By Friday, she was starting to feel better. She hadn’t totally shaken off the effects of Adam leaving, but she was at least able to pull herself together and leave the apartment. Valentina thought that maybe tomorrow she would go to the food bank to do her regular Saturday morning volunteering. They might ask about Adam, but there usually wasn’t too much chatting, so she could brush off any questions. Volunteering sounded nice, sounded like her normal life. Just what she needed.

By the time she arrived at the office, she had a text. It was from Jared. Val waited until she was at her desk to read it. This way if he rejected her, she was already sitting down. Could she stand two men rejecting her in a week?

Valentina, I’m willing to give it a shot. Let’s hang out. Just keep in mind that I still have feelings for you. This might be harder than I’m expecting.

Let’s keep it light. How about drinks? Are you free tonight?

Sure, tonight works. Where?

Um, nothing pops into my head. Why don’t you pick?

There was a pause in the texting. Was Jared looking up a place to go? Or was he having second thoughts?

Let’s do Down Under. It’s up in Arlington, and they have good happy hour specials. It might be crowded, but they’ll have the Nats game on.

Valentina let out the breath she didn’t realize she was holding.

Sounds good. How about 6?

Perfect. See you then.

She figured she could leave a bit early to head home and change before meeting him. She was surprised by how excited she was about seeing Jared.

At home, she stood in her closet taking care to pick something out for her outing with Jared. It wasn’t a date, yet she wanted to look nice. She finally decided on dark jeans with a ruffly top. It wasn’t revealing, but it was more date-appropriate than ready-for-work. She added a pair of cute sandals from the back of her closet that she rarely wore.

She brushed her hair and touched up her makeup, adding a little eyeliner and lipstick. Not too much but just enough to look polished. She smiled to herself when she realized how much care she was taking getting ready for Jared. We are just hanging out as friends, she reminded herself as she grabbed her purse and headed out the door.

Driving to the bar, she was a little upset that Bri hadn’t ended up taking her on that shopping intervention. Valentina wished she had more festive clothes to wear for a happy hour. Although this wasn’t a date, Valentina did feel like she was trying to impress Jared. She wasn’t sure why. He had seen her at some bad moments when they dated: when she was sick, when they fought, when she was hung over. Those ugly and vulnerable moments hadn’t seemed to bother him.

She found the address and parked on a side street, quickly checking her hair in the rearview mirror before making her way into the bar. The Australian-theme of the place was a little over the top, with more than one boomerang on the wall along with rugby photos and landscapes of Australia. The overall décor was a combination of wood and chipped paint. It seemed like a casual enough place, with several TVs tuned to the Nats game, and Val wondered if this was Jared’s new hangout spot.

She found Jared at the bar, and he waved to her when she walked in. Jared looked the same as he did when they were dating. She wasn’t paying attention to how he looked when she saw him at the grocery store, too focused on getting out of the store without bawling. Now that she was paying attention, she noticed how handsome he looked. He had that all-American athlete look to him that said, “I played sports in high school.” He looked like he was still in shape but softer and not overly muscular. His soft blond hair was cut short on the sides and left longer on the top, styled with his fingers instead of any product.

He dressed a little preppy, but not obnoxiously so, in a patterned button-down shirt, untucked from his jeans.

He gestured to the seat beside him, and she sat on the wide stool. He ordered a large beer from the bartender, and she ordered a smaller beer.

“I see you haven’t changed much—still love a good button-down shirt?” Val teased.

“You know me, never one for fancy stuff,” he said with a smile. “Besides, if my mom and sister didn’t have such great fashion sense, I would be forced to shop for myself. Luckily, they love to buy me clothes for every occasion.”

“True,” she agreed. “I remember that one Christmas they got you that sweater that you hated. It might have been the only time you didn’t love what they bought you.”

“I remember that! Yes, that sweater was way too hipster for me. I exchanged it the next day for a…wait for it…button-down shirt,” he said with a grin. She laughed along with Jared, and they both sipped their beer.

“So,” Jared started with a more serious expression on his face, “what does hanging out look like? Am I supposed to treat you like one of the guys?” He smiled and bumped her gently with his shoulder as if to show he was teasing. Valentina felt instantly more at ease seeing his easy-going smile.

“Sure, that sounds good. It means we talk about regular stuff: work, sports, friends, family. We have a beer, and maybe I beat you at trivia.”

“Well, that’s a given. I never was able to best you when trivia was involved,” he said. She was glad how easily the conversation flowed between them, even after all this time.

“It’s all the reading,” she said. “I pick up a lot of random details from books. Can’t help it if it makes me a trivia threat.” They both laughed.

“How’s work going?” he asked.

“Good. John’s been his usual self. Wants me to get a million customers on a shoestring budget. What about you?”

Jared was in finance. Not high finance or investment banking but he was in the accounting department for a fairly large company. He was good with numbers and liked the black and white nature of the work. She had seen on social media that he had recently received a promotion.

“It’s been really good. I got that promotion, and now I supervise two people. The raise didn’t hurt either. It’s been interesting to learn how to manage. Being a boss is not as straightforward as I would have expected: a lot more hand holding and a lot less glamour,” he joked. “Tell me about your upcoming trip. Are you vacationing someplace warm?”

Valentina hated being cold. Val remembered that Jared always had a spare jacket handy for her when they were dating. Wearing layers in the winter never seemed to be enough, and she could wear pants and long sleeves even in the heat of summer and not get overheated. Jared was almost never cold, so it was funny for them to navigate their different temperatures.

“Yes, it’s warm where I’m going. I’m headed to Rwanda.”

“Wow, how did that come about?” Jared asked. He looked at her with interest as Valentina told him about the presentation at work, leaving out how she got involved with Adam. She talked about John’s chapter of Engineers Serving Across the Globe and how encouraging her boss had been about her going on the trip. She explained the places she would be visiting and the things she would be learning about.

“I’m very excited about it. This is the first trip I needed to get shots and malaria medication for,” said Val. “I’ve read guide books and watched documentaries, and I still feel unprepared. I’m sure I’ll be fine once I arrive, but I have no idea what it will be like. I bought clothes, but what will we eat? Who will we meet? I can’t even imagine.”

“That sounds amazing,” he said. “Very exotic and adventurous. I know you always talked about doing those types of things.”

“Actually, that’s been on my mind a lot lately. I say that I want adventure, but I spend Saturday night reading at home. I used to be more daring, and I feel like I should try to get back to that, so I’ve been trying new things to shake it up a bit. This trip will really test my adventurous side.”

“I can’t wait to hear how it turns out. You leave next week for two weeks?”

Valentina nodded her head. She was excited about the trip as a continuation of her new life of adventure, but she wasn’t sure how she would feel seeing Adam again. It’s funny how she hadn’t thought about Adam at all during their conversation until just that moment.

Jared and Valentina talked while they watched the first few innings of the game. They both had another beer and some appetizers. The conversation flowed and they acted like a couple of old friends. Val gave him a high-five when their team scored a run, and Jared gave her a little side hug when she won a round of trivia.

After a couple of hours, Valentina decided it was time to head home. She had enjoyed the time with Jared, but she didn’t want to drink too much, and she wasn’t following the game enough to worry about staying until the end.

“I’m going to head out,” she said to Jared. “I need to get up early tomorrow, so I don’t want to drink too much tonight and end up hung over.”

“Okay. Do you want me to walk you to your car?”

“No, no. I’ll be fine. You stay and watch the rest of the game.” Jared and Valentina stood up. He gave her one of his signature hugs. She smiled into his shoulder as she enjoyed the embrace. It was another perfect hug: not too long, not too short, and just firm enough. If she could patent these, she’d have it made, she thought. After he released her, he said softly, “This was nice.”

“It was nice. Just two friends getting a beer together,” Valentina said with a smile. She gave a little wave and headed to the door.

She glanced back as she walked to the door and noticed Jared was watching her leave. Val was concerned. Did she lead him on by suggesting drinks? She could see longing plain on his face. The question was: did she have feelings for him anymore?

Valentina drove home with her radio off. She had so many thoughts swirling through her head. It was nice to hang out with Jared; she enjoyed his company and his hugs. She was already looking forward to the next time she would see him. She had such a nice time with Jared that she wondered if she was playing with fire. Was it smart to hang out with an ex when she hadn’t resolved things with Adam?

As torn up about Adam as she was, the days passed and she grew more and more excited about the trip. It was going to be a big step outside her comfort zone, and she was ready. Although Valentina admitted that there was a part of her that was looking forward to seeing Adam and perhaps talking him into changing his mind, she wondered if that was still her goal. Do I want to try to make it work with someone who brushed me off so easily in the first place? She was no longer so sure.