CHAPTER SEVEN

“Coffee?”

In the gap between the door and the frame, a coffee waggled, suspended by a hand with a fine silver watch on the wrist.

“God, yes.” Frazer said.

As expected, Cora appeared from behind the door and sunk onto the chair opposite Frazer. A crease appeared between her eyebrows as she examined the room

“Frazer.” She looked her dead in the eye. “Your office is boring.”

Insulted, Frazer looked around. White walls. Simple desk. Phone. Computer. Filing cabinet she never used and dreaded finding out what old documents were buried there. She looked back to Cora.

“Is not.” The raised eyebrows Cora gave her were too judgemental for Frazer’s taste. “Did you come to insult my office or give me a coffee?”

Immediately, Cora held out the coffee, which Frazer snatched up. “Three sugars?”

Cora rolled her eyes. “Yes, five-year-old, three sugars.”

“Thank you.”

The pink of Cora’s cheeks didn’t fit Frazer’s stock polite statement. Oddly, Cora dropped her eyes and took a sip of her own coffee. “No problem.” She took a deep breath. “Got to keep your addiction level at functional.”

“Me? Addicted? Says the queen of coffee.”

Cora snorted, staring Frazer straight in the eye. Something in Frazer’s stomach turned over. “This is my second,” she told Frazer. “How many have you had?”

Cora had her there.

“Uh… This is my fourth.”

Cora took a victory sip. “Case in point. That’s one to me, and I think you’re in the minus now.”

“I’d argue, but they say it’s best not to argue with a delusion.”

Frazer took another sip and leaned back against her chair. Across from her, Cora’s leg bounced as she stared at her coffee cup. For a second, the silence beat past them.

“Everything okay?”

Cora made eye contact and nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, yeah. Great. Busy today. A lot of discharges to get through. People needed extras set up for them. How about you? Lots of babies?”

“I’ve been on prenatal exams most of the morning.” That leg was still bouncing, and Frazer watched it before asking, “Jokes aside, are you sure you really need more caffeine?”

“What?” Cora followed Frazer’s gaze to her bouncing leg. “Oh. Probably not.”

“When does Alec come back?”

The coffee in Cora’s hand slipped slightly, and she sat straighter to avoid spilling it all over her shirt. Her breasts pressed against the polo shirt, and Frazer almost strained a muscle trying to keep her eyes on Cora’s face, which was red again after almost dropping her cup.

“Ah…three days.”

Considering the rants on marriage the other night, Frazer didn’t really know if she should ask if she was looking forward to it. So she went for a cop out. “Three more days of freedom—what are you going to do with them?”

“Oh, you know”—for a second Cora hesitated, then straightened her shoulders, her lips twitching—“hire some bare-chested strippers with more abs than brains, withdraw our entire savings in five-dollar notes, and spend my time snapping them into their underwear.” Cora wriggled her eyebrows up and down, cheeks pink again. “Want to join?”