Probably. Hiking sounded dusty.
“I think it’s great,” said Thea, ever the loyal friend. “And you’re actually going to the gala together?”
“We talked about him picking me up, yes.” As she expected, this information tidbit made the other two squeal.
“See?” Thea shrieked. “I bet you’re already halfway to rekindling something.”
“We rekindled already,” Faith said without thinking. “And we agreed not to let it happen again.”
“Wait.” Thea dropped her jelly-filled donut. “Rekindled? Do you meanrekindled?”
Mabel leaned forward and cupped a hand around her ear. “I’m sorry, did you just say that you banged your hot, growly ex?”
Faith could’ve denied it, but what was the point? “Once.” She bared her teeth in a comical grimace. “In a storage room at Olive Twist.”
“Oh my God!” Mabel hollered while Thea gave an outraged gasp.
“You didn’t tell me!”
True, and Faith had been feeling bad about that.
“Sorry, babes. I should’ve. It’s just… I wasn’t sure how to talk about it.” Or if she even wanted to talk about this new relationship with Leo, if that’s even what it was. He was friendly, then he growled. He opened up the slightest bit, then he retreated behind that frowny exterior. And it all felt too deeply personal and frustrating and exciting to share even with Thea, who was already overprotective about Faith’s well-being when it came to Leo. “It wasn’t exactly a hookup, but it didn’t start anything long-term either. It was…”
“Hot?” Mabel waggled her brows.
“God yes,” she breathed, drifting back to those frantic few moments among the tablecloths before snapping back to the present. “But it’s not something we can do again. We work together. We have all that history. And I think he still kind of hates me.”
“I doubt that.” Mabel crumpled up a napkin and tossed it onto her empty plate. “In any case, you’re hanging out all the time with the extremely charismatic William. Bet he hates that more than he hates you.”
“William? Nah, they’re friends,” she said immediately. “And he’s not my type.”
Then again, hadn’t she told Leo weeks ago that William was everybody’s type? And hadn’t Leo completely iced over when she’d shown up at his house, looking for William? But that couldn’t be it. Not when they still had a decade-old fight standing between them that neither of them seemed interested in revisiting. Leo was already coming around BUILD less now that William was there full time. After their overnight hike this weekend, his visits would probably dry up altogether, and they’d go back to being strangers again. And wasn’t that depressing as hell?
Speaking of depressing.
“Is your boss doing okay?” she asked Mabel. She hadn’t been able to fully shake the memory of Brandon Lowell’s grief and hoped he’d found somebody to talk to about it.
Mabel was the wrong person to ask. “How should I know? With any luck, he’s dead.” She scoffed so hard her blond ponytail twitched.
Oh. Awkward. “It’s actually his dad who’s dead,” she said quietly.
Mabel’s mouth dropped open, then snapped shut. It was Thea who surprised her.
“Good,” her normally kindhearted friend hissed. “Brandon’s dad was anasshole.”
She stood and whisked their empty plates off the table, stomping her little feet toward the sink. Faith and Mabel exchanged a confused glance.
“When did you meet him?” Mabel asked.
Thea rinsed each dish and slammed them into the dishwasher one by one. “I didn’t. I caught the tail end of a phone conversation Brandon was having with him earlier this year. It was one of the worst things I’ve ever heard. Brandon’s a jerk, but nobody deservesthat.” She angrily dried her hands and tossed the towel on the countertop. “You”—she pointed at Mabel—“better be nice to him the next time you see him. Rich people have parent problems too.”
Mabel held up her hands. “Okay.”
“I mean it,” Thea insisted. “Be. Nice.”
“I will!”
Faith hadn’t intended to turn the conversational spotlight quite so forcefully away from herself, but it had done the trick, and they all settled back into Thea’s sunny breakfast nook with fresh coffee and a new focus.
