“You okay?”
Quinn jumped. Arti hovered in her doorway. “Never better. What’s up?”
Arti folded her arms. “I was standing there for like five minutes and not only did you not notice me, you didn’t even move.”
She chuckled. “Daydreaming. You caught me.”
“Something good I hope.”
“Yes, but not work related.” She didn’t want to be asked what brilliance she’d come up with when the entirety of her thoughts involved kissing Amanda.
Arti shifted, lifting both hands defensively. “Hey, I’m not judging. Just checking on you.”
When she and Lesedi broke up, Arti was beyond understanding of Quinn’s sad and distracted state. She hadn’t dropped the ball on anything, but also hadn’t brought her A-game for months. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t ever let that happen again. “All good. Promise.”
“Things with Amanda?”
“Yeah.” She’d talked with Arti about seeing Amanda before their first official date. It was a gray area, working with clients on contract. But since the design work was complete and the remaining work consultative, Arti agreed it wouldn’t be a conflict of interest. Well, agreed might be an understatement. There might have been a bit of cheering over Quinn finally wanting to go on a date.
Arti came the rest of the way into her office and plopped in the chair across from her. “Do I get to ask about it?”
The questions made Quinn oddly self-conscious. She and Arti were friends, for sure, but they still worked together. “There’s not much to tell, at least not yet. We went out once and have plans to go out again.”
“But you’ve already had dinner at her house. And you went antiquing.”
She flipped her hand back and forth. “Yes, but dinner was more apology than date. She felt bad about forgetting our appointment.”
Arti shook her head. “She might have felt bad, but women don’t invite you over for dinner if they don’t like you. And they certainly don’t go antiquing.”
She hadn’t allowed herself to believe it at the time, but it didn’t seem so far-fetched now. “Either way, it set the stage for the real date so I’m not about to complain.”
“Of course, of course. But you still haven’t told me about the date itself.”
When push came to shove, Arti proved an easier audience than her sisters. Probably better to practice talking about it before swimming with the sharks.
“What’s wrong? I thought you said it was all good?”
Quinn smiled. “Sorry. I was thinking about the third degree I’m going to get from Kiera about this.”
Arti, who knew both of Quinn’s sisters, laughed. “See? I’m easy.”
“Easy is relative, my friend. All relative.”
Arti waited a beat, then said, “Easy but not letting you off the hook.”
If she asked for privacy, or hinted she genuinely didn’t want to talk about it, Arti would drop it without a second thought or another word. Somehow, that made it easier to confide. “I like her. Like, a lot. And I feel stupid because we’ve only gone on one date, but I swear there’s more chemistry with her than with all the women I’ve been fixed up with, combined.”
Arti offered a shrug and a knowing smile. “That’s the thing with chemistry.”
She seemed to mean it, rather than put it out there like so many throwaway phrases about the slings and arrows of dating. “What? What is the thing, exactly?”
“It’s a beast unto itself. There’s compatibility, how things look on paper. Don’t get me wrong, those things are important. But either there’s spark or there isn’t. Everything else in the universe be damned.”
Quinn didn’t find that reassuring. Quite the opposite, actually. She wanted there to be a certain science to it, a predictability. At the very least, she wanted some sort of insurance policy she wouldn’t finally screw up the courage to put herself out there, only to fall in love with someone she had absolutely nothing in common with.
“You don’t agree?”
“I don’t disagree.” Her date with Lisa had sort of proved it—being perfectly compatible on paper didn’t count for anything in the romance department.
“But? And don’t say there isn’t one. I can see your wheels turning.”
“It all feels a little, I don’t know”—she searched for the right word—“haphazard.”
Arti grinned. “That’s what makes it so magical.”
Quinn rolled her eyes. “Says the woman who’s been happily married for a dozen years.”
Arti let out a sigh and drummed her fingers on the arm of the chair. “Can I tell you something?”
A knot formed below her ribs. If Arti’s marriage was falling apart, she was seriously going to lose faith in love. “Oh, no. Is something wrong?”
“No. The opposite. But it’s not something everyone takes well.”
For the life of her, she had no idea where Arti was going. “Okay.”
“About four years ago, Marguerite and I decided to open our marriage.”
“You did?” Her voice squeaked with surprise and she wanted to kick herself. “Sorry. I mean, you did?”
Rather than looking offended, Arti laughed. “We did. We’d fallen into a rut and, as much as I didn’t want to talk about it, we did. And we decided we wanted to stay together but didn’t want to give up that excitement.”
She could appreciate that. “I give you credit for not ignoring that or, you know, having an affair.”
Arti offered a sympathetic smile. “Yeah.”
“So, you see other people?”
“Sort of. We did a lot of reading because we’re nerds.”
“Of course you did.” It was so Arti and completely endearing. And it wasn’t like she’d never heard of polyamory. She just didn’t know anyone personally who did it. Correction: she didn’t think she knew anyone who did it.
“Yeah, so anyway. We liked what we read and we gave it a try and it’s been awesome. A lot of work, and a whole lot of talking. But awesome.”
She loved that they were having a moment, but the fact that it needed to be a moment made her sad. “I’m happy for you. And sorry it’s not something you feel you can be open about.”
Arti waved her off. “Don’t apologize. It’s not very different from you not wanting to talk about your love life.”
Quinn laughed. “Touché.”
“Yeah, and don’t think I didn’t notice how you changed the subject. I still want your scoop.”
Unlike with her sisters, she really hadn’t been trying to change the subject. “This is way more interesting than anything I have going on.”
“You know, we should grab a drink sometime.”
It was a line they hadn’t crossed. Not the having a drink together part, but doing so as friends, with the clear intention of sharing and bonding. “I’d like that.”
Arti stood. “How about after your next date? Then hopefully we’ll both have something juicy to dish.”
She smiled. “Deal.”
“In the meantime, don’t overthink it. If there’s a spark, enjoy it.”
Was it really that simple? “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Arti turned to leave. She made it almost to the door before Quinn called her back. “Yeah?”
“You came in here for something and I don’t think we ever got to it.” The least she could do after being caught daydreaming was take care of whatever Arti wanted in the first place.
“Nah. I saw you staring into space and wanted to give you a hard time.”
Quinn chuckled. “I appreciate your honesty.”
“That’s what friends are for, right?”
She wasn’t sure how she’d gotten so lucky in the coworker department. Or the friend department, for that matter. “Agreed.”
* * *
Amanda drummed her fingers on the table. She didn’t need their permission, but she also didn’t like keeping secrets from her kids. Unlike Mel, this didn’t have the weird, terrible idea factor. Also unlike her fling with Mel, things with Quinn seemed like maybe they had the chance to go somewhere. If they did, she didn’t want Cal and Daniella feeling blindsided.
“I want to talk to you two about something.”
Daniella frowned. “What’s wrong?”
Cal looked at her with confusion. “How do you know something’s wrong?”
Poor Daniella. She’d inherited her mother’s propensity to worry. “Nothing is wrong.”
Cal seemed relieved, but Daniella wasn’t so readily appeased. “Okay. What is it, then?”
She took a deep breath. “I want to know how you’d feel if I was seeing someone.”
Daniella continued to frown. “Like, a girlfriend?”
“Well, she’s not going to get a boyfriend. Wait.” Cal turned to Amanda. “Do you want a boyfriend? Or have one? Because that would be fine.”
Amanda couldn’t help but chuckle. She’d raised her kids to be accepting of everyone. It was endearing to see the principle applied to her own preferences. “No boyfriend. Promise.”
“But a girlfriend.” Daniella looked more suspicious than worried.
“Maybe. I wouldn’t use that word yet, but I wanted to see how you’d feel about it.”
“You dated when we were younger, after the divorce,” Cal said.
It should make her feel better that her kids talked about the divorce so casually, but even now, it never failed to give a pang of regret. “Yes, but it was years ago, and nothing ever serious.”
“Is this serious?” Daniella asked.
Why did this conversation make her more uncomfortable than the sex talk? “Not yet.”
“But it might be.” Daniella nodded knowingly. “Are you sleeping together?”
“Daniella.” Cal looked at his sister in horror.
She glared at him. “Don’t be a prude.”
“I’m…” he hesitated, like the word didn’t compute, then settled on, “not.”
“You are being such a cis straight guy right now. Women of all ages and orientations have sexual desire and agency, Cal.” Even if Daniella didn’t like the idea, she couldn’t keep her feminist sensibilities from kicking in. It made Amanda smile.
Cal looked at Daniella as though she was speaking a language other than English. “What?”
He was more open-minded than the average eighteen-year-old boy, but even he had his limits. “Your sister is saying it’s cool for me to have a girlfriend, or a boyfriend should I decide I wanted to lean that way.”
“Exactly.” Daniella’s tone was smug.
Cal lifted his chin. “Or gender non-conforming friend should she want to date someone who exists outside the binary.”
Amanda bit her lip. Only her kids would turn the issue of her dating into a competition of who could be more progressive. “Does this mean you’re both comfortable with it?”
“When do we get to meet her?” Daniella asked instead of answering.
Cal frowned again. “Wait. Is there someone specific? Not just a hypothetical?”
Daniella sighed. “She said it wasn’t serious yet. That means there’s someone she might be getting serious with. Keep up.”
“Right. So, yeah, when do we get to meet her?” He shot Daniella a look. “Or them.”
She blew out a breath. Most days, she loved that her kids had the confidence and the intellect to go a mile a minute. Today, it left her dizzy. “We’ve only been on one date, so probably not for a bit.”
“But you like her, right? You wouldn’t be having this conversation with us if you didn’t like her.” Daniella folded her arms like she was the mother in this situation. Amanda hoped it was genuine interest and not just a need to be superior to her brother.
“Who is she?” Cal asked before Amanda had the chance to respond.
It felt strange to be sharing details about Quinn, but she’d started the conversation, after all. “It’s the architect I hired for the bakery project.”
“Ooh. Ooh.” Cal waved his hands back and forth. “She’s the one who was here. The one I said you should date.”
Daniella went back to frowning. “Should you be dating someone who works for you? Isn’t that sexual harassment?”
Cal tapped a finger on the island. “She’s not an employee. Besides, is it sexual harassment if both people are into it?”
“There’s a power dynamic. That’s what makes it harassment. Or against the rules at least.” Daniella looked to her for validation.
Amanda pinched the bridge of her nose. Why had she decided to do this again? “Technically, I paid her for a service. She’s not an employee.”
“Yeah, that.” Cal looked vindicated.
“I guess it’s okay.” Daniella conceded the point grudgingly.
“Again, we’ve only been on one date.” She didn’t like the defensive edge in her voice, but it was too late now. She cleared her throat. “Besides, her role in the renovation is almost done.”
Cal nodded, clearly appeased. “I think it’s cool.”
“Thank you.”
“You should get to have fun.” Daniella’s scowl didn’t match her words.
“And if it gets serious, you’ll let us meet her, right? I mean, I technically met her, but you know, spend time together.” Whether he didn’t pick up on Daniella’s reticence or didn’t care, Amanda couldn’t tell.
“If we get there, yes. Of course.”
Of the handful of people she dated after the divorce, she’d only ever introduced one to her kids. She and Bryonny had dated a couple of months before Amanda had brought her home. Shortly after, Bryonny made it clear she wanted to have kids of her own, which was fine for her but a deal breaker for Amanda. Cal and Daniella, barely teenagers at the time, liked her and took it hard when she stopped coming around. The ordeal marked the end of her forays into dating, not just her bringing a woman home to meet her children.
Cal and Daniella were older now. She wouldn’t ignore their feelings on the subject, but considering both of them would be out of the house in the next few months, their lives would hardly be impacted. Working through that in her mind reassured her she was doing the right thing. Which was good. Because whether it was Quinn or the whole fiasco with Mel, something in her had shifted. Well, maybe less of a shift and more the realization she was on the cusp of being an empty nester who had very little in the way of a life outside of the bakery.