The snort Rob gave her and the way his eyes lit up doubled the anxiety. All three of them? An online dating site? The idea made her shudder.

She looked from one to the other, finding no sympathy on either face. “Why do you both hate me?”

Andy patted her leg. “It’s because we love you. And if you buy any more fish, I’m going to wonder if you’ve replaced sex with fish, and that’s just strange.”

“I like my fish.”

Rob laughed. “Lesbian.”

Both Andy and Frazer turned their looks on him, and he quietened down. “Sorry. But come on. That was funny.” They didn’t take their glares off him. His eyes widened as his gaze darted from one to the other. “So. Frazer,” he tried. “Hasn’t been on a date in, like, forever…”

With a sniff, Andy turned back to Frazer. “So, come out with us this weekend, or online profile it is.”

Frazer couldn’t think of anything worse. She loved a night at the bar, but not one in which her friends tried to pimp her out. “I have a date already.”

She did?

“You do?”

The surprise in Andy’s voice hurt more than it should have.

“Yeah. With, uh…” Frazer’s own eyes widened at the name that came out, “Lauren. From work.”

Rob’s hand froze on the way to take a sip of his drink. “You’re going to date someone from work?”

“Well.” Frazer gathered all the fake bravado she could. “It went so well last time.”

Andy snorted again.

* * *

“She’s obnoxious.”

“I know.”

Her sigh was heavy enough to ensure her best friend heard it over the line. Cora gripped the phone more tightly as she walked down a corridor crowded with patients and nurses.

“But Lisa, she’s really obnoxious.”

“I get it. But the programme sounds like a great one, and you can keep her head to a reasonable size.”

With a side-step, she danced past an orderly with a cleaning cart. “Fat chance,” she said.

“Do you like her proposal?”

Shoulders drooping, Cora nodded. “Yes.”

“Do you think it will benefit lots of people?”

Another sigh. “Yes.”

“So go help.”

Frazer’s office door loomed ahead of her, and Cora stopped in front of it. “Fine, oh reasonable one. I’ve got to go. Give my love to your mum.”

“Will do. Enjoy the next hour.”

“Har har.” Cora pressed the end call button with more force than necessary, straightened, and knocked on the door. Her best friend was really not helpful sometimes.

At the muffled “come in,” Cora took a breath and did just that.

It was for a good cause.

Frazer greeted her from her desk. “Hey, Cora. Thanks for meeting me here. I’ve got everything all set up on my computer and anything that’s on paper here, so it seemed easier.”

“No problem.” Cora slid into a chair. “It was easy enough. No birthing mothers?”

Frazer nodded to the pager next to her keyboard. “There are always babies coming. It’s almost as if they don’t follow a schedule.”