Bri
Keisha and Junie run to me, pulling me into a heart-healing three-way hug. Trapped in an embrace I don’t want to leave, I realize how much I’ve missed them. Tears of relief sting at my eyes. “What are you doing here?”
“We wanted to see you,” Junie says into my shoulder.
“And to show that man we can find him if he tries anything,” Keisha adds. I can’t see, but she’s giving him dagger eyes for sure.
“Stop. Everything’s going great. Liem’s the third-best roomie ever.” Each will assumetheytake first place, and I will never tell either they’re wrong. Finally, I let them go. “Say hi to him, please.”
“Hi,” they say at the same time.
“Hi,” he says with a small wave. Liem deflates into the shape he was when we first met, slouching with shyness, his energy muted by discomfort. It triggers my instinct to protect him.
My friends are big and brash in the best ways, but they might be too much for Liem. “Come inside, we’ll show you the apartment.” I let them through the door and direct them to our floor, then block Liem before he can step in. “If you need to check out, say you have work you need to do and I’ll back you up, okay?”
The corner of his mouth curves up. “Thank you.”
I press a kiss to his cheek to sayI got you.
Once we’re in the apartment, they don’t even ask for a tour before poking their heads through doors, arms linked, acting like a nosy monster with two heads. Liem stands beside me, absentmindedly pulling on the strings of his hood.
“This iscute,” Junie says.
“Isn’t it?” I say. “How long are you here? Where are you staying?”
“Only one night,” Keisha answers. “I have to get back before work on Monday.”
“Tickets were so cheap, I convinced her to take a last-minute trip. We have a hotel room in SoHo,” Junie says. I don’t know where that is, so it must not be close.
“We should go out! Show us the city,” Keisha suggests.
“I’ve been here three weeks,” I remind her. “I still use GPS when I’m going up the street.”
“I know some places,” Junie says. She comes to New York at least twice every year. She loves it here, claiming it’s the density, pace, and lack of required driving. Keisha is a California girl down to her bones. More than a month of sub-40s temperatures and she would think she’s dying. “We should go to dinner.” She poses her suggestion in Liem’s direction.
“Are you free?” I ask Liem, presenting him with the easiest way to escape.
He tucks his hands into his hoodie’s pocket. “Actually, I have some work I need to catch up on.”
“No,” Keisha complains. “You can’t even come out for an hour?”
“He has deadlines, and he’s on West Coast time,” I say. “He probably won’t be free untillatetonight.” They seem to believe me. Still, they pout.
“You three have fun,” he tells us.
Keisha shakes her head as he walks away. When his door closes, she says exactly what I thought she would. “Lord, he is scrumptious.”
“A delicacy,” Junie adds in. “I need to tinkle, then we’re getting sushi so I can drink sake while you tell me how he is in bed.”
I point her toward the powder room with a chuckle. It’s going to be like this all day, and I’m honestly thrilled.
“You’re stressing me out, but I’m glad you’re here,” I tell Keisha. “I miss you.”
“That’s a purely optional feeling, my babe,” she says. “When are you coming home?”
“Soon.”
“How soon?”
