Jules gulped too. She’d never had a relationship talk like this before, where both parties were braced for impact. She still couldn’t believe she was having a relationship talk at all.

“But you said—” She cleared her throat, started again. “You said you were straight.”

“I am.” There was a slight edge in Vivian’s voice. Annoyance or anxiety? “Are you expecting me to explain this logically? I can’t. If I asked you for friendship and nothing else, I’d be selling us both short. I wouldn’t care if…” She trailed off.

Jules leaned forward, clutching her coffee mug so hard it hurt. “If what?”

Vivian exhaled. “I wouldn’t care if a friend did what you did tonight with Monique.”

“I didn’t do anything with Monique!” Jules threw her hands in the air. Well, at least now she knew why Vivian had been so irrational about the whole thing. “All that happened was she offered me a job, and—”

Vivian’s hand slammed down on the countertop, and Jules nearly spilled her coffee.

“I knew it,” she snarled.

“Come on. I didn’t say yes, and it’s nothing like what you were apparently thinking!”

“What is it, then? Something to do with her new fashion label?”

Of course Vivian knew all about that. “Yeah, she just—”

“She just offered you a job in Beijing, that’s all?”

“In London, actually, and—”

Vivian inhaled as if she were about to breathe out fire.

“And I don’t want it!” Jules exclaimed. “All I want to do is figure out what’s going on here!”

Her voice cracked on the last word as she reached a high, almost hysterical pitch. A quick sip of coffee did nothing to restore her cool.

Miraculously, her outburst seemed to have knocked some sense back into Vivian. She even shook her head a little, as if trying to wake up. If she were anyone else, Jules would have said she looked embarrassed.

“As I was saying,” Vivian continued, her voice lower, “you feel more than friendship. So do I. I don’t see the point in pretending otherwise.”

Jules set down her coffee cup and placed a hand on the countertop, hoping it looked casual and not like she was trying to keep herself from falling off the stool.

“You’re saying you care about me in a”—Jules swallowed and went for it—“romantic way?”

Vivian tilted her head to the side, an almost nod.

Then a definite nod. A yes.

Jules got a little dizzy. She hunted for words and came up with “uh, wow.”

Vivian’s lips finally crooked in a wry smile. “‘Wow’ indeed.”

“For how long?” Jules’s eyes widened. “You said when I stayed with you the first time?”

“No. Not then. I don’t know, Julia. I didn’t check the time or mark it on a calendar.”

“I sure didn’t see it on the schedule.” Jules managed a weak laugh.