Page 33 of Summer Breakdown
Lani looks up at him, but she doesn’t need to. He’s squatting right next to her. “Ezra, can you pick me up?”
He frowns at her. “What do I get?”
“I have a drawing in my backpack,” she replies seriously.
“I’ll need to see it.”
Lani turns in her seat and hands things to Ezra (hairbands, socks, a carton of juice, crayons) until she pulls the paper out of her bag. She shows Ezra, and he hums in thought.
“Yellow,” he replies. “Good colour.” He thinks about it, but Frankie knows he’d give her anything. Then he shrugs. “Okay.” He puts her things back in her bag and picks her up out of her chair. She’s tiny.
Ezra smiles at her when she looks around the room. He wants a child so badly. Frankie should warn Jasmine that he might steal hers.
“Did you send me the link?” Ezra asks Jasmine, and Jasmine says that she will. What link? Why are they not sharing with the class? God forbid Frankie might want something from this link.
“What about the taxes?” Lani asks. “Should I help with that?”
“What tax should we pay?” Ezra asks, and Lani frowns in thought again.
“Ma can help you,” Marcel says, typing on his phone. “She’s an accountant.”
“You can?” Frankie asks, and Jasmine shrugs.
“Sure.”
Frankie needs to see her in a suit with a clipboard immediately.
“I’ve seen the size of her house,” Ezra says. “We can’t afford her.”
“True,” Jasmine replies. She sits on the edge of the desk, crossing one leg over the other, her hands on the edge of the table and her back arched. Like she’s picked the exact pose to drive Frankie crazy. The skin of her back is out. Is that even legal in an office environment?
“When did you see her house?” Frankie asks, her eyes trained to the curve of Jasmine’s arse. Her words come out alittle more defensive than she meant them to be. Well, than she meant to show. She likes to have an air of disinterest around her, but that disappears the moment Jasmine is in the vicinity. There’s never been someone she craved as much. There’s never been someone she fumbled with this badly.
“Picked her up for the quiz, Mum,” Ezra replies. “Is that alright, or would you like my whereabouts twenty-four-seven?” Prick.
“What quiz?”
Ezra rolls his eyes. Jasmine looks amused. Frankie is losing her cool.
“The one at Carl’s,” he replies. “The quiz we go to every other week.”
“Oh.” Frankie didn’t know Jasmine went this week. It would make sense, seeing as that’s how she met her. But Jasmine said she wanted to make friends, and then Frankie had discounted herself from that within hours. But Jasmine is perfect, so she made friends anyway.
“Frankie, if you go next time, we can FaceTime,” Lani says casually.
Frankie’s eyebrows rise until Ezra explains.
“Lani called Jas on Thursday, but she really wanted to talk to me.”
Lani giggles, Jasmine smiles, and Frankie is hideously jealous.
“What accounting do you need help with?” Jasmine asks. Frankie looks at Ezra expectantly, but she realises Jasmine is asking her, not him. She’s looking at her from underneath her cap. Frankie wants to kiss her.
“Did you buy that top here?” Frankie asks, in lieu of answering her question.
“Obviously,” Jasmine replies. Frankie can’t tell if she’s annoyed at her questioning. It might just be her voice. “As if we would turn up in knock-offs. Well, maybe we will, if Lani wants another one.” Her nose screws up as she tries not to smile.
“Why does it look that good on you?”
