Who is Stacey? she wonders. An old girlfriend? A current girlfriend? She tries not to worry. It might be his boss or a coworker or a friend. She feels relieved that they are finished with the Jake and Mallory story. Maybe when Link gets back they can eat and talk about their own lives like two normal people on a date.

Bess watches Link on the sidewalk on his phone, his head bent, his ear plugged. She considers the food. It would be rude for her to start without him, but she’s hungry, so she helps herself to one of the pakoras, which have finally cooled enough to eat. She devours one and is reaching for another when a guy takes Link’s seat.

“Uh…?” Bess says, her mouth full. She swallows. “Wrong table?”

“You’re Bess, right? Bess McCloud?” The guy looks like a Hollister model, or like the lead actor in a sexy HBO series about the Ivy League’s secret societies. And then, of course, it dawns on Bess: It’s the lobbyist.

“Aidan?” she says.

“You ditched me,” he says. “I finally made it to Roofers Union and you were gone.”

Bess stares at Aidan Hydeck’s perfectly coiffed dark hair, his sleepy brown eyes, and his square shoulders and realizes that, in the excitement of leaving Roofers Union with Link, she forgot to cancel this date. And not only that, she continued to share her location with Aidan.

“I’m so sorry,” she says.

He tilts his head and gives her a slow smile. “It’s okay, I was the one who was late.”

“Yeah, but that wasn’t your fault. You got stuck on the Metro.”

“That I did.” He looks at the food on the table. “I don’t mean to be a poor sport but I don’t like Indian food.”

“It’s Afghan.”

“Even worse,” he says. “I was really looking forward to wings at the Roof.” Only then does he seem to notice Link’s empty beer glass and the share plate with the now-cold pakora. “Oh snap, are you here with somebody?”

Bess is at an utter loss. She checks out the window. Link is still on the phone, standing just off the curb in the street between two parked cars.

Aidan follows her eyes and taps the glass. “That guy?”

“He’s…an old friend. He showed up at Roofers Union and…oh God, Aidan, I’m so sorry. I meant to let you know I was leaving. I’m not like this, I swear.”

Aidan gets to his feet. “It’s fine,” he says. “I would suggest that we reschedule when you’re not quite so busy but now that I’ve seen you in person, I don’t think I want to bother.”

Bess recoils. Did he just say that? She knows he’s angry but that was dirty.