Shay shook her head. “You didn’t just miss Elodie Fontaine and Madison Ford picking up the Brewster in person…” She waited until Solo sighed with relief. “Youdidmiss Elodie Fontaine and her friend picking up the Brewster in person.” She laughed, and everyone but Solo joined in.
“Fuckity fuck fuck.” Solo kicked the door panel of her car and left a dent. “Double fuck,” she said, inspecting it.
“New cars get damaged so easily,” RB said.
“Old cars don’t fit three baby seats.” Solo sneered then looked back out to the alley as if that might inspire Elodie Fontaine to throw the car in reverse. “I don’t believe it.” She spun back around. “Did you know she was coming?”
“No. They were here when we showed up a few minutes ago.”
“We’ve got photos,” Woody said.
Shay shoved her; it was clear there was more to Solo’s outburst than mere angst at missing out on meeting a lesbian icon.
Woody grinned, not ready to give it up just yet. “I can superimpose you onto them.”
“Gee, thanks.” Solo gave her car another kick and stomped past them into the shop.
“Looks like there’s still trouble in paradise,” RB said. “Further proof that being a bachelor is far less complicated.”
Gabe clapped RB on the back. “Less complicated but lessfulfilling,” she said and followed Solo inside.
RB looked at Shay. “What do you think?”
Shay’s watch buzzed with a message before she could answer, and she tapped the screen when she saw it was from Rosie.
Still on for tonight?
“I think you can be plenty fulfilled with no complications.” Her situation with Rosie was proving to be exactly that. “Come on, let’s go put Solo’s world to rights.” She motioned for RB to go before her and fired off a quick text back to Rosie.
Already thinking about it. I’ll be there.
Recalling their last encounter, she rubbed her wrists and smiled, then she sent Rosie another text.
Your turn.
Yeah, she was plenty fulfilled without complications. And nothing was going to change that.
CHAPTER 8
Rosie staredout of her twenty-first-floor window and looked down at the Chicago River. It didn’t give her the same joy as her previous office view of Lake Michigan, but it was a good enough competitor. She needed the water to calm her more now than she ever had as a therapist, because though her clients had often been challenging, her new boss, Billy Franklin, was in a whole other league.
Her phone alarm sounded, indicating she should begin the trek across the enormous building and up fifty-three floors to his office for a meeting marked as “super killer important” in the subject line. She didn’t know if he or his PA written the email—their combined age was only a little older than her—but either way, it wasn’t the professional approach she’d expected when she came to work here. She supposed she should be grateful that he wasn’t a stuffed suit with a power complex, but couldn’t there be a middle ground between that and millionaire frat boy?
Rosie scooped up her iPad and phone from her desk and headed out of her office. She saw the back of Mindy Fletcher entering the kitchen and hurried past; if she got waylaid with Mindy and her many tales of office gossip, she didn’t stand a chance of making her meeting on time.
“Rosie Morgan! Just the person I wanted to see.”
Damn it. Mindy had a nose like a sniffer hound and had probably gotten the scent of Rosie’s perfume before she even left her office. She turned and smiled. “Mindy, hi. I can’t talk; I’m on my way to see Mr. Franklin.”
Mindy’s plastered-on smile dropped, and her eyes widened,making her look like a Tim Burton illustration. “You’re on your way to see Mr. Franklin?”
Rosie nodded and took a step back. “Something ‘super killer important’ and very last-minute.”As usual.She kept the opinion to herself, knowing it would be exaggerated ten-fold and repeated twenty times before she returned from Franklin’s office.
“Last-minute? Oh, dear.”
Rosie pressed her lips together and tamped down the irritation that always rose when talking to Mindy. She still hadn’t gotten used to Mindy’s predilection to repeat all, or at least part, of everything people said. Now that she was no longer a therapist, she didn’t have to be quite so patient with people. “Yeah. I don’t want to keep him waiting, so if it’s nothing important…” She took another step and half-turned, but Mindy rushed forward and caught her arm.
“I was going to tell you that Rob and Tica got fired last night. Mr. Franklin is having another house-cleaning.”
