“I get it. He’s gorgeous.”

“It’s more than that. He’s nice, and he isn’t who I thought he was.” She bit her lip. “I’ve never worked with an AD as organized as him.”

Jenny laughed, smothering it behind the back of her hand, and Anna was worried her friend might injure herself. “Oh, baby, tell me more about his organizational system.”

“Please don’t make fun of me,” Anna begged.

“What is going on in those spreadsheets?”

“They’re color coded.” Anna laughed and found herself wiping her eyes. Being with Jenny like this, laughing and talking about boys, reminded her so much of college. “Whatever he is, I didn’t give him a chance when I should have, and I underestimated him for far longer than I should have.”

“Apologies are a thing.”

Anna pulled her blankets around her. “All I do is apologize to him. When did I become like this?”

“You’ve had a rough couple of years.”

Anna hoped Jenny didn’t notice the tears threatening to fall, but her friend had always been more intuitive than she was.

“Tom wanted to marry you, but he never wanted to be with you, not you you.”

Anna knew her friend was right. She’d taken far longer than she should have to realize her ex-husband treated her like a project to improve, not a person to love.

“You could’ve taken him down,” Jenny continued. “You know more about his sketchy deals than anyone.”

“I didn’t want to be vindictive. I just wanted to move on.” Anna looked up at the ceiling. “I think he wanted to prove to himself that he wasn’t superficial.”

Jenny scoffed.

“Being with me... I think he thought that meant he was deep or something. I mean, I don’t look like someone who should be in front of a camera.”

“Please never put yourself down like that again,” Jenny said.

“You know what I mean.” Anna wiped her eyes. “I believed it was real longer than I should have. That’s all. It’s over now.”

“Man, I hope we never have to talk about that asshole again.” Jenny paused. “Tell me more about your screenwriter.”

“He doesn’t mind that I tell crowds of people what to do all day and that I love my job even when it’s crazy. He gets it.”

Ever since that afternoon in the bar, John was like an immovable object among the chaos of her life, and she was drawn to him no matter how much she tried to pull away.

“Why did you decide not to do anything?”

“We work together.”

“Who the hell else are we going to meet?”

“I really like him, but what if I get made fun of? He’s younger than me.”

“You’ve never cared what the press said about you before. I don’t know why you do now.”