“Our ride should be here any minute now.” I dug into my bag to retrieve a few manila folders. “If you’re bored, you can run through next week’s agenda with me.”
Indie eyed the folders. “I’m not bored. I’m having the time of my life. Don’t I look it?”
Laughing, Haven shook her head and accepted the folders from me, passing them to Covee and Indie.
“We should use this time to be productive,” I said when Covee and Indie hesitantly glanced at their pages. “We don’t have much time to prepare for the semester’s firstmeeting.”
“Didn’t we talk about the benefits of slow mornings last year?” Indie mused.
Covee hummed, softly adding, “I was in charge of that discussion. Lots of merits.”
“Merits left, right, and center,” Indie agreed.
“Iwaslooking forward to gradually working my way into a road trip kind of mood,” Haven said.
I glared at her. If anyone were going to be on my side, it’d be her.
Haven shrugged. “I made a playlist and everything.”
“I made one too.” Indie tossed her folder onto the coffee table. “Send me the link. We can make a mashup. You don’t have any boy bands, do you?”
“What’s wrong with boy bands?” Covee wondered.
“Ladies, come on,” I interrupted. Witnessing them continually get off track this early in the morning — when they were supposed to be at their most alert — gave me concern for later on. “Let’s focus on what we’re here to do. The music can wait. Besides, I doubt David will let us play anything.”
“You got David to agree to drive us?” Haven laughed, impressed. “What’d that cost you?”
“His usual rate, a piece of my soul,” I said.
“So this one’s sneaking between bookshelves with the quarterback,” Indie gestured to Covee.
“I’m not…” Covee murmured, unable to make eye contact.
“And this one’s–” Indie pointed at me “—Got the tight end chauffeuring her around the city. You two are way better than me. You wouldn’t be able to get me to shut up if I had half as interesting a love life.”
“Love life’s a stretch,” Covee murmured as she kept her gaze averted.
“David and love in the same sentence is a stretch,” I added with a scoff.
“Oh, come on,” Indie said to me. “How long are you going to pretend that’s not your man?”
I raise a brow. “Excuse me? In what world would David ever be my man?”
David and I were positive and negative charges, pinned together due to coincidence and a small town’s dwindling population.
“You should see them for more than a couple of minutes together,” Haven came to my defense. “Their back and forth gives me the migraine of a mother of five under five.”
“Hm.” Indie studied me for a moment and shook her head. “I don’t know; I’m usually pretty good at these things. I used to read palms, you know? That was my special talent. The only thing I actually enjoyed about being on stage.”
“No shit?” Haven scooted to the end of her seat, holding her hand out to Indie. “Do me!”
Covee leaned forward in her seat, too, curious but too cautious to ask for a turn.
I sighed, feeling a mix of relief and acceptance when I realized they wouldn’t follow our agenda. Hey, as long as the topic of David was out, I didn’t mind.
“You guys?” Covee’s quiet voice cut through Indie’s musing about life lines and future love matches. “I think he’s here.”
I turned to see David getting out of his car with his phone in hand. His hair was still wet from his shower, drops trailing down his neck and onto his collar. Even from afar, I could see the clenching of his sharp jaw. He pressed his lips together as he typed something into his phone. My phone buzzed. I didn’t have to look to know it was a snarky text about my needing to hurry. I lingered in my seat while the girls gathered their things to head to the door.
