The ride to Vivian’s place was just like it used to be before they’d stopped staying late at the office. Jules almost wondered if she’d hallucinated the entire conversation. There were the usual instructions, the usual periods of startlingly comfortable silence, which were then followed by more instructions. By the time Vivian left the car and climbed the steps to her house, Jules was fighting not to pinch her own wrist. Maybe this was all a weird dream.

Ben noticed something was off. He met her eyes in the rearview mirror. “Are you okay?”

Jules shook her head and blinked several times hard. “I think so.”

“I’d offer to buy you a drink for whatever it is,” he said dryly, “but she’d fire one of us, and I’m betting it wouldn’t be you.”

“Oh, my God,” Jules moaned, and rubbed her hands over her eyes. “I don’t get her.”

He just laughed. If anyone could understand the feeling other than Simon, it’d be him.

No, she didn’t get Vivian. She never would. But Vivian wanted her to ask for stuff. She wanted to give Jules something back for everything Jules had done for her.

It would make Vivian…happy…to do that.

Jules didn’t know what that meant. She didn’t care. But her glow had returned tenfold. Vivian appreciated her, Salon was publishing her article, and Jules would sleep very well tonight.

Chapter 29

Chapter 29

The next day, Jules practically floated into work with a La Colombe coffee tray in her hand. Nothing unusual had happened on the drive that morning: Vivian hadn’t made any reference to the conversation they’d had the night before. But she’d looked especially beautiful in a brightly patterned blouse and gray-checked pants. Jules had enjoyed the drive very much indeed, although she’d had to be careful not to stare at Vivian or grin like an idiot.

Still, she was obviously in a good mood, and Simon saw it. “Kissed and made up, did you?” he asked when she stopped by his office to drop off some photos.

Jules fought her blush valiantly.

“Does this mean she forgives me too?”

“Sure, I guess. She doesn’t seem mad about anything anymore.”

“So you reassured her that you’re still chained to your desk?”

What a weird way to put it. “Actually,” she said, getting ready to tell Simon that Vivian hadn’t been worried that she was going to quit, that her feelings had just been hurt.

Instead she said, “Yeah, I did.” Something told her that telling Simon the truth was a bad idea. Vivian certainly wouldn’t want anybody else to know that she gave a damn about Jules one way or the other.