Page 43 of Love You A Latte

“You’re sure Everly is cool with keeping an eye on Roasted for that long?” I ask.

Frankie had called Everly from the truck as soon as they heard the good news, and she immediately agreed to help out—for an entire week—while Frankie was gone. The two teenagers Frankie hired seemed to think Frankie was being silly for worrying that they couldn’t handle it on their own, and Frankie rolled their eyes at their casual dismissal of the situation.

I know Frankie did a good job training them, though. They’ll be fine, especially with Everly there if anything sticky comes up.

“Yeah,” Frankie says. “It’ll be fine, I trust your sister. She spends half her time at Roasted anyways. Stop worrying.”

I’m unpacking my suitcase in my bedroom when Frankie wraps their arms around me from behind. True to their word, they didn’t bat an eye at the multi-million dollar beach house I live in.

I turn in their embrace and twine my arms around their neck.

“Well, if you’re sure you can stay that long,” I say, “I’ve got an idea of something we could do…”

“Check out all your favorite local coffee shops so you can tell me how much better my mochas are?”

I laugh. “Sure, if that’s what you want.”

“Parade me around town and show me off to all your fancy, rich friends?”

“I don’t have any fancy, rich friends, but I’ll happily parade you around anywhere you’d like to go.”

Frankie starts swaying our bodies slightly as they continue to tease me.

“You’ll let me ravish you in every single room of this massive house?”

I grin. “Obviously.”

“Am I getting close?”

“Hmm,” I tip my head sideways. “Parade was kind of close.”

Frankie’s gaze darts to the side as their eyes narrow,trying to figure it out for real now.

“Give up?” I taunt.

“Fine,” Frankie says. “What will we do?”

“Go to Pride, of course! San Diego issoextra. A month isn’t enough for us, so we celebrate in July too. The parade is the day before we fly back, and there’s always fun events, shows, music, drag, everything! The whole weekend! It’s really fun, what do you think?” I end up talking so fast I wonder if they can keep up with what I’m saying.

Frankie is grinning, though.

“You know, I’ve never been to a real Pride celebration. Stone Ridge only puts up a few flags for the month and calls it good.”

“I figured,” I say. “Soooo is that a yes?”

“Yeah, sweets. Let’s go to Pride.”

Frankie twirls our bodies and dips me into a kiss. I laugh against their lips, then dance my tongue against theirs as they pull me upright and back us into the bed.

~~~

I go into the office for at least a few hours every day over the next week to get my old desk cleared out and pick up my new laptop, have IT get everything set up for me, complete all the transfer paperwork with HR, meet my new in-person coworkers and manager, and receive the key card I’ll need to get into the new office building. We also do as much onboarding as we can while I’m in town, since I don’t plan to be here next week.

When I’m not at the office, I’m working from home trying to close out my current position and ensure I have everything ready to transfer starting next week. I asked if it could be as quick a turn-around as possible, and HR didn’t push back when I proposed a one week timeline.

On the one hand, I wanted to make the chances of seeing Benji as small as possible. On the other, part of me wanted to confront him. For the first time since we broke up years ago, I’m confident in who I am and my place in this world. I feel like I could hold my shoulders straight and look him in the eye without cowering or cringing away. I realize thatknowing that, having the resolve and belief in myself, is enough.

In the end, I’m glad I didn’t see him. He doesn’t deserve any more of my time or energy.

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