Page 45 of Christmas in Coconut Creek

My phone slipped through my fingers and clattered to the hardwood beneath the table.

“Shit,” I swore, attempting to reach it without moving too much as the hands on my lower back stilled.

“You good, Phee?” Natalia asked from somewhere to my left.

I stretched my fingers as far as they would go to no avail. The text screen lit up and mocked me from a distance.

“I’m good,” I lied, then attempted to sit up so I could grab the phone myself before the masseuse did. In doing so, the very small towel covering my modesty pooled behind my knees and left me entirely, embarrassingly exposed in the small room.

“I’ve got it, ma’am,” the woman said, lifting the towel again to cover me.

“No, no, no. Don’t worry, don’t touch—thanks. Just leave it.” I chuckled nervously as I lay back down. “Distracting thing anyways. Don’t need it in the slightest.”

Ourconversationcontinuedwellpast the hours spent at the spa and bled into the next day. Frankie texted me from a Piggly Wiggly as Natalia and I sorted through racks of vintage clothes at a consignment shop across town.

Frankie <3:Who knew there was a difference between baking soda and baking powder?

Ophelia:Most people

Frankie <3:No fucking way

“Did you even get any sleep last night?” Natalia stole my attention as she held two shirts up against one another in the mirror.

The real answer was no, because even after Frankie and I mutually decided on calling it a night, I scrolled like a psycho through the full day’s conversation with a dumb grin under the covers in the dark.

“Did you know Frankie actually speaks three languages?” I asked Nat.

“English, Spanish, and desperate. Did you sext him after I went to bed?”

“No, Jesus Christ. I told you we’re just chatting.”

“Nobody ‘chats’ that much.” She flung one of the shirts back onto the clothing rack. “Just let me know when I have to plan the shotgun wedding. What are you giggling at over there?”

My lip quivered. “He doesn’t know the difference between baking powder and baking soda.”

Natalia looked at me like I’d grown an extra head and a confused wrinkle formed between her brows. “Holy fuck, Phee. You’ve got it bad.”

After a full day of browsing without thephysicaldistraction that was Frankie, I had thankfully returned to the apartment with all my Christmas shopping done. The hardest part would then be figuring out a way to fit all the extra baggage in my suitcase in two weeks—but that was a hurdle to jump when I got there.

Nat had long since retired with her phone to her ear and a sultry lilt to her voice as her bedroom door clicked closed. I couldn’t help but feel like an intruder on her and Mateo’s relationship no matter how adamantly she shot it down. Maybe I’d never felt the way those two did about each other with someone before, but if it was even a hiccup of the warmth I felt simmering with Frankie, I couldn’t blame Nat as far as I could throw her.

Frankie <3:Tell me something good

When I chanced a look at the time glowing in the corner of my phone I realized it was nearing one in the morning.

Ophelia:Like what?

Frankie <3:When did you lose your virginity?

The metronome of my pulse picked up inside my ears.

Ophelia:Not until college actually

Frankie <3:Who was he?

Ophelia:Don’t laugh at me

Frankie <3:No promises

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