behind her like some asinine princess parting from her swain. What would have been the point, anyway? He lived in DC and she lived in Boston, and both of them were insanely busy with their careers. Better to just make a clean break of it and walk away with her dignity intact and her head held high.
Her phone buzzed with a new text message just as she opened the door to her condo. The message was probably just from Cissy, so she made herself wait to look at it until she’d gone upstairs and gotten ready for bed. Because why bother rushing headlong toward disappointment? The longer she waited to read it, the longer she could pretend it was from Cal.
At last, she got under the covers. It was time to face reality.
But the message was from Cal. He’d sent her a sweet text, telling her how much he’d enjoyed their dinner. Fists in the air, she did an exultant little shimmy before realizing she had no idea how to respond, or if she even should.
Maybe Cissy could help her figure it out. It was after ten o’clock, but that wasn’t especially late for a management consultant. Especially one who was waiting for her to call.
She sent Cissy a text: Just got back from dinner with Cal .
As expected, her phone rang less than a minute later. No greeting or other prelude, just her friend asking excitedly, “So how did the not-date go?”
“The dinner part was good. We went to Ciro’s.”
“Oh my God, I’m so jealous. I haven’t been there in forever!”
This was one of the many reasons why Brenna loved Cissy—Cissy was undeniably successful now, but she still adored divey pizza joints and could unashamedly envy Brenna for eating at one.
“Did he pay, or did you split it?” Cissy asked.
“He expensed it, so I decided not to argue.”
“Ah. And what was the not-so-good part?” Cissy didn’t miss much.
“Well, he got a bit…proprietary after dinner, when I said I was going to take the T home. He wanted to pay for a cab for me, and I refused, of course. Things got kind of heated, but he backed off. Even apologized.”
“So now what?”
“I don’t know. Probably nothing. He doesn’t live here,” Brenna said, masking her disappointment.
“Where does he live?”
“DC.”
“Oh come on,” Cissy scoffed, “that’s just a shuttle flight away. Totally doable.”
“Convenient, because Cal is also totally doable.” Cissy giggled, and then snorted, and then they both started laughing in earnest. When Brenna caught her breath again, she said, “He sent me a text afterward though, and I don’t know what to say. It’s been forever since I’ve done this.”
“What did the text say?”
“Just that he’d had a great time and wished he could see me again.”
“Well, what do you want to happen?” the ever-practical Cissy asked. “Text him that.”
“I don’t know, I feel really torn.”
Cissy made a fond yet exasperated noise. “Okay, then when we get off the phone, think about it, and then send him the text.”
“Thanks for your sage advice.” Brenna grinned, despite her sarcastic tone. “I’m sure I couldn’t have come up with that on my own.” Then she changed the subject. “So how’s Ash?”
“He’s good.” Cissy paused before confessing, “We’ve been talking about moving in together when his lease is up in the fall.”
“Really? That’s fantastic! You guys are so good together. Are you excited?”
“I am. He already spends pretty much every night over here anyway, and it’s been three years. I feel like we’re ready.”
“Well, keep me posted. See you Tuesday?”
“Oh, right. Mel’s thing. Yeah, it’s in my calendar.”
Brenna could imagine Cissy’s wry smile. She lived and died by her calendar. Not that Brenna was much different; her calendar just usually had a lot more blank spaces these days than Cissy’s did.
“Love you, Ciss.”
“Love you, too.”
Brenna ended the call and immediately started thinking about how to respond to Cal’s text, before her
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