“Hannah, I’m not laughing at you, I swear. I – if anything, I’m laughing at myself.” She’s been in way more humiliating situations, but she still feels the touch of embarrassment. Drawing a hand through her hair, she can feel her cheeks heat. And then she finds herself snorting out a laugh once more. “I was confused when you gave me your number and then asked me to lunch, because – we don’t know each other super well, but. You give a woman your number on a coffee cup, and…”

She sees the moment the dawning hits Hannah, her cheeks blushing furiously and her death grip on her purse, like she was ready to tell Caroline to fuck off at any moment, goes slack. “You thought that I was…” She brings her hand up over her mouth as she stares at Caroline. She can’t really read it all that well – not exactly mortification, which is good in terms of her ego, but definitely on that same wavelength. “I didn’t mean to lead you on or – anything.”

“You didn’t.” She assures. It was merely her own stupidity.

Hannah’s hand slides up her face in a slow movement, so she’s bracing it against her forehead and she looks the most out of sorts Caroline has seen her in the entire time they’ve known one another. She’d go so far as to even call her distressed.

“I didn’t even think about what it would look like. Which is stupid, because I know you’re…” She trails off, staring at Caroline, her eyes running slowly over her face.

She sips her water. “A lesbian. You can say it, it’s not a bad word.”

She has a brief moment where she thinks about Michael’s contempt – though she was never actually sure if it was genuinely about her sexuality or because he was angry that she was better at her job than he was. She sort of suspects it was actually mostly the latter, with influences of him being an entitled, misogynistic ass just reflecting in everything he did. Still. She wonders, leaning back in her seat to look contemplatively at Hannah, if she feels the same way.

But Hannah doesn’t look anything except, now, apologetic, her eyes wide and imploring. “I know it’s not a bad word, I just. I mean. You’re really beautiful and I’m sure you have much better prospects than me. And I’m still married and –”

Caroline needs to end this babbling for both of their sakes, and she bounds forward. “Right! You’re still married. Which,” she clears her throat, rolling her shoulders to put herself more into a work mindset. “I’ll need some details to consider taking you on as a client. How long you’ve been separated and cause for the divorce, for starters.” She can guess, but she needs every detail.

She wishes she had a pen.