“Oh,” Frances said, pulling up a third chair to sit down on. “Do tell. This sounds like it’ll be good.”
“I don’t want to keep you two,” Larissa replied.
“You’re not. We were going to close up and head home, so as long as the door is locked up front, we’re good,” Etta replied.
“I have to text her,” Larissa said.
“Who?”
“Harlow.”
“Who’s Harlow?” Frances asked.
“My best friend,” she said as she pulled out her phone. “We have a date tonight. I need to tell her I’ll be a little late.”
“Go back. The best friend you’re in love with? You’re dating?” Etta asked.
“We just started dating, yes,” she said as she pulled up her messages with Harlow. “Would you mind if I invited her over here? If we’re doing the interview, that is. She’s sat in on most of them as sort of my assistant, but she’s really more like my partner in this.”
“It sounds like she’s your partner in a lot of things,” Frances teased.
“She is. Pretty much inallthings now, I think.”
“Invite her over. I’ll put on some coffee in that old coffee pot,” Etta said.
“Or, I could walk next door and grab something from the Indian place,” Frances volunteered.
“Indian?” Etta asked Larissa.
“Sure,” she replied and texted Harlow.
Harlow: I can be there in twenty. Need me to bring anything?
“She’s on her way,” Larissa said after replying to Harlow that she didn’t need anything but her there in twenty minutes.
“I’ll go get the food. Anything you don’t like?” Frances asked her. “Harlow?”
“No, I’m not picky,” she replied. “Neither is she. And thank you so much.”
“Not a problem,” Frances said and leaned down to kiss Etta. “I’ll get your favorite and an iced tea.”
“Thank you.”
The mention of an iced tea made Larissa think of how, earlier that day, she had ordered their lunch at the union, and when she’d asked for a regular tea, the guy had grabbed the wrong, lemon kind that Harlow always said tasted like fake lemon, so she had him put it back and get her the right one.
Frances left the office to get them some food, and Etta and Larissa finished closing down the store together so that it couldget done faster. Then, Larissa got a text from Harlow, so she went outside to meet her and let her in.
“Hey, babe,” Harlow greeted. “Have I mentioned how much I like saying that now?” she asked with a smile as she approached Larissa. “I’m probably going to say it excessively for a while now.”
“No, you haven’t. And that’s fine with me.” She kissed Harlow. “Thanks for being okay with the change in plans.”
“No problem. I just want to hang out with you, so anywhere is fine with me. Why is ithere, though?”
“The owner, Etta…”
“Yeah?”
“It turns out, she’s married to a woman named Frances. That six-month trip was their honeymoon cruise, I think. I don’t have all the info yet, but they alluded to their story being interesting, so I asked if I could interview them. They said it was fine. Frances is picking up Indian food for us, and we’re going to talk inside. You’ve been present at nearly all of the interviews, so I thought you’d want to be at this one. Is that okay? Not exactly a romantic date.”
