Alejandro slid his hand across the table so his fingers could brush hers. No one would even notice they were touching if they weren’t looking, but it was enough to make Deja start to sweat. She tried to bite back a smile, but it didn’t work.

“I wasn’t ready to be told the truth. Can I get a warning next time?” she said, trying to sound playful even though she felt so exposed; he’d inadvertently poked at a sore spot.

She always told her advisees to do as she said, never as she did because she knew much better than them that hers wasn’t a path to emulate. If they wanted to be happy, fulfilled adults with a good work-life balance, they needed to prioritize themselves and their needs better than Deja could. And even if they didn’t yet know they wanted to be well-adjusted adults, she wanted it for them and never let them forget it. Unfortunately, she never listened to her own advice.

But apparently, Alejandro was prepared to step in where she couldn’t. He leaned across the table toward her. “I’ll always tell you the truth, Deja. And I’ll always want you to be nicer to yourself. You can take that as a blanket warning if you like.”

Deja’s lips hurt from trying not to laugh as hard as she wanted.

“And until you figure out how to be nicer to yourself, you can let me take care of you sometimes,” he said, focusing on her as if there wasn’t anyone else in the crowded room. His fingers moved between hers on the table, stroking hers noticeably.

“I let you buy me coffee,” she said.

“Step one.”

“What’s step two?” she whispered, hoping it was sex, or at least kissing, even though those seemed like big leaps from coffee. His eyes darted around them. She thought there was a chance she wasn’t far off, and that made her heart race.

“Let me cook you dinner,” he offered out of the blue.

Deja’s mouth fell open. “You cannot be this amazing.”

His eyebrows lifted. “It’s just dinner,” he said.

“You have no idea how terrible men are to date, do you?”

Alejandro leaned back in his chair with a bark of laughter. Deja could see people turning to look at them out of the corner of her eyes, and it took a great deal of effort to not look away from the sight of Alejandro laughing or snatch her hand away from his. She deserved to see and feel these things, she thought. She deserved him, didn’t she?

“Alright, alright,” Alejandro said after a while. He wiped tears away from his eyes with his free hand and nodded. “You could be right about that.”

“Could?” she asked and shook her head. “Am. The bar is on the floor, but you’re...”

“I’m...?”