The customer in question, a blonde with some pink streaks in her hair, got up from behind her fancy sticker-covered laptop and took off her expensive-looking noise-canceling headphones before coming to the counter for her drink. She looked maybe ten years older than Oliver and didn’t give any sign of realizing he existed, or that he stared after her longingly as she returned to her seat.
It was all very tragic. Finn made a mental note to avoid being the Oliver in that situation.
Vivi came through the door just after six thirty, in a pale pink sweater and form-fitting light blue jeans Finn planned to ignore so as to avoid what her mother would call Satan’s impulses. Vivi radiated tension until she caught sight of Finn and relaxed. Maybe she’d worried Finn might stand her up.
As if.
Will came around the counter to give Vivi a hug. She hung onto him longer than Finn might have expected. When she let go and he pulled back, Finn recognized his expression with no trouble whatsoever. Finn wasn’t the only one worried for Vivi.
Vivi led Finn to the furthest possible table from the counter, though. Will tried not to be obvious about watching them go, but his face kept the concern.
“I’m sorry,” Vivi said once they were settled. She played with the paper from her straw as Finn adulterated her one allowable daily cup of non-medicinal coffee with cream, for a change of pace. “Thanks for showing up, especially the day after Christmas and after how I acted. I wanted to apologize, and not by text. I’m sorry, Finn. I’m glad you’re out, and I’m glad we ran into each other. Can we start over?”
She looked up to meet Finn’s eyes. Finn’s heart caught at how small she seemed, tired and guilty. At least Finn could wipe out that last part. “Of course we can. Don’t worry about it, you have a lot going on. I’m here if you need me. I’ve lost count of how many times you’ve saved me, you know?”
Vivi tried to smile, but her eyes filled up with tears and she covered her mouth. “I’m sorry,” she said again, her voice breaking. “I’m crying about every little thing suddenly. Distract me? How was your Christmas?”
Finn glanced across the cafe to check on Will’s whereabouts in case Vivi didn’t want him to see her tears, but he was deep in a conversation with a customer, a thin, elegant person in a pretty dress and cardigan. He appeared to be reassuring them about something. Finn handed Vivi her napkin.
“My Christmas was fine.” No way was Finn bringing up the housing bombshell. “None of the kids ate any wrapping paper bits as far as we know, so we called it a win. How was yours?”
Vivi blotted beneath her eyes to keep her mascara from running. “It was okay. Either my stepmom brokered a cease fire or Nora went over there behind my back and yelled at Dad ahead of time. But it was a lot, especially because I haven’t told them, any of them, about this.” She gestured to her midsection. “I got through all of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with them and I didn’t say a thing, can you believe it? It’s just… this wasn’t intentional. I have to make a decision pretty soon and honestly I don’t know what to do.”
Okay, that was a lot to deal with. Finn had been correct about the something’s-wrong vibe.
“Yeah,” Vivi said, her voice twisting. “I know what you’re thinking. I’m a nurse, I know how these things happen, so how exactly did I screw up like this?”
And that was a lot of hurt. “I would never,” Finn assured her. “It’s nobody’s business but yours. Is one of your friends giving you grief about this?”
Vivi sniffed. “No. I don’t have many friends in Austin yet, and I’m not talking about it at work. The guy isn’t being a jerk either, but he’s kind of overwhelmed. He’s not even from here, he’s back at school now in Mexico City, studying physics. We Facetimed. He’s, uh, twenty one.”
Seven years younger than Vivi. Finn didn’t want specifics, but she had to respect that game. “Nice.”
Vivi almost laughed. “Yeah, but not my best decision.”
“Hey.” Finn waited until Vivi met her gaze. “Enough putting yourself down, okay?”
Whereupon she had to get Vivi a couple more napkins. She also dragged her chair around to between Vivi and the counter. One advantage of being tall for a woman was she made a halfway decent privacy screen.
“I have about six weeks left to decide,” Vivi whispered, “before I’d be past the cutoff in Texas and I guess I’d have to fly somewhere. It should be plenty of time, but it’s like there’s this ticking clock and it’s so loud I can’t think. I want kids someday but it wasn’t in my plans for, y’know, right now.”
Finn had no idea what to say. She’d never been there. Putting her foot in her mouth was probably worse than silence, so she made a sympathetic noise in lieu of words.
“Can we talk about something else?” Vivi asked, still watery but sitting up and squaring her shoulders. “This has consumed my entire brain lately and honestly I’m sick of thinking about it. Tell me about how the rest of your time went. Did the new nurses seem aware that prisoners deserve basic human rights?”
Finn didn’t bother trying to hide her grin. She’d missed Vivi’s outbursts so dang much. “They were mostly okay. The migraine the other day kicked my butt way harder than anything after you left.”
“Oh thank goodness,” Vivi exhaled. “Is your P.O. reasonable? You can probably ask to switch if they’re not. I’m sure there’s a site somewhere with your legal rights.”
Finn nodded, because the guy was fine, but something occurred to her. “You never asked what I did to end up in there.”
Vivi’s smile quirked up. “Unless you hurt somebody besides yourself, it’s nobody’s business but yours.” She got serious and raised one eyebrow. “Did you?”
“Only economically, and not even by much, I swear.” Nobody had gone without because of what she’d done.
“So we’re fine unless you’re planning to do it again, in which case get up and walk on out of here because I cannot watch you go back there again. I mean it, Finn.”
Finn held up her hands for peace. “Not happening. I learned a lot from all that.”
“Like what?”
“I’m terrible at crime.”
When Vivi dissolved into giggles, Finn gave herself a mental gold star. If Vivi was serious about being friends, and being Vivi’s friend meant making her laugh with her whole self, Finn could accept that mission.
“You’re ridiculous,” Vivi finally gasped. “How did I forget how funny you are?”
Finn shrugged. “It was a long time ago.” And it was the past, and this was the present. She had to keep things clear.
“Not so long.” Vivi met Finn’s eyes with an expression Finn found a touch too familiar, enough to wonder what—
Then it was gone, Vivi moving away slightly and going back to fiddling with a clean napkin.
“Anyway,” she said, a bit quickly to Finn’s ears, “You seem different now. Not just the hair—though it looks fantastic, by the way. You stand up straighter now, maybe? I knew it was hard on you in there but I didn’t realize how much. I wish I could have done more. The prison industrial complex is such a nightmare, and I simply cannot understand how people making these decisions go to bed at night believing they’re good people.”