“That’s a completely different matter. I can’t start something with a colleague.”

“It might be too late for that. So?”

Amelia nods at her reflection and puts away the comb, then looks me straight in the eyes through the mirror.

“I’ll say yes to Dylan, if you say yes to Richard.”

“He hasn’t asked me,” I repeat.

“Neither has Dylan. So do we have a deal? If they ask, we both say yes?”

I roll my eyes at her in the mirror. “Deal.”

Maybe she’s right. I do need to move on eventually, so why not start tonight? At the thought, my body goes through a super concentrated version of a panic attack. In five seconds, my heart skips a beat at the thought of having lost Jake forever. Then my pulse starts racing, bringing along a blind panic that spreads from my stomach to my throat. That’s when a shiver goes through me and I force myself to calm down and shake away the feeling. And with that shake, I’m finally back to normal.

As we’re exiting the restroom, Flotsam and Jetsam stroll in.

“Amelia,” Jetsam speaks first. “We thought you might need to freshen up.”

“You really have gone on a wild spree,” Flotsam sneers.

I can already see their comments putting doubts in Amelia’s pretty head, so I take over. “Excuse us, ladies, but we’ve got to go back to our dates. You should try one of those. They’re fun, I promise.”

And with that, I push Amelia out of the door and leave Flotsam and Jetsam to stare at their outraged, obnoxious faces in the mirror.

“Oh gosh,” Amelia says as we push our way back out of the bar. “I’m never going to hear the end of it. They’re going to make my life at the office a nightmare. But did you see their faces?” Amelia giggles. “Totally worth it. I love you.”

“And I you.”

“And when we were about to despair, they came back.” Richard greets us as we get outside. “Ladies, we were thinking about grabbing a bite for dinner. Would you like to join us?”

I look at Richard first, his rumpled brown hair at odds with his square jaw. An open expression on his face, a twinkle in his crinkly eyes. Why not? I need this. I need a handsome guy with an honest face. Even if it’s just going to be for a night, a month, or whatever.

Before answering, I observe Dylan and he appears hungry. He’s looking at Amelia as if he’d rather have her for dinner. I giggle inwardly. “I’d love to join you for dinner,” I say. “But only if we can have burgers. They’re my favorites, and I’m craving one.”

Richard laughs. “Burgers it is, I know just the place. It’s not too far away, we can walk there.”