“Still no luck?” Her colleague, Wes, propped himself against her desk and she lifted her head.
“Kill me now.”
“Nah, too much paperwork. Hey, we’re going over to Pepper’s. Wanna come?”
Jules glanced at the clock at the bottom of her screen—6:22pm. And it was Friday. Go or stay? It could be hours before she found the bug and with the size of her headache, it was unlikely she was in optimal coding mode. But if she went to Pepper’s, she’d drink too much beer and probably end up sleeping with Wes—again.
Or she could just go home.
Her condo hardly called to her. It was on the outskirts of Boulder and she’d rented it fully furnished. It was a little, “Hey, IKEA called—they want their showroom back,” but she didn’t care. She’d settled into a “just fine” routine of work-home-gym, which she broke up with visits to see her family and occasional colleagues-with-benefits hook-ups with Wes … or Rob … or Arjun.
“I’m good,” she said, flashing a smile she didn’t feel. “Thanks,” she added as an afterthought. He shrugged and left. Even though they worked for a tech start-up, Wes wasn’t one of those guys who rolled out of bed and stumbled into work wearing pyjamas, a three-day growth, and the stench of the unwashed. He cared about his appearance and, not for the first time, Jules acknowledged that Wes was hot. He was also particularly good in bed.
Bed. The thought of curling up in her bed and sleeping off the headache was the most appealing one she’d had all day. Her phone buzzed on her desk.
Decided last minute to head to dads. Wanna come?
It was the lifeline she needed, time with two people from her extremely short list of favourites. She tapped out an affirmative response before saving her work and shutting down her computer. Will’s next text popped onto the screen.
Pizza or sushi?
As much as she loved sushi, Colorado was hardly the place for fresh seafood, and she’d yet to find a local sushi place that didn’t disappoint. Good takeout pizza, however, was plentiful.
Duh.
She watched the dots flicker on her screen, then stop, then start again, before her brother sent her a triple emoji reply that got her laughing for the first time that day—actually, it had been days since she’d laughed.
Forty minutes later, she was reclined on her dad’s couch, a craft beer in one hand—a new brew from one of her brother’s clients—and a slice of prosciutto and feta pizza in the other—both a nod to the “Hipsterville” status of her hometown.
“So, how’s the app?” asked her dad. She knew he didn’t really know what she and Will did, other than that they were both software developers working on their respective apps, but he knew enough to ask the question.
“It was being a shit today, actually,” she replied. She wiped some grease from the side of her mouth with her thumb knuckle. “I’m going to have to do some work this weekend.”
“Not tomorrow, though, right?” asked Will. “We’re still going biking?”
“Biking is on.” She wouldn’t miss it. It was supposed to be eighty-two degrees tomorrow—perfect weather—and Boulder Canyon Trail was a favourite of hers. Besides, busting out the mountain bikes with her baby brother was just the panacea she needed after the week she’d had.
“Awesome. I can take a look at that code, too, if it’ll help?” Will offered.
“Maybe, but I don’t wanna think about that right now.” She popped the last of the crust into her mouth and washed it down with some beer before reaching for another slice of pizza.
“Anything else new with you, sweetheart?”
“Not really, Dad. I still hate everyone but you two.” Will barked a laugh at her retort and she joined in with a soft chuckle.
“Hey, we could watch a movie,” her dad suggested. He needn’t have said anything. It was what they always did—choose some movie that she and Will had seen, but somehow her dad hadn’t, then she and Will would talk through it, driving her dad crazy. “How about the new Star Wars movie? Rising Skywalker, or something?”
“Do you mean The Rise of Skywalker, the one that came out forever ago?” asked Will. He threw Jules an our-dad-is-so-adorable look.
“I think so, yeah.”
“Sure, Dad, sounds good.” Jules and Will had seen the movie opening weekend—and they’d already watched it again at his place—but it had been too long since the three of them had had a night in like this, too long since Jules had felt surrounded by love and the ease of “just being” that came along with it.
She vowed not to let so much time pass before the next time.
Chapter 3
Chloe
Melbourne
“It couldn’t have held off for five more minutes?” Chloe frowned out the window at the pelting rain as the Uber neared the drop-off point.
“We should have brought umbrellas,” said her bestie, flatmate, and colleague, Ash.
“If we did, it wouldn’t have rained.”
“Exactly. Hashtag Melbourne.”
Chloe shook her head at Ash. She wasn’t sure when Ash had picked up the habit of saying “hashtag” but maybe she was doing it ironically.
The car pulled up next to the rear entrance of their building. “Here you go, misses,” said the driver. Ash and Chloe shared a look across the back seat. “Ready?” asked Ash.
“Nope, but let’s go.” They opened their doors in sync and, heads down, stepped out into the deluge, the door slams barely making a dent in the soundscape of the mid-winter storm. Ash ran around the back of the car and met up with Chloe, who was fumbling with her electronic fob at the door.
“Damn it! Of all the times to play up.”
Ash reached across her and waved her own fob in front of the panel and the glass door slid open. They burst into the foyer and straightened up, eyeing each other before dissolving into laughter. “I am so wet,” said Ash, shaking her
