“Yeah, Noah and I spend a lot of time at the cages, practicing our swing.” Her cheeks pinked a little as she said his name.
Emboldened by the contents of the hip flask, I asked, “Are you and Noah … ?”
“Oh no!” she said quickly. “Like, haven’t you noticed how obsessed he is with Vivian?”
“Not as much as you have, clearly.”
“Ugh. The only reason he’s not here is because she needs some antivirus software installing.” She took a resigned gulp of daiquiri and sighed miserably. “I may have a small crush. Don’t say a word to anyone!”
“Have you told him?”
Riley practically gagged with indignation. “Are you on glue? I could never.”
“Why not?” I asked. “Better out than in.”
“I thought that was fart logic,” Riley said.
“Love … farts … both are essential facets of the human experience,” I replied.
“I can’t! I work with him,” Riley said. “Besides, it’s policy. RJ outright banned workplace relationships post MeToo.”
“Really?” I said. “Would you get fired?”
“I don’t know, probably. RJ believes romance steals focus from the work. So best to avoid.” Riley frowned. “Unfortunately.”
“I kind of agree with RJ,” I said. “Dating full stop has always been off the cards for me, anyway.”
“You don’t date?” Riley knocked back more daiquiri. “Why?”
“I don’t have time for it,” I said quickly.
“Ohhh … you’re one of those,” Riley said, handing me the hip flask.
“One of what?”
“You’re focused on your career, right?” Riley said. “No time for love?”
“There’s nothing wrong with being practical.” She sounded just like Bex.
“Or,” she said, “it could be that you don’t like risk.”
“Who does?” I glugged some more cocktail. “And hey, I takesomerisks. I moved to New York, hello?”
“You know what I mean,” Riley said. “I’m talking real risk. The kind it’s hard to bounce back from.”
“Like what?”
She pointed to my chest, and I glanced down in confusion. “My boobs?”
“I was pointing to your heart, silly!” She giggled. “Matters of the heart are the biggest risk of all.”
“Oh,” I said. “I’m not afraid of falling in love, whenever that day may come.”
“Uh-huh,” Riley said knowingly.
“We just met,” I said with a laugh. “You don’t know me.”
“You’re right, and I’m sorry,” she shot back. “And I’m sorry for getting your boobs involved in this.”
