“I just don’t understand,” I wail to Andrea. “Things were going so well!”

“I don’t understand, either.” She frowns. “But you need to talk to him about it. It’s not fair on you. You at least deserve an explanation.”

“He told me I’m not fulfilling my responsibilities. That maybe I’m not ready for the role. He’s going to suggest to Mr. Montfort that one of the other members of the team might be more suitable to lead.”

“That’s ridiculous,” she snorts. “You’re one of the most intelligent women I know. You told me you’re working your ass off there and I believe you. I have no doubt that you’re doing great.”

“Thanks,” I mutter. “What would you do if you were me?”

She considers this for a moment and then says, “Could there be any other reason? Do you think it’s because you rejected him?”

“I wouldn’t say I rejected him. I just said made it clear I wanted to keep our relationship purely professional. It didn’t seem to bother him at all.” I think back to that night and sincerely hope I’m remembering it correctly. Could he have been expecting us to become more than friends? But that didn’t make sense because he had literally turned cold overnight.

“Men can be strange creatures,” Andrea eventually says, sipping on her soy chai latte, and then glancing at her phone for about the seventh time that evening.

“Are you waiting to hear from someone?” I ask, narrowing my eyes. This behavior was most unlike ice queen Andrea. “Ricardo not texting you?”

She glowers at me and refutes the idea immediately. “As if,” she huffs, then nonchalantly throws her phone in her bag.

I know better than to delve so I move on quickly, “So anyway, before Matthew got all weird the last couple of days, I was actually thinking about setting him up with Nina.”

“Wouldn’t that be a bit off, given your history?” she asks, accusingly.

“For goodness sake, nothing happened between us. Mathew and I had dinner together after working flat out for a whole afternoon. End of story.”

She smirks. “I know, Laurie. As if you’d do anything so exciting!”

I lower my head. “Laugh all you want, but at that time I had already fallen for Jackson. I was even scared about liking him too much so doing anything with Mathew or any other man didn’t even cross my mind,” I admit.

“Why should you be scared about liking someone?” she asks curiously.

I look up at her. “For the same reason you’re scared of liking Ricardo too much.”

She looks away. I don’t speak and after a while, she turns her face back to me. “Ricardo’s not answering my texts,” she says, her voice quivering slightly.

“Oh, babe,” I say, my heart sinking for her. “He’ll be in touch soon. I cannot believe he won’t. You are such a catch. When has any man dropped you?”

She bites her lip. “There’s always the first time. And of course, it would have to happened with a guy I really like.”

“When did you last hear from him?”

“Monday,” she whispered. Her eyes glaze over for a second and then she focuses on me again. “We went to yoga, dropped in to see Danny, then had an amazing dinner at this new rooftop place his friend owns. Amazing sex in the hot tub too afterwards… and then nothing.”

“It doesn’t sound like you have anything to worry about,” I say, feeling more envy than pity for her. Sex in a hot tub, wow.

“I sent him a text the next morning, but I haven’t heard anything back.”

“You haven’t messaged him since then?”

She shakes her head and I’m amazed at her will power.

“Anyway,” she says, sitting up straight. “It’s only what I’ve done to so many men in the past. So, I suppose it serves me right!” She grins. “And where the hell is Nina?” she asks, looking around. “We need to get this bachelorette party organized!”

“She’ll be here soon, you know she’s always late! And anyway, I want to hear more about this hot tub.”