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“Heidi,” Tim said flatly.
“Tim.”
“Are you tormenting the pitiful at Clay’s again?”
“Absolutelynot,” Heidi said indignantly. “Besides, it wasn’t a scheduled weekend there. You know that, even if you don’t hang out anymore.”
“That shirt looks broken in pretty well.” Valerie ran her thumb along the edge of the left cuff. “And it’s a size too large for you.”
“Oversized is fashionable right now. En vogue. And people thrift.”
“Do they thrift out of Carine’s closet?”
Resigned, Heidi allowed herself another mouthful of egg. “Out of my dryer this morning, actually.”
“Oh, God,” Tim said at the same time Valerie murmured, “Seriously?”
“Tell me she was just doing an appraisal on your condo,” Valerie said, “and she accidentally smeared ink onto her sleeve.”
“There was some appraising involved,” Heidi said. “I certainly did some.”
“Oh, fuck.” Tim gave his head a somber shake and hung it over his food. “I’m going to make canon the story that you laundered her shirt because that fabric requires immediate care and attention that couldn’t wait until she got home.”
“No. I laundered it because she wears powerful fragrances, and I didn’t want to aggravate my intern’s allergies this morning.”
Tim raised his gaze without lifting his head. “Did you run out of your own clothes, Heidi?”
“Of course not, Tim. I have a closet full of things to wear.”
“And does Carine know you have it?”
“She should, seeing as how she left my place wearing something other than what she arrived in. Does the coffee taste a bit charred to you? Tastes to me like it was left on the burner for too long. Odd, that, considering how much of it they go through.”
Tim raised his head and dragged his tongue over his lips. He was a man who conserved words as much as he could. Most of the time, he preferred to let people form their own conclusions without his input. Heidi tended to be an exception to that rule, so when he was silent, it was because he’d actually run out of things to say.
Heidi took another bite.
The eggs were divine as always, even if the coffee was like charcoal.
“I’m staying out of this,” Valerie said. “Kissing and telling is bad etiquette, so I won’t put you in a situation where you feel like you have to say things.” She lifted her buzzing phone from the tabletop. After a few seconds of screen-staring, she furrowed her brow. She looked at Heidi, her phone, then back to Heidi again.
“Let me guess,” Heidi said, deadpan. “There’s an APB out on me because I ran payroll five minutes late last week.”
“More like an APB out on you because Carine saw our cars at the curb and wanted me to ask you to check your messages.” Valerie bobbed her eyebrows in a warning. “She says, and I quote, ‘Don’t worry, nothing’s wrong.’”
“Hm.” Heidi had already seen the messages. Carine had been wondering about the whereabouts of her clothes. Heidi hadn’t been able to conjure up a good enough reason to satisfy her curiosity.
Heidi took Valerie’s phone from her, opened the camera app, and took a long-armed shot of herself in Carine’s shirt, including just a couple of inches of baby head at the bottom of the frame. She attached the image to the open text thread and tapped the Send button. Then she resumed eating. Eggs didn’t stay warm long, no matter how much cheese they had on them.
“Fuck, she’s domming,” Tim muttered without moving his lips.
“Who? Carine?” Heidi asked sweetly.
“You know damn well who.”
Valerie’s phone buzzed. Twice.
Valerie cleared her throat, sighed, and said, “She’s outside. She came out this way this morning because the license office here was the only one that had appointments available. She was about to head back to Shora.”
