snarls. "But Lyssa's a sweetie, and she's grown so much just since the summer. I could hardly believe it when I saw you guys at the airport. She's got to astonish you every day."
"Yes." Angelique kissed my cheek and squeezed my shoulder before returning her attention to her tangles. "But today she's astonishing me by how insane she can make me. I'll never be ready for tonight. Three measly hours isn't enough time to make myself look like a woman again."
"Leo thinks you're as gorgeous as ever, and you know it. You don't have to try so hard."
"But we don't get many dates together, El. That makes tonight special." The lines at the corners of her mouth tightened. "Thanks for watching Lyssa for us and for being so welcoming. You don't know how--"
She stopped, and I saw her flick an errant teardrop away.
"Hey, it's nothing," I said. "I'm crazy about her. So are Mom, Dad, Gregory, even Di and Alex. And Aunt Candice is starting to come around about Leo. No one can resist your little girl--"
We heard a delighted shriek from the hallway and the crash of LEGOs.
"--even if she is kind of loud," I added, chuckling.
Angelique's amusement was fleeting. "My mom'll never really forgive me," she whispered. "You know that, right? No matter what front she puts on in public."
"Is falling in love with a man who's smart and kind something anyone should have to forgive?"
She shook her head. "But, in Mom's opinion, marrying him was going that little step too far. And even getting a granddaughter out of it hasn't been compensation enough."
I thought about this. Aunt Candice didn't cast quite the welcoming eye on Angelique and Leo's engagement that my cousin had hoped. In fact, my aunt's reaction to their subsequent elopement (when I was still in grad school) was even less congenial. To date, the best spin she'd managed to put on her daughter's marriage was-- once --when she called the relationship "surprising."
"Do you have any regrets about marrying Leo, other than your mom's disapproval?" I asked.
"None," she said without hesitation. "Not a single damn one. He's the best, and I hope you'll find somebody equally as amazing. You deserve someone great."
At this point, I suspected finding someone moderately tolerable would've been big news, but I said, "Thanks."
My cousin curled a section of her hair into a springy ringlet and looked pleased with the result. "You know," she said, twisting a new strand of hair around the curling iron, "Leo has a ton of friends. Most live near us in California, of course, but he's got a few pals here in Chicago, too. We could hook you up with somebody vraiment fantastique. " She winked.
I rolled my eyes. "Thanks, but no thanks. I've vowed never to go on another blind date again."
To solidify my point, I spent the next ten minutes recounting in extensive detail some of the torturous dates I'd suffered through during the past year alone. "Besides," I told her, "it wouldn't matter. You could present me with forty such men, all as wonderful as Leo, and it wouldn't work out."
"Why the heck not?"
I looked over my sweet, warmhearted cousin from her now curly head to her sock-footed toe. "Because I'm not cute and nice and funny like you. I don't have the kind of disposition that attracts really thoughtful men or the temperament to keep one if I did. I'm a louse magnet."
"That's absurd!" Angelique set down the curling iron and stared at me. "What kind of God-awful guys have you been dating to make yourself believe such a thing?"
"My point exactly. But not all of them could've been weirdos or imbeciles, though I thought so at the time. I must've misjudged at least one or two. I mean, statistically, it has to be impossible to have a string of duds like that."
Angelique laughed. "You are funny, El, cute and very nice, too. And, for the record, I think your theory is totally bogus. You're just insulated in your high-school-librarian world. You don't meet a wide enough assortment of men."
Okay. She might be onto
"Yes." Angelique kissed my cheek and squeezed my shoulder before returning her attention to her tangles. "But today she's astonishing me by how insane she can make me. I'll never be ready for tonight. Three measly hours isn't enough time to make myself look like a woman again."
"Leo thinks you're as gorgeous as ever, and you know it. You don't have to try so hard."
"But we don't get many dates together, El. That makes tonight special." The lines at the corners of her mouth tightened. "Thanks for watching Lyssa for us and for being so welcoming. You don't know how--"
She stopped, and I saw her flick an errant teardrop away.
"Hey, it's nothing," I said. "I'm crazy about her. So are Mom, Dad, Gregory, even Di and Alex. And Aunt Candice is starting to come around about Leo. No one can resist your little girl--"
We heard a delighted shriek from the hallway and the crash of LEGOs.
"--even if she is kind of loud," I added, chuckling.
Angelique's amusement was fleeting. "My mom'll never really forgive me," she whispered. "You know that, right? No matter what front she puts on in public."
"Is falling in love with a man who's smart and kind something anyone should have to forgive?"
She shook her head. "But, in Mom's opinion, marrying him was going that little step too far. And even getting a granddaughter out of it hasn't been compensation enough."
I thought about this. Aunt Candice didn't cast quite the welcoming eye on Angelique and Leo's engagement that my cousin had hoped. In fact, my aunt's reaction to their subsequent elopement (when I was still in grad school) was even less congenial. To date, the best spin she'd managed to put on her daughter's marriage was-- once --when she called the relationship "surprising."
"Do you have any regrets about marrying Leo, other than your mom's disapproval?" I asked.
"None," she said without hesitation. "Not a single damn one. He's the best, and I hope you'll find somebody equally as amazing. You deserve someone great."
At this point, I suspected finding someone moderately tolerable would've been big news, but I said, "Thanks."
My cousin curled a section of her hair into a springy ringlet and looked pleased with the result. "You know," she said, twisting a new strand of hair around the curling iron, "Leo has a ton of friends. Most live near us in California, of course, but he's got a few pals here in Chicago, too. We could hook you up with somebody vraiment fantastique. " She winked.
I rolled my eyes. "Thanks, but no thanks. I've vowed never to go on another blind date again."
To solidify my point, I spent the next ten minutes recounting in extensive detail some of the torturous dates I'd suffered through during the past year alone. "Besides," I told her, "it wouldn't matter. You could present me with forty such men, all as wonderful as Leo, and it wouldn't work out."
"Why the heck not?"
I looked over my sweet, warmhearted cousin from her now curly head to her sock-footed toe. "Because I'm not cute and nice and funny like you. I don't have the kind of disposition that attracts really thoughtful men or the temperament to keep one if I did. I'm a louse magnet."
"That's absurd!" Angelique set down the curling iron and stared at me. "What kind of God-awful guys have you been dating to make yourself believe such a thing?"
"My point exactly. But not all of them could've been weirdos or imbeciles, though I thought so at the time. I must've misjudged at least one or two. I mean, statistically, it has to be impossible to have a string of duds like that."
Angelique laughed. "You are funny, El, cute and very nice, too. And, for the record, I think your theory is totally bogus. You're just insulated in your high-school-librarian world. You don't meet a wide enough assortment of men."
Okay. She might be onto
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