Pulling back, Jill stayed close enough to whisper again. “Fine rarely means fine.” She opened her mouth to say more, but Reagan stopped her when she cupped her cheeks in her hands.

“We can talk more about this later. Okay? You’re here now and that’s all that matters.” Reagan kissed her and held her in place a little longer this time.

Jill nodded warily before plastering on a smile that Reagan could tell was forced. She hung her coat on the back of the empty stool. A waitress arrived and quickly took their order. When she left, Jill turned to Gwen with her hand outstretched. “It’s nice to see you again, Gwen.” She shook her hand quickly and then moved on to Carly. “Hi, I’m Jill. You must be Carly.”

She returned Jill’s handshake with a grin. “That’s right. And I know. We’ve met.”

“We have?” she asked as she sat, resting her hand on Reagan’s thigh.

“I work in your IT department.”

“Really?”

“Yep.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t remember meeting you.”

Carly shrugged. “No biggie. You saw me, yelled at me, yelled at your assistant, and I left.”

“Ah. Well, I’m sorry. I’d like to say you caught me on a bad day, but that sounds like me,” Jill replied, frowning.

“Guess that’s why they call you the Ogre.”

Reagan kicked Carly under the table.

“Ow. What the heck?” Carly bent down to seemingly rub her shin, but straightened with wide eyes. “Oh shoot, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to just blurt it out like that.”

Jill chuckled. “It’s okay. I’ve heard that one before. Sometimes, I’d even say it’s fitting.”

The waitress dropped off their round of drinks. Carly raised her glass of wine to the center of the table. “Cheers, everyone. Welcome to our crazy little group, Jill.”

Clinking each glass, Jill replied, “Thanks.”

“So, since you didn’t recognize Carly, I’m guessing you two don’t run into each other at the office at all?” Gwen asked.

“I don’t have the need to call IT all that often. I’d like to think I’m pretty tech savvy. I’m sure you can’t say the same for some of my colleagues,” Jill said with a grin. “How long have you worked at Touchpoint?”

“Only a few months. Replacing your computer was my first assignment.”

Jill snapped her fingers and smiled. “Right. I’m remembering that day now. I should get the next round just for that. The computer I had before was awful. So, thank you. Oh, and that bad mood I was in? Blame her for that,” Jill said as she gestured to Reagan with her thumb.

“Why me?”

“That was the day we met,” Jill said, taking a sip of her gin and tonic.

“It was?” Reagan asked.