She laughs. “Yup. You should talk to Leanne. See if she can spare a grand to get one for the company.”

“Good idea.” I smirk. “I’ll also point out that she can spend a lot of time going over the minutia of it with our conversation coach.”

“Yeah, right. Like you would dare bring Giles up to her ever again.”

“You’re right,” I respond solemnly. “As far as we’re all concerned, Giles is dead. No, he never even existed.”

“I aspire to be as badass as Leanne,” Aisha says, and sighs as she takes one of the packages off the shelf. “This one should work. But it’s a hundred fifty bucks.”

“Ugh,” I say as I look at it. “I guess it’s an investment.”

She stands up. “Are you really that worried about the money-back guarantee? I mean, it’s a two-strikes-and-you’re-out sort of deal, so even if for some reason Jude activates it, you’d still have another shot.”

“It’s not that,” I say, and then hesitate. “Well, it sort of is. I also just, you know, want to make a good impression. On Leanne. I fucked up so much last month.” Even though it’s not really that either. Would I be doing this for any other client? Or, better question . . . would I be doing this for any other match except Bree?

I don’t even want to go there because I don’t want to give myself the chance to confirm the answer.

“Oh, excellent,” I say, as I see an extra-confident-looking dude in a blue polo strolling over to us, opening up his mouth to ask Aisha if she needs help. I take a step back, ready to enjoy the show.

* * *

Jude comes to my apartment to test out the headset and then we walk over to Cheese together. But I go in first, telling him to take a stroll around the block before he enters. I don’t want to risk Bree seeing us together.

I go into the restaurant and assess the situation. There aren’t too many people there. A trio of young women sit at one table, and, behind them, another woman in sunglasses and a fedora-type hat slouches into the corner of her booth. Probably a celebrity of some sort, but I won’t risk tarnishing my “I’m obviously a real New Yorker” demeanor by deigning to look closer to find out who it is.

When the waitress comes over, I ask to sit at the booth closest to the door. I slide into the bench facing the rest of the tables, giving me a perfect view of wherever Jude and Bree choose to sit.

I call Jude and he answers on the first ring.

“I’m outside the restaurant,” he says quickly and quietly. “And I see her. She’s about five feet away.”