She was still wrapping her head around thinking of her and Dan as a couple, because on a day-to-day basis not a lot had changed. In fact, for only the second time since they’d started their arrangement, she’d missed Thursday night dinner. With everyone focused on making Jess’s last weeks count, it seemed wrong to announce they were together. As she’d told Dan, “With Jess and summer, I don’t have the headspace to move.”

He’d told her not to stress. “I get it, Al. We’re both busy, busy. Let’s wait until the end of January when we’ve both got more time and then we can enjoy telling everyone.”

So that was the new plan, and although she’d intended to leave a toothbrush at Dan’s, she hadn’t gotten around to that yet either, as she’d been sleeping at Jess’s most nights. They managed to grab a quick lunch every few days at the hamburger joint next to his surf school’s storage container and she’d told him that Libby and Jess had reconciled, but she hadn’t mentioned how much she was missing her daytime jaunts with Leo. It wasn’t something she felt comfortable talking to him about, but then again, she hadn’t told anyone else either. She’d planned to tell Harry two nights earlier when he’d dropped Holly off for tutoring, but by the time she’d listened to Hunter telling her about his wicket-taking ball at cricket, Harry was saying, “No time for lollygagging, Hunter. You’ll be late for practice.”

When he’d returned to collect Holly, instead of hopping out for a chat, he’d tapped his horn and Holly had run to the car. Harry hadn’t done that for months. It had taken Alice by surprise, but then again, nothing had felt the same between them since their lackluster date, and she’d hardly seen him since the uncomfortable mural dinner. She kept telling herself it didn’t matter.

Except it did matter. Harry was the only person she could talk to about Leo.

His withdrawal ticked her off. Okay, so their date had proved that despite the delicious zips of attraction that had arced between them, none were strong enough to survive an evening alone together without Holly and Hunter to fill the awkward moments. And really, it was good she knew and understood that now. If they hadn’t gone on the date, she might still be wondering if there was something between them, and then she couldn’t have committed to Dan, and her love life would still be in the holding pattern it had been in for fifteen months.