Blinking dots pop up right away. At least he’s not one of those guys who take five hours to text back.

I also do chanting meditation at 5:00 a.m. with a substantial gong solo, performed live by me. Would you like to participate?

I smile to myself and look up to find Mom and Jen watching me. “Sorry,” I say. “It’s Cristina with wedding stuff.” I glance down and quickly type, I’ll take a rain check. Thanks, though.

My phone buzzes.

Let’s get down to business, Sullivan. Are you luring me to your apartment so you can seduce me or what?

I laugh then and it doesn’t go unnoticed by Mom and Jen. Thankfully, they return to their own discussion and I text back, lowering my phone underneath the table like a guilty teenager.

Absolutely. I type, emboldened by our easy back-and-forth. Here’s a preview—I’ll be wearing back-to-back sweat suits as I ignore you completely and work on my book all day. Good luck resisting that sultry dance.

Wow. How about some warning before things get X-rated?

You’re an idiot. I’ll talk to you later.

The blinking dots pop up one more time.

See you at home.

Dear God, what have I done?

I place my phone down onto the table in front of me, feeling nervous and excited. I’m reminding myself that this is purely work-related when I notice my mom and sister staring right at me.

“Hi,” I say innocently.

“Who was that?” Mom asks. “And don’t bother saying it was Cristina.”

How to play this...

“That was a guy I met last night.”

Mom looks at Jen before turning back to me. “Well, that’s good. Are you interested in him?”

I pause before answering. “I am possibly interested in him.” I don’t mention that I’m referring to Ryan. My mom met him plenty of times in college and always liked him, but after being privy to all the details of our breakup, I don’t know how she’d react to him now.

“And what does he do? What does he look like?”

“He’s an engineer and looks-wise...he’s tall. He has sandy-blond hair and a strong jawline. His eyes are green with little specks of brown along the edge.”

“Ooh la la,” Jen says. “That’s a lot of detail for a first encounter.”

I inch my chair closer to the table. “Yeah, well, he’s Jason’s friend so we talked for a while.”

“Are you going to see him again?” My mom is trying to sound disinterested while verbally circling me like a shark.

“As a matter of fact, we’re meeting up tonight.”

“Wonderful! I want to hear all about it tomorrow. Now, you girls head into the dining room and I’ll grab the dinner.” Mom gets up and Jen and I leave the table, walking into the dining room side by side.