No. Frazer had no idea about any of it and should therefore keep her mouth shut.

“Are you happy?”

Or just ignore her own advice and ask a deep and philosophical question.

Turning on her chair, Cora looked at her. Her elbow leaned heavily against the bar top. “What is that?”

The look in her eye had Frazer shifting in her seat. It was genuine, almost a challenge. “What?” Even though Frazer knew exactly what.

“Happy. What even is that?”

They looked at each other for a moment. “Good question.”

Giving a nod, Cora turned back to her drink and Frazer reached for the bourbon she was using as a chaser. This was not the conversation she had expected to fall in to. Stupid big mouth.

“Are you going to leave?” She finally asked. Because since she had ignored her own advice the first time, Frazer might as well keep asking deeply private questions.

“One day.”

“Okay.”

“Want more tequila?”

“Okay.”

The burn of tequila and the sound of drunken laughter were all Frazer could remember of the next hour. A lot of laughter about things that probably weren’t very funny. Unlike at work, Cora had a sarcasm that bordered on delightful and was enjoyably odd.

Or maybe that was the tequila talking.

* * *

The night air was cool, and Cora had no real memory of leaving the bar. Yet here she was, leaning heavily against Frazer while the woman looked for a taxi. It was lucky Frazer was a head taller, because Cora fit nicely against her shoulder and didn’t have to do a lot to hold herself up. Work was going to suck tomorrow.

She let out a groan. The human pillow under her head bounced a little, and a chuckle reached her ears.

“Why are you laughing at me?” Cora murmured.

“You groaned like a dying cow.”

“Well, you will too when I tell you what of I thought… I mean, what I thought of.”

“What’s that?”

“We have work in five hours.” The answering groan made Cora chortle. Her eyes were still closed. She crossed her arms over her chest. “See? That thought brings forth dying cow sounds.” A yawn practically smothered the next sentence. “It will henceforth be called the ‘dying cow noise.’”

“C’mon, you.”

The warmth of the taxi just barely registered. Cora was half-asleep in seconds, leaning against the window. Numbness through alcohol wasn’t the best way to deal with emotions. But that didn’t mean it was the worst, and it was working beautifully right now. As they drew closer to her house, though, Cora felt most of that happiness fading. It would be quiet and oppressive in her house, and she didn’t want to be there. Being somewhere easy sounded better, and right then, Frazer was easy. Frazer and her incredibly comfortable shoulder Cora had accidentally ended up leaning against.

Slightly stumbling steps took her out of the taxi, and she clung to the open door, sifting through her bag with one hand to find some cash. It didn’t really surprise her when Frazer appeared on the other side of the door.