“Fantasy Soccer. I lost,” I update a confused Hazel.
“So that’s your best friend, huh?” Hazel says, watching Richie go.
I huff a laugh. “Is that what he said?”
“Among other things.” She holds up a bag with takeout boxes inside, along with a bundle of candy. “This is for you.”
Inside the container are a few slices of pizza and waffle fries. “You came all the way uptown to bring me lunch?”
“You mean dinner?” she asks.
“Is it that late?”
A flash of concern crosses Hazel’s features. “You need to eat something,” she says, nodding to the food. “I wanted to thank you for theother night. And for the cake you had sent to Sweet Escape on Wednesday. Everyone was confused by theHappy Day After Your Birthdaywritten in icing. Didn’t stop them from eating it, though. Gloria took the new order of champagne bottle gummies and lined the entire sides of the cake in them. Emma was so mad.” She laughs. “But it’s more like this fake-mad act. We can’t really ever be mad at Gloria.”
I smile. It really seems like Hazel’s enjoying her time at the candy store.
“I’m glad you all liked it, but I didn’t do it so you would return the favor,” I say. “That’s not how this works.”
“How what works?”
“This.” I move my finger back and forth. “Us.”
“Us,” Hazel repeats, like she’s trying out how it sounds coming from her own mouth. “How exactly does ‘us’ work then?”
“We don’t need to repay each other,” I clarify. “I can do nice things for you, and that can be that. This isn’t transactional.”
“Well, then. Likewise,” she says, crossing her arms.
I pull her into a hug. “We’ll work on it. Also, hi.”
She unfolds her arms and wraps them around me, burying her face in my chest. She lingers longer than usual, refusing to break the hug first.
“The milkshake machine is still down,” she informs me.
“Figures,” I say on a sigh. “How’d your interview go?”
“I’m being moved forward to team interviews,” she says flatly, releasing me.
“That’s great news! Congrats.”
“Thanks,” she mumbles. She doesn’t say anything else about it.
“What about the pop-up? How was that?”
She brightens. “So great. Both days were pretty much nonstop,” she says. “Now that the event’s behind us, I want to see how I can help with inventory management. I’ve got ideas for processes thatmight help with allocation, replenishment, fulfillment… Sweet Escape got a lot of coverage. Speaking of, we need to be more cautious about being seen together.”
“Wasn’t that the point of the disguises? People don’t know what we look like.”
“But they know our names. So no more introductions. We can make up new names if we need to.”
I can’t tell if she’s being serious, so I play along. “I can go by Gan, and you can be Zel.”
Hazel’s mouth curls into a smile. “We just need to be careful.” She fills me in on Marlin and her near-miss with the magazine writer, which explains what prompted her texts. “Anyway, the event was a nice distraction from… everything.”
“I’m sure. Are you still thinking about—”
“Taking out a personal loan? Probably? I don’t know,” she says, looking around like she’s ready for a topic change. “So this looks like it’s coming together.”
