The Azure Group corporate headquarters occupies the top five floors of a modern steel and glass tower in a part of Manhattan where everyone wears black and looks busy. As I fidgeted with the stiff lapels of my blazer on the long elevator ride up, I found myself missing the unpretentious, casual, laid-back attitude of Austin. I didn’t see a single person wearing a suit last week. Just seeing someone taking a fashion risk on pinstripes or navy was uncommon here.

I made my reluctant way to my cubicle on the forty-seventh floor, dodging Stan from Finance. He clearly wanted to ask me 0ut for coffee again, but the answer was no. I’d only be going out of pity if I did. Last time he spent twenty minutes telling me about his snake, Dominic (an actual boa constrictor, mind you, not his dick).

Although I didn’t have any natural light at my desk, I managed to keep a small garden of succulents alive in a planter there. They didn’t mind not being watered when I was away, but I liked to think that they still missed me. I’d just watered them and started up my computer when Annie dropped by.

“Hi Rae,” she asked. “Can I talk to you really quickly?” Her voice was hesitant.

“Of course.” I tried to sound welcoming instead of Monday-grumpy. “What can I do for you?”

She took a seat in the open cube next to mine. “I’m having a lot of trouble with my report on the algorithms for Notable Match. I know Kyle is already finished with his financial report and you’re waiting on me.”

Although Annie and Kyle both reported to me, their expertise was much more focused than my own and I knew there was no way I could do their jobs. The three of us had always gotten along well, and it was disheartening to me that Kyle had caught me with Lucas. He probably thought I was a scheming slut. Annie’s expression, however, held no judgement or recrimination. Perhaps, despite the fact that Kyle and Annie were now an item, he hadn’t told her about our awkward interaction at Lucas’ loft? Was that even possible?

“What kind of trouble?” I asked.

Annie frowned. Her voice was even weaker than usual, and I had to strain to hear her. “It’s embarrassing to even admit it, but his logic is totally incomprehensible to me. It’s almost nonsensical. But somehow, despite the fact that I can’t figure out how he’s doing it, his matchmaking works.”

“It’s going to get really technical if you try to explain it more than that, won’t it?” I’d worked with Annie enough to know that I shouldn’t even try to understand what she did most of the time. As long as she created a report that passed muster with our technical team, that was good enough for me.

She nodded ruefully. “It’s almost like he used machine learning or something. There’s just no way to break down what he did to get his final product. I think the best way I can explain it would be that he wrote a set of instructions, used Google translate to put it in Ukrainian, then translated that into Chinese, and then back into English.”

I frowned. I wouldn’t put it past Lucas to think it was funny that his creation incomprehensible from the outside. He obviously liked complex puzzles, his loft was full of them. But I had a feeling that he didn’t do this just to make Annie’s life difficult, there would be no point. More likely, there was some key that Annie hadn’t yet managed to crack.

I thought about Annie’s problem for a minute before answering. “As long as you focus on the inputs and reliable outputs of the algorithm that should be good enough,” I told her. “While it would be nice to be able to say exactly how he created it, that may just not be possible.”

“Are you sure?” Annie had never delivered anything but the most detailed of technical reports, but she was an overachiever. Other technical analysts were not nearly as thorough.

“We’ve got the algorithms now, don’t we?”

“Yes, I have all the code. I just don’t know how it works.”

“Then yeah, I’m sure.” I shrugged. “It’s hardly going to matter anyway.”

Even an oblique reference to Lucas’ technology being locked away and never used made us both frown deeply.

“Did you get matched with Lucas?” Annie asked, and then looked like she regretted it. I guess it was too much to hope that Kyle wouldn’t tell her.

I nodded. “Yeah. I did.” It wasn’t worthwhile to lie to Annie. We were friends, at least as much as we could be in our line of work. Plus, it felt good to have someone to talk to.

“He stares at you every time you two are in the same room,” Annie said. “Then he looks away whenever you notice. It’s very cute.” She smiled at me encouragingly. I couldn’t return her smile.

He does? Well, it must just be because I look like Victoria.

Although, I really didn’t think that I looked like her at all. Victoria’s features were elfin, delicate, and sharp, while mine were softer and more rounded. Victoria’s eyes were green not blue. I had freckles and she didn’t. She was much taller than me. My hair was long, and hers was short. She had bangs, and I didn’t. We were both natural redheads, but that was about it.

“Its… complicated between us,” I told her. I wished I could tell her everything, but I could barely explain it to myself.

Still, her expression was sympathetic. “Yeah, you’ve got a hard job to do.”

I shook my head at her understatement. She didn’t know the half of it. “He’s going to hate me when he realizes what we’re going to do with his app,” I said, feeling horrible.

“You’re just doing your job,” Annie insisted.

“Why doesn’t that make me feel any better?”

She smirked. “Because despite what Kyle thinks, you aren’t nearly as ruthless as you pretend to be.”

I arched an eyebrow at her and tried to look ruthless, but it just made her smirk turn into a disbelieving grin. I found myself fighting a smile as well.

“Fine, but don’t tell anyone my secret,” I told her. She mimed zipping her lips closed and throwing away the key. “I’m happy for you and Kyle,” I added.

Annie’s cheeks turned a deep, scarlet red. Her response was whispered. “He’s a really sweet, wonderful person. I’m so happy the app put us together. I don’t think we ever would have admitted how we felt otherwise.”

I shook my head at her in wonder. I still couldn’t believe they’d been into each other all this time and I hadn’t picked up on the slightest clue. “I guess it was fate.”

She returned my smile shyly. “We make our own fate,” she asserted a moment later, surprising me. “That’s what I’m learning. You never know what will happen, Rae, but you can decide how to deal with it. Like with Kyle and me. I never would have known he liked me, but once we learned the truth, we decided to take a risk and admit how we felt. This deal’s not over until the ink is dry. If you’re meant to be with Lucas, it will all work out. If Lucas’ app was meant to be out in the world, it will be.” She seemed completely sure.

I wanted to believe Annie but looking around at the serious faces of my coworkers and the joyless office, it was hard to be optimistic. This was my world, and it was cutthroat and high stakes. And even if there was some way to make the deal with Notable Match work out, I still had no solution to the real problem. Lucas was in love with someone else.

When I got home to my apartment, it was long past dusk. I’d gone in before dawn, so the entire day had passed by without seeing the sun once. I made myself the only food I had in my pantry—macaroni and cheese—and settled on my couch.

God, it’s quiet in here.

At least when I’d had Tootsie, my dog, there had been someone here to greet me when I came home. I adored him and having him around always made me smile. Plus, he hunted the rats. Now it was just silent. I knew he was better off with my brother, though. Jarrod spoiled him rotten and gave him all the love he could stand.

Upstairs, someone turned on water and the ancient pipes made loud banging noises. It sounded like a family of ghosts were having a rave. In between the clanging, I could faintly hear my upstairs neighbor singing offkey.

Great. That’s not any better.

I needed to get out of this place. This apartment was expensive, and it still sucked. The only reason I’d chosen this building was that it was close to work.

Feeling increasingly grumpy, I turned on some mindless tv and tried to get out of my head. The first bite of the macaroni tasted pretty good, but by bite number three the fake powdered cheese taste was grossing me out. I stubbornly made myself eat the whole bowl.

Is this really what I want for the rest of my life? The thought had been rustling around in my head for a while before I was willing to acknowledge it. Once I did, however, it demanded an answer. I wished I had one.