I look up at him. He’s really big. “I’m fine,” I tell him, confused. “What’s going on?”
Of course I just lied. I’m not fine. I am brokenhearted. I’m confused. I’m…mourning. I actually feel like I’m mourning.
I need to get it together. This is not the appropriate reaction to what happened tonight. I am a grown ass woman. I cannot be flipping out about this.
Frannie suddenly comes rushing forward. “Oh my God, Caroline, are you all right?”
Why does everyone keep asking me that? Maybe because the answer is no.
“I’ve had kind of a bad night,” I tell her truthfully. “But how do you all know that? Why do you keep asking me that?”
“Ma’am, where are you coming from?” the big man asks me.
That’s a weird question. And I’m not sure how to answer it. I am coming from James and Cas‘s apartment.
“I thought you were with the guys tonight,” Frannie says.
“I was.” And then I am horrified because I burst into tears.
Frannie’s eyes widen, the big man’s brows slammed together, and suddenly Fiona is with us as well.
“Oh my God, what is going on? Caroline, what happened to you?”
“We broke up,” I say. “Which is stupid, because we weren’t really together. Not like that. Not like a breakup type of together.”
Through my tears, I see Frannie and Fiona exchange a look.
“Ma’am, I have some questions–”
“Cool it Agent Intense,” Frannie says. “We’ve got this.”
Agent? Oh, this guy must be the FBI agent that comes in here a lot.
Wait, I have an FBI agent worried about me? Why?
“Come on,” Fiona says, tugging me toward the women’s restroom just off the lobby.
With Fiona in front of me and Frannie behind, they escort me into the restroom. The minute I face the mirror, I see why everyone seems so concerned.
I’m a mess.
My makeup is streaked, which could be explained by the crying I’ve been doing, but my hair is wet and hanging in limp strands around my face, my clothes are soaked and sticking to me, and I look dazed and confused and upset.
Well, I understand that last part. Ifeeldazed and confused and upset.
I frown at my reflection. “Why am I all wet?”
Frannie and Fiona look at each other again and then look at me in the mirror.
“Maybe because it’s pouring rain outside?” Fiona asks. “You didn’t walk here, did you?”
It’s raining outside? How did I not notice that? Okay, I might be a little more rattled than I thought.
“I started to walk back to your house from Cas and James’s. But then I decided to come here, so I got a ride.”
“So you did walk for a while in the rain,” Frannie says, grabbing one of the expensive paper towels, which is actually just as soft as an actual cloth towel, and starts dabbing at my face.
Fiona starts pulling her fingers through my hair, straightening the wet tangles.
