Of course I said yes. I had been attending ever since, although my participation flagged the year Connor lived out of state for a clerkship. Since he had returned, I rarely missed trivia. Even though we now worked at the same law firm, those Thursday-night excursions were the only times we saw each other outside of work, but remembering my vow to help Audrey acclimate to the city, I invited her to join us.

I ARRIVED AT THE BAR ten minutes later than promised and found Audrey perched on a barstool, dressed in short black shorts and a white eyelet lace shirt. She was sipping a glass of rosé and laughing with the bartender, a baby-faced guy adorned with tattoos. From his leering expression, I could tell he was wondering the same thing I was: whether she was wearing anything underneath that shirt.

Her glossy mouth twisted wryly as she said something to the bartender that made him throw his head back in exaggerated laughter. He then said something and she ducked her head coyly, twisting a lock of her long, red-gold hair with her white-polished fingers. I hesitated, unsure whether I should interrupt their flirtation.

Suddenly, she swiveled on her barstool and called out to me. “Cat! There you are!”

“Sorry,” I said, hurrying to her side. “I got stuck at work. Have you been waiting long?”

“I haven’t minded,” she said, throwing a kittenish smile at the bartender.

“Let’s—”

“Hey,” one of the regular waitresses, a young woman with emerald-green hair and the inability to make it through a shift without spilling at least one drink, said as she stepped between me and Audrey. With a tray of empty glasses balancing precariously on one hand, she said to Audrey, “You’re Audrey Miller, aren’t you?”

Audrey smiled beatifically at her. “I am. And you are … ?”

“Jody. I’ve been following you for, like, ever.” She set the tray down on the bar with a loud rattle and handed her phone to me. “Here, take our picture.”

Audrey offered me a shrug and a small smile before casually tossing an arm around Jody’s shoulders and grinning for the camera. It was magic: somehow Audrey managed to make it look as though she and Jody were great friends, rather than strangers who’d met only seconds before. I knew that photo would be plastered all over Jody’s social media the second we walked away.

The bartender smiled crookedly at Audrey. “Should I be following you, too?”

“Everyone should follow me.”

“Maybe I will,” he said, winking at her.

The way he said it turned my stomach, but Audrey was already plucking a business card from her purse. I restrained myself from snatching it out of her hand and warning her about picking up strangers in bars, particularly strangers who had a giant, bloody skull tattooed on one hand.

“Come on,” I said sternly instead. “The game’s about to start. We should find the rest of the team.”

“Absolutely. Just let me settle up here.”