Page 100 of Drunk on Love

“I know just what that means. Good for her.” Somethingsuddenly occurred to her. She turned to Luke. “Are you coming to the party?”

He shrugged.

“Depends. Do I have to pay?”

She couldn’t tell if that was a joke or not.

“No, I’ll put you on the list. But if you have to work, or—”

He laughed.

“Of course I’m coming to the party. Whether I had to pay or not.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “Does Elliot—or anyone else at Noble—know about us?”

She was surprised he’d asked that.

“No,” she said. He had a weird look on his face. “It’s only been a few weeks since you quit, and you know things with Elliot are complicated.”

He nodded.

“I figured. I just wanted to know for sure, since I’ll be there for the party.”

She pulled up her draft of the newsletter. She’d gotten only this far? She could have sworn... No, she’d just planned to work on it more, and then her phone had rung and she’d abandoned it.Great.So much was riding on this; she should have prioritized it this week. Damn it.

“Do you want more wine?” Luke asked.

She nodded, and he got up and got the bottle from the kitchen.

Okay, she had to bring up the expanded hours again—she’d mentioned that in the past two newsletters, but you never knew who actually opened those—it would always be news to someone reading; she had to hype up the party; oh, and she needed a more interesting subject line. That social media person she’d consulted had told her that. What kind of subject line would make people click on this?

Luke sat down close to her and ran his fingers through her hair.

“What are you working on?”

She pulled the ponytail holder off her wrist and put her hair up.

“The newsletter.”

He put an arm around her.

“I like that dress. It’s very... eye-catching.”

He moved his hand from her shoulder down her body. She pulled away.

“Give me a minute, okay? You’ll get what you came over for soon.”

Luke dropped his hands. And then, after a few seconds, he stood up.

“I’d better go.”

She was so irritated and frustrated, she didn’t even look at him. She kept her eyes on her computer screen.

“Fine.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him grab his bag and slide his shoes on. And then, her front door opened and quietly closed.

She looked around at her empty house, at the two wineglasses on the coffee table, at the meal in the kitchen Luke had brought over for her.

She put her laptop on the coffee table, ran to the door, and flung it open. He was almost at his car.

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