Page 45 of Paradigm

“What do you mean?”

“It’s the minutes and hours I would’ve wanted to talk to you after I sent the message that would’ve been a problem.”

Arlowe smiled widely and said, “I get that. I’ll see you soon?”

“I’ll be there,” Eline replied.

They hung up, and Arlowe quickly sent Eline the location via text message before she walked back into the restaurant and found her friends looking down at the check for their meal.

“You’re twenty-four fifty-two, Arlowe,” Sarai said and put her credit card on top of the receipt.

Arlowe pulled out cash, because it was always easier to bring cash when they were all splitting a check, and handed it to her.

“There’s thirty,” she said.

“So?” Enya asked.

“Yeah, are we going to the bar?” Gabi asked next.

“We are going to the bar,” she stated.

“She answered, huh?” Violet said.

“And she also had a good explanation for not texting, so we’re going to meet her there.”

“That’s great news, Arlowe,” Violet replied.

“Now, are you going to tell her that you want her back, or are you going to be a chicken again?” Sarai asked.

“I was right,” Arlowe said, nodding.

“Huh? Right about what?” Sarai asked.

“Right about the fact that you’ll be dragging your own chair over to the booth and sit on the end of it because you’re annoying.”

CHAPTER 14

Eline yawned as the car she was in pulled up to the bar that looked more like a place where Arlowe would hang out than the previous bar they’d gone to. While it was true that she’d passed out after her call with her dad, she had woken up only a couple of hours later and had had difficulty getting back to sleep after that. Then, the issue at work had come up, and while she wouldn’t normally be involved in having to solve that email problem, they needed help crafting responses to customers as well as examining the breach itself to find out where it had come from. If she did the math, Eline had probably had eight hours of sleep over the past three nights.

She’d driven home from the office but hadn’t felt comfortable having a drink and driving home after that, going on next to no sleep, so she’d ordered a car and was now getting out of it, feeling tired but also excited and refreshed because she was about to see Arlowe. She pulled open the door and put her head on a swivel, looking around for the woman, and she found her in a booth lining the far wall. Eline smiled immediately at the sight of her and walked over to the booth where she also saw Violet, Stella, Enya, and two other friends whom she hadn’t had a chance to reconnect with yet.

“Hi,” she greeted.

Arlowe was sitting on the end of the booth with Violet next to her, while Sarai and Gabi were next to each other on the other side, with Stella on the inside, opposite Violet. Enya was sitting in a chair at the end of the booth, which was odd because it was a six-person booth, and there were six of them, so that shouldn’t have left them with an empty spot.

“Hey,” Arlowe replied. “You remember Sarai and Gabi, right?”

“Yeah, hi. It’s nice to see you two again,” she said.

Arlowe slid farther inside then, and Eline, without even realizing it, naturally moved to sit down beside her how she used to do all the time when Arlowe had been hers.

“You too,” Sarai replied. “Long time.”

“Arlowe says you two are together now?” Eline said.

“Yeah, for over a year,” Gabi replied and wrapped her arm around Sarai’s shoulders. “We just moved in together, actually.”

“That’s great. I’m happy for you both.”