I took a sip of wine, letting it slosh around in my glass before I leaned in closer to her, doing my best to ignore her pillowy lips. “Let me help you.”
Her eyes widened at that. “Help me with what? Landing a job? No offense, but I hardly?—”
I held up a hand. “Let me stop you right there before you lob another mildly offensive insult in my direction. I’m not talking about your employment situation.”
She set her glass down and angled her body toward mine. “Then what are you talking about?”
“I don’t know. Life. Fun. Adventure. I’ll help you let loose a little and not become this boring person who only cares about what title they’re holding.”
“I don’t only care about that,” she objected. But when I raised an eyebrow and dipped my chin, she snapped her mouth shut without further argument.
“Look, you said it yourself. You were planning to call it an early night, only to fill out more applications. I know we just met, and I know you’re going through a bit of a crisis, but that’s sad, Frankie.”
“Most would argue that’s actually the responsible thing to do,” she pointed out.
“Well, I’m not most people. And you’re telling me you can’t find time in that packed schedule of yours to have a little fun?”
She didn’t answer immediately, her eyes losing focus as ifweighing her options. “I don’t even know how long I’ll be here.” The protest was weak, and I knew I almost had her.
“All the more reason to live it up while you’re here,” I said. “Soon enough, you’ll be back at a desk, plugging away at whatever it is you do. But right now, you can spare some time and actually enjoy yourself.”
She leaned back in her chair. Her eyes moved to the window, where large snowflakes now fell outside.
My body tingled with energy, waiting for her response.
Finally, she let out a sigh and said in a small voice, “Why would you want to helpme? You don’t even know me.”
It was the same point she’d made at the bar the other day. But as I stared into her eyes that seemed to hold one million thoughts, I couldn’t help but think that she was wrong. Or at the very least, that she would be wrong. Knowing her seemed inevitable. I could feel it in my bones.
“But Iwantto know you,” I said.
Before I had my answer, Mattie and Giles returned to the table, pulling out their seats.
“Sorry about that,” Mattie said, sitting down. “They were, in fact, the wrong glasses. Took a minute to sort it out with the delivery driver.”
“All good now?” Frankie asked, her eyes still glued to mine.
“It’s all sorted,” Giles said. “We interrupt something?”
I grinned. “Nope, just talking about how Frankie and I should hang out more, since we’re both new in town, after all.”
The way her eyes lit up made me want to tug her seat closer to mine.
Mattie let out a small laugh. “What are you planning to do?”
“I don’t know. Snowboard? Hike? The possibilities are endless,” I said.
“Good luck with that.” Mattie pointed at me. “Frankie isn’t exactly the most athletically inclined.”
“Neither are you,” Frankie shot back.
Giles chuckled. “Mattie has come a long way.”
“I’m not unathletic,” Frankie insisted.
“Remember track and field? Sophomore year of high school.”
Frankie tossed her head back and groaned at that. “That happened over ten years ago. I was doing fine until I sprained my ankle.”
