Page 78 of Locke

“Be quiet,” I hiss.

“Which one?”she says, twirling on her barstool to look around.

“Molly,” I warn.“Don’t make a spectacle.”

She spins back to me, cuts a glance in the direction I’d been staring—right where Locke is standing with the guys.“I can rule out Crosby because Juno has that fully covered and Arch is totally not your type.”She lasers her gaze, cutting it back and forth between the remaining two men, before turning back to me.“Locke?”

I say nothing.

“Livia Catherine Cross.”

“Please stop using my middle name.”

“He is the most closed-off human being I have ever seen in a social setting, and I work in an emergency room.”She lowers her voice to an appropriately private volume.“How did this even—”

“It’s complicated,” I say.“It’s also not your business yet.”

Her eyes go round with offense.“You did not just say that to me!”

Guilt sweeps through me.“You’re right, and I’m sorry.You’re the first person who should have known about it—”

“Someone else knows?”she says angrily.

“Only Juno, and that was just the day before yesterday and I hadn’t seen you yet.”The glare doesn’t lighten.“But I’ll spill it all now,” I assure her.

She studies me before lifting her chin and primly looking down her nose at me.“You may continue.And don’t leave out a thing.”

So I spill it, leaning close and talking in lowered tones so no one else hears.She attempts to look over at Locke a few times, but I nudge her back into submission.

I tell her everything I told Juno, and because she’s my best friend and I need the sounding board, I tell her even more.

“I really like him, Molls,” I lament.“And he’s so complicated, but he’s also a good man.I want this to work out.I really do.”

She covers my hand with hers, all forgiven now that she’s fully in the loop.“Then you go for it, bestie.You buckle down the way you know how to, and you figure out how to make it work.There’s nothing you can’t accomplish, Livvy, if you set your mind to it.”

It’s the exact pep talk I need—Molly’s undying confidence in my abilities.I reach out to hug her and she squeezes me back tight.

“You’ve got this,” she whispers in my ear.

“Yeah, I know.”And then my bladder starts speaking.“I need to go pee.Watch my purse.”

“Got you covered,” she replies.

I nab my phone and head that way, but a buzz has me turning it over to look at an incoming text.

From Grant.Please talk to me.I think if you could just give me an hour, you’d understand why I did what I did and we could work this out.I’m not trying to scare you.I just need you to hear me.

“What the fuck?”I mutter in anger, a small niggle of fear behind it.

My phone buzzes again and I stop in my tracks, reading the message.

Livvy… please don’t do this to me.It’s not fair and I don’t think I can handle this anymore.If you ever felt anything for me, please just give me some time.

I start to delete it but then another one comes in and says,Don’t do this to me.

A shiver runs up my spine and I turn off my phone, deciding not to delete the texts but keep them for… proof?

I start toward the bathroom but bump right into someone.It’s Locke, standing in my path like an immovable wall.