Page 6 of Double Fault

“Hungry, are we?”

“I skipped lunch.” She shoots me a glare. “And growing a child is very exhausting work.” She sits at the table with her spoils and points to my sparkling water. “Ooh, give me one of those. A straw too.”

Arching a brow, I open a drawer and procure a metal straw. “Satisfied?”

“Thank you very much,” she says as she takes the can from me. “Alyssa must still be in her meeting.”

“I think so.” Plate in hand, I snag one slice for myself. “Do you have ice cream?”

She eyes my lone slice of pizza. “No vanilla. There’s cookie dough.”

I wrinkle my nose. “No thanks.”

Laughing, she picks up her second piece. “I’ve never met another person who loves plain old vanilla ice cream the way you do. I’ll DoorDash some.” With her free hand, she slides her phone closer.

“Don’t worry about it.”

She’s already opened her home and fed me dinner. I don’t need her to buy ice cream for me too.

With a roll of her eyes, she swipes at her phone’s screen. “You’ve had a bad day. The least I can do is have ice cream delivered.”

“Lu, you’re already letting me stay here. That’s more than enough. You even stocked the bathroom and?—”

“Shush. That’s what friends are for.” She waves away my concerns.

I can only hope that one day I’m in the position to extend the same kindness.

At the sound of Alyssa’s feet on the stairs, we turn toward the open family room.

“I smell pizza.”

“I didn’t feel like cooking.” Lu kicks her heels off beneath the table. To me she says, “Tell me why I didn’t take those off first thing.”

I bite into my crust. “I have no idea. Heels are the devil. Why do you think I love my boots so much?”

Alyssa sidles up to Lu and gives her a kiss. “Missed you, babe.”

“I missed you too.”

A pang of jealousy hits me. I want what they have—a person to share that kind of connection with. A connection that hasthe ability to make the rest of the world disappear when we’re together.

Lu spears me with a serious look. “A personal shopper position is opening up soon.”

I set my nibbled crust down. “I’m not interested in shopping for a bunch of obnoxious rich people. No offense.”

With a laugh and a glass of wine in hand, Alyssa joins us at the table.

“You shouldn’t be so picky.” Lucy is talking to me, but she’s smiling at Alyssa like she can’t tear her attention away. “It’s a job. A good paying one.”

“But it’s nowhere near what I want to do.”

“And being a waitress is? Or that silly summer job where you had to make balloon animals?”

“Hey, at least I got to be around kids with that one.”

“You could work with me for a year or so while you search for a job you really want. Surely there’s a school nearby hiring.”

“I’ve interviewed so many times.” My body sags. “I never get a call back, and the field is highly competitive right now. More than one person has told me they wouldn’t even consider hiring me without at least a year of teaching experience. The one time I asked how I was supposed to get that year of experience when so many of them think that way, I got hung up on.”

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