In the kitchen, the squad is breaking up, and she can see Anna wending her way back through the tables. Maeve leans in toward Sim.

“Except, of course, Anna’s onto you.” She means it to be her own kind of flirtation. Roguish. But Sim only blinks. For a moment she wonders if he’s heard her.

Anna arrives, and Maeve rises to meet her.

“I’ll walk you back,” she says before Anna has a chance to sit down.

Sim looks up, surprised—then nods in their direction.

“Chivalry! You’ll want to be careful, Anna.” He raises his glass one more time to Maeve. “A lot of dangerous people around here. Or so I’ve heard.”

He waits until Maeve picks up her own glass, waits for the clink.

“Did you fuck him?” Anna says when they are up the stairs and away. “Was it crazy? He seems a little crazy. He seems like the kind of guy who has a swing, you know?”

“There was no swing.”

Anna trots along next to her, impatient. “But…”

“Honestly, it was fun—” Maeve wonders at her own word choice. Fun is what you have at a picnic. It does not seem the right way to describe Sim Nielssen’s quiet intensity. “He takes instruction well,” she says finally. “It was good for me. But…”

She slows down a moment, worrying at the key in her pocket.

“But what?”

“I wonder if—I shouldn’t have slapped him,” she says. “Last night.”

“What—in the spa? Maeve, it was a joke. They practically forced you to. We were drinking.”

“But I wasn’t. He seems to like playing games, and I just think—”

“Don’t think. Get over yourself. So what, you got laid.” Anna cocks an eyebrow. “People sometimes do that on retreat. Repeat after me: WWADD.”

Anna waits for her to get the joke, but Maeve just gives her a puzzled look.

“What would a dude do! Remember?”

She digs a saucy elbow into Maeve’s side a few times. It’s practically vaudeville.

“All right, all right!” Maeve dodges the elbow, laughing despite herself. They’ve arrived at Maeve’s door. “I mean, I don’t want to have a whole thing with the guy. I’m only here for a few days and I have a lot to get done. Today was fantastic.” She looks Anna in the eye, electrified. “Today was so good. I want ten more days like that.”

She digs in her pocket for the key, leaning a shoulder on the door—but suddenly the door gives way. Maeve steps back, confused. She prods it with a hand and the door swings into the room.

“I didn’t leave this open,” she says. “Did I?” She looks at Anna, then back at her room.

“It happens,” Anna says. “If you don’t pull it really hard into place, the lock doesn’t click.”