I chuckle at her attempt at small talk. “Like I said, really busy at work. What about you?”
“Yeah,” she replies. “Same. And ...”
“And?”
“I don’t know. Something weird happened to me today.” I don’t respond, wanting her to tell me in her own time. “My boss’s boss—one of the junior partners—pulled me into her office and told me she wanted to mentor me.”
I try to catch her eye, but she stares out the window, toward the driver, down at her skirt—anywhere but at me.
“That sounds great,” I say. “Doesn’t it?”
Lucy sighs. “I think so. She was talking about how I have all this potential.” She bursts into a laugh, which doesn’t have the same unrestrained energy she normally does. “She was even talking about me going to law school—part-time, in the evening.”
“Wow,” I say.
“Right?” She finally looks at me. “That’s a crazy idea.”
“Is it? Do you want to go to law school?”
She chews the inside of her cheek. “I don’t know. I mean, I haven’t thought about it in a long time. Now I’m older. And there’s the debt. Potentially.” She shakes her head. “We need to be talking about stuff. Like, couple stuff.”
“I think that’s what we’re doing.”
She gives me thatdon’t mess with melook she wears so well, and I can’t help but smile in response. It’s good to see her. “Maybe we should meet for lunch for real between now and the wedding. Then we won’t have to invent a cover. We’ll have a ready-made one.”
She starts chewing her cheek again. “Maybe. But we need a cover in the next ten blocks.”
“We’re taking it slow. We haven’t stayed at each other’s places—that makes it easier than lying and getting ourselves into trouble. We’ve met for lunch a couple of times at Stranger than Fiction, and dinner once.”
“Or maybe we haven’t managed to make a dinner date. We arrange times, but either you’re working late, or I am, and we keep having to cancel.”
“Sounds good,” I say. “Are you mad?” I don’t know why I follow it up with the question. I guess I want to know if she would be mad if I canceled dinner because I had to work.
“Mad that you had to cancel? No way. You have your own business. I get how it works. It’s a twenty-four-hour job. I like that you’re so dedicated.”
She fumbles for something in her purse. She must feel me staring, because she glances up. “What?”
“For real that’s what you think, or is that part of—”
“For real,” she says. “Drive and ambition are attractive, you know?”
I do know.
“What does Katherine think about you going to law school?”
She brings out a tube of lip gloss and expertly applies it in a couple of sweeps. “She doesn’t know. I haven’t told anyone but you.” She smacks her lips together and drops the gloss back into her bag.
My heart inches higher in my chest, and I have the urge to scoop up her hand in mine or smooth my palm over her leg. I want to touch her.
“Here we are,” she says as the car pulls in. “Remember, if in doubt, stick as closely as possible to the truth.”
“Roger that,” I say.
Katherine and Ed are at the table already, and both grin up at us as we arrive.
Katherine squeals as she hugs her sister. “You came together. It’s so, so nice to be double dating.”
My stomach roils a little. I hate lying to Ed. We’ve known each other a long time. But everything is changing. Work has taken second place for him since he’s gotten serious with Katherine. And I’m feeling that.
