“*****-ups?” I supplied and she grinned.

“Speak for yourself.”

“So, are we okay? I mean, I would hate it if I made things all awkward and-”

“We’re okay.”

“Good.”

“We’re great.” She paused. “I hope it’s okay that I invited Tina.”

She is the vaguest person alive. “Invited Tina where?”

She gestured expansively as if to include the entire caf. “Here. To breakfast. Today.”

“Oh.” I tried to keep a straight face, but well-I thought we were having breakfast together. Not that I’m clingy or anything or want Bette all to myself, but it would have been nice if she’d told me earlier.

I said none of this out loud, though, and just looked cheery and said, “Oh, okay.”

Bette looked as though she was carrying on some internal debate, her eyebrows furrowed together. “Invite is the wrong word,” she mused. “I just mentioned we had coffee here a lot and she said she’d stop by.”

“Okay,” I said, watching her. She still looked troubled.

“She may not even show up,” she clarified, “so it wasn’t an ‘invitation’ so much as it was-”

“Man, whatever,” I said, drinking the last of my coffee. “Don’t be pedantic.”

She looked briefly annoyed. “I’m not.”

I was too relaxed to argue with her, so I conceded and decided to talk about muffins. Like this: “These muffins are good. Here’s my thing about muffins-I hate when they’re too buttery. Right? If they’re all buttery, you feel like you’ve gained thirty pounds just by eating a ***** muffin. But if they’re too dry-you’re like, ‘What is this? Are these stale? Are these-’”

“I’m going to ask you something,” Bette said abruptly, apparently uninterested in the muffins.

“Uh, okay. What about?”

“Me.”

I smiled. “My favorite subject. And yours.” She graced me with the most unamused expression I’ve ever seen. I cleared my throat. “So.”

“All right.” She folded her hands together for a moment and then seemed to think better of it, spread them out on the table with her palms facing down. She regarded me as if this was a board meeting or some ***** like that. Compulsively, I sat up a bit in my chair and straightened.