Living Out Loud (Austen, #3)(54)

She blushed, and I saw the resemblance. Elle was a little darker than Annie, but her skin was colored like peaches and cream, like Annie’s, though Elle’s had more color. Their lips were shaped the same, but Elle’s eyes were hazel, colored with bursts of green and brown and gold.

“I’ll just be a few minutes, okay?” Annie assured her. “Have a drink. Greg makes excellent drinks.”

She laughed. “How would you know? I know you haven’t crossed that one off the list.”

Annie shrugged. “People talk. Be right back!” she said before bounding off.

I smirked and set a coaster in front of her. “So, what’ll it be? Alabama Slammer? J?gerbomb? Shot of tequila?”

Elle chuckled. “How about a cup of coffee?”

“Coming right up.” I turned my back to pour her one.

“I’m glad to finally meet you,” she said from behind me. “Annie’s told me so much about you. She’s had more fun with you over the last few weeks than she has in years.”

When I turned to face her, she was smiling sweetly, hands folded on the bar in front of her.

“It’s been my pleasure. Really. She’s something else,” I said as I set her coffee mug in front of her and reached under the bar for a sugar caddie. “Need cream?”

“No, thanks.” She pulled a couple of sugar packets out and shook them. “I know she’s told you about Daddy and everything. And I want you to know that your friendship really does mean everything to her. Getting her this job, helping her with her list—it’s brought her back in a way that’s made all of our lives better. So, thank you.”

It was that word again, the one that hung over me in big block letters—friend.

“Like I said, the pleasure’s mine. She has a way of changing the people around her without even trying, doesn’t she?”

“She does. It’s something we can always count on. The sky is blue, the grass is green, and Annie will make you feel every possible emotion, sometimes in the span of an hour.”

A gentle laugh burst out of me at the truth of it. “It’s maddening and wonderful,” I said, too honest for my own good. “So, Annie said you work at Nouvelle magazine?”

Elle nodded, a spark of excitement in her eyes. “Very recently, and just as a secretary, but yes.”

“It’s got to be crazy, working at a magazine of that size.”

“It is, but I love it. The phone is always ringing, and the calendar is always pulled up and blocked off by the hour, sometimes by the quarter hour. Ward has to schedule lunch, the gym, even calls to his mother,” she said on a laugh. “Maybe because she forces me to put them on his calendar. I don’t know that he’d call her otherwise.”

“None of that sounds as exciting as you make it sound,” I teased.

“Trust me, I know. I love when things are orderly and neat and organized. Annie says I’m OCD, but it’s not like I have to flip the light off and on thirteen times or wash my hands seven times in a row. I just like order. And even numbers.”

I chuckled. “So, Ward is your boss?”

Another flush, this one deeper. “I really should call him Mr. Ferrars, but…well, we’re friends. He’s a friend of the family, which is how I even got the job. God knows I’m not qualified.”

“Well, anybody who loves organizing schedules and answering phones sounds like a natural. Crowd control just comes with practice. Not that it’s the same, but I came from being a barista at a coffee shop to running a bar. I honestly didn’t think I could do it, but here I am.” I spread my arms to display my domain. “Growing pains are normal. But I still have the worst anxiety dreams.”

“Do you?” she asked, bringing her coffee to her lips.

“Oh, bad. People keep walking in the door and coming to the bar, but I’m the only bartender. At first, I have it under control, but the busier it gets, the angrier people get until they’re yelling and climbing over the bar for me. I usually wake up right around the time I realize I’m naked.”

Elle laughed. “I had one the other night where I had all the appointments on the wrong days, and the phone wouldn’t stop ringing. And every person who called yelled at me. And, when Ward came in, he was so…disappointed.” She sounded so sad but shook it off. “It’s awful.”

“Goes with the territory of a high-octane job. There’s a rush about it though. It’s what keeps us adrenaline junkies coming back for more.”

That earned me another laugh. She took a sip of her coffee, leaving us in silence for a moment, which was all the time my brain needed to say something I probably shouldn’t.

“I…listen, I know it’s not my place to say anything, but I guess I’m going to anyway.”

She put all of her attention on me and set her mug down with a gentle nod of permission.

I took a breath. “I know Annie likes Will, but he hurt someone I love very much, and even though it was a long time ago, I don’t trust him, not with her.”

Elle’s own worry creased her brow. “I understand. How worried should I be?”

I gave my head a shake. “I don’t know. I’m too close to the situation to be reasonable about him. So just look out for her, okay?”