“I have a brother, and my grandparents had an air hockey table in their basement. I think it was my dad and uncle’s when they weregrowing up. We spent a lot of time messing around with it until we got good.”
Vienna returned to the group then. “Jimmy’s outside. You guys ready?”
Twenty minutes later, they were seated at a round table in a casual restaurant called Domingo’s. Regan didn’t realize how famished she was until the smell of sizzling burgers hit her nose, and her mouth filled with saliva.
“Holy crap, I’m suddenly starving.”
“Me too,” Ava said.
Despite Regan’s hope that she might avoid it, she ended up seated right next to Ava, their thighs brushing every so often. Ava smelled nice, even after a nearly forty-five-minute, intense air hockey match. Her scent was soft, like lilacs or baby powder, subtle and inviting. Meanwhile, Regan was pretty sure she smelled like a locker room.
They ordered a round of drinks, and once they came, Maia asked, “Hey, why do you guys think the assistants don’t stay at the house like us?”
Vienna shrugged, then took a sip of her beer, a trace of foam left on her upper lip. “Probably not enough room.”
“Our room could’ve fit another couple of beds,” Paige said with a snort. “It’s huge.”
“Ours too,” Regan added.
“Does everybody like their assistant?” Madison asked. “Kitty seems very cool. Knows her stuff. She was a big help this week.”
“I feel like Becca talks a lot,” Ava said with a soft smile. “But that might just be because I don’t.”
“And she’s gotta ask,” Vienna said, as if she totally got it.
“Exactly.” Ava scrunched her nose. “I should probably work on that.”
“I’m the same way,” Vienna said. “Just stay out of my way and let me do my thing.”
Ava raised her glass in salute, and Vienna touched hers to it.
“You guys are funny,” Madison said. “I want all the help I can get. What about you, Regan?”
“I like Hadley,” she said. “She seems cool and knows what she’s doing. And I’m not gonna turn away an extra set of hands, you know?” She wasn’t surprised that Ava didn’t really feel the need foranybody’s help. It had been a while since she’d worked with Ava, but she remembered her being very solitary. Quiet and solitary, focusing on her work—which was good. But anybody assigned to help was out of luck, especially if they wanted to learn anything. Ava was a terrific pastry chef, and a shitty teacher. “She asks a lot of questions, which I appreciate. Feels like she’s trying her best to learn.”
Okay, yeah, that was passive-aggressive, and she knew it.
She didn’t care.
Also, she’d beaten Ava in air hockey. She hid her grin with the rim of her glass as the waiter arrived to take their orders.
Chapter Seven
Having three days off felt weird after going full speed for more than a week. But it was also nice to wake up and be able to just chill, even though she was still on bakery time. A glance at her phone told her it was just approaching five a.m. Then she noticed the date.
How the hell was it June already?
Regan couldn’t figure out how time was moving so quickly. She felt like she’d just gotten to Black Forest Hills, yet it had already been nearly two weeks. With a sigh, she tossed off her covers, deciding to go for a walk, get some fresh air.
She was surprised to see Ava sitting up in the dark, feet dangling over the side of her bed, still.
“You okay?” she whispered, not wanting to startle her.
“I thought I heard something,” Ava whispered back, then reached for the bedside lamp and clicked it on.
On the floor near the door was an envelope that looked like it had been slid underneath.
“What’s that?” Ava asked as Regan went and picked it up. It had both their names on it, and she held it up so Ava could see. Ava came to stand next to her, smelling faintly of laundry detergent and that soft, inviting scent that Regan had begun to think of as simply…Ava.
