The kitchen is a classic New York one—not a separate, closed-off room, but a collection of appliances pushed up against the far wall of the living room. He could see me any time from the kitchen. But he’s taking far too long to rummage in a drawer—wait, no, he’s trying another drawer—he’s trying a cabinet now. I slip out my phone, stand to hover over the coffee table, and snap a photo of the impressive spread. The noise from the TV covers my movements.

He turns around sooner than I expected and catches me pressing my hair to my shoulder so it doesn’t dangle in front of my bird’s-eye-view shot. I freeze, flush, and press my phone to my chest. He just laughs.

“Go ahead,” he encourages, in a slightly teasing voice. “So, you’re one of those girls who takes photos of all her food for Instagram.”

“Guilty as charged,” I say, trying to laugh. It’s way better to cop to a lesser offense.

“I don’t get it, but whatever makes you happy,” he says, setting down the cheese knife he found and joining me on the couch again.

This time, I do hit Pause. I want to hear what he has to say. “So, you’re, like, really not on Instagram?” I ask.

He shrugs and turns to look at the TV. “I mean, look at these guys. Don doesn’t need to tell anyone about his beautiful wife or expensive apartment or great job. He just . . . exudes confidence.”

“I’m confident,” I say automatically.

“You’re telling me that every like and comment and follow isn’t another little confidence booster?” he asks, lifting an eyebrow. “And that you’d feel exactly the same about yourself without Instagram in your back pocket?”

“That’s not it.”

“Then what is it?”

It’s miraculous that I can hold my own in front of an Elle reporter or a radio show host broadcasting to a million people, but when it’s just me and Blake in his apartment, I don’t know how to defend myself. It’s like all the right words have been sucked away and I’m only left with the wrong ones. I don’t usually feel this dumb.

“I use it mostly for work anyway,” I explain. “It’s good for customers to see that I’m a real person who eats cheese and drinks wine, too. It helps them feel like, you know, they know me. And that translates directly to sales, I swear.”