Ryan’s eyebrow lifted. “Aw, Lucy, you don’t mean that. I thought you wanted Pulse-Lit. I thought you were all ready to get in bed together. Professionally speaking, of course.” He grinned like this was funny.

This isn’t funny! Nothing about this is funny!

“But synergy in all aspects can only lead to a better relationship, don’t you agree? From those drinks we shared, it certainly seemed like you did. Besides, you let those nerds at the club put their hands all over you for nothing.” Ryan reached across the center console. “At least mine come with, oh, how does two commas sound to start? A cool mil?”

And then one hand hit the button beside the rearview mirror and the other seized Lucy by her waist. The garage door began to lift, Ryan nudged the car into drive, and Lucy dug her Rescue Me Red nails into the skin on the back of his hand.

“Fuck!” Ryan cried.

Lucy grabbed her purse off the floor and jerked the door handle, spilling out onto the herringbone-tiled driveway as the car rolled forward and disappeared behind the garage door.

Scrambling to her feet, Lucy tore off her heels and sprinted, not pausing until she reached the crowds of Ghirardelli Square, twenty minutes later. Sweat glued her hair to her forehead as she ducked inside the ice cream shop, more than half full at almost eleven at night thanks to the summer tourists. She fell into a seat at one of the round tables in the center of the room, not realizing until she reached into her purse that the seam securing the wrap of her dress was torn. She pulled her jacket tighter around her.

A tremble commanded her hands, but she managed to open the app and request a rideshare. And then she opened her contacts and made one more call.

*   *   *

She told Maddie and Delia what happened while she stood outside the ice cream shop waiting for her ride. They stayed on the phone the entire trip, while the balls of Lucy’s feet stung from the slap against the sidewalk, while tears rolled down her cheeks from the slap of reality of who Ryan was, of what could have happened, and of what did.

Delia distracted her by repeating textbook definitions of coding she’d had memorized for years, and when it bored all three of them sufficiently, Maddie took over, telling a story she’d made up for her little brother about a family of pterodactyls who lived on Martha’s Vineyard. Then, in the Boston accent that no longer bothered Lucy, Maddie revealed what she claimed was the original ending to the first Gumberoo book.