“Have a good night.” She waved as I walked out of the room, her brows still furrowed from whatever she saw on my face.

I tried to shake off the funk I’d sunk into in the last few minutes as I walked out of the building, and remembered I told Bonnie I’d get in touch with Elias. Like I needed an excuse. I also wanted to know how his dad was doing, so I took out my phone and texted him.

Hey. How’s your dad? Bonnie confirmed you’d be driving us down for this trip. Can’t say I’m unhappy about that.

I stared at the phone for a few seconds and saw the three dots pop up as if he was typing a message, but then they disappeared. After another minute, no message came.

My heart sank. Disappointment made my limbs heavy. But what did I expect? Elias had a lot going on right now, and answering my needy texts was surely not at a priority. He was probably caring for his hospitalized father. I had to find something else to focus on, because Elias didn’t need my drama.

I got myself together and walked to the parking lot with the plan of asking one of the guards to call me a cab. Just as I was headed to the security gate, I saw Bonnie getting into her car. She frantically waved me over, and when I attempted to walk past her and play dumb, she yelled at me, “Where are you off to looking so damn grumpy?”

I stopped and veered in her direction, feeling bad for ignoring her when she was just trying to be friendly. I could at least not be so fucking rude to someone who’d been nothing but nice to me. I jogged up to her car as she rolled down her window. “What are you up to tonight, Ms. Watts?”

She did have the most amazing laugh. “Getting the hell out of here before I get stuck doing more work for my boss. He’s still in there.” She jerked her thumb over at the building we’d just left. “That man thinks taking the weekend off is optional.” That was said with an epic eye roll. “I’m about to meet some friends for dinner and drinks.” She patted the passenger seat, then pointed at me. “You’re welcome to come. Unless you’ve got other plans, of course.”

I took my phone out and saw Elias had still not answered, then shoved it back in my pocket and gave her a nod. “Sounds great, actually,” I told her as I started moving toward the passenger side.

She leaned over to unlock the door for me. “Come on then! It’s past six and there’s a glass of wine with my name on it.”