The Runaway Girl and The Billionaire

Chapter 9: Girl's Talk

"That was delicious, Tina!" Lana exclaimed after finishing her last bite.

"Pesto is the easiest dish ever! I'll write the recipe out for you," Tina smiled, beaming with pride.

The two women had shared a chicken pesto pasta, with salad and breadsticks. After unpacking the box marked with 'kitchen' in bold black marker, Tina began cooking while Lana continued to unpack, organizing the cabinets with glasses and dinnerware.

Lana was finally feeling like her old self again, thanks in some ways to the wine. She had unwound a bit, pouring one glass after another until they had gone through two bottles of the expensive wine Xy recommended.

"How about you just come over and make it whenever I order?" Lana teased, laughing at her own joke as Tina joined in.

"This is such a cute place, Lana," Tina admired, glancing around the small apartment.

"Thanks. It'll feel more like home once I get everything unpacked," she giggled, before taking the last sip of her wine.

"Yes, it's time to get back on the job," Tina decided, as she carefully placed their dirty dishes in the sink.

Having taken a break for dinner, they had gotten pretty far behind on the unpacking.

"How long have you worked at 'A Slice of Suzeth'?" Lana asked. It was a basic question she'd wondered since her first day at the bakery, but for some reason had never asked.

Being on the run, Lana was always very secretive, unsure of who to trust. Her own secrecy had made her believe others wanted the same privacy. Luckily for her, Tina was an open book and appeared to have no problem with her prying.

"Almost two-years now. Wow, I hadn't even realized I was coming up on another anniversary," she paused, excited about the upcoming milestone. "We'll have to celebrate," Lana teased.

"No, really. We always celebrate everyone's anniversary-and birthdays!" She happily clapped her hands together like a child.

"No way," Lana said, reaching for the third bottle of wine as she filled up both glasses.

"You're going to turn this into a slumber party if you don't slow down with that wine," Tina huffed.

"You can't walk home alone his late anyway," Lana sobered up, her fear coming to the forefront regardless of her alcohol intake.

Walking alone was one of her greatest fears, but walking alone in the dark was the worst of the worst. Whenever she had the opportunity to walk with a friend, she would. And there was no way she could begin to imagine allowing Tina to walk home alone in the middle of the night after drinking so much wine.

Tina tilted her head, watching Lana closely as if she were trying to figure something out. Noticing her friend was serious, Tina relaxed her shoulders, moving closer to Lana before pulling the two barstools up to the small island in the kitchen.

"Okay, Mom, but I'm going to need to know why you're so overly protective," she smiled, sipping her wine.

"What do you mean?" Lana asked, instantly defensive.

Of course. She knew how ridiculous her routines and ways were, but because she went out of her way to hide her safety precautions, she thought no one knew.

Tina had exposed the fact that she wasn't doing the best job at pretending everything was okay. In fact, it only took a stranger a few days to put the pieces together that she was worried about something, although her true secret-Danny-had remained hidden.