“Nope. I’m an adult who has had sex in pretty much every position under the sun.” This might be untrue. I honestly have no idea. “Would you like to know more? I’m over it now, but I had a pretty intense drug phase. Mostly soft, but I tried some hard ones. MDMA, coke—”

“Christ.” He rubs a hand down his face. “Okay, this I’m telling Eli.”

“Go ahead. Like I said, I got over it.”

“How?”

“I’ve had such bad trips. One time I kept thinking there were magnets under my skin and little pieces of metal were flying at me. And then my brain zapped for a month.” I shudder. “Listen, you did a nice thing for your friend’s sister when her boyfriend dumped her for a sweeter and prettier girl. I want to reward this good behavior by taking you to Loudons.”

He sighs deeply and says nothing. I yawn, because it’s 1:00 a.m. Way past my bedtime. I might take a nap until—

“She’s not,” Conor says.

“Mmm?” Another yawn.

“Prettier.”

“Who?”

“Georgie. Or whatever the hell her name is.”

“Aww, you’re sweet.”

“And you need a mirror.”

My heart skips. “Maybe you like brunettes.”

“I don’t.”

“You like blondes?”

“I don’t like anyone. I do, however, own a pair of working eyes.”

“This is very nice, but I don’t need you to lie to me—”

“It’s not a lie. I have no horse in this race. I talked with her for a few minutes, and she seems like a nice girl. If I wasn’t certain that she’s been fucking your boyfriend behind your back for weeks, I would have no negative feelings toward her.”

“You think so? That…Do you think they got together before Alfie and I broke up?”

He shoots me a Come, now look. “Maya.”

“Yeah. I mean…Yeah.” I rub my eyes. “I just keep wondering if Rose knew.”

“Rose?”

“My best friend. Her cousin. She’s the one who introduced Georgia and me. And then two years ago, when Georgia’s roommate graduated, I moved in this apartment, and…When I found out about her and Alfie, and it all went down, Rose told me that she had no idea—”

“She knew,” Hark says.

“How can you tell?”

“What your roommate and your ex did is so abominable and devoid of decency, if your friend had found out with you, she would have helped you sharpen every knife in the kitchen.”

I laugh. And tear up a little. And yawn. “I just…I kinda thought maybe Alfie was the one?”

“Based on what?”

“He…He’s funny, especially when he’s drunk. And he left me space—I need a lot of space, sometimes. And he held me when I wanted to be snuggled.”

“All of these things you listed, a dog could do.” A brief hesitation. Then he continues. “He may have been one of the ones, but he wasn’t the one. You’re young, and more beautiful than you yet realize, and you’ll be the smartest person in most of the rooms you’ll enter throughout your life. You’re better off without some guy who just asked me for pointers on how to break into the crypto space.”