Olivia dropped two cups of coffee on Ellie’s desk, one for each of them. This was probably at least Ellie’s fourth cup of coffee. Ellie always got to work at the crack of dawn so she could hang out with her kid after work; Olivia was happy to check email from bed, roll into the office closer to ten, and stay late. It made them a good pair, especially since neither of them judged the other for her schedule.

“I saw the email while I was on the bus and responded, that’s not what this is about.” She dropped down into the chair on the other side of Ellie’s desk. “Finish what you’re doing; I need your full attention for this.”

Ellie looked at Olivia for the first time since she’d walked into the room. That mischievous look of glee Olivia remembered from law school came over her face.

“Ooooh, I like the sound of that. Okay, hold on just one second.”

Olivia had thought about Max’s bombshell all weekend as she tried to get work done while she sat on the same couch where she’d almost pulled off his clothes. Finally, she’d given up and left the house to go for a walk. She was so turned upside down by their conversation and the thoughts swirling around in her brain that when she’d walked by a gym, she wandered inside and joined it. It was probably just the glittery pink sign outside that got her.

It was more like two minutes than one second, but finally, Ellie hit save and turned around.

“Okay.” She took a sip of coffee and opened her eyes wide. “What story do you have for me?”

Olivia took a deep breath.

“I went out with … Max again this weekend.”

Ellie put down her coffee.

“And then what? What’s wrong? What did that man do to you? Do I have to go kill a member of Congress?”

Ellie might actually do it, too, all while in her string of pearls and perfect blowout.

Olivia laughed and shook her head.

“No, no, nothing like that. It’s just that … Ellie, he wants to date me.”

Ellie looked at her quizzically.

“Um, yeah, I sort of assumed so, since this was your second date and all.”

Olivia shook her head.

“I just thought he wanted to sleep with me! I thought he just wanted a fun little fling and then we could both go on our own merry ways, but no. He doesn’t want a fling! He wants a girlfriend! More specifically, he wants me to be his girlfriend! Maybe not immediately, but, like … at some point.”

A broad grin spread across Ellie’s face.

“And?”

Olivia threw up her hands.