At Your Most Beautiful by Harper Bliss (best free ereader .TXT) 📗

been setting up a second date with another woman for next Friday. For the first time since she’d moved to the city, Maya felt more like a woman in her prime, a woman who turned heads, a woman desired by others, than she felt like a grandmother.

As she and Beverly texted some flirty niceties back and forth—Beverly much more forward than Maya—Maya’s thoughts skipped back to her earlier text conversation with Quinn.

Did she have to tell Beverly about Quinn? Was there some sort of moral code of dating that she had to adhere to? She didn’t think so because she and Quinn weren’t going on an actual date. Or was she just fooling herself into thinking that? Maya guessed she would find out on Tuesday.

Chapter 20

The only reason Quinn had texted Maya on Sunday, long before she’d finished her project and thus before she had agreed with herself that she could, was that Morgan’s visit had frustrated her so much. Quinn had wanted to take her mind off Morgan and the easiest and quickest way to do so at the time had been by texting Maya.

Maya had been on her mind. Not only because Quinn had been working on her portrait non-stop, but because of what she stood for and, even more so, because of how she’d once made Quinn feel. Quinn surely wouldn’t mind feeling like that again, even though it seemed impossible with the cloud of Morgan hanging over her head.

When Maya had texted back and had agreed to go out with her—for drinks, not just coffee—Quinn had been slightly beside herself. She was meeting Maya at a swanky bar close to Acton Academy. Even though she’d had to travel all the way to the Upper East Side during rush hour, Quinn didn’t mind one bit.

When she arrived at the bar, Maya was already there. She was dressed in a navy pants suit that made her look more like a business woman than a dance teacher. She slipped off her tall chair and greeted Quinn with the warmest of smiles and a friendly kiss on the cheek.

“Thanks for meeting me.” Quinn sat opposite Maya. When she tried to look her in the eye, Quinn found it difficult, which puzzled her. She wasn’t usually one to look away.

“It’s my pleasure. That’s one reason I moved to New York: to go for after-work drinks with, uh… old and new friends.” She pushed the drinks menu in Quinn’s direction.

Quinn was happy to direct her attention to the menu. What was going on with her? If she’d known she would feel like this, she might not have pushed for meeting Maya. She could hardly focus on the drinks list. “What are you having?” The lack of confidence in her tone of voice was another unexpected worry.

“Guess.” Maya said.

Quinn looked up and her gaze stalled at the low opening of Maya’s white blouse, exposing more than just her neck. “I honestly have no idea.”

“Are you okay?” Maya sounded genuinely troubled. “You look a bit… I don’t know. Not like yourself, I guess.”

“I’ve had a weird couple of days.” A server came by to take their order.

When Maya asked for a manhattan, Quinn ordered the same, even though she liked her cocktails much fruitier.

“How silly is it of me to get a thrill out of ordering a manhattan in Manhattan?” Unlike Quinn, Maya sounded much more casual than the last time they’d seen each other. Maybe because the shock of being confronted with a very particular night in her past had worn off and she could now see Quinn as a possible friend—an old and new one at the same time.

“Utterly adorable is what it is.” Quinn’s trepidation was ebbing away at the sight of Maya’s easy demeanor.

“Why are you so out of sorts?” Maya cut to the chase.

Quinn could hardly admit to Maya that seeing her again, dressed up like that, made her feel all funny inside. “Just stuff with my ex.” Surely, Maya hadn’t dressed like that for Quinn’s benefit? If she had, Quinn might start feeling even funnier.

“Ah,” was all Maya said.

“I don’t really want to get into it, even though in a weird roundabout way, she’s the reason I texted you.”

“How so?”

Oh, shit. Quinn hadn’t meant to admit that either. She was seriously off her game tonight. She blamed Morgan for that as well. “It’s kind of hard to explain but, well, I guess I just really felt like seeing you again.”

“Here I am.” Maya sounded as though, in the space of a week, she’d really found her feet in the city. Maybe it was the date she’d been on. Maybe she was smitten. Quinn didn’t really want to consider how she felt about that.

“So your date went well?” Quinn might as well get that topic out of the way. It wasn’t that she didn’t wish Maya well. Of course, she did. But aside from feeling a little off, Quinn also detected a few pangs of jealousy running through her.

“Beverly and I had a lovely time.”

Quinn perked up her ears for any change in Maya’s tone when she spoke of Beverly. She couldn’t immediately detect any, but she was hardly an expert on the inflections in Maya’s voice. “That’s wonderful.”

“I feel a touch bad talking about my successful date when you’re still so down in the dumps about Morgan.”

Quinn waved off Maya’s comment. “I asked you about it and I’m not that depressed. We had a frustrating altercation that mostly reminded me of all the reasons it’s actually a good thing we broke up. So, please, feel free to tell me all about Beverly.”

The server arrived with their drinks. Quinn could do with a quick sip or two.

“To old and new friends.” Maya raised her glass and Quinn clinked hers against it.

“Griff almost went berserk when I told her Tommy’s married to Beth Robbins.” Quinn seized the opportunity to change the subject.

“Really?”

“She’s kind of a news junkie. CNN is the preferred background noise at Casa Griffin-Hathaway.”

“It’s funny. To