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  “Excuse me,” Melissa said, squeezing me into her side a little tighter. Somehow, the contact sent my heart racing. “Are you trying to steal my girlfriend from right in front of me?”

  Crap. I knew I’d told her to pretend but this was doing a number on my heart. Melissa was drop-dead gorgeous and I was squeezed up against her while she said things like that, and it made my stomach a woozy mess.

  “I’m speaking to her,” Jacob said. “Kayla, what we had—what’s between us—”

  “If you’re speaking to her, you’re speaking to me,” Melissa snapped in what might have been the most commanding voice I’d ever heard. Jacob took a step back. “Don’t think I’m going to just sit around and let you do whatever you want. You don’t have the upper hand in this negotiation, Jacob. Kayla is my girlfriend now, regardless of whatever history there might be between you, and you have to respect that. Are you going to behave in an orderly manner, or do I have to have you escorted from the premises?”

  My heart dropped into my feet. That was the kind of thing you only saw in storybooks. I think I was going to get an actual crush on Melissa before long.

  Jacob glared at Melissa, and then at me. “Kayla,” he said, pushing past us towards the door, “you don’t have to settle for anything. Come back soon. We’re supposed to be together.”

  He pushed out the door, the doorbell jingling, and I waited until it swung all the way shut before I dared to breathe again, stepping away from Melissa.

  “You okay?” she said, looking at me like nothing had even happened just now.

  “Wow,” I said. “I don’t think I could ever thank you enough for that. I’m really sorry. I know that was weird. I just…”

  She brushed herself off, looking suddenly very distracted with her blazer. “Don’t worry about that. I’m just glad I could help. He seemed like an unsavory character.”

  I nodded. “He was… well. You know. I shouldn’t be bothering you with this kind of thing when you’re here to shop and not get caught up in something else broken in this store.”

  “Do you need help?” she said, still avoiding looking at me directly. Ugh. Now I’d embarrassed her. “If he’s making you feel unsafe…”

  “No, it’s fine. It’s really fine. It’s just…” I fiddled with the hem of my skirt. “You know. I panicked a little. Maybe a lot. Wow, I owe you. You were amazing. Let me get you some candy.”

  “Candy?” She looked around. “Oh… right. I can pay for my own candy.”

  I felt my face burn. “I’ve got to do something to thank you for that.”

  “You know…” She put a hand on the back of her neck, cast her gaze out the window. “Actually, I could use a favor. If you wanted to help.”

  For some reason, I felt my eyes trail over her, tracing her outline. The way she stood, with her hip out to one side and her shoulders pulled back, her long, slender legs… I gulped. “Please. I’m begging for some way to make it up to you.”

  “I need some advice for my sister’s baby shower.”

  I slumped. For some reason, I was expecting something a little more interesting. “Oh. I don’t know if I’m great at that, I’ve never even been to a baby shower.”

  “That’s fine. I just need someone to talk to who isn’t from the office.”

  “Oh… sure. I mean, not a lot of customers, I guess we could just talk right now.”

  “I’ve got to get back to work,” she said. “Things are going haywire there right now. Lunches are short, on principle. Can I get your number?”

  My heart jumped and I felt my mouth fall open a little. I had to remind myself she just wanted some… baby advice. I didn’t even have any reason to think she liked girls. She was probably married with two and a half kids. “Yeah,” I said, my voice small. “Yeah, that’s good. That’s cool.”

  I gave her my number and she sent me a text to confirm it was right, and I added her contact with a little heart at the end that I shouldn’t have put there, and she headed back towards the door.

  “Wait,” I said. “Are you just leaving now?”

  “Yeah. I can’t be late.”

  “Oh my gosh, hold on,” I said, snatching a grab bag. “At least take this. For your office. You know, the least I can do. Or all for yourself.”

  She stopped by the door, looked at the bag with her eyebrows high, and then she laughed. “Well, I’m lucky to have such a generous girlfriend,” she said, and I think my heart turned into a hundred tiny little butterflies that couldn’t agree which way to flutter. “Thanks, Kayla. Talk later.”

  She took the bag and left, and it was only then I realized she wasn’t actually buying anything. She’d explicitly come here for my number.

  I steadied myself on the counter and focused on remembering how to breathe. I figured she was probably straight. It would have to be the coincidence of a lifetime if she wasn’t.

  But I still couldn’t help my mind going back to the way she’d held my shoulder and stood her ground against Jacob for me.

  Great. I had a crush on a customer.

  Chapter 5

  Melissa

  I didn’t have the faintest clue what I was doing.

  I’d stepped out on my lunch break to stop in at that one over-the-top candy shop in old town, even though I obviously didn’t have any need for candy. And what had I done? I’d gotten the owner’s number.

  My head was spinning while I was driving back to the office, my free candy in the passenger’s seat. It was probably sad this was the closest I’d gotten to a girlfriend in years. But the feeling I’d had then, pulling her up against me, facing her pushy ex-boyfriend, my heartrate had gone through the roof. That probably had something to do with why I completely went off on Jacob.

  Did that mean she liked girls? I didn’t figure it made much sense to grab a random woman to be her girlfriend unless she actually did girlfriends. Her ex hadn’t acted like there was anything weird about it.

  The fact that that had been going through my head when I’d asked for her number—did that mean I was trying to pick her up? I’d gone in, in all honesty, looking for her. It was depressing, but this girl I’d seen in the candy store once was closer than any of my other friends.

  But I hadn’t been trying to pick her up. Even if she was cute.

  When I got back to the office, it was right before lunch ended, and I dropped the candy bag on the breakroom table, nabbing a piece before I left.

  I didn’t know why I did, but I guess Kayla had gotten to me and actually made me crave it a little. And sure enough, it was sugary.

  It was hard to focus on any real work for the second half of the day. I went a full hour of screwing around in my office trying to get into it before I gave in and texted Kayla.

  We went back and forth a few times—normally it weirded me out when someone used as many emojis as she did, but given it was her, I would have freaked out if she didn’t—before I scheduled something after we finished work.

  And then it was harder to focus from there, wondering if I’d just scheduled a date. I just asked her to meet me at a café, but this was the closest thing I’d gotten to a date in years.

  Of course, I’d also never called anyone my girlfriend in years except for her, and that was just as a gotcha to her nasty ex.

  I had a whole mountain of unfinished work at five, but I stood up anyway, left my office, and ran into the CEO, a pasty white guy named David with graying hair even though he was thirty-one. He was a little short, but the commanding glare in his eyes made up for all the intimidation factor he might have been lacking.

  “Something’s the matter, Melissa,” he said. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  I looked around at where everyone else was leaving. “Why do you think something’s wrong? Did I do something wrong?”

  “You’re not with it. You’ve been playing at peak for months straight, and then all of a sudden you’re slipping. Something happen? You’re not pregnant, are you?”

  I winced. “David, I’m n
ot… no?”

  He stopped. “Right. You don’t have a husband, do you?”

  “Seriously?” I put a hand to my forehead. “David, I’m a lesbian.”

  He stared. “You are?” he said after a while.

  “And I don’t see what this has to do with anything. I think my work’s been fine. I’m leaving at time tonight because I have preparations for my sister’s baby shower.”

  “Oh, your sister’s pregnant.”

  I tried not to roll my eyes. Was every problem a woman had related to pregnancy or a husband? “Yes. But I’m meeting someone soon, I need to go.”

  “Melissa, we have a lot of lost ground to make up for after that last earnings report. We should be here working double-time to turn things around.”

  I narrowed my eyes. He looked me in the eye, squaring his shoulders, trying to intimidate me, but I matched his gestures. “I’ll make sure I get the work done. But I’ve already been putting in a lot of overtime. I need to be there for my family, too.”

  He made a face. “Right. Your family. All right. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  I really didn’t like the way he said that. But there was nothing for it but to leave it and see him in the morning.

  I had a meeting to get to, a meeting that definitely wasn’t a date.

  ∞∞∞

  It still felt like a date.

  Kayla was waiting outside the café when I arrived, wearing the same thing she’d been in the shop except with her uniform top replaced with a frilled blouse. It really only made her look even more Kayla than before. I drove past her, parked in the lot next to the shop, and when I stepped out of the car, her jaw dropped.

  “Holy moly,” she said, staring at me. “That’s your car? Whoa. I-I didn’t realize I was dealing with a… a…” She gestured at the car, a sleek black Maserati. Honestly, I didn’t care, but David told me to buy it so we looked fancy. “I don’t know, a corporate executive?”

  I shrugged. “It’s not very fun,” I said, surprising myself with the honesty. “Sorry if I kept you waiting. The boss was yelling at me.”

  Her eyes went wide. “So you are a corporate executive? When you say the boss was yelling at you, is this, like, some mega-millionaire CEO?”

  I rubbed my temple. “His compensation package is, like… thirty million a year, I think. I don’t get what anyone is even supposed to do with that much money.”

  “Holy smokes I was trying to exaggerate but I couldn’t even manage,” Kayla said, her eyes wide. “Oh, jeez. Your time is really valuable, then. And I had you help fix my jellybean machine. I probably owe you, like, a thousand dollars for your jellybean consulting services.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” I laughed, hurrying inside. Kayla followed me with quick, short steps, her hands out to her sides, and I tried not to think about how unrealistically adorable she was. I ordered an americano and a muffin, and gestured back to Kayla and said, “And whatever she’s having.”

  She flushed. “Oh, Melissa. I can pay for myself.”

  “I’m out here to get your help, the least I can do is buy you a drink. Or whatever. Order the whole menu if you want. Seriously. I dare you to order more than you think you should.”

  Her eyes went wide. “It’s really fine?”

  I looked back at the cashier and said, “Upsell whatever you want to her.”

  She got a latte, a sandwich, and a cookie. She acted like she’d just murdered someone, but given how in the last few months I’d had sixty million dollars of loss to explain, I really couldn’t even notice fifteen dollars.

  “You’re amazing,” she said once we sat down. “I guess you’re, like, really rich though.”

  “I guess,” I sighed. “So, I know this is weird, but everyone else I know is involved in work somehow and they get weird when I bring up my family. Finance bro culture. My boss forgot for I think the twentieth time today I’m a lesbian.”

  Her back went rigid and her eyes opened wide. “Oh my gosh. I didn’t know you were a lesbian. Now I feel doubly weird about making you pretend to be my girlfriend.”

  I squinted. “Is that something you prefer doing with straight women?”

  “I mean,” she said, looking down at her hands in her lap, “at least then it’s obvious it’s just… you know. Messing around, right?”

  I wasn’t sure how to interpret that. Did that mean she wasn’t messing around if I did like women?

  The barista called out my order and I got up for it, sitting back down after Kayla had moved on from the subject, her expression back to that million-watt smile.

  “So,” she said. “You want advice about your baby shower. And you don’t think candy is enough.”

  I sighed, looking away. “I’m going to be straightforward,” I said. “I work too much. I barely even know my sister these days. I don’t know what she wants. And I definitely don’t know what she has or needs for her baby.”

  “But she likes candy.”

  “When we were younger, she always wanted to try different sweets. Pastries, candies, anything like that.”

  “I think that’s a great gift, then.” A surprised look passed over her face. “Not—not that I’m just trying to sell you candy, obviously.”

  “I feel ridiculous. I feel like they see me as the absurdly wealthy one, and I should be buying them a golden crib or something. I can’t really just show up with a bag of candy.”

  “You know,” she said, looking past me with a coy smile, “maybe this is going to sound as saccharine as something you might expect me to say, but… do you think maybe the best thing they’d want is just to spend time with you?”

  I felt like she’d just reached into my chest and squeezed my heart. “I… I know. But I won’t be able to stay there for long. I don’t have any time to myself. I got an earful from the boss for even coming out here at five. Normally I’ll get out closer to ten, or just sleep under my desk.”

  “Oh,” she said, her eyes wide. “That sounds miserable. Aren’t they killing you like that?”

  “Well, what am I supposed to do? Earnings have tumbled. I’m on the spot now.”

  Kayla’s order got called out, and she skipped off to grab her tray and hurry back. “I don’t know,” she said, sitting down. “I don’t even know how to fix my earnings. That’s definitely not my strong point. But I feel like it’s important to remember to live life, no matter what else is going on. You know?”

  “I’d love to live life,” I said, “but I’d also love to keep my job. I don’t really want to get fired.”

  “I guess.” She fidgeted. There was something else she wasn’t saying.

  “What?”

  She looked up, her eyes wide.

  “You’re sitting on something,” I said. “What is it?”

  “Am I?” She shifted in her seat, checked underneath her. “I’m not—”

  “Not literally, Kayla. I mean there’s something else on your mind.”

  “Oh.” She flushed. “I don’t know. I was just wondering what might happen if you’re fired.”

  I squinted. “I don’t think anyone wants to lose their job.”

  “Is it really the job you want?” she said, her voice small, and I paused.

  Was it really the job I wanted? There was no question. It was the absolute top of the field. I had power, money, prestige. This was what I’d fought years and years for, what I’d worked overnight over and over for, what I’d dragged myself into the office again and again trying to get, what I’d endured every manner of verbal abuse from everyone else in the system shooting for. I couldn’t just turn around and walk away from it. Not when I’d come this far.

  “Of course,” I said.

  “That was a super long pause.”

  I scrunched up my face. “I was thinking about the question. And I gave you the answer.”

  “All right,” she said, her voice trailing off. “Right. Sorry. I didn’t mean to imply anything.”

  “I just… wonder how I’m supposed to face my si
ster. You’re right that the thing they want the most is for me to be there longer. But I don’t know how I can get that to them.”

  She looked down. “I can’t believe I ended up tied up with someone like you. I didn’t think I’d ever even talk to someone up in the stratosphere like you.”

  “I don’t know about that,” I said. “Honestly, most of my peers are as boneheaded as anyone. I don’t know how they got there. And me…” I took a deliberately long sip of my coffee, staring out the window, out to where fat raindrops streaked across the glass. “I don’t know if I know how to have fun anymore. Not to be a stereotype.”

  She laughed, such a pretty sound it pulled me out of my thoughts as she threw her head back. “Okay, that’s it. Can I make a suggestion?”

  I folded my hands on the table. “You’re certainly welcome to suggest something.”

  She got a glint in her eye when she said, “Let’s be friends. And I can show you before your sister’s shower how to have a little more fun.”

  I blinked fast. “You want to show me how to have fun.”

  “You forgot, didn’t you? And look at me. I know all about fun. You might as well just give me my PhD in fun.”

  I shook my head. “Kayla, I don’t think anyone offers a doctorate in fun.”

  “The university of Kayla sure does! And you’re the latest student. Also the only one.”

  “I don’t know if—”

  “C’mon, think about it. When you go see your sister, do you want to be drab and miserable?”

  “You think I’m drab and miserable?”

  She gave me a long, unpleasant look. “I think there’s a beautiful, free spirit inside you longing to be set free. But as of right now? Maybe a little.”

  “Is this because of the favorite color thing again? I’ll have you know, I put that sticker on my toaster.”

  She lit up. “See! You’re already making progress. You got your first credit from Kayla University. It’s settled. Time for you to learn some new things.”