“Etta has a Frances, huh?” Harlow asked with a lifted eyebrow.
“She does. I had no idea. She hired me, but that was pretty much it. We didn’t talk much personally except about school.”
“Okay. Well, I’m in. And I love Indian food, so that’s a bonus. Maybe when we get home, though, we can have a littlealonetime,” Harlow suggested with wiggling eyebrows.
“Oh, yeah?” Larissa asked and kissed her quickly.
“Yes. I’d love to talk more about how you want me to spend every night in your bed.”
Larissa’s smile fell then because she thought about how that would be every night until Harlow moved out.
“What’s wrong?” Harlow asked, cupping her cheek.
“Nothing.”
“Larissa, I know all of your faces. That was disappointment.”
“Not disappointment. I–”
“Is thistheHarlow?” Frances asked, interrupting them.
“Hi,” Harlow replied, stepping back. “And I’m assuming you’re Frances since you’re holding a lot of Indian food. Can I help?”
“Sure,” Frances replied and handed Harlow a bag.
“I’mtheHarlow, huh?” she teased Larissa with a wink.
“To me, you are,” Larissa replied and kissed her on the cheek. “Let’s get inside. Etta is waiting.”
The office was a little too small for their feast, so Larissa and Harlow pulled out a folding table that they used for sales sometimes and set it near the back of the bookstore. Frances set out the food options, and Etta readied the drinks. Then, they all sat at the table and made themselves some plates.
“Is it okay if I record?” Larissa checked. “If you don’t want me to, I–”
“No, it’s fine,” Etta said. “We’ve got nothing to hide.”
“When you’ve waited this long to finally be with the love of your life, you want to tell everyone all about it,” Frances added. “Which is what we did on our six-month cruise: we told everyone who would listen.”
“And they hated us for it,” Etta added with a laugh.
Larissa looked over at Harlow, who was glancing back at her with a shy smile.
“Not all of them. The people at our table the first night liked it.”
“Yes, dear,” Etta said but winked at Larissa and Harlow.
“How did you two meet?” Harlow asked, giving Larissa time to set her phone up to record.
“Here,” Frances answered and motioned to the store behind them. “I was a customer.”
“You married a customer?” Larissa asked Etta.
“I did.” Etta laughed. “When she first started coming here, we were both married to other people, so it’s even more scandalous.”
“Oh, this is getting good. I’m so glad I came,” Harlow said.
“Buckle up, kid,” Frances replied. “I came here for years and bought a book every few months or something. I wasn’t here every week or anything, but when I started having more and more problems with my now-ex-husband, I started coming in more and more just to get out of the house.”
“Husband?” Harlow asked.
