Page 30 of It’s All in How You Fall
“Sunny and I?”
My nose automatically scrunches. “Yes. And please tell the truth. I can take it.”
Peregrine studies her hands. “You noticed we’d been out to dinner together before, didn’t you?”
“The extra kimchi and waitress name drop made it sort of obvious.”
It takes Peregrine a moment to answer. I wait, stuffing my hands under my thighs and putting all my weight on them until the hard rub of concrete gives me something to focus on besides my heart tossing shattered pieces into the abyss of my pre-dinner gut.
“We decided to go there the night you got hurt… and then we kept going.”
Then I realize I got hurt on a Friday. “Why not tonight?”
“Because we had dinner there yesterday.” Oh. Right. Maybe we should move our girls’ dinners to Friday nights. She pats my leg and focuses hard on the deep cerulean of the middle of the pool. “We need a destination for Saturday morning.”
I bite my lip. “Farmers’ market?”
I’ve gone by myself and have been trying to get Dad to go, and even if he hasn’t taken me up on that offer, it doesn’t mean it’s not something other people normally do on a summer Saturday morning.
Peregrine nods. “Oh yeah, that has legs. My parents go every week. Wouldn’t be weird to invite her along. Could beperfect.” Her voice has a conspiratorial tilt.
“So, how about I text Alex and see if he’s still up for a run? It’s not too far and we can take a water break in the middle at the market—there and back.”
Peregrine nods it out. “If we time it right it won’t be weird at all and will seem perfectly spontaneous.” She blinks at me. “A literal thirst trap.”
“Because water and Sunny and meet-cute—I get it.”
Out come our phones. We type our messages in tandem. Backup plans forming, depending on the answers.
Hey, run tomorrow morning? Farmers’ market and back before Coach Bev tortures you?
There are no immediate typing dots. By my clock, it’s 6:03, which likely means Alex has just completed his game with Nat and the boys and is probably being convinced to catch dinner somewhere.
“You aren’t telling him this is ameeting?” Peregrine asks, peeking over my shoulder.
“I’m already taking his time. I want to do something nice in return.”
Peregrine squints toward the middle of the pool. “Wait. Why not just let him do something nice?”
Why does no one get this?
My best friend makes it even more clear that she doesn’t understand. “Aren’t you sort of cheapening his generosity by forcibly repaying him?”
“Eye for an eye, Peregrine.”
“That’s literally not what that means, weirdo. Are you sure you don’t have the slightest, tiniest, maybe-so-deep-you-don’t-recognize-it crush on Alex?”
“I—” My phone vibrates with a text.
Sure thing. Seven okay?
Peregrine reads over my shoulder as I do the math in my head. “That’ll put you there before seven thirty. On a weekend. Yikes.” Does Sunny like to sleep in? I seriously have no idea even though I’ve known her for ten years. Ugh. “Alex has tennis lessons later in the morning. Probably needs to get back and fuel up beforehand. Plus we have to build in flirting time.”
Peregrine’s phone buzzes.Watermelon?Sunny sends an immediate follow-up with five watermelon emojis to emphasize how much she indeed likes the melon.
I snag the phone from Peregrine and start typing.Mom says they have some but it’s not really in season yet, so they’re only available early. Go when they open and grab coffee too?
Sunny’s answer is immediate.Let’s do it.
