He was ready within twenty minutes and was going to go downstairs to wait for Jack and Rita, when his phone rang again. This time it was Kaos.
“I’m so, so sorry!” He sounded frantic.
“Hey, it’s okay, Kaos. Mary called me, actually, so it’s fine,” Francis said quickly, trying to calm him down.
“But I didn’t call you first! He’s your best friend and—”
“Stop that, right now.” Francis used his no-nonsense nurse tone he reserved for emergencies, and he actually heard Kaos’s mouth snap shut. “It’s all right. She called me once the doctor had left after they called you. As much as we don’t like each other, she respects that I’m her brother’s best friend. So I know everything there is to know about the situation, and I even called the hospital and spoke to a nurse. Nurses talk, we have an understanding, so I’m pretty confident that you’ll have him back tomorrow evening and he’s going to be just fine.”
Kaos made a sniffling sound. “Thank you, Francis,” he whispered.
They talked briefly about when Francis would be in town, and there was a knock on the door. He walked to open it, gesturing for Minnie and Zinnia that he was ending the call soon. They nodded, and waited in the hallway.
“You know, I mentioned to Deputy Forrest today you were moving to town when he brought Hestia home, and he was a bit strange about it. I have no clue what his deal is,” Kaos said, and Francis felt like facepalming. This was not the time for that discussion.
“Uh, about that—”
“Francis, they’re here!” Minnie called out.
“Be right there!” he called back, then concentrated on Kaos again. “Sorry, I have to go. My friends here are making me go to one last play with them. I gotta run. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”
“Yeah, go. Have fun. Thanks again, Francis.”
“No problem. Take care, Kaos.”
Francis slid his phone into his jacket pocket and went to have a nice night with his friends.
* * * *
The next morning, he woke up with a slight hangover. For some reason, Minnie and Zinnia were crashed on his couch and somehow Squishy the cat had migrated from Minnie’s apartment to his.
“Hey, buddy,” he whispered to the cat. She was sitting on top of a pile of boxes by the living room wall, and brushed her cheek against his after thoroughly sniffing his face first. “Do you want some breakfast?”
She made a quietmrowrand followed him to the kitchen area. He still had some cat food tins in his cupboard among the other nonperishables Minnie was supposed to take off his hands before he left.
He was putting on the coffee maker when the springs of the fold-out couch squeaked, and soon enough, a very hungover Zinnia with her bright yellow hair sticking up to every possible direction shuffled into the kitchen.
“Morning,” Francis whispered, and she yawned.
“Mornin’, ‘s there coffee?”
He pointed at the pot and clicked it on, grinning at her. She gave him a clear I’m-not-impressed expression, and a wavering middle finger.
“Ibuprofen?” he asked, because he wanted one for himself.
“You’re a god among men, Francis Archer,” she murmured and hugged him abruptly, making him laugh.
“For Minnie too?”
“Yeah, she’ll need some most likely. Thanks.” Zinnia let go of him and sat at the small breakfast table, watching Squishy eat.
He went to take a bottle of water from the fridge. “I’ll go take a shower and bring you the Advil after. The medicine cabinet is in the bathroom.”
She waved a hand at him and gave him a grateful smile when he handed the bottle over. “Thanks.”
“No problem.”
The shower did a lot to alleviate his hangover. While he scrubbed the scent of the previous night from his hair—he must’ve stood next to someone who was smoking for a long time—he felt a bit of sadness creep in. He’d had fun. A fun night out with his friends. Sure, they were two couples and most of the people that had shown up at the restaurant as a surprise had also been coupled up, but it didn’t matter.
