Nina tapped an elegant finger against Charlotte’s wrist, jerking her out of her nostalgia. “Hey, you okay? That got a little intense.” She jutted her chin toward their booth.
Charlotte had to put more effort than usual into her answering smile, but she got there eventually. She waggled her hand in the universal sign for eh. “I’m still conscious.”
Nina raised a quizzical eyebrow before laughing. “You are so weird.”
“You’re not wrong.” Charlotte drummed her fingers on the bar. She could hear Terry’s voice in the kitchen, gravelly but encouraging as a Tom Petty song played on the radio. Another soundtrack of life at Hein that she still knew the notes to. If only she could record the sounds of campus and take them back to the city with her.
“This whole weekend is weird,” she added.
Nina grunted and leaned forward to rest her chin on her folded arms. “I know what you mean.” She didn’t look unhappy, but Charlotte had always found Nina harder to read than the rest of their friends. When she wanted to, she could box up her emotions just as well as Charlotte.
“You must miss Eliza,” she ventured. Her tone made it clear that Nina could take the subject or leave it.
Nina shifted on the stool and sat up straight again. Her sneakers squeaked as she bopped her feet together. “I do,” she said carefully. “But, at the risk of sounding like a bitch, it’s been…nice? Being here without her?”
Charlotte sat down on the stool next to her.
“I associate everything here with her. But I know if Eliza were here, the whole reunion would be wrapped up in our drama. I wouldn’t appreciate seeing you and Amy. And Jackie.” She peered over her shoulder at their friends. “It used to be fun, always focusing on her. Wondering if she’d text me back. If we’d leave together at the end of the night. But now all that just seems exhausting.”
Charlotte remembered her excitement every time Reece texted her last night. He didn’t distract her from enjoying her friends. If anything, he gave her something wonderful to look forward to, sunny potential on the horizon. She had known his texts were building to something. Reece wasn’t the type to dip out if something better came along. She could trust him.
Ben, on the other hand…A text from her ex-boyfriend used to suck the air out of the room.
Now that she thought about it, she felt the same way when she got a Slack message from Roger.
Nina was still watching Jackie and Amy chat across the restaurant. New worry lines gathered on her forehead. “There were things I didn’t notice with Eliza always around.” She turned back to Charlotte. “Can I ask you something?”
Charlotte had a hunch that she knew where this was going. “Of course.”
Nina frowned. She addressed her question to Charlotte’s left earlobe. “Am I way off base, or is Jackie into me?”
Oh hell yes.
Charlotte bit back her glee. “She hasn’t said anything to me, but it’s not like she’s subtle.”
Immediately Nina relaxed, her teeth pearly white as she mirrored Charlotte’s smile. “No, she is not.” She laughed. “There’s been a vibe this weekend, and y’know, when at Hein!”
There was beauty in Nina’s smile, how obviously bemused she was by the situation she’d found herself in. She was changing the script. Instead of spending the weekend on campus pining for her ex-girlfriend, Nina had opened herself up to something entirely different.
Without Eliza around to pull Nina’s focus, she and Jackie made a certain kind of sense. They were both unapologetic women, assertive and independent. And as adults as opposed to college babies, they were mature enough to sleep together and handle any complications that might arise the morning after. Charlotte approved.
When at Hein, indeed.
Nina gave her wrist a grateful squeeze. “Thank you, Char. I hope you get some quality time with Jackie too. I know she was excited to see you.”
Charlotte smiled uneasily, thinking of her plan to spend the afternoon at the quarry with Reece. But she and Jackie would go to the clothing swap later, and then to dinner after that. They had plenty of time before Roger arrived and she had to turn back into Work Charlotte.
Nina glanced around the restaurant for a server. “Let’s pay so I can go flirt.”
Charlotte leaned over the counter and craned her neck to glimpse into the kitchen. She could see an elbow and the heel of an old sneaker. Laughter bubbled over the warble of the Dave Matthews Band.
“Oi, Terry!” she called out.
Terry’s face popped around the corner immediately, his mouth caught midlaugh. “What? Oh snap, look who it is.” The rest of Terry followed his head out of the kitchen. “I was wondering if I’d ever see you again.”
Charlotte met his high five with a firm smack. “Hi, boss.”
“You look great, Thorne. Long hair suits you.” He looked her over fondly like a favorite uncle. “Glad to see you’re not skin and bones anymore. Ready to cash out?” He swept their check and Nina’s credit card from the counter and whirled around to the register in one smooth motion. “Where you living now? D.C.?”
“Brooklyn.”
“Ah, good for you, kid. You workin’ hard?”
She never knew if it was his soft Boston accent or his salt-and-pepper hair, but Terry exuded kindness. He was whip-smart and embedded in local politics, but he treated everyone who worked at his restaurant the same way. If you were hungry, he fed you. If you were short a few bucks, he put it on a tab that never needed to be paid. If you needed a ride home during a blizzard, he threw your bike in the back of his minivan and dropped you off at your dorm.
Charlotte sighed. “Too hard.” He tutted under his breath as he slid Nina her bill to sign. “I miss it here. Best job I ever had.”
“You get tired of those schmucks in New York, you come back here. We got new merch and everything.” He gestured to his blue T-shirt. It featured an anthropomorphized nacho chip wearing sunglasses. “Look at ’im,” Terry boasted. “Ain’t he cute?”
Nina caught Charlotte’s eye, and she fought the urge to laugh.
“Adorable,” she said. “Unsettling, but adorable.”
“Ey, no free shirt for you with that attitude.” Terry waggled his finger, but he was still grinning. “Let me get you some nachos to go, yeah? On the house.” He barged back into the kitchen, already shouting orders.
Plastic plates clattered in the kitchen as they hit the floor. “Ey, ey, slow down!” Terry cried out, more alarmed than angry. “No need to rush, Rico, take it easy. Don’t want you getting hurt.”
“That nacho looks constipated,” Nina observed. She slid her credit card back into her wallet and stood up. “Excuse me, I have wooing to do.”
