Chapter Six
FRANKIE
I’ve never been so irritated with my best friend as I am in this moment.
Did she have to call now ? Addison jumps up and grabs her phone, shooting me an apologetic look as she does so.
I swipe a hand through the curls on top of my head and take a breath as I overhear her reassuring Everly that everything is going fine and she has nothing to worry about.
“She was only checking in, guess she had a bad feeling or something,” Addison says after hanging up. She walks back over to me, a small smile turning up her lips.
“So…” she says, and I love the look of mischief in her eyes. It sparks an answering desire in my own. “About that date.”
“Yes?”
“I hear you’ve got a great view upstairs.”
“You trying to get me to invite you up, sweets?”
Her cheeks pink and she bites her lip before answering. Her eyes are lit up, practically burning, and I know she’s feeling the same way I am, but she slowly shakes her head.
“Not tonight, I don’t think,” she says.
I don’t like the uncertainty that passes through her features. It speaks of past hurts, of wounds not yet closed, and I want to peel back her layers to see everything she isn’t telling me. I don’t have that right though. Not yet, so I nod .
“How about that date first,” I say, biting back the words I want to let loose. Words like what happened, and who hurt you , and how can I fix it?
Addison nods, her features lightening again, and I tell myself to take it easy. There’s something between us, and I don’t want to mess it up by trampling her. I’ve already hurt her once; it won’t do to be careless now.
“Tomorrow night? How about dinner? I’ll cook. You can get that peek upstairs you were hoping for, no strings attached.” I shoot her a playful grin, delighted to see a blush staining her cheeks.
I walk Addison out as we finalize our plans for tomorrow evening.
She drove Everly’s car here, but when she opens the door, she doesn’t get in right away.
Instead, she turns toward me and leans against the side of the car.
I smile, knowing she’s wondering about a kiss.
I decide to do my best romancing, so for tonight, I lean forward and drop a barely there kiss, the softest I can manage, right on the corner of her mouth.
Addison’s lips part and she sucks in a short breath, her blue eyes wide as she watches me lean back. I put my hand on the small of her back, urging her into the car.
“Goodnight, Addison,” I say, closing the door behind her and stepping back.
It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.
~~~
I stomp around the kitchen the next morning, practically throwing pots and pans at the sink as I remember the water turning Addison’s shirt transparent last night.
Jaime and Tori are both working today and they give me a wide berth, shooting questioning looks at each other behind my back.
I know exactly why I’m grumpy, but that does nothing to ease the feeling.
I don’t want to wait until tonight to see Addison.
I huff a frustrated breath, mostly annoyed with myself for how I’m feeling, and stride back through the door into the coffee shop. Then I halt in my tracks, blinking at what I’m sure is an apparition, but it doesn’t go away .
There’s an ethereal angel sitting in my coffee shop.
An angel with glowing, light brown hair haloed by the sun streaming through the windows.
Sun that shines straight through her sheer pink shirt to the tight, burgundy-lace cropped top she’s wearing underneath.
A laptop open in front of her barely registers on my radar as her elegant fingers tap away.
The moment breaks when she glances up and her eyes meet mine. The smile that breaks over her face, I swear to all that is holy, causes singing to rain down from the heavens. Probably straight through that beam of sunlight highlighting her.
I blink, and she tilts her head, as though asking if everything’s okay. I blink again, then force my lips to curve in response. It doesn’t feel real, and suddenly I’m no longer frustrated or annoyed. Suddenly, everything feels right in the world.
I slip behind the counter to dump the handful of utensils I was planning to restock, and Tori’s voice snaps me back into reality.
“You good, boss?” she says, and I nod.
My gaze slides back to Addison, her attention focused on her laptop again. God, this girl must be a witch. The hold she has on me after only a couple days. Did she slip me a love potion? I know I’m being ridiculous, but she’s fried my brain. It’s the only explanation.
I wander over to her table, trying not to show how desperate and eager I am for her company, her voice, her attention.
“You just couldn’t stay away, huh?” I say, knowing I’m being hypocritical to the extreme.
Addison blushes, much to my consternation and delight, indicating that’s exactly what’s going on. She glares at me, or tries to, and I grin.
“Good,” I say, folding my arms and leaning against her table. I angle my head down and lower my voice. “I haven’t stopped thinking about you since you left last night.”
She turns even more red, somehow, and I’m immensely satisfied with myself.
Her eyebrows raise, like she doesn’t believe me, so I nod in emphasis as I straighten back up.
“Can I make you a latte?” I offer, and her mouth opens, but nothing comes out.
“Is that a yes?” I say, then chuckle. “Did you lose your voice? You haven’t said one thing yet.”
“Well, you haven’t really given me the chance to, have you?” she says, all sass, and I’m obsessed. My eyes light up and she rolls hers.
“There it is. So, sweets, what’ll it be?”
“Fine, you can make me a cinnamon latte.”
“Oh, I can, can I?” I smirk, and she attempts to glare again, then lightly slaps my arm.
“You’re a menace this morning,” she says. “And I haven’t even had my coffee yet.”
“You’re right, I apologize. I’ll save all menacing until after you’ve had your caffeine fix.”
“Thank you,” she says, sticking her nose in the air, and I chuckle a bewildered laugh as I head back to the counter. I’m pretty sure there was nearly steam coming out of my ears only minutes ago, and now I feel like I could fart rainbows if I wanted to.
My gaze trips across everyone and everything else over the next couple hours, constantly being pulled back to the angel by the window. It just so happens that she can’t seem to keep her eyes off me either, I note with satisfaction.
She starts to pack up sometime after the lunch rush, and I saunter over.
“Done for the day?” I ask, and Addison sighs.
“Yeah, I think I’m ready to call it quits.”
“Hmm. Did you get any work done?” I ask.
Addison pauses her movements and turns to me, her eyes narrowed.
“What do you mean?”
“You claimed you were here to work, but it seemed to me that you spent more time staring at me than your laptop,” I say, failing to hide my teasing smirk.
Addison turns that adorable glare on me again, and my smirk turns to a full grin.
“So what? Maybe I was looking at the menu behind you. ”
“So…” I lean in again, close enough that our noses are only inches apart. Her gaze flickers between my eyes and my mouth. “I liked it.”
“Oh,” she breathes, the word puffing against my lips.
I lean back, giving her space again, and she simply stares at me before ducking to hide her smile.
“Just to be clear,” I say, “you are flirting with me, right? Because I’m flirting with you, but I can’t quite tell…” I quirk a brow, and she blinks, then blushes, then breaks into a short laugh.
“Ugh, I thought I was so much smoother than this.” Addison shakes her head as she speaks, a self-deprecating sort of crook to her mouth. “But you intimidate me, and I guess I’m out of practice.”
“So, is that a yes? To the flirting?”
Addison lifts a shoulder. “I guess it’s my attempt at it.”
“Good, just wanted to be sure,” I say, then I drop into the seat next to her and stretch out my legs, sliding one between hers under the table. She startles at the contact, then turns her wide eyes to me.
“Why do I intimidate you?”
“You, what?” Her voice is higher than usual, signaling her discomfort, but if we’re going to move forward she can’t be scared of me.
“You said I intimidate you, what about me makes you uncomfortable?”
“No, you don’t make me uncomfortable,” she says, and I pin her with a look, silently demanding the truth. “Okay, but not in a bad way. You’re just, so…”
She waves a hand in a swirling motion in front of me.
“So you, ” she concludes.
“And that means…”
“That you’re, you know. All confident and put together.
You always know exactly what you want and who you are and how to do everything.
You’re successful, I mean, you own a freaking business.
” At this, she swipes both arms out to her sides as she gestures around us.
I look around, taking in the space I practically eat, sleep, and breathe for.
“Plus, you’re Everly’s best friend. Isn’t that, I don’t know, kind of forbidden? ”
Well that was more than I was expecting. She certainly puts me on a pedestal, we’ll have to remedy that at some point. If anyone belongs on a pedestal, it’s her.
“Right, so you’re intimidated because I own a tiny coffee shop in the middle of nowhere Arizona, I know how to pretend like I have my shit together, and Everly is my best friend. That about right?”
“Well.” She gapes at me. “That’s not really—”
“Addison. I’m just a person. Sure, I’ve known that I’m nonbinary since I was little, and when I see something I want, I go for it.
” At this, I pause to give her another pointed look.
She pinches her lips between her teeth. “I don’t know how to do everything, in fact I’d say I know how to do very few things, and of those, I only do a couple well. And Everly?”
I scoff, shaking my head. “She’ll be thrilled. Her best friend and her sister? I bet she’s going to screech about how happy she is that two of her favorite people are together. I’d put money on it.”
Addison blinks at me, dark lashes fanning over wide blue eyes.
“Us?” she says, her voice soft and hopeful. “Together?”
“I’d like there to be an us, and an us, together .”
I cross my fingers under the table for luck, even though I’ve never been superstitious for a single other moment in my life.
“I’d like there to be an us together, too,” she says. I reach across the table to free her bottom lip from her teeth with my thumb, and her beaming smile could light up the room.
“Good,” I say with a nod.
Her smile doesn’t abate as she turns back to her bag. Under her breath, Addison starts to hum along with the music playing in the background as she finishes packing up and stands. I rise with her, and to my surprise and delight, she leans over and places a sweet, soft kiss on my cheekbone.
“See you tonight,” she says, hips swaying as she saunters out my front door.
My grin is unstoppable.