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“Me and Frankie? Um, nothing that I know of. Why?” The question is so far out of left field, I blurt out the truth.
Lauren shrugs. “Sophie just canceled on me. I was going to steal your girl for a drink instead, but figured I’d ask if you had plans first.”
I shift my weight to watch a few more employees leave, waving to a few. “No plans I know of.”
The sound of footsteps moving quickly catches my attention. Familiar orange hair and a bright sweater come barreling through the lobby. “Frankie?”
She doesn’t stop, her eyes focused on the front doors.
It takes me two steps to intercept her, catching one of her arms before she gets out the door. “Hey, what’s going on? Where are you going?”
She doesn’t have her bag, so she can’t be heading home. But it’s past five. I haven’t seen or heard from her all day, and now she’s trying to sneak out without talking to me? Did she not see me standing there? I’m kind of hard to miss. Worry for Frankie competes with irritation at being ignored in my gut.
“Oh! You scared me.” Frankie steps back from me, shoving her hands in her pockets. “We found a huge bug in the new software this morning, and we only have two weeks to fix it before the launch.”
That would explain why I haven’t heard from her all day. “Where are you going?” I ask again.
“I’m the coffee bitch.” She pulls out her phone to show me a long list of orders. She keeps glancing back over her shoulder, like she can’t wait to get back upstairs. “Is Rex here yet? Will you let him know the dev team is going to pull an all-nighter?”
Lauren steps up beside me. “How about you text me the list, and Julian and I will go get it for you? Your brains should not be wasted on getting coffee.” She rolls her eyes. “Let me guess who nominated you to be the one to get it?”
“I volunteered, actually.” Frankie’s confession is quiet. “I needed a minute.”
The protective instincts I’ve been ignoring in favor of being hurt claw their way to the surface. “What’s wrong? What did he do?”
Frankie’s shocked eyes flash to me. “What? I…sorry. I didn’t…I should go, guys.” She backs up another step, but I catch her arm, pulling her back.
“Jesus, Julian, relax.” Lauren steps between us, forcing me to let go of Frankie. “If you need a minute away from the guys, that’s fine. How about we go with you and help carry everything?”
Frankie’s shoulders slump, defeated. “Yeah, okay.”
I hate the way she’s letting us boss her around. Instead of following Lauren out the door, I wrap Frankie in my arms. “Take a breath. I got you. We got you.”
She’s stiff against me for another moment before melting against my chest. Fuck, that feels right. I don’t want to let go. “Do you really want to come with us, or do you want to wait here and take a break while we pick it up?”
Frankie’s hands slide around my waist, her hands cold through the fabric of my shirt. “I want to come. I need the walk.” She pulls back to smile up at me. “Besides, it would be nice to talk to people who aren’t in the middle of a nervous breakdown.”
We stay like that for a long moment, Frankie resting against my chest, her muscles slowly relaxing. Finally, Lauren coughs. “Y’all are adorable and everything, but we should probably get going before the coffee shop closes.”
I take Frankie’s hand, because I can, and lead her and Lauren through the front door and toward our favorite caffeine dealer. How am I ever going to drink a matcha latte again without thinking about Frankie?
“So how are things going, you lovebirds? Is everything still shiny and new?” Lauren catches up, sandwiching Frankie between us. “I thought Frankie and I were going to be each other’s wing women for a lot longer before someone stole her away from me.”
I chuckle, more at the idea of Frankie being anyone’s wing woman, than Lauren needing one. “Something tells me you’ll be just fine. Besides, you still have Sophie.”
“Didn’t you know?” Frankie pipes up from between us. “Sophie and Mr. Sutton are in ‘epilogue land’ now. Apparently, that means Lauren is stuck with me. Or was.”
Lauren groans, swinging open the door to Two Birds. “Tease all you want, it’s true. And now you two are right in the middle. I forget what that beat’s called—midpoint of desire or adhesive something, something. Shit. Sophie would know.”
Frankie and I share a look, her face as confused as mine feels. I lean close. “Do you have any idea what she’s talking about?”
Frankie whispers back. “No idea. When she talks romance books, I just smile and nod. I made the mistake of looking up something she and Sophie were talking about at lunch yesterday and it was—” Frankie’s face turns a shade of red I have never seen on a human before, her voice dropping even lower. “This guy put a strawberry in his girlfriend’s…you know?”
“What are you guys whispering about?” Lauren’s face popping up next to mine scares the shit out of me.
We jump apart, our entwined hands keeping Frankie from falling on her ass. “Goddammit, Lauren!” My heart is pounding, and Frankie looks like she’s about to bolt for the door, her cheeks still bright pink. “What the fuck?”
Lauren gives me an evil grin. “You two looked so cute, conspiring and whispering like that. I felt left out.” She’s teasing, but I detect a hint of truth to her words. I wonder if she’s feeling lonelier than she lets on, now that Sophie isn’t at Mailbox and she and Sutton are together.
