Mandi nodded. “I figured,” she said, and continued to type at the keyboard.

Lauren put her hands in her coat pockets and shifted on her feet. She glanced down the row of chairs in Mandi’s section.

“He’s not here.”

“What?” Lauren forced her expression to remain calm. She’d always been a terrible liar.

Mandi’s face remained expressionless, but her eyes were sharper than a twenty-seven-gauge needle. “Andrew Bishop. He just left.”

“Oh. I um, I wasn’t…”

The older woman’s face softened, and she shrugged. “I know he’s a patient of Dr. Patel’s, so I thought maybe you came to check on him. That’s all.”

Lauren nodded, probably too emphatically. She searched for something else relevant to say, but came up empty-handed. So she went with, “I’ll see you later, then.”

“Sure.” Mandi winked and waved her off. “See you in two weeks.”

…

Logan: Did you forget about me?

Jiminy Cricket. She totally had. She’d planned to text him when she got home from work, but now it was almost eight o’clock, and she’d holed up at The Grind House, studying.

Lauren: I had a family emergency I had to deal with.

Logan: Ouch. Sounds like someone didn’t forgive me after all.

Lauren: *shrug*

Logan: Can I make it up to you? What are you doing?

Lauren: I’m studying, probably won’t be home until late.

Logan: Studying for what?

Lauren: If you’re going to ask me out, shouldn’t we save that for date conversation?

Logan: Planning ahead. I like it. Dinner on Saturday?

Lauren: I can do Saturday. I’ll meet you, just tell me when and where.

Logan: There’s a new grill called Republic on the Plaza. 7:00?

Lauren: See you then.

Logan: Have fun studying.

Lauren released a sigh and set her phone facedown on the table. She attempted to focus on her work for several minutes but had trouble concentrating.

She was trying to put herself out there because Emma was right. It had been two years since she’d been on a date. But she didn’t particularly want to go out with Logan. He’d been smooth and charming at the bar that night and was attractive in a boy-next-door kind of way, with curly blond hair and blue eyes framed by laugh lines. His approach had been confident and flattering, and he’d clearly been interested in Emma at the start. But Emma had claimed that she had a boyfriend—she didn’t—and to his credit, Logan hadn’t seemed disappointed to shift his attention to Lauren. He said he was in marketing, which was a perfectly respectable career.