Page 37 of Keel

She pulled out her phone and clicked through to the alarm application, making the noise stop. Ansley shut the door and locked it, her laughter filling the entryway.

“You know, I forget to turn off my alarm, too. So how are you this morning?”

“Well, I made a call I didn’t want to.”

“That’s good, I guess.”

“Yeah. It was one I needed to make. Do you ever get that way, not doing things you know you should?”

Ansley laughed more. “Sometimes. The Marines taught me to jump on that kind of stuff, though. So I’m much better about it now. I keep up with things like calls I hate doing.”

“This was one I’ve been putting off for a long time, for multiple reasons. They are sending someone out here to check up on me.”

“Oh, really?”

She blew out a harsh breath. “Yeah. It’s a long story.”

“You don’t have to tell me what’s going on, but I am here if you want to talk.”

Could she tell Ansley what had happened? She was dealing with the mistakes she made, but she was still raw. Poking at the problems caused pain, and talking about it with Ansley would be difficult.

“How about we start lunch? I brought a salad,” Ansley said.

“Nice. I have stuff for sandwiches.”

“Awesome. This is great. I don’t get much of a chance to hang out during the day with friends.”

Frankie nodded. “This is nice. Thank you for hanging out with me.”

“The other night was fun. I hope we can become friends.”

She met Frankie’s gaze and saw only kindness. “It helps when people are decent. I’ve been hanging with the wrong crowd. You and Garnet seem like really nice people.”

“Thank you. You seem really nice, too.”

Frankie shrugged. “I wasn’t always that nice. I did some bad things in my past.”

“We’ve all done things we’re not proud of.”

She blew out a harsh breath. “Mine was really bad.”

Ansley took her hands and squeezed. “I was in the military. So I’ve done some stuff.”

“But that was when you were in the military.”

“Still, it sticks with you.”

Ansley pulled her into a hug, and she went willingly. It felt good to have someone hold her and care about her. She wanted to tell Ansley everything, but she decided to wait until later to tell her about the fire.

They pulled together their food and sat at the table. She took a bite of the salad and moaned. “This is great. I love the dressing.”

“Thank you. It’s just oil and vinegar, but I added some spices.”

“Well, you did a great job.” She took another bite and moaned. “My ex wouldn’t let me have salad dressing. Most lunches, I got three leaves of lettuce and four tomatoes along with some broccoli.”

Ansley’s fork hung in midair. “That’s so wrong. That wouldn’t be enough to survive.”

Frankie chuckled. “Yeah. I was always hungry. One time, I snuck some food, and he chained me to a table and made me watch him eat for two days straight.”