Jace knew he should tell Clary about the payment arrangement he'd made with Anne. As upset as she would be, it was bound to be worse if she found out he'd hidden it from her. He got up the courage to tell her, but he made the mistake of trying to do it in Gran's room. Once she'd stopped him, he couldn't seem to make himself bring it back up.

Jace piled his tray high with food, hoping to convince Clary to have something more than a banana. The only way she seemed willing to take food is if it was going to be thrown away. He did end up getting her to eat a little more, but it had taken him eating way more than he usually would have to convince her his over ordering was an accident. If he kept hanging out with his red head he was going to have to double his workout time.

Gran was released shortly after breakfast and Clary dropped Jace off at his car so he could go home and get some rest before their date. At least that's what she said in front of Gran. He wished they were really going on a date. It's not that he didn't want to cook for Simon and Izzy, it's just that he wanted to be cooking for Clary too.

After a nap and shower, Jace stopped by the store on his way to Izzy's to get the lasagna ingredients. He decided to get some flowers as an attempt to further his apology. He really wanted to get flowers for Clary, but she had such a hard time accepting anything he bought for her, Jace figured he shouldn't push his luck. For now he needed to try to put her out of his mind so he could be present for his sister.

Jace was a bit surprised when Izzy didn't answer the door, but he recovered quickly. "Uh. Hi Simon," he said. "I would shake your hand, but…" Jace used his chin to motion toward his hands, one of which was filled with flowers and the other with food.

"No problem," Simon chuckled. "Here, let me help you with that." Simon relieved Jace of the grocery bags and walked toward the kitchen, leaving Jace to follow behind with the flowers.

"Izzy said to let you know she would help you cook when she gets finished in the shower," Simon said loudly. Then he leaned toward Jace and whispered, "but you're not really going to let her, right?" He looked a bit scared.

Jace laughed. "Of course not!" he assured him. "I don't have a death wish. Already made the mistake of letting her cook for you, huh?"

"Yeah. We'd just started dating and I knew she was way out of my league, so I pretended to like it. Now I don't know how to tell her otherwise, but I really don't want food poisoning. Any advice?"

"I don't know," Jace admitted, scratching the back of his neck. "Get a dog?"

The guys were still laughing together when Izzy waltzed into the kitchen looking beautiful, as always. She'd left her silky raven hair down and it fell straight almost to her waste. She was wearing a bright red mid calf length wrap dress with matching heels that showcased her long legs. "What's so funny?" she asked, pulling her bright red lips into a pout as they both laughed harder. "You'd better not be talking about me," she warned, squinting first at Simon and then at her brother.

"Uh - of course not!" Simon stuttered. "Jace was just telling me a funny story from work."

"Hmmm," she hummed noncommittally then added in a more chipper voice, "what can I do to help?"

"Nothing!" Jace said quickly. "It wouldn't be much of an apology dinner if you had to make it yourself."

"I suppose that's true," she said thoughtfully. "Awe! You got me flowers?" she asked as she noticed the bright bouquet Simon had put into a vase with water.

"Well this is awkward," Jace teased. "Those were actually for Simon."

Izzy hit him playfully on the shoulder. "At least you're calling him by his name this time. That's a step in the right direction."

Simon poured Izzy a glass of wine and they sat at the island, visiting with Jace as he cooked. "So, how long are you in town?" Simon asked.

"I guess that depends on how long I'm welcome," he told them. "I'm not allowed to come back to work until a week from next Monday, but I don't have to stay in Kentucky the whole time. Do you all have any plans for Thanksgiving?"

"My mom and my best friend take turns hosting every year," Simon told him. "Usually both our families get together, but this year my mom is flying to New York to visit my sister, Rebecca. Becky's getting her Master's there."

"This will be the first year Izzy's going to join us. I'm sure you could come too if you want. We're really a 'more the merrier' kind of group. Alec's coming too, isn't he?" Simon asked, turning toward Izzy for an answer.

"I hope so," she said.

"Alec wasn't sure how long he'd be able to stay when I last talked to him," Jace added.

"Well I'm sure you'd be welcome," Simon said, "I'll confirm when we go out for your birthday Friday."

"Oh, is he gonna be there? Your friend, I mean?" Jace asked.

"Yeah," Simon said, "She works at the bar. Though she's more like a sister then a friend really. I'm sure you're more than welcome since we're practically family now."

Jace felt his shoulders stiffen at the last comment, but forced himself to appear relaxed for his sister's benefit. She was watching him like a hawk and he wasn't trying to give her any reasons to cut him off again.

"Dinner smells delicious," Simon went on. "I can see why this is Izzy's favorite. How long 'til it's done?"

Jace had just put the pan in the oven and was getting ready to set the timer. "Just under an hour," he told them.

"Let's sit in the living room while we wait," Izzy suggested, grabbing her glass and leading the way.

"Do you want anything to drink?" Simon offered. "We've got a little of everything. Beer, water, milk, some kind of fruit juice, wine, and three or four kinds of soda," he trailed off looking in the fridge.

"Water sounds great," Jace said.

Simon tossed him a bottle of water and closed the fridge. "Help yourself if you decide you want anything else," he offered.

"Thanks," Jace said. Simon wasn't a half bad guy now that Jace had been forced to give him a chance.

They talked about a little of everything as the night went on. Jobs, school, family, and definitely how delicious the lasagna was. Izzy and Simon told Jace they were pretty sure he missed his life's calling of becoming a chef.

Everything was going great. The only thing bothering Jace was that he couldn't stop thinking about Clary. He thought how she would have enjoyed a joke Simon told or how she would have had some wise advice for Izzy when she talked about quarrelling with her classmates over a group project.

When he looked up from his dinner to see Simon giving Izzy another lovesick look, he decided maybe he should take the opportunity to learn a little from the couple.

"So…" Jace started. "What makes you sure what you feel for Izzy is love?"

Jace was watching Simon, so he missed the narrowing of Izzy's eyes and the tightening of her lips. He didn't realize he'd said anything wrong until he heard Simon tell Izzy to calm down. He turned toward his sister to see her face was a deep red and she was glaring daggers at him.

"You said you would be nice!" she ground out through clenched teeth.

"I am!" Jace defended, his eyes growing wide. "What did I do?"

Simon must have sensed Jace's sincerity, because he decided to step in. "I think what you mean is how do we know we're in love, right?"

"That's what I said!" Jace insisted, looking confusedly between Simon and Izzy.

"Why would you even ask that?!" Izzy said. "I thought you were done trying to break us up!"

"I am!" Jace defended, his eyes getting even wider. "I didn't mean anything against you guys at all! It's just… I just… I kinda wanted to know what love feels like… or maybe, how to recognize you're in it or whatever…" Jace could feel his cheeks growing hot. "Never mind," he mumbled, looking away. "Just forget I asked."

There were several seconds of complete silence before Jace looked up to see Simon and his sister both staring at him. Her mouth had dropped open and she looked absolutely shocked. "You think you've found somebody, don't you?!" she finally squealed.

"Maybe?" Jace said, absently scratching the back of his neck. "I told you about her last week. I mean, we're just friends, but…I wish we were more… and I'm pretty sure she does too because she almost kissed me yesterday." Jace trailed off, lost in his own thoughts.

"What?" he asked self consciously when he noticed they were both still staring at him across the table.

"I never thought the day would come," Izzy said. "My big brother's finally growing up." Jace just shook his head. "What do you mean she almost kissed you?" Izzy asked. "How do you know she was going to kiss you? And what stopped her?"

"Well…" Jace was starting to doubt himself. "I think that's what she was doing. She got way up on her toes and leaned toward me. It seemed like she was going to kiss me… but I stepped back, and she stopped leaning…"

"Why would you step back?" Simon asked. "I thought you wanted her to kiss you."

"He's such a dumbass," Izzy put in. "He probably got scared and ran away from his feelings. He does that sometimes."

"No. That's not it this time," Jace began. "I don't want to share her business, but she was in a vulnerable place. I didn't want to take advantage… or have her regret kissing me."

"Wow," Izzy said. "I've gotta meet this girl. You really do care about her, don't you?"

Jace didn't answer. He didn't want to talk about his feelings anymore. He'd hoped Simon and Izzy would help him put a name to it, but this was just making him more confused.

"Oohhh!" Izzy squealed. "You should invite her to your birthday Friday!"

"I don't know," Jace said hesitantly. "I told you how that worked out last time."

"This is different," Izzy insisted. "It's not the two of you alone and there's no date pressure. It's just hanging out with friends. Maybe we can put in a good word for you."

"I don't know if that's such a good idea," Simon cut in. "I don't want it to be my fault when Jace goes back to being a womanizer and some poor woman gets hurt."

"What's it matter?" Izzy asked. "It's not like she knows us and will track us down for revenge. Maybe she's the one for him and he won't hurt her anyway."

Simon just shrugged.

Jace finally spoke up again. "Can we talk about something else?" He asked. "This conversation is bumming me out."

"Sure," Izzy said. "Just promise me you'll think about asking her."

Jace just nodded. All he ever did was think about her, so it's not like this would be a hard promise to keep.

After a couple hours of visiting, Jace was finally getting ready to call it a night. He had carefully avoided any more talk of Clary or love and had given his undivided attention to Izzy and Simon, but when he pulled his phone out to gps back to the hotel he saw he had four missed texts.

Hey. I know you have plans tonight, but if you want some dessert when you get back to the hotel you can stop by the office. - Clary

Then another about 2 hours later.

It doesn't matter how late it is. You can still stop by. - Clary

Then, not even a minute later.

Only if you want to. - Clary

Then, eight minutes later.

Never mind. I'm probably bothering you. Sorry. Forgot I said anything. Have a safe flight home. Thanks for everything! - Clary

'Why are girls so confusing?' Jace wondered as he absently rubbed the back of his neck. Does she want me to come by? Does she not want me to come by?

Jace looked up to see Izzy watching him with a raised eyebrow. She'd walked him to the door while Simon cleaned up in the kitchen.

"Uh… would it be okay if I took a piece of leftover lasagna? For my… friend?" Jace finally asked.

Izzy chuckled. "Trying to win her over with your cooking skills?" Then after a minute, "not a bad idea, actually." She left him staring at his phone as she went to put some leftovers in a dish.

"Here you go," she said cheerfully as she handed him the container. "Go get 'er!"