Page 66 of Freeze Frame

“Will her liking me affect how you feel about me?”

I let out a sigh, understanding where David was going with this. “Also no.”

“Then she can hate me all she wants. But for the sake of your relationship, I hope she comes around and doesn’t make things difficult for you.”

“She claims to have done some soul-searching. She promised to be on her best behavior tonight, but if she so much as sneezes wrong, we’re out of here.”

“Josh, honey, take a breath. It’s going to be fine.” David pulled the door of the restaurant open and let me walk through first. The place we chose wasn’t fancy at all. It was a seat yourself kind of place with music that played a little too loud, but the food was worth the noise.

I spotted Violet and Hannah sitting at a table not far away from the front doors. They’d ordered drinks already, and I worried that we were late. It must have shown on my face because when we approached, Violet stood and hugged me.

“I was early.”

“I wondered.” I hugged her back, relishing how normal it felt. How nice it was. Almost like nothing had happened to sour our relationship at all. Then I pulled back and put my hand on thesmall of David’s back. “This is my boyfriend, David. David, this is my sister Violet, and my best friend Hannah.”

David smiled and offered his hand to Violet. “David Fisher. I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure of meeting.”

Violet took his hand and shook it. “That’s very kind of you, but it’s unnecessary. I owe you an apology.” Violet paused, glancing around the room, seemingly uncomfortable with the spotlight.

“How about we sit?” David suggested. He turned to Hannah next and shook her hand. “Josh has told me all about you. How’s the collarbone?”

Hannah smiled warmly; she already liked David, even before they met, and I could tell that her opinion of him was only going to improve.

“It’s healed up nicely, thank you.”

Violet practically collapsed back into her chair and our attention spun to her again. She looked like she was facing the firing squad, all pale faced and watery eyes. “I’m sorry I was awful the last time we saw each other. I’m weirdly protective of Josh, but I don’t need to be, and it’s on me to figure out how to not act like a jackass. And I’m sorry that I acted the way I did and that I hurt you.”

David smiled at her, the soft kind of smile that I’d fallen in love with him for. “Thank you for the apology. I appreciate it.” He took a breath and looked at me. “So what’s good here?”

“Oh, don’t listen to him,” Hannah said. “He always gets the same thing.”

“Hey.” I balked. “It’s not a crime to know what I like.”

Under the table, David squeezed my leg, just above the knee. “No, it’s not.”

“Okay, well, let’s not make this weird.” Violet slid a menu over to David. “That little monster gets a tuna melt. Every time.”

“It’s good!”

“It looks… well, you’ll see.” Violet shuddered.

“I hate you,” I said to her, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Not as much as we hate looking at your tuna melt.” Hannah chirped.

“You’re both such haters.”

“Better a hater than a person with no taste.” Violet cut her eyes over to David. “No offense.”

“Well, I didn’t think you were putting me in the same category as a tuna melt, but thanks for the clarification all the same.”

David ended up taking Violet’s advice and ordered the deluxe bacon cheeseburger. I ordered my tuna melt. Violet talked almost nonstop about the doggy daycare drama. Pet parents, she told me, were just as bad as parents of human children, if not a little nuttier. Hannah hung on every word Violet said and often asked questions about the business or the dogs, which pleased Violet to no end.

When our food came, Violet shot David a look. “I told you so,” she crowed, almost triumphantly. Hannah scooted her chair farther away from me and closer to Violet, side-eyeing my tuna melt.

Sure, it didn’t look like much, but it was heaven on a chunk of rye bread. A thick slice of light rye with a mountain of tuna and onion all smothered in cheese and broiled until it was hot and bubbly and the edges of the cheese were crispy.

David also gave it the side eye.