“Oh it’s fine,” Natalie waved the sympathy away. “He quit when I was a kid.”

As she explained, she flashed to a memory of her dad at his desk littered with empty green bottles of Canada Dry ginger ale, his go-to addiction after he’d gone sober.

“Beats taking up smoking,” he’d tell Noreen whenever she’d harangue him about the link between sugary beverages and heart disease.

“Wow, a crack in the armor,” Matt said, eyeing Natalie with surprise and something that approached compassion. “She admits a vulnerability.”

“I hardly see how not drinking is a vulnerability,” she countered.

Matt ordered two tequilas and picked up a menu. “How about food?” he asked, checking his watch. “It’s only four o’clock but we may as well eat. Who knows where in the world we’ll be by dinner.”

“I think we’ll be here in Miami tonight,” she said vaguely. “Pretty sure.”

“Why do you say that?” Matt asked, looking surprised.

Natalie stared at the bar top, simultaneously wanting to come clean about her dinner plans and dreading Matt’s response.

“The Chief’s in town,” she said quickly. “He came with Jazzmyn for a golf tournament but she had to leave, so he asked me to have dinner.”

“What? That’s fantastic!” Matt lit up. “Best news all day! This means he’s leaning Team Natalie. It could increase our VOP.”

She smiled, telling herself Matt’s right. This is a good thing, she intoned silently, trying to beat her intuition into submission. She looked over at Dasha, who let out a slow whistle, then made a clicking sound with her tongue.

“What?” Natalie asked defensively.

“You meet at restaurant or hotel?” Dasha asked.

Natalie shook her head slowly. “I don’t know.”

“Avoid hotel,” Dasha said ominously.

“What are you guys talking about?” Matt asked, incredulous. “The head of the network wants a one-on-one with you. This is great!”

Ignoring Matt, Natalie shifted to face Dasha. “But what do you think he’d do?”

Dasha considered this a moment and then offered, “Maybe is like Abu Fazl, from Saddam’s army. Always asking girls for dinner in hotel room. He put pills in wine, then put wang in girl.” Her eyes got a faraway gleam in them. “Abu Fazl had very bad death.”

A shocked laugh burst from Natalie. “Of course he did.”

“You guys are being crazy,” Matt insisted. “There is no way the Chief wants you to be his sloppy seconds.”

Dasha shot him a dose of Watch Yourself eye and he amended, “I just mean that he’d get fired if he tried anything. Too many guys have been taken out for MeToo stuff. No way he’s risking his career to play hide the sausage with you.”

Natalie shot Matt a quizzical look and let out a hollow laugh. “Who are you kidding? He wouldn’t lose his job because I’d never complain.”