Pure Connections

Chapter 22

      Lisa hurried up the steps outside Justin and Blake's apartment, cradling a coffee holder in her grip. A morning code red from Blake always called for a nitro cold brew in the largest possible cup, and an Americano with a splash of milk for Justin—sweet, beautiful Justin who was more equipped than anyone to deal with Blake's tantrums, except maybe Lisa herself. Since she'd practically had sex—been seduced, really—in her best person tux before it had even been paid for and Mom would be staying with Blake for most of the time leading up to the wedding, Lisa was doubling down on best friend duties. Then again, Blake's apartment came with one more bedroom than the loft, and he'd already begun collecting his pay back when he'd given Mom Lis' address and told her 7 a.m. was perfectly okay to show up, knowing exactly what she'd find.

      As she got to the door, she tried not to think about how being here meant not being with Jennie, Chu and Zia, helping reorder Jennie's apartment. Despite the adorable whine in her voice when she'd asked why Lis would have to be there later, if at all, she'd seen Lisa off with a lingering kiss and soft, "Go be there for your friend then come home to me," that still had every inch of Lisa's body warm and humming. Blake was getting married in two weeks and as much as Lis had been looking forward to a day of hard labor with Jen, this was where she needed to be. If two nights ago was anything to go by, they'd have lots of Saturdays together, anyway.

      A smile crept onto her face at the flash of memories. The lookout point. The way they'd laughed and talked between slow kisses, 10 Things I Hate About You streaming the whole way through. She still wasn't over how simple it had been, how surreal it was that the next time she introduced Jennie, the word girlfriend would likely follow.

      The knuckles of her free hand barely connected with the hardwood when the front door swung open to reveal a tired-looking Justin in an open side tank and sweatpants—a natural Saturday morning shift from the designer suits she was used to seeing him dressed in. Still, there was something in his demeanor, perhaps the absence of that beaming smile that never failed to light up his entire face, that told her Blake's code red had not been a false alarm even before Justin opened his mouth. "It's bad."

      Lisa gaped, reaching for the cup with Justin's name and handing it over. "Okay, what happened?"

      Blake's answering scream came from deep inside the apartment. "The caterer! The fucking caterer!"

      Lisa looked up to find him pacing the living room, fingers of one hand hovering by his earphones like a stage manager being told his star actor had run off with the understudy.

      "A hundred and fifty people," he mumbled into the line.

      The number resonated with familiarity—she'd heard it too many times in the last year—and her travels had garnered her an extensive list of contacts, but she couldn't think of a hundred and fifty of them who would need to be at her wedding. Then again, this was Blake. Her gaze roamed the apartment in search of her mom, the cup of black coffee, sugar, no cream, already in her grip.

      "She went for a walk," Justin said, picking up on her search.

      Lis did a double take, glancing up at him. "She...walks now?"

      "Apparently." His shoulders rose as he took an indulgent sip of his coffee, eyes rolled back in seamless alignment with his sigh of relief.

      "Right." She made a mental note to ask Mom about it later—not interrogate, or suspect, to just learn more about how Mom had been the last six months, how work and her recovery were going. They'd touched on the latter yesterday, but there had been exactly the kind of arguing and crying that Lis had always preferred to avoid. She'd always favored walking and aimless drives around the city, and she didn't know what to make of the fact that Mom had apparently taken up at least one of those habits. She shook away the thought, redirecting her attention to Blake's arguing on the phone. "So, something happened with the caterer?" she asked Justin. "Is that who he's on with?"