“I need you to agree to be my lawyer.” I ignore the shocked look on Vonnie’s face as I pull out my checkbook that Liv still mocks me for having. “How much should I give you?”

“Fuck. If you’re enacting client-lawyer confidentiality on me, this is good enough to go pro bono.” She leans over and snaps shut my checkbook. “I agree to take you on as a client, now spill.”

“Okay.” I take a deep breath, not even knowing where I should start this clusterfuck of a story. “Do you want the good or bad stuff first?”

“I would normally say bad, but by the way your lips look a little swollen and bruised, I’m going to assume the good has to do with Q. So I pick good.”

I haven’t told anyone about Quinton and me yet. We didn’t make the decision not to say anything, but seeing as I’m a female in a male-dominated industry, it seems smarter for me to keep it on the down-low . . . even though I want to shout it from the rooftops.

“Quinton ca—” I don’t even get the first sentence out before Vonnie’s jumping off her seat and her scream is puncturing my eardrums.

“I knew it! I knew the good shit had to do with Q! What happened? How was it? How does that beard feel up close and personal? It has taken him from fine to finer and I’m loving it.” I’m not sure she’s taken a breath, let alone given me the chance to answer her rapid-fire questions.

“I was trying to get there when you went full rap verse on me. Like I was saying . . .” I take a deep gulp of my champagne, needing the liquid courage to get through all of this. “Quinton came over on Halloween. I’d mentioned to him before that I was dreading this holiday season and this was going to be my first Halloween not passing out candy with my dad and watching movies.” The butterflies return to my stomach just thinking about how thoughtful he was that day. “So he took me to his house and he bought pumpkins for us to carve, candy to pass out to the kids, just everything. Then at the end of the night, we kissed.”

“I knew it! I knew those lips looked fuller than usual!”

“Yeah, there’s been a lot of kissing.” I graze my fingers across my lips without realizing what I’m doing. “And it’s been great. We cleared up a bunch of misunderstandings we both had and things are going really well.”

Too well, one could say.

One being me.