Dead Beat Dates & Deities - Goddess of Tornado Alley Series Book One

Chapter Five

Snow was falling steadily as Frank and Ella made their way out of the big sliding doors at the main entrance of the hospital.

"Damn, it's cold," Frank muttered.

"I told you it was going to snow."

"No, that's not what you said," Frank corrected. "I believe you told me how sorry I'd be if it did snow and I got stuck in a blizzard wearing my Rossi's. Not the same thing."

"Huh." Ella tipped her chin down and looked up through her long lashes. "You must not have been listening closely enough."

There was a good two to three inches of the white stuff already on the ground and the wind had an army of flakes swirling wildly as they fell from the sky.

"Please tell me you plan to get the car and come pick me up."

Ella looked her friend up and down surveying her rag tag ensemble. "Why? You don't want to get your little terry cloth slippers all wet?"

"I'm wearing paper pants, El. I'm freezing. Could we have this discussion after you go get the car?"

"At least I had a sweatshirt you could borrow."

Frank blinked impatiently. "Sweat is right. You worked out in this and had it in your gym bag, didn't you?"

Ella feigned a look of innocence. "Maybe. How's that saying go? Beggars can't be choosers?"

"Alright already," Frank relented. "I'll beg one more time and then be done with it. Please go and get the car."

"Stand over there," Ella said shooing Frank back into the warmth of the building. She pulled a set of keys from her coat pocket. "I'd hate to have a gust of wind crawl up those pants and give you a chill. Especially since you're going commando."

A pair of middle school aged boys who were walking through the doors looked over at Frank when they heard Ella's comment. One of them snickered at her and the other shook his head in amusement.

"Okay," Frank sighed. "You'd think a comment like that would embarrass me, but you'd be wrong. Look at me, here," she said opening her arms wide. "I got nothin' left."

Ella disappeared into the storm while Frank stood shuddering by the front doors. Her purse and the plastic bag holding her single shoe and the still damp clothes she'd worn the night before hung over her shoulder. The shirt she borrowed did smell a little like sweat, but that was the least of her worries. What was bothering her was that it was three sizes too small because Ella actually did work out. Sometimes Frank took the stairs because she was too impatient to wait for the elevator, and her neighbor's dog, a huge scary beast by the name of Muffin, chased her to and from the mailboxes on a semi-regular basis. It wasn't like she was completely sedentary, but it would be a stretch to call the exercise she got 'working out'.

She wasn't a size six like Ella. So what? She liked her sweetened coffees and cheddar cheese popcorn. She always had a stash of snack sized Milky Way candy bars in her freezer and she never said no to dessert. She'd come to the conclusion a long time ago that the tags on her clothes would probably never have a number lower than ten on them and didn't worry herself too much about it. Besides, she'd been told she still looked good in a pair of jeans and could pull off a tankini without too much effort. It kept Ella out of her closet, and that was a good thing. She loved the girl dearly, but she hated the thought of sharing her wardrobe with anyone, even her best friend.

A sleek, gray Mazda pulled up to the curb and Frank braced herself against the wind as she pushed through the doors. Her feet slid leaving a pair of long ski trails behind her on the walk. The heater was already doing a marvelous job of warming up the car when Frank plopped inside and shut the door.