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“Of course I do.”
She pursed her lips and examined me closely, and I let her. I’d let her stare at me all day if she did it that closely, like she was trying to really learn something about me.
Alas, she shook it off quicker than I would have liked. “Okay. But I’m treating today. It makes me feel empowered, and I need as much power around you as I can get.”
I laughed at her frankness and leaned in to touch my lips to hers. “Okay.”
That decided, I weaved my way through the crowd to a table in the corner and cleared off the trash that had been left behind. Apparently, not wanting to deal with other people’s messes, customers had left the table vacant for that very reason. But a little garbage didn’t scare me. At least, not nearly as much as my almost-fully-baked pregnant sister.
Lola squeezed through the crowd shortly behind me, two hot cups of coffee in her hands. “Gah. Hot, hot, hot,” she chanted as she set them down on the table in front of me. “I just have to go back for my card.”
“Uh,” I heard from behind her, Tony’s voice hesitant. “Actually, Lola. Your card was decl—”
“Oh, shoot!” she snapped under her breath before he could even finish his sentence. “The Louboutins. I forgot.”
She grabbed her little bag on her wrist and begun rummaging through it, but I stopped her with a hand on top of hers. “Just put it on my tab for now, Tone.”
Lola huffed.
I put my lips to her ear and lowered my voice to one of consolation. “You can treat next time, but this place is mobbed, and letting this be over will be altogether easier for Tony.”
It wasn’t a decision she gave in to lightly, I could tell, but finally, she nodded. Tony looked relieved, smiling and shooting away in a rush.
Left to our twosome in his wake, Lola looked embarrassed. Over the situation or the money or maybe losing the power she spoke of needing around me. Flushed red with wet in her eyes, she looked down to conceal it. But no matter the reason, I wanted to make sure she knew she didn’t need to be.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked softly.
She huffed a surprised breath, then shook her head. “Definitely not.”
“Why?” I asked earnestly.
“Because it’s fucking embarrassing.”
“Things are only embarrassing if they’re going a way you don’t want them to go.”
“Ugh, Reed! Not fucking now with the lectures.”
I put up both hands in surrender. “I’m not. I swear.”
She sighed, and I watched her go silent, her mind spinning its wheels and mulling everything over. She needed a moment, and I had no problem giving it to her.
“You know, you can tell me anything, LoLo,” I said after a good five minutes had passed. “I’ll never judge you.”
“I mean, it’s embarrassing that my card was declined.” She pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger. “I’m a sad fucking excuse for an adult, aren’t I?” she asked—and then immediately took it back. “Wait…don’t answer that.”
Her eyes searched my face for a reaction, but I didn’t give one. Judgment wasn’t my thing. And when it came to Lola, I was already biased. Hell, I was probably her biggest fucking fan.
“I’m pathetic,” she muttered. “It’s like I’m missing the gene that allows you to become a real live adult. Some things I can manage just fine, but others, like finances, I’m just winging the fuck out of it. No game plan. Just pure, old-fashioned winging it.” She dropped her head to the table with a thud. “I don’t know how to be a grown-up.”
I fought the urge to chuckle at her adorable display and took a more resolute, direct approach instead. “Do you want to live like this?”
Her head popped up off the table, and she narrowed her eyes in my direction. “With my credit cards too maxed out for a cup of coffee?” she asked sarcastically. “I think not.”
I nodded. “Then I’ll help you change it.”
She rolled her eyes, took a sip of her coffee, and then cursed as it scalded her. It sloshed as she pushed it away as though it had offended her. I suspected she was picturing my reflection in the top of her cup. “It’s not that simple. Debt doesn’t just change. You have to pay it off and change your lifestyle, and that stuff, I’m not really willing to do.”
“I bet it’s easier than you think,” I hedged gently.
She didn’t look like she thought so.
Turning my hand upside down on the table, I gave her a gentle prompt. “Hand me your cards, will you?”
“Why?” she questioned immediately, and I smiled.
After a couple moments of consideration, she gave in. “Fine,” she said, fishing them out of her bag and handing them over.
I jumped up immediately, went behind the counter without permission and grabbed a pair of scissors before returning to a now-panicked Lola.
“Reed! What the hell! You can’t just cut my cards!” she yelled as I made the first cut through the one she’d just had declined.
“Relax,” I soothed as she seethed. “You’ll just use cash from now on.”
“And get mugged?” she retorted sarcastically.
I fought the urge to roll my eyes, knowing how hard this must be for her and how much harder it probably made it that I was the one making the cuts. “The credit cards are more attractive to a thief than cash. They generally hold a way bigger limit than the wad of cash that can fit in your pocket.”
“Whatever. I have stuff on those cards! Important stuff!”
“Like?” I asked calmly.
“My gym membership.”
I stopped, resting the sides of my hands on the table, scissors and cards in their respective grips. “I’ve never, ever seen you go to the gym. I actually haven’t even seen gym-appropriate attire in your closet.”
“What were you doing in my closet?”
“Not the point here.”
“It will be later,” she threatened, and I laughed.
“The gym?” I asked, bringing the conversation back to the matter at hand. “Did you really go?”
“She goes for the smoothies,” her sister Annie announced as she sat down.
Neither of us had noticed her approach. But then again, I hadn’t noticed much other than Lola, and apparently, she’d been just as transfixed by me. I quickly cut the rest of her cards and dumped the remnants into her hands as Annie watched.
“Ooh. Cutting cards. I like this guy!”
“Yeah, Annie,” Lola grumbled. “We know.”
I leaned over to give her a hello hug.
When I sat back down, Lola’s eyes tried to burn me. I chuckled. “So you like the smoothies at the gym. No big deal. There’s a smoothie place right around the corner from Gus’s. I just had one the other day. I bet you’ll like them even better than the gym, and it should save you thirty bucks a month.”
“Fine! But what about my Ipsy bag?”
I stared blankly. Annie laughed. Lola just waited for an answer.
“Ipsy bag?” I asked Annie.
“It’s makeup.”
I looked back at Lola’s face. “Do you even wear makeup?”
“No,” Annie answered helpfully with a smug laugh.
Lola’s demeanor turned hostile. “I do too! I do when I go out, and I could totally wear it more often.”
I shook my head. “You don’t need to.”
She narrowed her eyes, and I quickly reminded myself that my opinion wasn’t even remotely the one that mattered here.
“But, if it’s your passion, it’d probably be cheaper to buy something when you need it rather than getting things every month, no?”
“Stop being so rational!” Annie fake-yelled when Lola opened her mouth, almost as though Lola was a ventriloquist doll.
“Look out,” I heard in my sister’s voice, just as I feared I’d have to stand up and take a position between the two. “Lady with a baby.”
When someone looked into the empty space in her arms, she got nasty. “In my uterus, asshole.”
I figured it was time to intervene. “Excuse me.”
I jumped from my seat and helped her the rest of the way through the crowd, settling her into the chair closest to Annie.
“Lola, Annie, this is my sister, Laura. Laura, this is Lola—”
“I can already tell by the way you’re mooning at her and she looks prepared to stab you.” She held out one hand and rested the other on her enormous belly. “Nice to meet you.”
“You too,” Lola replied, now with a smile.
“And I’m her sister,” Annie offered.
Laura held out her hand again. “Nice to meet you too.”
“Okay,” Annie said shamelessly. “Let’s get back to making Lola cry.”
“Annie!” Lola yelled, and Laura and I grinned.
“Why is Lola crying?” Laura asked easily. Lola turned a little pink but answered nonetheless.
“Reed is cutting up my credit cards. Granted, I probably needed it, but I can’t believe I’m letting him help me.”
Laura looked genuinely surprised. “Really? Reed is great with money. He’s helped me with all of my investments.”
“What?” Lola nearly shrieked, and I laughed and spoke directly to my sister.
