“Hayes.” I spun around quickly, worried that if I took my time the voice—and the person it belonged to—would disappear. I blinked just to be sure, but she was standing in front of me, her hands propped on her hips, one of which was jutting out ever so slightly. She was in a flowy light-blue floral dress that billowed around her. She looked like an annoyed toddler, and I loved it.

“Hey.” I tried to force myself to sound casual and friend-like, and not like someone who’d been nervously anticipating this moment all week. “You’re early too, huh?”

“Did you not get a text?” she said, her brow furrowed like she was trying to piece together a puzzle. “Lola said she and Perrine needed to cancel. Something about them both having food poisoning.”

I nodded. “I see.”

“And then Cleo also conveniently got dragged into some emergency at work.”

“Huh.” I nodded again and pulled my phone out of my pocket. Indeed, there was a text from Perrine. Sorry for last minute text but sick and need to cancel dinner, was all it said. I held the phone up for Franny to see.

“Wow. Is your cousin as cunning as my best friends?” she asked, a look of disbelief on her face.

“Apparently,” I said, still putting the pieces together. “We’ve been set up.”

“Oh, big-time.” At first, I thought she was pissed off, but then Franny’s head tipped backward, and the most beautiful, uproarious laugh poured past her lips, which were lined with that rich red color of hers. Just that sound of pure joy from her set off a spark inside me, and I couldn’t help but smile.

“I’m honestly kind of impressed,” I said, running my hands through my hair. “This is not Perrine’s style at all. She’s much less obvious with her forcing of people to—”

To be together, is what I wanted to say. But I cut myself off. We’d both agreed that this thing between us wasn’t going anywhere, and the last thing I wanted to do was seem like I hadn’t gotten the message.

“Oh, well, this is classic Lola, so you might want to get used to it.” She said this with an affectionate smile, and it hit me how much she adored her friends. It was another thing I liked about her.

There was a lull, and in that brief quiet moment, it dawned on me. I’d made a mistake trying to convince myself I didn’t want this to go further. I was desperate for Franny. And, god, I liked how I felt whenever I was around her. Like my brain was on vacation and my whole body was warmed up by the sun.

“All right, well…” She gave me a small nod, like she was about to leave. This was my last chance.