Page 94 of Don't You Dare Marry Me

Nicola shrugged slightly, plastering on an innocent and confused smile. “Yeah?”

“Fine, but you’re not going to stand there and do nothing.” Tommie tossed a washcloth at her. “We need to scrub the floors before open, and the back behind the bar needs scrubbed today.”

“Perfect.” Nicola could do that. She could focus on cleaning and ignore the fact that the world around her was an absolute dumpster fire that she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to surface from.

Thirty minutes into their cleaning fest, Nicola finally broached the topic that was weighing on her. Tommie had far more connections in this part of town than Nicola did, and like she’d thought when she was talking to Simone—it was time to ask for help.

“Do you know of any studio apartments for rent? Or anyone looking for a roommate? Despite what happened when we met, I promise you that I’m not full of drama.” Nicola wrung out the washcloth and grabbed the scrubby to keep cleaning.

Tommie narrowed her eyes as she thought. “There’s a few studios in my building that I think just came on the market.”

“Neighbors?” Nicola chuckled lightly. “I see how this works.”

“When do you need it by?” Tommie asked, ignoring Nicola’s comment.

“As soon as possible.” She’d almost saidtonight,but she caught herself and changed it last minute. She didn’t needTommie knowing that she didn’t actually have a place to stay that night. But Tommie had been around the block a time or two, and it was damn clear that she wasn’t buying Nicola’s comment.

“You don’t have a place to stay tonight, do you?”

“No,” Nicola confessed. “I was just going to crash in my car.”

“That’s not safe. Not even in the nicest of neighborhoods.” Tommie stopped mopping and stared at Nicola hard. “You can crash with me for the week, but then you have to find your own place.”

“Really?” Nicola furrowed her brow. “I didn’t think you liked me.”

“I don’t.” Tommie’s lips twitched upward into a half-smile. “But Warren did you dirty, and I don’t like him more.”

“I…” Nicola squinted at her. “What do you mean by that?”

“He’s a regular here, Nicola. You think I don’t know what he’s been getting up to these last few years?”

“Oh.” So this was all because of pity and the fact that Tommie felt guilty about Warren’s cheating. She wasn’t sure she wanted to take it then, but it was a place to stay for a little while.

“And it wasn’t like you came in here asking to crash at my place. You’re trying to figure your own shit out. I’m glad you dumped the fucker.”

Did Nicola tell her that she wasn’t the one who broke it off? That she wasn’t the one who actually took that final step? Would it matter in the long run?

“He’s a piece of work, just like his aunt.”

“His aunt?” Nicola went back to cleaning the bar back. She had no idea what to say. She’d thought they were similar at first, but the more she’d gotten to know Abagail, the more she’d realized just how different the two of them were. They were never that much alike. Warren was a spoiled brat, and Abagail worked her ass off even when she didn’t have to.

“She’s a bitch.”

Nicola chuckled lightly at that.

“Rude,” Tommie added. “But she does always pay her bill and tip well.”

“She would,” Nicola murmured. Because Abagail wasn’t so disconnected from society to understand just how hard a waitress worked to make a living.

“She’s just… bitchy.”

“Bitchy? Really? Or is it that she’s closed off and not warm and fuzzy?” Nicola had no idea why she was even defending Abagail. They weren’t together anymore, and she was damn sure that Abagail wouldn’t find it necessary at all for Nicola to be doing it.

“I guess she’s got a bad case of RBF.”

Nicola laughed at that. “Yeah, she does.”

“I suppose you know her well because of Warren.”

---