Page 17 of Hearts on the Table
Lainey whirled on me. The movement whipped her ponytail around, wafting the scent of her floral shampoo into my face.
“Kinesiology? Not pre-med? Or Biochem or something?” She continued listing common medical majors, apparently not satisfied with my nod.
“It’s actually a good story. You should tell her over coffee, Sammy,” Connor butted in. “Molido has the best cold brew in town. Definitely worth the walk across the parking lot.”
“There’s always a crazy line,” the purple-haired one whispered, peering to look at the café that shared R3’s lot.
“Right? I tried to go there once after work and they said they were out of milk. I was gutted.” Lainey eyed the people waiting outside. “I’ve always wanted to go, though.”
“Sam can get you in, no line,” Will offered. No doubt payback for the pinch earlier. Asshole. He was barking up the wrong tree, anyway. Lainey didn’t do coffee. Or relationships. But despite these things, she looked up at me with those brown eyes, brows quirked.
“Can you?” She seemed… intrigued. Was she? Being a heart surgeon was usually enough to snag someone’s interest at a bar if I was out with friends and open to some company. That obviously wouldn’t fly with Lainey. But somehow, having an in at the coffee shop next door seemed to do the trick.
“Sure.” I pulled out my phone and nodded at the group around us before tapping it to life. Lainey’s goodbyes took slightly longer as she and the blonde talked quietly about seeing each other at the next Thursday class. I batted out a text while I pointedly ignored my brothers and their barely hidden smirks.
I followed Lainey out of the gym, both happy and tortured with the way her ass looked in her leggings. Habit made me look back at my brothers as I headed out the door, and I immediately wished I hadn’t. Will was air humping to some rhythm only he could hear while Connor flexed his arms, silent-screaming in a spot-on imitation of some pumped up wrestler entering the ring. I flipped them off as Meery burst into a fit of giggles and her friend blushed.
“Like I said, line out the door.” Lainey looked back at me, so sweetly unaware of the jackassery being conducted at her expense just a few feet away. I hustled her a little faster to ensure she didn’t see any of it. “I’ve been wanting to try this place forever. I have heard the cold brew here is insane. I swear, every time I open my Instagram I see a Molido cup with, like, a maple bacon cream latte or something. Have you had anything like that from here yet?”
“Hmm.” I shook my head, unable to put into words how little a maple bacon cream anything appealed to me. Despite my affection for this place, I had my limits. My phone buzzed in my hand. Thank God. It gave me something to focus on while she dropped her gym bag into the trunk of her car. She bent down—God help me—to pluck her phone and wallet out of the outer pocket.
“It must be good if it’s so popular. I was hoping they’d be able to do something crazy with a cold foam tea latte or something.”
I tapped out a response and pocketed the device. “We’ll see in a minute,” I muttered, stopping at the back of the line. It snaked around the parking lot. Lainey snorted.
“It’ll take more than a minute,” she shrugged, shielding her eyes from the sun. I stepped to the left to cast her in shadow. “It’s okay. I don’t have anywhere to be today.”
Not until her shift started later tonight. But revealing I knew that information qualified as creepy in most contiguous U.S. states, so I refrained. Something about her assertion nettled. “You don’t think I can get us in?”
She had the grace to look guilty. She probably thought it was far-fetched for her oatmeal attending to have a hookup at the most viral coffee shop in the city. My eyes narrowed.
“I can get us in.”
“It’s really okay. I’m sure you—”
“You’re not the only one who’s competitive, Lainey.”
Surprise registered on her face. I relished being the one to put it there, especially when it morphed into consideration. That feeling crept up on me again—that she was really seeing me, instead of just looking through me. “Are you?”
“Just because I don’t jostle for first dibs at an OR doesn’t mean I’m not competitive.” Lainey had a renowned reputation for jostling. Or bribing. Or doing pretty much anything she needed to get into whatever procedure she wanted. That wasn’t really my style, but growing up with two brothers and limited resources had made me plenty competitive. Slow and steady just happened to work for me more often.
Case in point, I was standing in the longest line imaginable with Lainey Carmichael, and she seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say. Miracle of miracles.
“Samuel Rodriguez Reese! What the fuck are you doing in line?”
Lainey, and everyone else in the parking lot, turned to see Santiago standing on the porch of the cafe, hands on his hips and scowling.
“Just come inside, for fuck’s sake. I don’t have time to chase you around the parking lot, you inconsiderate ass!”
“I didn’t want to assume.” My hand on Lainey’s back propelled her forward with me amid a mix of curious glances and frowns. People didn’t really look kindly on the fact that I could skip to the front while they stood for over thirty minutes in the sun.
He ushered us through the doors to a tiny table by the pastry case. The scent of coffee and melted butter greeted us the second we stepped in.
“Tiago, we could have just grabbed something to go—”
“Literally shut all the fuck up. You think you can just come tomi caféand wait outside in the elements like a common peasant? And with a lady friend, no less? I’m ashamed of you. Sit.”
He bent down to swipe a kiss across my cheek when I complied. My best friend was a touchy-feely kind of guy. It still didn’t stop me from giving him shit.
