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“That sentence guarantees I’m going to get mad at you.”

“Did anything happen between you two?”

I go still.

“Maya.”

“I had to ask.”

“No, you did not.”

“I absolutely did.”

I stand and walk toward the windows.

“Nothing happened.”

“Nothing?”

“Nothing.”

Maya is quiet.

I continue before she can say anything else.

“I have been interviewing him. That’s it. We have been professional.”

“Cold professional or normal professional?”

I close my eyes.

“Why does that distinction matter?”

“Because I know you.”

“That still doesn’t mean something happened.”

“I know.”

“Julian was engaged.”

“I know that too.”

I turn away from the windows.

“They looked happy.”

Maya exhales softly.

“People look happy in photographs all the time.”

“That is not my problem.”

“No, it isn’t.”

I sit back down.

Maya asks, “So what are you going to do?”