When the interview was done about an hour later, she went to the bathroom while Larissa went to the front desk to walk Kit and Matilda out, and she found Larissa after, sitting at a table, probably typing her notes on her computer.
“Can I ask you something?” Harlow said, sitting down at the table across from her.
“Sure.”
“Where were you last night?”
“Aggie’s.”
“You–” Harlow let out the deepest breath. “You slept at Aggie’s?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“You weren’t there when I got home, and this morning, you–” She paused. “I guess I thought maybe you’d gone on a date or something.”
“With whom, exactly?” Larissa lifted an eyebrow at her.
“Janine.”
“Janine? No, we’re just going for a drink. It’s a hangout thing, not a date. I told you that.”
“You didn’t answer my texts, so I thought maybe you were… busy.”
“I wasn’t. I mean, Aggie’s two kids were kind of climbing all over me because they were excited that I was there and not at all tired, so I didn’t even know where my phone was at that time. Then, I decided to stay over.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Why, Harlow?”
“Why what?”
“Nothing.” Larissa shook her head. “I’m not going to date Janine, okay?”
“Okay. Yeah,” Harlow said. “Would you dateme?”
Larissa’s eyes widened, and Harlow swallowed hard.
“Will you go out with me, Larissa?” she asked.
But Larissa wasn’t saying anything, and Harlow’s head began a slow nod on its own. This was the moment. She had finally done it. She’d just made her feelings known, no preamble, and now, it would all be over.
“Yes.”
Harlow’seyes widened this time, and she asked, “Yes, what?”
“Yes, I’ll go out with you.”
“You heard the part about it being a date?”
“Yes.” Larissa nodded. “And my answer is yes.”
Larissa closed her laptop.
“Oh,” Harlow let out, her heart thundering inside her chest, and she silently begged it to stop because she couldn’t hear herself think. “I expected you to say no. Or, to maybe want to talk for a long time about why your answer is no, because we should just be friends and all that. I wasn’t prepared for a yes.”
“Are you taking it back, asking me out?”
“What? No!” she practically shouted. “I’ve waited, like, thirteen years to do this. I am not taking it back now that I finally have.”
