Page 29 of Summer Breakdown (Training Seasons #2)

Jasmine pulls into Ezra’s driveway. She’s seen his house before because they share lifts for the quiz. It looks different today, but she can’t figure out why.

“Ezra’s house is so pretty,” Lani says. It’s true.

It’s all red bricks with wide white windowsills and bay windows.

There are flower troughs under each large sash window and pots on the front steps, and Jasmine just knows Ezra does it all himself.

She pictures him in a sun hat and an apron.

His next-door neighbour is a five-foot-tall eighty-year-old, and she’s the only person on the street he talks to.

“So cool,” Marcel mutters. Ezra invited them for lunch.

Well, he said he did a lunch thing every so often, told her the time, and left.

He asked if they had allergies, so Jasmine’s fairly sure they were invited.

Jasmine hopes Cam is here too. She hasn’t been to a few of the quiz nights, and Lani keeps asking to ask her something, but for the first time in her life, Lani’s being secretive.

“Do you want your chair, Lan?” Jasmine asks.

She needs to carry her up the front steps because Ezra lives in a townhouse, and there’s—oh.

That’s what is different. There’s a large, winding ramp that starts at the driveway and hits the back of the house.

There used to be steps to get in. It’s newly laid bricks and lined with flowerpots that have barely open flowers.

“I can walk a little bit,” Lani says. “And maybe Ezra will carry me if he’s not cooking. ”

It’s true. Lani is rarely in her chair anyway. She likes being carried, or she’ll sit close to someone. Her chair is mainly for travelling and if her hips are hurting.

“Okay, baby.”

Jasmine knocks on the back door, even though it’s open. She can see Ezra moving around his open-plan kitchen. The back garden is small, patioed, but with raised beds full of herbs and flowers everywhere, including tomatoes taller than Lani.

“Hey,” she says, and Ezra waves them in. There’s more than just his voice, but it’s not just Cam. “God, it smells incredible in here.”

“Hi, girl,” Cam says. She’s got a matching apron with Ezra, and heavens know why they’re not together. Cam doesn’t appear aware that Ezra is in love with her, despite the matching aprons and apparent joint-hosting of lunch.

“Hi, Cam-Cam,” Lani says.

Cam spins with a gasp. “Babygirl! Look at your dress!” She always acts so excited to see her, as if Jasmine is ever without them unless it’s at the quiz.

It’s nice. Lani holds her arms out, and Cam takes her admiring the dress she bought even though it meant more than one gift.

She hugs Marcel with her free arm. “Hi, baby boy.”

Marcel blushes. He has the biggest crush on her. Jasmine hasn’t even said anything, but Cam might know, because Marcel is as subtle as an elephant in a china shop. Ezra looks up. “Hey, champ. Cool shirt.”

“Hi,” Marcel replies. “Did you see the match last night?”

Jasmine smiles as Marcel and Ezra talk about football. Jasmine doesn’t care about football, but she knows everything about it. She’s not mad that she doesn’t have to dissect the match with Marcel, though.

Jasmine looks at the rest of Ezra’s place.

She can only see the kitchen and dining room from here.

The walls are exposed brick, with wooden worktops and a butcher’s bench.

He’s so fancy. There are plant shelves, some baking appliances, and Frankie sat on the small couch.

She’s wearing slightly baggy trousers and a loose top.

Jasmine’s not sure she has makeup on—maybe some mascara. Lord, she’s so attractive.

Jasmine smiles. She might have been hoping Frankie was here too.

“Hey,” Frankie says, with a small smile.

“Hi, Frankenstein,” Jasmine replies.

“Mama, you can’t call Frankie ‘Frankenstein’ unless you have a monster name. That’s the rules.”

Jasmine frowns. “What’s my monster name?”

“You don’t have one,” Lani replies, her legs swinging off the counter as she helps Cam plate up some cupcakes.

Jasmine crosses her arms. “So I can’t call her ‘Frankenstein’?”

Lani’s brows furrow. “Correct.”

Frankie laughs, and Jasmine glares at her. “This is sacrilege,” she mutters, and Frankie smiles. She looks beautiful.

“You look pretty,” Jasmine says.

Frankie looks down at her outfit. “Thanks.”

Jasmine smiles. “You okay?”

Frankie nods, then, after Jasmine raises her eyebrows, Frankie asks, “Are you?”

Jasmine hums. “Yeah, thanks. I’m excited for whatever smells this good.”

“Ezra cooks every now and then. It’s always divine.

You should have worn baggier trousers.” Frankie looks her up and down slowly.

Jasmine tries not to buckle under her gaze.

When she bought these linen, wide-legged trousers, she’d wanted to ask Frankie’s opinion on them, but she was in a meeting, and Jasmine had to get to the school run.

“No one told me the rules,” Jasmine says. She’ll unbutton them; she has little to no shame. She wonders when Mali and Zach are going to turn up. Maybe Kai too, if he’s not still pretending to be mad at Frankie.

“They look good,” Frankie says quietly. Before Jasmine has a chance to blush, she carries on. “Be warned, my parents will be here soon, and they will try and give the kids sweets.”

Jasmine’s eyebrows rise. “Oh.”

“Is that okay?” Frankie asks.

“Yeah, of course.” Jasmine places her bag down next to Frankie’s chair and wrings her hands. A family lunch… but parents hate her.

“Sure?” Ezra calls from the kitchen. He’s showing Marcel how to cut lamb. “I can cancel on them.”

“They’ll turn up anyway,” Cam says, as she takes photos with Lani. They give peace signs and pouts, and Jasmine knows it will end up in the scrapbook.

“True,” Ezra says. “But I’ll fix it if it’s not ideal.”

“It’s okay,” Jasmine says. “Honestly.”

Mike’s parents couldn’t stand Jasmine. They loved Lani and Marcel, so she put up with it, but if someone could die from a passive-aggressive comment about her hair, she’d be dead a thousand times over.

Ezra’s parents shouldn’t be a big deal. It doesn’t matter if they don’t like her.

It might matter with Frankie. She’s her friend in a way Jasmine can admit to now.

She’s not sure if they’ll ever be more than that for real (though their texts have been increasingly flirty and she’s going insane with it), but she wants Frankie’s parents to like her.

“Come look at this,” Frankie says. She takes Jasmine outside with her hand against her wrist. Jasmine tries to figure out how to get their fingers to touch, but she’s not sure she actively wants them to.

She has to sit through a lunch and she doesn’t want to think about Frankie’s hands the entire time.

Frankie bends down and motions for Jasmine to join her. It’s a small, dark, slightly wet corner behind a planter, but when her eyes adjust, she sees there’s a frog sleeping.

“Oh my God,” Jasmine whispers. “I love frogs so much.”

Frankie hums. When Jasmine looks at her, her eyes move quickly away from her face. “I know. And look…” She shows her the large pot of oxeye daisies. “Lani would love these.”

“She would,” Jasmine replies. “Don’t show her. She’ll find some scissors.” Jasmine wants to grow so many flowers that Lani can wheel around with a little basket and make bouquets every week.

Frankie laughs, her voice quiet. “Ezra would let her have them.”

The garden is romantic. Jasmine could picture having dinner outside with a glass of wine. She doesn’t even like wine. When she pictures it, Frankie is there too.

“Okay, last thing,” Frankie says, holding on to her hand as she pulls her to the corner.

The garden is well planned and practical, but everything about it is pretty too.

She might ask Ezra to fix her dodgy vegetable patch.

It was there before she moved in, and it hasn’t been a priority for her.

Marcel would love to grow food, though. Jasmine thinks he wants to be a farmer.

She’s tried to tell him most farmers inherit farms, but he could do something outside.

Frankie shows her the shed. It’s a small, green wooden shed hidden in the corner.

“I looked for spiders already,” Frankie says, as Jasmine checks the corners thoroughly.

When they walk through, it’s like a Tardis. It’s full of tools, a workbench, and so many pots and trays Jasmine feels a little overwhelmed. It’s neat. Windows and shelving, some stools. Marcel would love it in here. She might go get her phone so she can replicate it at home.

“Marcel would like this, right?” Frankie asks.

Jasmine blinks. “Did you find something for everyone?”

Frankie shrugs. “Well, I was looking for frogs for you, and then I found the daises, and I didn’t want Marcel to be left out.”

Oh. Oh . She’s so kind. Jasmine knew Frankie was nice, even when she wanted to pretend she wasn’t.

But now she knows her children. It’s not like they could casually date and she’d introduce them in eight months when they were serious.

Frankie knows her family. Lani is attached.

Marcel likes Ezra enough that he might talk to him about what’s going on in his head.

She’d lose them, too, if anything happened.

How is this a thought in her mind when they’ve never even been on a real date? Frankie might be fucking girls every week for all she knows.

Jasmine swallows, feeling hot suddenly. She can’t push Frankie against the wall to kiss her because they did that last time, and it’s not their thing anymore. If she wanted something with Frankie, it would have to be slow. Thought about. “That’s sweet.”

Frankie smiles. “Ezra would teach him if he wanted. He wants to work outdoors, right?”

“Yeah,” Jasmine replies. “I think he wants to do carpentry right now, but he’d love to work on a farm or something. There’s a farmhouse down in the middle of the village. You know it? I’ve been looking at it, even though it’s not for sale.”

“You’ll have to fight Ezra for it.”

Jasmine raises her eyebrow. “Oh?”