“Well, I hope you can have a little bit of fun too,” I said, before glancing back down at the Tuscan villa. “What are we bidding on tonight?”
“We are not bidding on anything, because we just started our own business and we need to make money, not spend it, and also we are not nearly as loaded as the rest of these rich uptown types,” Franny scoffed, complete with a full-on smile that sent my heart bouncing.
“But if we were bidding…” I leaned in, not letting it go. “Italy?”
She rested her lips on the edge of her glass of champagne. “Definitely Italy.” She thought for a moment. “I’ve always wanted to go, but now more than ever, you know?”
I nodded, and we stared at each other.
“I hope you get to go someday,” I said finally. “Well, um…I’ll let you get back to it.”
“Wait,” she said, her hand suddenly on my wrist. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh.” I wasn’t even sure where to begin. “Well, you know that woman I was seeing?”
“The pretty one who brought the tacos?” I wasn’t sure if it was my brain playing tricks on me, but I swore that there was a sharp edge to her voice when she said this.
I let out a laugh. “Yes, that one. She’s on one of the committees for the event.”
“Cool. I actually ran into her in Central Park the other day.” She nodded, a polite smile on her face. “Small world.”
“She also broke up with me the second I got here,” I said, leaning toward her with a smile, hands in my pockets.
“Shut up!” Franny’s arm flew to my chest this time, giving me a small shove. “Oh my god, who does that?”
“It’s not nearly as scandalous as it sounds,” I said with a small laugh. “It was completely mutual. But, yes, she ended things.”
And then I noticed: Her hand was still there on my chest. Almost instinctively, I reached up and covered it with my own, holding it there before my brain jolted awake. I realized what I was doing, and I dropped my arm back down to my side.
“Well, I’m sorry, even if it wasn’t that big of a deal.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest, then dropped them, then clasped her hands. “I dated this guy once who told me he didn’t want to be exclusive while we were—” Her eyes shifted to mine and then she blinked, recalibrating. “You know what, never mind.”
“What?” I asked. I liked how she did this, spilled too much info and then tried to backtrack. Her brain and her heart were always so wide-open, for everyone to see. I was dying to know what she was about to say.
She shook her head. “It’s TMI. And I’ve told you too much about myself already.”
“You mean the Saint Marks story?” I said, chuckling as I remembered everything she’d said that morning on the subway.
She gently smacked her forehead with her palm. “I had sincerely hoped you’d erased that from your memory.”
“Never,” I said. “Anyway, I’ll let you get back to your not bidding on things.”
But she didn’t move. Instead, we just stood there staring at each other.
I kept talking, unsure of what to do next. “And I’ll see you next week, right?”
Did I sound too hopeful? Too eager? I didn’t know how to juggle the feelings sizzling inside me, mixed with the need to hide them from her, lest she think me desperate, or boring. Or maybe she already thought those things. It was possible she didn’t enjoy my company at all. My brain was on fire.
But then she smiled.
“Definitely.”
Chapter Seventeen
Franny
I hustled as fast as I could in heels toward Cleo, to give her the details of my latest interaction with Hayes. I found her next to her brothers, Sam and Wes, identical twins, standing in a circle of partygoers on the edge of the dance floor. Sam kept his hair longer and slicked back, and Wes never went anywhere without his thick black glasses, so it was easy to tell them apart.
Cleo looked elegant and classic as always: Her hair was sleek and straight, and her dress, short-sleeved, tight, and navy, draped every curve of her body just so. She’d picked it because it was impossible to stain and she could wear her regular bra with it—in which she’d tucked a crystal to bring her calm throughout the night. Even in her stunning black-tie best, Cleo was both pragmatic and otherworldly, as always.
“There you are!” she said, wrapping an arm around my waist. Her brothers greeted me with sheepish college-boy waves.