d say it was guilt. I raise a brow. I’ve seen that look before. And whereas last time I didn’t think she had anything to be guilty about, now I’m not so sure.

“Hey, Mom. You’ll never guess who I ran into at the store the other day.

” This is how much we haven’t seen each other lately.

I haven’t even been able to mention Margo Conway to her yet.

I mean, we aren’t even eating dinner together.

Hasn’t she seen the statistics about eating dinner together as a family?

Does she not even care if I turn to drugs or gangs?

That’s what eating together is supposed to help combat.

And I’ve never seen an age limit on it, so I’m not buying the excuse that I’m too old.

Is anyone ever too old to turn to drugs or gang life?

“Who did you see?” she asks.

“Margo Conway.” I give her a take-that look.

Her lips purse ever so slightly, and she blinks several times before looking confused. “Margo Conway? Wow. I haven’t talked to her in years.”

My mouth drops open. What the actual crap? Is she trying to make me think I’m going crazy? “You said you saw her the other day and were doing a food drive with her.”

My mom looks like she’s thinking, but then shakes her head. “No, I don’t think I said that. Maybe you misunderstood.”

Me misunderstanding, really? That’s what she’s going with?

“I don’t?—”

“Poppy, sweetheart, I think you hijacked the conversation I started with Paisleigh.” She gives me her mom look. The one that says she’s patiently trying to correct my bad behavior rather than punish it.

I squint at her, trying to detect any lies. Because if the last month is any indication, there will be at least one in this conversation.

I shake my head. I don’t like feeling this way about my mom. I shouldn’t be suspicious of everything she says. Why can’t she be honest with me?

I nearly slap my forehead. Wait a minute. I don’t have to wait for the lie. She already lied...about seeing Mrs. Conway and about me misunderstanding.

“How’s your family, Paisleigh? Isn’t your sister-in-law due to have her baby pretty soon? I think it’s so interesting that Ben and Brody are going to have their second kid at almost the same time.”

I lean back against my headboard and cross my arms over my chest, blocking out the baby conversation. It’s not like Brody and Ben were best friends. They had been friends in elementary school but had drifted apart during high school—as people are wont to do. People who aren’t Paisleigh and me.

“I know. Kind of funny, isn’t it?” Paisleigh says in an it’s-not-really-funny-but-I-don’t-know-what-else-to-say kind of way.

My mom glances over at the stack of clothes on my bed. “Oh, Poppy, are you going to start wearing the clothes Grandma Alice gave you? I’m sure that will tickle her.”

I shake my head. “There will be no tickling. I’m giving them to Paisleigh. They’ll look way better on her, and she actually likes them.”

My mom narrows her eyes, but then she seems to think better of a lecture. “Okay. I guess it’s better than them hanging in your closet until they’re out of style.”

I nod. “That’s exactly what I said.”

Paisleigh looks between the two of us. “I don’t need them if it’s going to be a problem.”

My mom shakes her head and smiles. “No, Paisleigh. It’s no problem, dear.

” She takes a step out into the hallway.

“Well, you girls have fun. I’m going to the church fundraising meeting, and I don’t think I’ll be back before you leave for work, Pops.

If I don’t see you, have a great day!” She turns and heads down the hallway before I have a chance to question her about the supposed church fundraiser…

I wish Keaton were in town and I could talk to him about this. I guess I could call him? I shake my head. He gets in tonight and I’ll see him tomorrow. Maybe we can talk about it while we wait for ice cream.