Page 19 of The Hampton Beach Café 6
Vincent stretched his arms up and over his head, twisting his spine as he did so.
“Listen…” he said quietly, “…if there is one thing I've learned about her is that she's not going to budge on a position without good reason. Also, that I should just listen to her and not push my luck when she’s made up her mind. If she says she's fine with it, she's fine with it.”
“But you see my point, don't you?” Frances pushed.
“I do,” he said. “You should figure out what you want to do, then talk to her. She's not going to be offended. She might shut you down, but she won't be upset with you.”
Figuring it all out was far easier said than done, especially with what she had learned from Adam about the loans. Frances nodded, feeling a sudden twinge of guilt. She had been so preoccupied with running the café and dealing with the Clarkson situation that she hadn't spent as much time with Lucinda as she would have liked.
“Yeah,” she said. “Thanks for the chat.”
Vincent gave her a wink, a mischievous glint in his eye.
“Anytime, boss.”
Frances chuckled, feeling a strong wave of gratitude towards Vincent—meeting him six months ago had been a total fluke, and yet he had become a friend, instrumental in co-founding and running the café.
It seems like he is pretty instrumental in Lucinda's life, too,Frances thought as she watched her friend notice them talking and smile broadly at them.
She really did need to figure this all out.
TWELVE
It was finally Wednesday night, and Frances was looking forward to her day off the next day, Thursdays being the quietest day in the café.
It has been a long week, and it is only half done,she thought.
Everything with Clarkson was still a complete mess—though she had spoken to Kennedy about him and had been relieved to find out that he wasn’t burning evidence or putting himself in danger. Well, criminal danger. According to her half-sister, he had gone on a four day long bender in Mexico with some influencer bros a good fifteen years younger than him and had spent the following week in bed and hungover. Though he claimed it was food poisoning. The resort they had been staying at wasn't very happy with them for the trouble they had caused, so to smooth things over, they were sticking around and doing a lot of free promotional work for them.
The thought of Clarkson wiling away the hours on a Mexican beach and calling itwork,while she was here trying to put her life back together, boiled her blood. She reminded herself that while he was in Mexico pretending to be twenty-five, he wasn't in town getting rid of vital evidence they might need to use against him in a court case. That and several deep breaths was the only reason she didn't totally lose it whenever she thought about it.
“Frances, Lauren Daniels just walked in,” Hayley said in a low whisper as she approached her behind the counter. “I think we should ask her to join us for a drink so we can ask her some questions about Malcolm.”
Frances had shared her suspicions about Lauren Daniels with Hayley earlier in the week. After a long talk with Alex, they had decided that the next time she was in town, they'd get together and confront her. Frances felt a twinge of anxiety in her stomach. She wasn't supposed to be in town for another few days, but Frances knew that it was time to face the woman.
“Okay, let's do it,” she said and followed Hayley to the front of the café. “I'll text Alex.”
Lauren was sitting at a table by herself, scrolling through her phone. She looked up when she saw Frances and Hayley approaching her.
“Hello, darlings,” Lauren said in her typical over-dramatic tone. “It's wonderful to see you. We have so much to talk about.”
“Hey, Lauren,” Frances said. “Would you like to join us for a drink?”
Lauren hesitated for a moment, but then she smiled.
“Of course, I'd love to,” she said. “Here? Not Here?”
“Not here,” Frances said. “I'd suggest the Wharf but there are so often paparazzi there, scum of the earth that they are. And I'm still getting death threats and hate mail because people think I'm dating Clarkson.”
Lauren cleared her throat as she busied herself with gathering her things. “Yes, yes terrible. Somewhere else, then.”
As Frances and Hayley left the café to Lucinda, Vincent, and Duncan, they exchanged a look of surprise. Lauren had hardly admitted to taking the photo of Frances and Clarkson all those months ago and sending it to the trash blog that'd published it, but she was obviously uncomfortable with it being brought up.
By the time they had made it to the bar, Frances had texted Alex, who was already there waiting for them in a booth near the back.
“How nice it is to see you, Lauren,” Alex said through a chilly smile that Frances was glad she had never been on the receiving end of.
“Hello,” Lauren said in something approaching a normal voice. “Yes, nice to see you. Are you…waiting for us?”
