Dolly All the Time(54)

When I step away, all eyes are on us. Gladys might be amused by the PDA, Victoria is intrigued. We’ve outdone ourselves today, looking like people who care about one another, who would drop anything to be there. Gus has questions, I can tell.

On the drive home, he talks a mile a minute about hitting the rock and Clay getting him out of the water. Stewart found him in the shade with one of the counselors and went back to move his car so Gus wouldn’t have to cross the parking lot.

“He’s a very nice man,” I say.

“We talked about sailing,” Gus says. “He says it’s best to learn on a small boat, just for one person.”

“That makes sense,” I say.

“And he said he could teach me. At the yacht club.”

I look at him. “Would you like that?” I don’t see where sailing is going to be a big part of his future, but it’s good to learn new things.

“Yes,” he says.

“Okay, then, I’ll text him about it.”

“I can,” he says. “He gave me his number.”

“Oh,” I say.

When we pull in to our driveway, I open my door but Gus doesn’t open his. “Is it still just a pretend thing for his image or whatever?”

I turn to him and take in his totally open expression. I am his only parent; I am his main person. And I do not lie to Gus. “We are pretending to be a couple, yes. But it’s been nice getting to know him and seeing that he’s the kind of person who would stop his workday to go rescue my kid.”

“So you like him.”

I smile. “I like him very much, actually. But it’s not like that. Like, I don’t like him, like him.” I feel my cheeks go hot when I say it.

“You do!” he says.

We both laugh and it breaks the tension. “Okay, what’s not to like, right? But he’s Stewart Whitfield, heir to all that.”

“And you’re Dolly Brick, heir to all this,” he says. We look up at the tarped house just as Christopher walks out onto the porch in his underwear.

“Are you saying he’s too good for you?” Gus asks. “Because I don’t think you’d say anyone was too good for me.” He smiles at me in a gotcha kind of way and gets out of the car. How strange it would be to want all the things I want for him for myself.





Chapter 22





Busy wants to have lunch with Stewart and me at the yacht club on Saturday. It’s an opportunity to be seen on a day she hopes some of Audrey’s friends might be there, and an opportunity to wear my yellow pants. She texts Stewart and me together to schedule it and names the chat Operation Payback. Stewart replies: Stop it. Dolly, I’ll pick you up at noon

I decide to meet Stewart at the yacht club because Naomi insists I stop by her store first so she can see what the tailor did to my pants. I strike a pose in the doorway in the giant black sunglasses Busy had messengered over.

“Damn,” she says from behind the cash register. “I have never seen a more extroverted pair of pants.”

“I love all the clothes,” I say. “But what I love about this outfit in particular is it feels like an actual costume. I am in no way Dolly Brick when I’m wearing it.”

“Ah, just the distance you need,” she says.

She’s going somewhere with this. And it’s not somewhere I want to go. I lean in and whisper, “It was one kiss.” Her eyebrows shoot up. “A series of significant kisses, fine. But there’s no way, and if you were in on those kisses, you’d back down too. They are not safe.”

“Of course, because you’re the Motel 6.”

“How dare you? I’m the Comfort Inn. We have a lobby.”

My phone pings and it’s the Bad Teachers.

Kim: Naomi is telling us there’s a guy and you kissed him. Are you holding out on us?

I never should have introduced them. It was one night, New Year’s Eve ten years ago, and since then they’ve been colluding about my birthday plans and my love life. I thrust my phone at Naomi. “You didn’t. You signed an NDA.”

She shrugs. “I did, but I didn’t say who it was. I just feel like I need a little backup here. You’re letting this slip away, and I think you really like him.”

“Of course I like him,” I whisper-shout. “Anyone would. It’s like asking all the people at the Louvre why they’re not taking the Mona Lisa home to hang in their bathrooms. They’d like to, they think it’s pretty. But it’s not theirs to take.”

Naomi laughs. “Okay, he’s a priceless masterpiece now.”

I text the Bad Teachers: She’s being ridiculous. There was a man. I kissed him. We’re friends. It’s nothing, promise

Layla: If you’re holding out on us, we can make you talk. We’re the only people keeping Fern alive and we don’t even love her that much

Kim: I don’t love her at all

Me: You two are ruthless. He’s just a guy, not for me. More soon

I walk through the club entrance, into the big lobby and to the double doors that open to the dining room. I’m nervous to see Stewart. My mind is stuck ruminating over not just the taste of him but the sound of his voice when he said, “We’ve got this.” I stand there for a bit, listening to the din of conversation and letting my eyes graze the tops of freshly blown-out hairdos. As I do, Stewart stands and makes his way to me.