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I heard her come home late the next afternoon. She and Wren had been at the pool. I didn’t want to ambush her as soon as she came upstairs, so I gave her time to shower and change clothes. Then I knocked on her bedroom door.

“It’s me,” I said.

“Oh. Okay. Gimme a sec.”

I grinned at the bumps and scrapes and sounds of drawers opening and closing. I imagined her hiding underwear and dirty laundry.

She finally yanked open the door. She took one look at me and frowned.

“What’s so funny?”

“You. You’re like my little sister when a guy comes over.”

Her eyes narrowed.

“You know,” I added conversationally, “it’d be a lot easier if you just clean up as you go.”

“Why? ’Cause that’s the way you do it?”

I held up my hands in surrender. “Hey, I’m just saying. Personally, I think

it’s cute you’re—”

“A slob?”

“I was going to say ‘mess.’” I smiled to take the edge off it. “I really do think it’s cute, though. It makes you interesting. I wouldn’t know how to treat you if you were a neat freak.”

“You mean like you?”

I shrugged. “I like things in order. It’s my logical mind.”

“And I like chaos.”

“Maybe that’s why you’re more creative than I am.”

That stopped her next comeback.

“Anyway,” I said into the silence, “I didn’t come to argue. I came to apologize.”

“For what?”

“For being an insensitive jerk. Last night.”

“You weren’t,” she lied.

“Yes, I was. And I enjoyed our date. Maybe it wasn’t romantic, but still.”

“I didn’t think it was a date.” Another fib.

“Okay, well… if it wasn’t, then maybe we can have one tonight.”

Her lips curved in a smile before she could stop it.

“You know,” I said, “you’re really bad at hiding your emotions.”

“And you’re an expert?”

“See? Like now. You’re annoyed.”

Her nostrils flared.

“But that’s okay. I annoy lots of people. Just ask the women I’ve dated.”

“It’d take a year,” she said faux-sweetly. “There are so many.”

“Fair enough. No one right now, though. Maybe that’s why I’m annoying you. Have to keep in practice, I guess.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. No. Maybe. I dunno.” I shrugged. “I just know that I’d like to learn figure drawing tonight, if that’s okay. If we don’t call it a date, maybe I won’t screw it up.”

“I don’t know whether to be furious with you, or…”

“Or what?” I said at last.

“I don’t know. But some thing. Not good, either.”

“Then tell you what,” I said. “Let’s try tonight and see how it goes. If I’m a jerk again, I’ll help you figure out how you feel about me. We’ll start with furious and go downhill from there.”

“Are you making fun of me again?”

“Yeah, but only a little. I’m mostly making fun of myself.”

“Why?”

“It’s easier that way, when I say what you’re thinking. Then I don’t get my feelings hurt.”

“Feelings…?”

“Mmm hmm. I have ’em too. So I don’t like it when I step on other people’s.”

“I don’t have feelings. I mean, I do, but not for you.” She grimaced in annoyance. “Why can’t I ever think straight around you!”

I chuckled. “I know the feeling. So… how about tonight? Do we have a not-date?” I made a show of thinking about it. “Should that be ‘not have a date’? But if it’s a date, how can you not have it? I’m not saying it’s a date, but I’m saying we should have it. A not-date, that is.”

She looked away and tried to hide a smile.

“Don’t worry if you’re confused,” I added. “I think I confused myself.

I’m not sure if we’re having a not-date or not having a date. Or both. Maybe neither?”

Her smile turned into a stifled laugh.

“Let’s try this. I’ll be upstairs after dinner. If you’re not there, it’s a date.

If you’re there, it’s not a date. Will that work?”

“Get out,” she said at last. “Just… leave me alone. I can’t think when you talk nonsense.”

I grinned.

“I mean it.” She put her hand on my chest and shoved me bodily backward. She was a lot stronger than she looked.

“So it’s not a date?”

“Out! Leave! Stop talking!” She closed the door in my face.

I raised my voice and said, “Okay! I won’t see you later.” I was still smiling when I turned and caught a glimpse of Wren’s hair as she disappeared around her bedroom door. I stalked over and stuck my head in.

Don’t say a word.”

She looked smug.

“We’re just friends. That’s all. I don’t want a girlfriend.”

“Whatever you say.”

“You’re insufferable. You know that, right?”

“Especially when I get what I want.”

“You’re not going to get what you want.”

“That’s what you think.”

Chapter 6

Christy and I had our not-date. Or we didn’t have a date. Whichever.

I was reading in my studio when she poked her head around the door.

“Are you going to be serious?” she said.

“That depends. Are you going to be here?”

“Yes.”

“Then yes.”

She smiled and stepped into the room.

I set my book aside and gestured to the empty chair. “Wanna pick up where we left off last night?”

“Before or after you were a jerk?”

“Before, of course. Let’s forget about after.”

“All right.” She took a seat and opened her sketchbook.

I reached for mine.

“So,” she said, “we were talking about proportions…”

I could’ve sworn I heard Wren smile.

Christy and I spent the next two evenings together. I made huge progress drawing people, but that wasn’t saying much, since I’d started from scratch.

Still, by Thursday I could sketch a person that looked real enough, as long as I didn’t mind a generic, almost cartoonish face.

“Don’t worry, faces take forever to master,” Christy said. “And not just portraiture. Drawing them at different angles is really tough.”

“You do it.”

“Well, yes, but…”

“You even sculpt them. They look like people frozen in time.”

“That’s because I’ve done it for years.”

“You also have talent. Loads of it.” I gestured at my own feeble attempts.

“I’ll never be able to do what you do.”

“You do other things. Here, look.” She turned to a blank page in her sketchbook. She drew a rectangle topped by a squat triangle. Then she added a smaller rectangle with a curlicue of smoke coming out of it. “That’s how I draw a building.”

She reached over and flipped back a couple of pages in my book. She tapped a drawing of a Palladian façade.

“I watched you do that in five minutes. Five minutes! You were just doodling. Last night. I don’t even think you realized it. I was telling you about my brothers or something. Remember?”

I nodded.

“I’ll never be able to do that. Believe me, I’ve tried.”

My eyebrows twitched up.

“Mmm hmm. Wait here.” She unfolded herself from the chair and disappeared out the door. She returned a moment later with a different sketchbook. She opened it and sat on the arm of my chair. I put my arm around her bottom out of pure habit. She glanced at me but didn’t move.

“This is from last year,” she said instead, “when you were working on that Beaux-Art building. I drew those water nymphs for you. Remember?”

I nodded again.

“Anyway, I thought your buildings were beautiful, but they didn’t look that difficult. I mean, they were just a bunch of straight lines and some shading, right?” She turned pages until she found what she was looking for.