Faye pottered around the kitchen,giving Talia an extra hour before she woke her up. When they’d gone to bed last night, Talia had asked that Faye not set the alarm clock unless she needed it for herself and that she wouldn’t be working out this morning. Faye had wanted to question it, to know why Talia was down since coming home from work very early last night, but Talia didn’t want to talk about it. Faye saw it in her eyes as they snuggled together in bed.
So, she wouldn’t push it. At least, not right now. When Talia was ready to talk, she would come to Faye. Thankfully, that was the kind of relationship they had. Amy had always kept things bottled up, and then when it became too much, she exploded on Faye at the drop of a hat. She didn’t want that with Talia. She wanted openness and honesty. That way, nothing could get mixed up.
As Faye quietly loaded the dishwasher, Talia’s phone vibrated on the kitchen counter. Paul’s name flashed on the screen, but Faye wouldn’t answer it. It wasn’t her phone, and it wasn’t her business. She added a dishwasher tablet as the call ended, closing the door and resting back with a tea towel in her hands. Yes, she was cleaning for the sake of it, but it kept her from thinking about last night. The conflict in Talia’s eyes, the lack of conversation…
Faye peered at Talia’s screen as it lit up again. She had eleven missed calls from Paul. Okay, that was concerning. And then the phone started to ring again. Faye lifted it, chewing her lip. Paul clearly needed to speak to Talia. Something was wrong.
“Hi, it’s Faye. Talia’s…friend.”
“Oh, uh…”
“She’s not available right now. Can I take a message since you seem to really need to get a hold of her?”
Paul fell silent, just the sound of his breath filtering down the line.
“Hello?”
“Sorry. Could you ask her to call me when she has a minute.”
“Of course. Is it urgent?” Faye asked.
“No. Not urgent. I just wanted to speak to her about something.”
Faye smiled. That was a relief. “Okay, I’ll have her call you as soon as she can. Bye, Pa—”
The line went dead before Faye could finish her sentence. She narrowed her eyes as she placed Talia’s phone down and stepped away from it. She already felt bad for answering her girlfriend’s phone; she didn’t want to dissect the call too.
Faye considered waking Talia, but the bedroom door opened as she dropped down onto the couch, preventing her from needing to. Talia yawned as she padded barefoot towards the couch, curling up as she settled beside Faye. “Mornin’, babe.”
“Hey.” Faye pressed a kiss to Talia’s hair. “Sleep well?”
“Mm. Like a baby.”
“And you’re not working out today? Or were you planning a later run?”
Talia lifted a shoulder, bringing her knees to her chest. “Nah. Don’t think I’ll bother today.”
“Okay. While I love the idea of you being here all day, is there a reason why you don’t want to work out? I mean, you don’t need to, that’s not what I’m saying…but you never miss out on a session.”
“Breathe,” Talia laughed, side eyeing Faye. “I’m not working out because I have no reason to.”
“Paul called.”
“What? You answered?”
“Only when I saw you had eleven missed calls from him. I’m sorry, but I was worried something had happened.”
“He’s a prick.” Talia scoffed. “And I’m not interested in anything he has to say.”
Faye settled back against the couch, wrapping an arm around Talia’s shoulder. “Something happened, and I’d like to think that you trust me enough to tell me. I can’t help you if you don’t.”
“He fired me last night.”
Faye’s forehead creased. Why the hell would he do something like that when Talia was keeping business alive for him? “Why?”
“Just did. We don’t need to talk about it. I’ll see if the bistro will give me extra shifts. But first, I wanted to ask if I could take you out dancing tonight.”
“Dancing?”