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Four
Frankie
Raj and Manesh corner me at the coffeemaker on Monday morning. Raj’s pushed up cardigan sleeves reveal the T.A.R.D.I.S. tattoo on his forearm as he cradles his steaming mug. Manesh’s yawn sets me off, too, my eyes watering as the movement ends with my nose and cheek aching.
“Damn, girl, what happened to you?” Raj leans closer to peer at my face.
I’ve been hiding in my office since I arrived, once again sneaking in before everyone else, so no one’s seen my face. The black eye from where my face met Julian’s truck is faded, but I couldn’t hide it completely. “I ran into a car door.”
Manesh snorts behind me. “Well, I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t that. How’d it happen?”
I sigh and lean back against the counter with my fresh, if disappointing, coffee. Mailbox provides us with fancy Nespresso machines on each floor, but it’s not as good as my espresso machine at home, and definitely nowhere near as good as any of my favorite coffee shops. I was too scared of running into Julian that I didn’t dare to stop at either Two Birds or Roasters this morning. There’s no way I can face him after what happened—especially since I can’t stop thinking about how easily he scooped me up and carried me into Mr. Sutton’s house. I’ve been spending too much time with Lauren—because instead of being embarrassed, every time I think about it, my insides go quivery, and my heart skips a beat. I am not swooning over Julian Lockwood. Absolutely not.
“I wasn’t looking where I was going, and I walked into the door as it was being thrown open by a very enthusiastic sixteen-year-old. Pure accident.”
“Poor kid. I bet he felt awful.” Raj laughs.
“He did.” Stirring some creamer into my coffee, I cross my fingers that Manesh doesn’t ask any more questions.
“Good morning, everyone.” Mr. Sutton joins in the conversation, Manesh and Raj choking on their laughter. “How’s the eye, Frankie?”
I’m not sure what has Raj and Manesh in deeper shock, Mr. Sutton saying good morning or him asking about my black eye. By the look on Raj’s face, I'm going to have some explaining to do later.
I grimace, glancing past Mr. Sutton for Derek. Did he see Mr. Sutton arrive? I’m pretty sure he bribed Jodi, the administrative assistant on our floor, to let him know anytime Sutton stops by. Mentally, I start a countdown to see how long he takes to join us.
I step away from the coffeemaker, mug cradled between my hands. It was a Christmas present from my sister Eleanor a few years ago, after I forced her to binge-watch Avatar: The Last Airbender with me. Manesh threatens to steal it from me every few weeks—he has a weird crush on Azula—but I’ve threatened him with death at the hands of my sister enough times that he leaves my Fire Nation mug alone. Raj steps in behind me, setting his mug beneath the coffeemaker.
“It’s okay. Much better today, even if it doesn’t look like it.” I nod and pray that’s the end of the conversation. When Mr. Sutton doesn’t make a move to leave, I do a mental “What Would Lauren Do?” check and attempt to make small talk. “Did you, uh, get the party cleaned up?”
Mr. Sutton smiles, not something most people here at Mailbox knew he could do. Raj flinches and drops the coffee pod he’s holding onto the floor instead of into the machine. Manesh laughs nervously, eyes darting between me and Mr. Sutton.
But it’s the sound of Derek’s laughter joining in that has my “danger, Will Robinson” alarms going off. Shitballs, he’s here already. I step away from the coffeemaker, but this corner of the office is small, and there’s no escape from Derek’s presence at my back. “Morning, sir. What’s this about a party?”
Mr. Sutton ignores Derek’s question, answering mine instead. “Like it never even happened. Although, I’m pretty sure Max is still on a sugar high after all the frosting he ate. The grass is a little torn up, but once it stops raining, I’m sure it will be fine.” We all glance out the window at the perpetually gray sky.
“So…in May?” The quip pops out without thought, my inner Lauren taking over. I immediately regret it when all four men burst out laughing. No, no, no, I don’t want to be funny. Funny people get attention. I don’t need any more attention from my coworkers, especially Derek.
Derek steps around me, his broad shoulders brushing against mine. “What party was this?” He looks down at me, one eyebrow slightly raised. Shitballs, he’s pissed.
“Sophie’s kid. H-h-her sweet sixteen.” I manage to get out.
“I see.” He releases me from his gaze, turning it on Mr. Sutton. “And you had it at your house? That was very generous of you, sir.”
All eyes are on Mr. Sutton as he shrugs. “It’s no big deal. Emma deserved a big celebration.”
He’s nonchalant about it, but I know for a fact that Emma has never had a big birthday party—her dad’s track record with jobs meant that he and Sophie could never afford to give her the kind of party Theo threw for her. She must have texted me a thousand times to tell me every detail she and Lauren planned.
Sometimes I miss my three younger sisters, but Emma does a pretty decent job of filling in the hole it left when I moved away from my family. Especially last night, when she sent me texts and pictures for hours of all her friends. I wisely chose to keep my mouth shut that Julian’s son, Liam, featured heavily in the photos she took.
“From what I hear, she had an amazing time.” I speak up, hoping to escape after having contributed to the conversation. “Well…” I step away from Derek, trying to scoot around him and back to my office, my mug clutched firmly in my hands.
Holding up a hand to stop me, Mr. Sutton looks around at the group. “While you’re all here, I might as well tell you—especially since the four of you have led this project. Marketing decided we need to have a launch party for the new software at the end of next month.” Mr. Sutton drops his bomb as if he didn’t just give all of us a massive heart attack.
“You mean…MailboxM.D.?” Manesh is the first to speak.
“Will it be ready?” Derek glances at the three of us. He’s an ass, but he’s an ass who knows how to code. He’s been working on the user interface of the new medical file storage program since last year.
“We’re still working out the bugs in the video editing,” Raj adds, worrying his lower lip with his teeth.
