The trick with leaving my job early is that I have to leave immediately. No lingering. No stopping to check my voicemail inbox or dropping off paperwork at the secretary pool. Hell, sometimes stopping by the bathroom can be a mistake, so I rush to my office, grab my purse, and book it toward the bank of elevators. I’m a jittery mess while I wait for one heading down. I have one eye on the digital screen recording the elevators moving at a snail’s pace through the building, and the other watching the glass doors that lead into the marketing and public relations firm where I work. I decide when the elevator is on the twenty-fifth floor that if I see anyone even heading toward the door as if they might be looking for me, then I’m going to book it to the stairwell, heels be damned.

It might be drastic, but I don’t care.

Finally, the elevator door opens, and I dash inside the empty car. The elevator door slides closed, I exhale loudly into the empty car, and then my phone chirps with a text from Darren.

“Are you on your way?”

“Yes. But I thought Stephen was going to call an emergency meeting and stop me.”

He sends a laughing emoji. I swear I can hear his laughter in my mind, and it soothes me.

“I’m scared.”

It doesn’t hurt me to admit this to Darren of all people because I know he will understand; that’s why I married him. But I gave him so much shit when he was meeting up with Jourdan. I realize now that I could have been a little bit nicer to him, and I’m preparing for him to give me everything I gave back. But that’s not Darren.

“It’s okay to be scared. Don’t feel bad about that. And remember that you can always decide that this isn’t for you. That’s okay as well. Just know that I’m always going to be here.”

Yeah, that’s why I married him.

We let Jourdan choose the place as usual.

At first, it was our way of putting her at ease, reminding her that she had power in this situation. So much power she doesn’t even know. But somewhere along the way, we realized that it made more sense to let Jourdan choose the locations for our dates because she knows so much more about this place.