Page 7 of From Fling to Ring

Gilly whoops and a spray of beer hits Petal. It’s a damn good thing she misses me.

Petal covers her hand with her mouth, but in the next moment, she realizes it’s futile. She and Gilly are doubled over in laughter at my misfortune.

“You have no idea how upset I am about this ‘work assignment’,” I say. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Gilly holds a finger up. “I’ve got it. The perfect solution. Well, it might not be the perfect solution, but it might ease the pain of your crappy assignment.”

She and Petal dissolve into giggles. Again.

I wait for them to catch their breath. “What? What’s your brilliant idea, Gills?”

She straightens up, trying to look serious. “You can… take Petal with you on your research. She’s only working one day a week now at the bookstore, so she has tons of time.”

Petal’s head snaps in Gilly’s direction and if looks could kill, I’d definitely be down one friend. “That… that’s not true, Gil. I’m very busy. You know I am.”

Gilly shakes her head sadly. “Now, Petal, that’s not what you told me earlier today. In fact, you said you were a little bored and needed something to fill your days. You said you might even join your mom in her charity activities. You know, like all rich housewives do.”

Petal’s back goes ramrod straight. “I am not a housewife!”

Gilly presses her lips together and looks at Petal with all the suspicion she can muster. “But you are looking for something to do with your days, no? And you are rich, right? So you kinda are…”

I toss my backpack over my shoulder. “You know what, I’m gonna head out. I have an early morning?—”

“Really? What time do the public restrooms open?” Petal asks with wide eyes.

More laughter.

I put a hand on my hip. I’ve been friends with these two since kindergarten, when Petal was in the habit of peeing her pants. This might be a good time to remind her of that.

But first things first.

“Not sure when they open, but when I do find out I’ll come pick you up and you can explore them with me. In fact, you can be the photographer in case I find some interesting people frequenting them, people who might be good to interview.”

Horrified, Petal takes two steps back and bumps into a cluster of hockey players who appear to have consumed a lot of beer.

Like a lot, a lot.

“Watch it, baby,” one of them calls, catching her as she stumbles.

“Oh shit, dude, that’s Rake’s wife you just called baby,” another one says.

The guilty hockey player, one I’ve seen at these events before but who I don’t know, turns to Petal. “M’lady, I am heartily sorry for addressing you so,” he says with a bow.

Shit. He’s kind of cute. In fact, they’re all pretty damn cute.

But I’m not getting involved with one of Petal’s husband’s friends. That would be too weird, us both with hockey guys.

Hell, it wasn’t that long ago we’d never even been to a San Francisco Aftershocks game. And look at us now, sucking down their free beer.

“Seriously, guys,” I say to Petal and Gilly, “there’s an early meeting at work. We have to be there at nine a.m.—”

“That’s early?” Petal says.

“Yes, yes, it is. For us, anyway. We don’t have a lot of team meetings, and Michaela said to be on time.”

The girls cringe. They know my boss is cool and asking us to come in ‘early’ must mean something is up.

“Hey, ladies.”

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