Leticia sank onto the couch next to Tom. At least he and Jonas were still single along with her, she thought to herself glumly. The three of them could counteract the two happy couples.

“How was your week?” She asked him.

Over in the kitchen, Sharon and Jonas were complaining about the latest episode of some reality television show or other. Leticia hadn’t bothered to figure out what. Debbie was sitting on the chair, reading some amusing internet story out loud to Ross and Melanie.

“It was fine. Sold two paintings, which was great. One of the guys is from New York, talked about getting me to be one of the artists at this gallery showing.”

“That’s great!” Leticia beamed at him. “I told you, people are starting to notice your work.”

Tom would never be an internationally-known artist, but he was building himself a very respectable following on the Eastern seaboard. Leticia had high hopes for him.

“How about your week?” Tom asked. “Something’s on your mind.”

Leticia didn’t even bother trying to hide it. “Am I that obvious?”

“Normally you’re the life of the party,” Tom replied. “Today you’ve hardly said a word.”

“Can’t a girl have a quiet day?”

“Sure, if the girl’s quiet days weren’t always the days that she had some major issue she was trying to work through.”

“It’s not a major issue.” Leticia huffed. “It’s kind of ridiculous, actually.”

“What’s ridiculous?” Sharon asked, walking over just in time to hear the last bit.

“Something’s got our girl down in the dumps,” Tom said.

“Way to rat me out,” Leticia said, but she laid her head on Tom’s shoulder. Tom was arguably the most soft-spoken of the group. Even Sharon could be prone to sassiness and energy. Tom was the calm eye in the middle of the storm that was their friend group.

Tom patted her leg kindly. “You know you need to talk about it. That’s what we’re here for.”

“Ugh, must you be right all the time?”

“What is it?” Debbie asked, catching on that something was happening. “Did something crazy happen at the club?”

Leticia made a face. She’d gone to the club that Saturday after talking to Carter’s daughter, but it hadn’t felt right. The music was fun, still, and she enjoyed dancing, but she’d wished the whole time that she had a specific partner to dance with, someone she’d come to club with who would dance with her throughout the night. She hadn’t wanted to pick anyone up and she hadn’t even felt like drinking very much.

She was turning into an old boring person or something, but she just couldn’t shake the feeling that going to the club would have been more fun with Carter by her side.

Needless to say, she hadn’t gone back to any clubs after that night.

“No,” she told Debbie. “It’s really not a big deal, guys.”

“Is this about Carter?” Sharon asked, because Sharon was a traitor.

“Carter?” Melanie perked right up. She’d been half-asleep at Debbie’s feet, having worked night shifts all week for some reason that Leticia had forgotten—because she’d been preoccupied thinking about Carter. “Who’s this guy? Did Leticia finally find someone?”

“Sort of,” Leticia replied.

Ross snorted. “Right, because having lunch together every day and a standing date on Friday and him bringing you coffee every morning is only ‘sort of’ dating.”

“You told him?” Leticia asked, rounding on Sharon. “Your best friend status is revoked! Tom is my best friend now! And you—” She added, turning to Ross. “Like you have any room to talk, after all the stunts you pulled. How long were you two dating before you proposed?”

Ross put his hands up as if to say, “I surrender.”

“Oh my God, are you dating someone?” Jonas demanded. “Are you dating somebody and you didn’t tell us? This is betrayal.”

“It gets even better,” Sharon said with glee.

This was revenge for all of the times Leticia had made Sharon go to a college party or a club when she hadn’t wanted to, she just knew it. That was the only explanation for this traitor behavior.

Everyone looked at Leticia expectantly, waiting for her to spill the beans.

With a final glare at Sharon, Leticia did. She reminded them how she and Carter met, and filled them in on how everything had gone since he’d gone from ‘coworker I accidentally slept with’ to ‘coworker I’m accidentally dating’.

“This is hilarious,” Debbie said.

“I think it’s sweet,” Tom replied, because Tom was the best human being in the whole wide world. “And rather mature, given how allergic Letty is to adult human emotions.”

Never mind. Tom was also a traitor and could go sit in the corner and think about what he’d said.

“Sharon knows all about that,” Leticia said, when she’d finished. “I told her last week. But the rest of what I’m about to tell you is all new, to her as well.”

She then told them about the Friday date, and Sharon’s advice, and calling Carter the next morning.

“Wait, you said his daughter answered the phone?” Ross blurted out. “He has a daughter?”

“Well fuck me,” Debbie muttered.

“I suppose it’s not as bad as being secretly married?” Melanie offered. “To a spouse that’s alive, I mean.”

“Thanks, I really needed that reminder,” Jonas snapped at her.

Jonas had once dated a guy who had actually been married to a woman and in the closet about his sexuality. He had failed to tell Jonas this until six months into the relationship. Jonas, apparently, was still bitter about it, which—well, given her current situation, Leticia could hardly blame him for.

“Yes,” Leticia said, confirming what Ross had asked and ignoring the peanut gallery.

She told them how the phone conversation with Molly had gone, and then she finished.

Everyone stared at her for a beat.

“And?” Sharon finally prompted.

“And what?” Leticia replied.

“Did you talk to him about it?” Melanie asked. “I mean, this was Saturday morning. As in last Saturday. You’ve had an entire week at work to talk to him about this. How did it go?”

“I didn’t talk to him about it,” Leticia replied.

Everyone groaned.

“What?” Leticia demanded. “He obviously didn’t take me seriously enough to tell me about his daughter. I’m not going to waste time on someone like that. We can just be coworkers, it’s no problem.”

“Oh yeah, you seem totally unaffected by this,” Debbie replied sarcastically.

Leticia huffed at her. “What do you want me to say? That I’m upset that he lied to me? I’m upset, okay? I trusted this guy. He seemed like a really decent person. Now it turns out he’s got a daughter that he didn’t tell me about—and that’s pretty damn important. That’s not really a small thing to hide from somebody.

“I mean, I knew he was private. I accepted that. But you’d think with all the time we’ve spent together over the last few weeks that he would have brought it up at some point. And I know I don’t like kids, but he didn’t know that, so why keep it a secret from me? Am I that awful of a person that he clearly didn’t want his kid around me anyway? Or did he just not care enough about our relationship and where we were going to mention her? Because, you know, you don’t talk to your kid about someone you’re going to dump real soon. I was probably just a fun coworker that he also enjoyed sleeping with.”

Leticia realized that she was starting to rant and cleared her throat, forcing herself to sound casual. “I mean, honestly, the lying gets to me but it’s not a big deal. I can’t even handle kids all that well, you know, so it’s a good thing. I like him, sure, but there are plenty of other great guys out there that don’t come with a bunch of issues—apparently—and don’t have kids.”

She shrugged, hoping that she’d managed to play it off as something she really didn’t care all that much about.

Judging by how everyone was looking at her and the fact that Tom wrapped an arm around her shoulders, she had a feeling she hadn’t succeeded.

“Oh, hon,” Debbie said. “You sound like me when I was trying to convince myself I wasn’t in love with Melanie.”

“Aw, babe,” Melanie said, smiling up at Debbie endearingly.

“I’m not in love with Carter,” Leticia replied. “That’s not what’s happening here. It’s way too early for that sort of crap.”

“I’m sorry, who are you?” Sharon asked. “Is this the same person who told me to go after Ross and to stop being in denial and fight for my man and all of that? You’re now calling that crap?”

“What, no, I’m—this isn’t the same thing at all!”

“Sure it isn’t,” Jonas said, rolling his eyes. “You and Sharon, honestly. At least Debbie was honest about her pining.”

“Well, I’m not pining,” Leticia insisted. “There is no pining happening here. I’m just frustrated that apparently I’m not considered enough of a serious prospect for someone to consider introducing me to his kid.”

“Letty,” Sharon said gently, “It’s okay if you have feelings for him. It really is.”

“Does he know that you talked to his kid?” Melanie asked. “What was her name?”

“Molly,” Leticia replied. “And I don’t know. I’m not sure? Maybe? He seemed confused by my behavior this week.”

“What was your behavior this week?” Ross asked.

“I just treated him like a coworker,” Leticia replied. “That’s all he wants and so that’s all he’s getting. I’m not going to waste my time on someone who considered me a convenient fling.”

“Says the woman who was constantly having one-night stands,” Jonas pointed out. “Now you’re holding out for a man who will be serious and monogamous with you? Who are you and what did you do with Leticia?”

“Ha, ha.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t talk to him about this,” Melanie said. “How do you expect to get anywhere if you won’t tell him how you’re feeling and what you found out? The poor guy’s floundering around in the dark.”

“I didn’t see the point,” Leticia admitted, which was only half of the truth. The full truth was that she was scared. Scared to deal with this, to confront Carter, because if she did it would mean she’d have to admit how much this relationship meant to her—and she couldn’t do that. If she did that, then she’d have to admit how much she was truly hurting.

She couldn’t handle that.

“He’s made it clear that this is just a fling, y’know?” She said. “And honestly, it was just having fun. What’s the point in pursuing something that isn’t going to go anywhere?”

“You don’t know that it’s not going to go anywhere,” Melanie pointed out. “Not until you try.”

Leticia didn’t want to try. Or, rather, she didn’t know if she wanted to try or not.

“Hey, who the hell finished off the mint chip ice cream?” Sharon demanded, striding into the kitchen.

Debbie immediately protested that nobody had said they wanted more of the ice cream, she had asked, and Sharon replied that Debbie obviously hadn’t asked loudly enough—and Leticia took it for the planned distraction that it was.

Sharon was back on the best friend team.

With everyone sufficiently distracted over dessert, Leticia felt like she could breathe a little more easily. So what if Carter didn’t take this whole thing seriously enough to introduce her to his daughter? That was his business. He certainly hadn’t bothered to corner her on why she was behaving oddly that week.

Sure, she’d made it difficult for him, but all he had to do was back her up against the doorway or sit down at her desk and refuse to leave. If he’d really wanted to talk to her, he would have found a way, but he didn’t. He just took her at her word and didn’t even bother to find out what was wrong or fight for her.

If that didn’t prove how invested he was—or wasn’t—in the relationship, then what did?

Sharon sat down next to Leticia once everyone had moved on, chatting amicably amongst themselves while Ross set up the movie for the night.

“You okay?” Sharon asked, cuddling up to her.

Leticia laid her head on Sharon’s shoulder and sighed. “I think so.”

“We just worry about you,” Sharon told her. “We can tell this is upsetting you. We want you to see if you can fix it. He obviously means a lot to you.”

“He can’t mean a lot to me,” Leticia admitted. “Because that means I lost something important. I can’t handle that.”

Sharon sighed. “I know, sweetheart, I know.”

She wrapped an arm around Leticia’s shoulders, and that was where Leticia stayed for the rest of the night.