Almost You Again

Chapter One

“Hello, princess,” Barrett said right before Iris heard tiny paws padding across the wooden floor of their office.

She gritted her teeth before turning in Barrett’s direction. However, she didn’t look directly at the woman in question. Instead, Iris focused her attention, as she did every morning when they played this game, on the tiny fluffball heading her way.

When Oscar reached her desk, he stood on his hind legs, front paws tapping excitedly at her shin. He wasn’t the kind of dog she’d have expected of Barrett: a woman annoyingly self-possessed, smug, and singularly frustrating.

As Iris scooped Oscar up into her lap, murmuring in welcome to him, she heard Barrett laugh and head to her own desk. As she always did.

Their office was tiny. Just three of them there, which made avoiding Barrett Campbell basically impossible. But that was a small price to pay to work at Burrow, a queer architecture firm, doing the work she loved.

Well, queer when it came to the three human members of staff.

After checking with the other two, Barrett had taken to bringing her rescue dog, Oscar, to work with her.

Iris and Penn, the owner of the business who didn’t often act like they owned it, had fallen completely in love with Oscar, and Iris was now fairly certain he was the only reason she put up with Barrett.

That and the love of her job, of course.

And the fact that Barrett was, annoyingly, a good architect.

“So much to say to that guy,” Barrett remarked after dropping into her desk chair, “but nothing for me? He doesn’t even speak English.”

“He’s nice to me,” Iris replied dryly, finally looking at Barrett.

Another dark ensemble. Sleek, a little edgy, as was her usual style. And all of it ruined by the superior grin plastered across her face.

“I’m nice to you, princess,” she replied, that light dancing in her eyes like it did every time she was winding up Iris or Penn. Never Oscar. He was her beloved, her baby, and the only one she was ever soft with.

Iris shot her a dark look before turning back to her desk, keeping Oscar curled up on her lap. “You’re tolerable at best. He is nice.”

“So, you’d like me better if I curled up in your lap every day?”

Iris’ hands flexed over her keyboard, her shoulders stiffening as she prayed Barrett wasn’t looking in her direction. “Don’t even try it.”

Barrett laughed. “Just trying to figure out what you want from me, princess. However, I don’t think it’s workplace appropriate to offer the other thing he does that I don’t…”

Iris’ brain stalled as she tried to figure out what Barrett was talking about. This was the last thing she needed. She had three calls and four emails to reply to. Not to mention some sketches that needed attending to.

Something Oscar did that would be inappropriate for Barrett to offer… Iris couldn’t figure it out. Sitting in her lap was bad enough.

She sighed in frustration. “Barrett, I’m trying to work, and I’m certain you have things to do outside annoying me.”

“It’s not even nine yet.” Her voice was soft and closer to Iris’ ear from rolling her chair across the small office.

Stealing herself, Iris turned her face in Barrett’s direction. Far too close. She found herself staring into amused, amber eyes.

“The boss isn’t even in,” Barrett continued, glancing briefly down as she reached to brush the back of one hand over Oscar’s little head.

Iris huffed and turned back to her computer. “Some of us aren’t children in need of constant supervision in order to get our work done.”

“Oh, I don’t need supervision to do my best work, princess. Believe me.” Without giving Iris a chance to reply, she rose from her seat, pausing only momentarily to ask, “Coffee?”

“Sure. Thank you.”

It was unfortunately another of Barrett’s seemingly endless skills—she’d been one hell of a barista back in college.

Though, Iris tried to be less frustrated with that one since it meant the office was kept ridiculously well served with incredible drinks.

At first, she’d tried to resist, insisting Barrett didn’t need to spend the time or effort making her fancy drinks, but Barrett didn’t seem to come in a less extra setting.

And, once she’d tasted the cappuccino, Iris hadn’t been able to refuse future coffees.

Even if they had come with a side of unwanted information on how Italians felt about cappuccinos.

That wasn’t presently a problem, however, since, as Barrett had pointed out, it wasn’t even nine in the morning.

It was a perfectly reasonable time of day to be drinking one.

As Iris sucked in a steadying breath when she was left alone by Barrett disappearing into the back, her phone disturbed her peace, lighting up with Jemma’s name.

One hand found Oscar’s fur as she hesitated. She didn’t generally answer personal calls at work, but it wasn’t yet her working hours, and, if she didn’t answer, Jemma would probably keep trying until she did.

“Hello,” she said, glancing in the direction Barrett had gone just to ensure she was still alone.

“Iris!” Jemma’s energetic tone called down the line and directly into Iris’ ear.

It was then that she realized just how softly Barrett had been speaking. Of course, her rich voice was naturally deeper and softer than Jemma’s, but the sudden contrast between the two felt particularly alarming.

“Jemma,” Iris replied as her thumb fumbled for the volume button. “What can I do—”

“You’re still coming tonight, right?” Jemma sounded doubtful, making Iris frown.

“Of course. I said I’d be there. Repeatedly.”

“And you didn’t change your mind?”

“No? Should I have?” She looked down into Oscar’s single, black eye, as even he seemed to pick up on the bizarre exchange, tilting his head from side to side in a bid to understand the sudden tension he undoubtedly felt coursing through Iris’ body.

“If there’s something going on that I need to know about—”

“There’s not,” Jemma said quickly. Maybe a little too quickly. “Why would there be something going on?”

“You tell me.”

She laughed. “Always so suspicious. Everything’s fine. I’m just checking you’re not skipping out on all of us.”

“No plans at present to do so,” Iris hedged.

Jemma generally liked to check a couple of times that she was attending group gatherings, but this was definitely different.

“Okay. Great!” She paused. “I’m bringing someone.”

The muscles in Iris’ back sagged, melting back into her cushioned office chair. “Oh, yeah? That’s fantastic news!”

If this whole thing was simply because Jemma had met someone new and was anxious about how them meeting her friends was going to go, Iris could handle that.

She heard Barrett moving around in the back as she waited for Jemma to say more. They didn’t really have time for the stop-start conversation, but she wasn’t going to rush her friend when this was clearly throwing up a lot of emotions.

“Yeah,” Jemma finally said, her smile audible. “We met online and have only been on a couple of dates but it’s going really well.”

Iris smiled. “I’m happy for you and I can’t wait to meet them.”

“Her.”

“I can’t wait to meet her.”

“So, you’ll be on time and everything?”

Iris’ smile faltered. “Of course. It’s Anya’s birthday. I’ll be there. On time.”

“Thanks, Iris. I’m so excited to have the whole group back together again.”

Iris hummed. She supposed it had been a minute since their group had gotten together. Life, work, and everything else getting in the way.

“Well, I’ll see you tonight,” Jemma said, sounding positively giddy again. Perhaps that was what falling in love did for you. Iris wouldn’t know. After her last relationship, she’d somewhat sworn off the whole thing.

“Yeah,” she said, something uneasy still poking at her insides. “I’ll see you later.”

And she’d barely finished speaking before Jemma had hung up. Probably off to call the next member of their group to ensure they were attending—both to celebrate Anya and to meet her mystery woman.

“Taking personal calls at work, princess? Scandalous.” Barrett smirked as she leaned against Iris’ desk, sipping her own coffee and sliding Iris’ cappuccino along the smooth wood.

Iris tried to clear her throat subtly after sucking in a mouthful of air in surprise. She hadn’t heard Barrett returning. Although, it had been hard to hear much over the odd energy coming from Jemma.

She’d introduced her dates to the group before and it hadn’t been like this. She must really like the new woman if she was this nervous about them all meeting and making a good impression.

“As you pointed out,” Iris said, recovering her usual dynamic with Barrett, “it’s not nine yet.”

Barrett grinned knowingly at her. “Uh-huh. So, personal calls are cool but chatting with your colleagues is off-limits?”

Iris narrowed her eyes, glaring up at Barrett. “We’re chatting right now.”

“Highlight of my day, princess.”

“Ugh. Is there something I can help you with?”

“How’s the coffee?”

Iris wrinkled her nose. She wanted to drink it, but she didn’t want to do so when it felt like an order coming from Barrett. Still, leaving it to get cold and go to waste was not an option.

She lifted the mug to her lips and couldn’t resist humming softly when it hit her tongue.

She wasn’t the coffee connoisseur Barrett was, so she couldn’t pick up every tasting note or the processing it went through to get to them, but she knew it was different from the one they’d been drinking lately, and she knew she loved it.

Barrett already looked triumphant when Iris met her gaze, but she was trying to hide it behind sipping her own coffee.

“It’s delicious,” Iris said sincerely. She and Barrett might not be friends, but she wasn’t going to be ungrateful.

“I thought you might like that one.”

“What? Why? How?”

Barrett shrugged, turning sharply and heading back to her own desk. “Lucky guess.”

Iris stared at her back. There was more to it than that.

She sipped the coffee again. Maybe coffee experts could just guess that someone would like certain coffees?

Maybe Barrett had done something different while making it?

Whatever it was, she clearly wasn’t keen on sharing. Everyone was in an odd mood today.

Apparently sensing Iris’ gaze, Barrett spun her chair around and shot Iris a knowing look. “Want to share what you’re up to later, princess?”

Iris’ body stiffened again and she shook her head. If everyone else was being weird and evasive this morning, so was she. “No.”