I follow her around the corner to a space with couches and the requisite faux Eames. Chloe takes a seat, placing her drink on the marble table between our chairs. “So, back to you and this Darcy. Does he have any redeeming characteristics beyond intensity?”

I slump forward, resting my elbows on my knees. “He really, really does. And I really, really decided not to let myself acknowledge them because I am a petty poo.”

“Ah, pettiness.” Chloe pats my hand. “It’s a family trait, I’m afraid.”

“The first night he came in, he was . . . unresponsive to my wiles. And I overheard him tell Charles I wasn’t ‘tempting’ enough for him.”

Chloe scowls. I can practically see her own vanity ruffling. “Yet there was happy time in coat check?”

“Oh, yeah.” I fill her in and explain the letter.

“Now what?” she asks. “He’s at least partially responsible for Jane’s heartache, and I’m assuming you had other reasons for not acknowledging his finer points, outside of the ‘tempting’ thing. What’s making this guy so compelling?” She takes a sip from her drink.

“It’s . . . different with him. None of the lines from the show work. I can’t fall back on the one-liners or playing the game. There is no game. Which is hot. And challenging. Which is also hot.”

“Is there banter?”

“Yes. But again, it’s only effective when it’s natural. Like, when I’m legitimately entertained that he’s stolen finger food from my party.”

“So, he’s into you. You, you.”

“Yes, me, me.” Delightfully the sum of my parts. “It’s freaking me out.”

Chloe snorts out a laugh. “I’m not going to warn you about the sheer depth of the smit you’re in, because I think you know, but freaking out like this? It’s a good sign. What’s he like?”

“He’s generous. Ambitious, but thoughtful about it. Like he wants to do something that matters. He lets me handle my own shit,” I say, thinking of Jane’s accident and the groper on the stairs, “then comes in with a solid assist. He said some things about burlesque that were a little too close to crappy comments guys have made about it in the past. Now I know it was part of him trying to come to terms with it all. I’m not used to that, to people reconsidering their first impressions of the scene.”

Chloe nods.