A Heart to Trust, A.L. Brooks [speed reading book TXT] 📗

good. You can all chat while I finish up.” Roz pushed back a strand of hair from her forehead and stirred the pot once more.

“Yeah, grab a drink, and then come out to the fire escape.” Tamara walked to the end of the kitchen where a door stood pushed open to the outside. It let in what little breeze there was, but that wasn’t saying much.

Jenny accepted a cold beer from Carl, who still had his head in the refrigerator, then followed Tamara. The small area of fire escape outside the apartment was currently shaded, and she gratefully leaned against the railing.

Tamara raised her beer; they tapped bottles and drank.

Carl joined them a minute later, a glass of white wine in his hand. “Cheers!” He clinked his glass against their bottles.

They chatted about their respective Saturdays, but when Carl started talking about Solomon, Roz called from the kitchen, “Hey, no juicy stuff until I can listen properly too!”

Carl held up his hands. “All right, I’ll save it for when we eat.”

“How was work this week?” Jenny asked Tamara.

Tamara grimaced. “Busy. A little stressful. It’s not an easy climate to work in right now.”

“I can imagine,” Carl said.

Jenny threw Tamara a sympathetic look. She knew Tamara sometimes pulled long hours at the investment bank office where she’d been based for the last four years. While she loved her job and had always wanted to work in finance, the challenges the market had faced in the last few years soured Tamara’s love for her career a little.

“Oh, hey.” Tamara’s eyebrows rose. “How’s your new job?”

Jenny grinned. “I think that comes under the heading of juicy stuff I can’t talk about until Roz can hear properly.”

“Damn right!” Roz yelled.

“But if you heard that then—” Tamara began.

“Don’t go there!”

Tamara shook her head. “She’s so bossy.”

“I heard that too!”

Fifteen minutes later, the tacos were ready. They all helped to transfer everything to the table in the living room. Next to the table stood a tall fan that definitely helped with keeping the temperature down.

“I know cooking something hot in this weather isn’t that sensible,” Roz said as she carried the big plate of freshly prepared tacos to the table, “but I ate salad every day this week and I couldn’t face it again on the weekend.”

“I know exactly what you mean.” Jenny pulled out her usual chair and sat.

Sunday lunch at Roz and Tamara’s was a twice-a-month tradition the group had started when they first all moved to New York. At that time, Jenny and Carl lived in a tiny place in Astoria with no room for entertaining guests. Somehow, even after they’d finally found their current apartment nearby, the lunch dates hadn’t changed. Besides, it’s not like Carl or I can even cook properly, so it’s probably best Roz handles that. The deal was always that Jenny and Carl would bring drinks and whatever accompaniments Roz requested for the main meal she was preparing, to share the cost and effort.

They tucked into the tacos with gusto, and only after polishing off two each did they start talking again.

“Okay, so who’s this Solomon guy?” Tamara asked Carl as she grabbed her third taco.

“I met him in a coffee shop a couple of weeks ago. I was working on my laptop, and he walked by and commented on the design I was finalizing.” Carl grinned. “He was very cute, so I invited him to sit. Turns out he knows quite a lot about design in general, something he’s always been interested in.” He stopped to take the last bite of his third taco; he was always way ahead when it came to eating.

“And?” Tamara made a circle motion with her hand.

Carl took his time, earning a tut from Roz. “We swapped numbers, and he invited me out for a drink a couple days later. And then we went on a picnic in the park yesterday—”

“And he,” Jenny thumbed in Carl’s direction, “never came home last night.”

Tamara and Roz feigned shocked expressions, and then all three women laughed as Carl said, “Whatever,” and picked up a fourth taco.

“So, this could be something?” Tamara asked. She’d always been the most romantic of all of them, wooing Roz with flowers and cute little love poems all through college.

Carl ducked his head. “Maybe.” He looked up at them all again with fear in his eyes. “I like him, so let’s see.”

“I’m so pleased for you!” Tamara tugged on Carl’s arm. “Just think, you could be bringing him to one of our lunches soon. You know, meeting the family. It’s an important step.” She waggled her eyebrows.

Carl held up both hands. “Whoa! Slow down. It’s been three dates.”

“We’ll see.” A smug smile pulled at Tamara’s mouth.

Carl grunted then stuffed the remainder of his fourth taco in his mouth.

Jenny loaded up her third taco. Before she took the first bite, Roz placed a hand on her arm.

“And what about you, the new job?”

“Oh, yeah. Hm, where do I start?” Jenny leaned back in her chair and took a sip of her beer. “Well, here’s the short version: Chrissy is nice, Olivia is a stuck-up bitch, the new boss is tricky to read, and the project we get to work on together is a sexist pile of crap.”

Three wide-eyed faces gaped as she finished speaking.

Roz pushed back from the table and stood. “And I think we’re all going to need another drink for this.”

Jenny slid in her chair a little. She was mellow after consuming three tacos, a slice of chocolate pie—dessert was always chocolate pie, Tamara’s favorite—and three beers. Getting everything off her chest about the first few days working for C&V also helped her mood.

“And I guess, as you’re just,” Tamara made air quotes around the word, “one of the PAs, you can’t object to the entire premise of the project, can you?”

Jenny snorted. “Not at all.”

“Really?” Roz’s eyes narrowed. “Not even if it is such a dumb idea? Like, couldn’t you present an alternative? And wouldn’t that make