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“I did” I hadn’t told Vaughn anything about Garrett In fact, we never talked about why he showed up I had greedily soaked up an excuse to focus on so else

“And tonight? Does dinner work for you?”

This was the part where I could have played hard-to-get I could have told hihts before I was free

“Yes”

“I’ll pick you up at seven”

“Where are we going?” I asked

“There’s this Italian place in Georgetohere the women roll the pasta by hand You’ll like it”

“How do you know I like Italian?” I teased, stalling to keep him on the phone I liked the sound of his voice too much

“See you then”

“Bye”

I let my eyes close for only a second But it was a beautiful second

I straightened

Max Harrison’s office smelled like the back of the collections section of the library Books were piled on every surface There were leather-bound law volumes from every state Some appeared to never have been opened

I sat in a chair facing Max’s desk, while he searched for his evaluation form with my name on it

“Found it!” he held it up