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“Whatever happened with Franklin?”
“Let’s see,” I started. “He left me for his wife—who later died,” I added delicately. “I turned into someone you wouldn’t have recognized, then later became best friends with his son Cole, who took over the company, hired me as his executive assistant, and moved me here to New York. And in some ways I’m still not the person you once knew.”
Noon slowly lowered his glass.
“Oh! I forgot to mention the kicker. Cole has no idea I once had an affair with his father, or that said fucked-up father and saintly stepmother’s marriage wasn’t the picture of perfection.”
“Oh,” Noon said, for once at a loss for words.
“Oh indeed.”
Noon considered his drink, twisting the glass between his hands, before swallowing it down with a grimace. “So, let me guess. You haven’t been in a serious relationship since. I’d take it a step further and say you don’t do casual relationships either.”
“Maybe we should revisit the part where you said I changed, because obviously I haven’t if you still know that much about me.”
“You don’t like to be hurt.”
“Does anyone?” I challenged.
“No, but hurt looks different on you. You refused to stare out of a window after what your mother did to you.”
“Could you blame me?”
“Not the first few years, no. But how long would you have held on to that phobia had I not started that trash can fire in my bedroom, then woke you up by screaming fire, and insisting the only way out was through the window? And you’ve never gotten over your fear of heights.”
Franky had actually helped me with the latter fear, but I kept that to myself. “I still can’t believe you did that. You could’ve burned the whole damn house down.”
“Point is, you nurture your pain like it’s something you gave birth to, and you already had a no-love policy before falling for Franklin. Afraid you’d end up like your mother.”
Ihadended up like my mother. Obsessed and unable to see life without Franky in it. “No, I don’t do serious or casual relationships,” I said. “And the world’s a better place because of it. Now, can we please move on to lighter topics, like maybe why your shirt’s two sizes too small for you?”
We laughed and reminisced until Stacey called him home.
“Is it past your curfew?” I asked as he ended his call with his wife.
“She can’t sleep without me,” Noon said. Good to know I wasn’t the only one who suffered from insomnia when the man I loved wasn’t in the bed next to me.
“I’ll pay the bill,” I said.
“No way. You’ve got a building to pay for,” Noon said, fetching his wallet and flagging down our server. “Which side of town are you heading to? We can share a cab.”
“Nah, I’m not ready to go home yet.”
Noon checked the time and then eyed me questioningly.
“I, ah, need to stop and grab something to help me sleep,” I said, and something in my expression must have tipped him off, because his confusion was then replaced by something so soft it made me turn away.
It was late, and I could’ve saved myself some time by taking the redhead at the bar up on the offer in his eyes, but if these people were regulars, and if by some miracle I could secure a loan large enough to take over this place, I had no intention of shitting where I ate.Johnny would be proud.
Noon and I slipped our coats on and hugged goodbye outside.
“Do you think you have room in your arsenal fortwofriends?” he asked, backing toward the curb where his cab idled.
“Yeah, I think I can manage two,” I said.
“See,” he said, his eyes twinkling under the street light. “You have changed.”
“Not in the ways that matter,” I mumbled to myself. I waited for his taxi to pull off before making my way to the nightclub I’d passed on my way there.
