“Yeah, probably.” Mary scooped another helping of the shrimp entrée onto her plate. “But how do you know that Danny was on a date? Couldn’t he just have been catching up with a friend?”
“It didn’t look that way to me. They were so into each other. She had her hand on his arm. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. I know what I saw.” The longer Dot thought about seeing Danny at that candlelit table with the wine flowing, the more convinced she was that it wasdefinitelya romantic dinner.
“Why don’t you text him to see if he responds?” Harper asked.
“I don’t want to seem desperate. Or that I’m checking in on him.”
“But aren’t you desperate to know?”
“Yes. But also no.” Dot put her chopsticks down. “I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about what Maddy said. And while she’s an awful person, maybe she had a point. Maybe she was trying to protect him. I know that Danny has been through hell. And I absolutely have fallen for him. But we’ve never talked about being exclusive. It’s not like he’s said that he loves me.”
She took a sip of her drink and set it down. And immediately picked it back up again. “And we go back to New York in a month. Then what? It isn’t fair for me to string him along and then leave, is it?”
Mary considered this. “Do you love him?”
“Oh gosh, I don’t know. I mean. Yes. Maybe. But it’s so complicated.”
“Why is it complicated?” Harper asked gently.
“Because my life is in New York. I left a good paying job—that I hated, I know—to try this. I dragged you here with me on a whim and now... now I just... ugh. I don’t know.”
Mary signaled to the waiter that they’d have another round. “I know that you have so much on your mind,” she said. “We all do. But before we get carried away, let’s just pause for a moment.”
“Yeah. My mom always tells me not to think too far ahead,” Harper said.
“How’s that going for us?” Dot asked, with more bite than she intended. “Wait. I’m sorry. I’m a wreck. You’re right. I know. I should just take a minute and think things through.”
Mary considered her from across the table. “You love him. I can tell.”
Dot blushed and lifted her eyebrows. “You’ve always known me better than I know myself.”
“But you’re hiding something. What else is going on? Tell us,” Harper pushed.
Dot still hadn’t told them about the Super PAC job opportunity in Washington, D.C.
“Okay. There’s one other thing.”
“Oh, here we go.” Mary sat back, bracing herself for whatever it was. “You slept with Fletcher in Milwaukee. I knew it.”
“No! I have a job possibility. Working for a Super PAC doing strategic communications. A more senior role. Good pay.”
“That sounds amazing,” Harper said.
“There’s just one little thing though. Well, it’s a big thing.”
Harper motioned for Dot to keep talking.
“It’s in Washington.”
“D.C.?”
“Yes.”
“But you live in New York,” Mary said.
“Exactly.”
“Do you want the job?” Harper asked.