“Wallis,” I said, submitting myself to the inevitable and gesturing toward Ari. “I’d like to introduce you to Ari. She’s on K Street.”

Ari stood and stretched out her hand. “So good,” she said, “to meet you. Atlas talks about how fabulous you are.”

Wallis was the picture of confusion. “You know Atlas?” she asked.

“They’re together,” I answered for the room.

“Happily,” Ari said, with a tilt of the head. “I have the very good fortune of being this tall drink of water’s girlfriend.”

Wallis stared at me, speechless, though I felt nothing except a calm hollowness in my core, as though I were the eye of a storm.

Atlas continued to look at his shoes. It didn’t seem he’d prepared himself for the day the three of us would be together. Which, I had to be honest, was strange. What did he expect? Ari and I had hung out. She was on K Street and I on the Hill. He had to predict that our worlds would collide. I’d go to my grave loving him, but, God, sometimes he was so dense. If Ari thought I placed her relationship in any kind of jeopardy, she had severely overestimated me. And Atlas was not a cheater. When he made a commitment, he did not betray it. “Ari’s been living in London,” I said. “She’s back now.” In the silence that followed, I drank from the latte Atlas had delivered.

As for Ari, she reached over the arm of her chair and wrapped her hand around Atlas’s forearm, her fingertips digging into his shirt. “We should all get dinner,” she declared, and I almost choked on my coffee. That was exactly what we all needed, more weird tension, next time with appetizers! “You should come over to my apartment. I’ll cook. What about this Saturday?”

“I’m not sure,” said Wallis, collecting herself. “Maybe Daisy and I should check our calendars before committing.”

“Of course,” said Ari. “You both are no doubt in high demand, you single girls in the city. Unlike us old homebody types.” With this she smiled at Atlas, saccharine.

“Thanks for coming by,” I announced, thoroughly done with the show.

“No trouble at all,” Ari said. “Now, I’ve got a meeting with the Speaker. That man is useless at keeping staff.” She rolled her eyes, as though to say, men. “At least there’s always good chocolate at his reception desk.”

“And I’m off, too,” Atlas said.

“No,” Wallis said, “I’ve only just gotten here. We have so much to catch up on. You can’t leave yet.”