“How was your day?” Luke asked.
She knew talking about it would make her more irritable, so she just shrugged.
“How’s work been this week?” she asked him, instead of answering.
He shrugged.
“Oh, fine. Small plumbing crisis, but luckily we resolved it.” He hesitated for a second. “I found out the other day that my old boss is leaving. At my old job, I mean.”
She laughed.
“Good riddance, right? Didn’t you say they’re doing a whole diversity push? If you were still there, maybe they’d try to make you take that job. Thank God you left.”
He looked down at his wineglass and nodded.
“Yeah. Thank God.”
“What did you do last night?” she asked.
He looked up at her.
“I had a late dinner with Avery,” he said. “She’s still kind of getting over her breakup, so it was good to have time to catch up with her and see how she’s doing.”
So he’d found a replacement for her so quickly, then. When she was working late, and then sitting at home wishing he were here, he was out with Avery. Great.
She was being stupid. She knew that. She made herself smile.
“Oh good. How is she doing?”
They’d both already finished eating, so Margot got up to go into the living room, taking her wineglass with her. Luke followed her.
“Really good. I’m so glad she broke up with that guy. She said she ran into him the other day and she was wearing her good jeans, whatever that means.”
Margot pulled her laptop out of her bag.
“I know just what that means. Good for her.” Something suddenly occurred to her. She turned to Luke. “Are you coming to the party?”
He shrugged.
“Depends. Do I have to pay?”
She couldn’t tell if that was a joke or not.
“No, I’ll put you on the list. But if you have to work, or—”
He laughed.
“Of course I’m coming to the party. Whether I had to pay or not.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “Does Elliot—or anyone else at Noble—know about us?”
She was surprised he’d asked that.
“No,” she said. He had a weird look on his face. “It’s only been a few weeks since you quit, and you know things with Elliot are complicated.”
He nodded.
“I figured. I just wanted to know for sure, since I’ll be there for the party.”
She pulled up her draft of the newsletter. She’d gotten only this far? She could have sworn . . . No, she’d just planned to work on it more, and then her phone had rung and she’d abandoned it. Great. So much was riding on this; she should have prioritized it this week. Damn it.
“Do you want more wine?” Luke asked.
She nodded, and he got up and got the bottle from the kitchen.
Okay, she had to bring up the expanded hours again—she’d mentioned that in the past two newsletters, but you never knew who actually opened those—it would always be news to someone reading; she had to hype up the party; oh, and she needed a more interesting subject line. That social media person she’d consulted had told her that. What kind of subject line would make people click on this?
Luke sat down close to her and ran his fingers through her hair.
“What are you working on?”
She pulled the ponytail holder off her wrist and put her hair up.
“The newsletter.”
He put an arm around her.
“I like that dress. It’s very . . . eye-catching.”
He moved his hand from her shoulder down her body. She pulled away.
“Give me a minute, okay? You’ll get what you came over for soon.”
Luke dropped his hands. And then, after a few seconds, he stood up.
“I’d better go.”
She was so irritated and frustrated, she didn’t even look at him. She kept her eyes on her computer screen.
“Fine.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him grab his bag and slide his shoes on. And then, her front door opened and quietly closed.
She looked around at her empty house, at the two wineglasses on the coffee table, at the meal in the kitchen Luke had brought over for her.
She put her laptop on the coffee table, ran to the door, and flung it open. He was almost at his car.
“Luke!”
He stopped, but he didn’t turn around. She ran barefoot down the path. When she was almost to him, he finally turned.
“That’s not what I came over for,” he said.
“I know,” she said. “I’m sorry. That’s not why I wanted you to come over, either. Come back inside?”