I find Ally, as always, parked on the couch. She’s eating something out of a brown ceramic bowl.

“I made fruit salad,” she says. “A big bowl of it. In the fridge if you want some.”

“Thanks.” Fruit salad does sound good, actually. I haven’t had much appetite since what happened in Trent’s office.

I go get a bowl and then take it back into the living room.

“So, you know how we’re going to hang out on Saturday?”

Ally turns to look at me suspiciously. “Are you canceling?”

“No! No, not at all. Actually, I have something kinda cool we can do.”

“Oh?”

“How would you like to go to the Loft & Barn workshop?”

“The workshop?” Ally’s eyes are already gleaming.

“Yeah. It’s where Luke Whittaker designs all the furniture.”

“Are you kidding? That is so cool!”

“Right?” I knew she’d be into it.

“How in the hell did you get me an invite? Is this a company trip?”

“No, actually, it’s … uh… a private tour, I guess you could say.”

Ally’s eyes narrow again. “What do you mean?”

“Remember I told you about how I’d been emailing that guy and he turned out to be my boss? Well, we’re kind of still keeping in touch. And he invited us out on Saturday to see the shop. Just us and him and Luke.”

I can see the war playing out on Ally’s face. She wants to be pissed at me for still being in touch with Trent — but she’s also desperate to go out to Luke’s studio.

“How deep are you?” she finally asks.

“Not deep at all!” I say quickly. “Well. Just a little deep. We’re sleeping together.” I admit. I hate keeping secrets from my sister.

“Hannah!” Ally looks horrified.

“He’s different than I thought!” I tell her. “Honest. He’s actually really sweet.” And sexy as hell, I add mentally.

“He could still fire you if this goes south.”

I shake my vehemently. “He wouldn’t.” I don’t mention that even if he wouldn’t, Charlene definitely might. No need to bother her with that little detail.

Ally is shaking her head. “I don’t know, Han. You say that now, but in a few weeks, when he’s moved on to the new flavor of the month, what are you going to do?”

“Thanks a lot.” Her words make me feel physically ill. Was she right? Was Trent just going to get bored in a couple of weeks?

“I’m sorry. It’s not a comment about you, I’m just trying to be realistic. How do you really know you can count on this guy?”

How did I know? I didn’t. All I had was the way I felt when we were together. The way he kissed me. The way he made me laugh. The way I made him laugh.

That had to count for something, didn’t it?

I shake my head, trying to clear it. This was stupid — it didn’t matter if she was right or not. Trent and I had agreed that this was just sex — so even if it did go downhill in a few weeks, that was okay. We would part ways amicably and that would be that.

Easy as pie, right?

I stab a piece of pineapple with my fork and bite down on it so hard that my teeth snap together.

“Do you want to go or not?” I ask Ally. I can’t help the irritation that seeps into my voice. “I just have to let him know one way or another.”

My sister stares at me for a moment, then gives me a half smile. “Please. Of course I want to go. Plus it’ll give me a chance to scope this guy out. Make sure he’s good enough for you.”

I can’t help but smile. “I think you’re going to like him,” I assure her.

“I’ll be the judge of that,” she snarks back, but she’s smiling and I feel my irritation quickly start to dissipate. Funny how sisters can have that affect on you.

* * *

The next morning, I manage to sneak into the office without running into Charlene — or Sloane — but my luck only holds out until ten o’clock or so.

Charlene emerges from her office and claps her hands — her signal that we’re all to gather in the middle of the room. I pull my chair over along with everyone else, but I try to stick to the back so that I’m not directly in her line of sight. I had sent off my revised copy last night before I went home, but I hadn’t heard anything back from her about it, and right now I didn’t want to do anything else to draw her attention to me.

“Okay, people,” she trills, sounding relatively cheerful at least. “The photos and the product lists are starting to come through and that means we have a lot to get done in the next few weeks.” She pauses and looks out over us dramatically. “Unfortunately that means we’re going to have to work some weekends.”

There’s a collective groan in the room. We all knew it was coming but now it’s real.

“I’ve divvied up the team so that everyone only has to work every second weekend, which I think is more than fair. This weekend we have Jim, Hannah, Judy and Grant. Next weekend will be Corbin, Sloane, Sakshi, and Manny. We’ll rotate that schedule for as long as it continues to be feasible, but if we need to reevaluate, we will. Everyone clear?”

There’s another grumbling in the room but it’s more resigned this time. I can’t help but catch Sloane’s eye — she raises her eyebrows and shakes her head. We both noted the fact that Charlene was nowhere on that list.

We go back to our desks and I’m just getting into the groove of my work again when someone comes to stand behind me and roughly spins my chair around.

“Huh?” I scramble as my earbuds are yanked out of my ears and I accidentally fling my mouse on the floor.

Sloane is standing in front of me, purse slung over her shoulder and sunglasses perched on her head.

“We’re going for coffee,” she announces. “That’s a command.”

I laugh. “I’m really busy right now,” I try to say, but she’s already grabbing my purse and my phone off my desk.

“Not too busy for coffee. Come on.”

I have no choice but to hop up and follow her. That’s Sloane for you.

When we’re out of the office, Sloane turns to me.

“Okay, I’m dying to know. Why did you get called into Charlene’s office yesterday?”

Ah, so she had noticed that.

For a moment I think about telling her the truth — all about Trent and about Charlene almost walking in on us. But then I think of Ally’s reaction and I start to second guess myself. Sloane actually knows Trent and I know I would have no choice but to take her seriously if she thought it was a bad idea — and to be honest, I just don’t want to hear it. I already know it’s a bad idea — I don’t need one more person to tell me.

Instead I tell her part of the truth.

“I wrote some copy for a chair for the catalog and it was a little … pornographic. Inadvertently,” I add hastily.

Sloane stops in the middle of the sidewalk and turns to me. “Wait. What?”

I laugh and tell her about the description I wrote and by the time we get to the coffee shop she’s doubled over laughing. She has to wipe tears out of her eyes.

“That is possibly the best thing I’ve heard since I’ve been working here,” she says. “You have to send me this copy. I need to read this masterpiece for myself.”

I promise her I will and then we grab our coffees. It actually feels like old times, before I started sleeping with Trent and didn’t have to worry about watching what I say around her.

“Hey Sloane?” I slip into the seat across from her at the coffee shop. “Can I ask you a favor?”

“Of course.”

“Do you think you could switch work weekends with me? I promised Ally we’d spend the day together on Saturday. She’s been kinda down lately.” I feel terrible about the lie, but I don’t want to cancel on Trent, especially now that I’ve gotten Ally to agree.

Sloane waves her hand. “Of course. It’s not like I have anything even resembling a social life right now. We’ll just have to make sure Charlene is okay with it.”

Right. Charlene. I dread having to ask her about the switch, even though there’s no real reason for her to say no. Sloane and I are both copywriters so it doesn’t really matter which of us is here.

At least it shouldn’t. You never know with Charlene though.

When we get back to the office, Sloane wants to go talk to her right away, so we stroll over to her office together.

“Hey Charlene,” Sloane says, knocking on her door. “Hannah and I were wondering if it was okay if we swapped weekends. She’s got plans this weekend.”

Charlene looks at us suspiciously — or more accurately, she looks at me suspiciously. I can tell she’s trying to think of a reason to say no, but finally she drops her shoulders. “Fine. But I don’t want a bunch of switching back and forth.”

“Sure thing,” Sloane says cheerfully. As soon as we’re out of earshot of Charlene’s office, she leans over and giggles. “Okay, you seriously have to send me this chair copy you were talking about, because whatever you wrote has clearly offended Charlene all the way down to her cold dead heart.”

I laugh and then when I get to my desk I find the chair copy from yesterday and email it to Sloane. I can tell the moment she reads it because I hear her guffaws of laughter coming from across the room. I glance back and she’s fanning her face, laughing so hard her skin is bright red.

She clicks something on the computer and then walks over to the printer. Then she comes back over to my desk, waving the piece of paper.

“I’m pinning this on my cubicle for all of eternity,” she announces. “You could seriously sell this online as erotica.”

“Chair erotica?”

“Hey, it’s the internet. I’m sure there’s a market for it.”

I shake my head and turn back to my screen, barely able to suppress my smile.