The door opened just then, and Bev walked out. She looked at us both with a frown and then walked past us.

Joshua watched her walk away and then turned back to me.

“I’ll let you go first then,” he said, stepping back to let me go in. “Then come back out and join the party.”

• • •

I was sitting on the couch when I saw Emma walking toward me holding two glasses of wine. She held one out, and I took it as she slumped onto the couch.

“I’m exhausted,” she said, and then she turned to me with a smile. “I’m so glad you came and stayed.”

“Oh, no problem,” I said. “It’s actually been really fun.”

“How is your husband?” she asked, sitting up.

I don’t know why I was surprised by the fact that she remembered, but I felt a wave of emotion suddenly rush over me. “He’s doing okay,” I said. “Thank you.”

“You know,” she said, “I know it might sound weird, but the day we talked in the park, I felt like we had a lot in common. There was just something about you. And honestly, I could use some good friends in my life right now.”

“You seem like you have a lot of friends,” I said, gesturing around the apartment. “Well, good close friends, at least. Those are hard to come by.”

“Friends, acquaintances, business partners,” she said, shrugging. “Sometimes it all blends together.”

I didn’t know what she meant, but I nodded. I shifted in my seat as a thought came to me.

Maybe this was my chance.

“What about the guy you were telling me about the other day?” I asked, and I tried to keep my voice as innocent as possible.

Not too excited but interested.

She smiled, a deep, full smile that reached her eyes. “It was instant with him too. It used to be that I only felt like I could be myself when I was completely alone, like I had to put on a mask if there was anyone else around. But with him, it’s not just that I can be myself. Sometimes I feel like I’m more the real me when he’s around than when I’m alone. If that doesn’t sound completely desperate.” She laughed. “Who am I kidding? Of course it does.”

I smiled. “It doesn’t,” I said softly.

She blinked a few times and then reached up and grabbed at her eye. “Oh goodness, looks like someone’s had too much wine,” she said with a sniffle and then pulled something away from her face. I was surprised to see that her eyes were red and she was holding a long, feathery strip of fake eyelashes in her hand.

“You know it’s a good party when you’ve cried your lashes off,” I said.

She laughed again. “Damn right.”