Page 59 of The Do-Over

What were the odds?

And what had almost happened between me and Nick?

I gave the guard a polite smile and he returned it, stepping inside and pressing the button for floor thirty-six as the doors closed behind him. I gave Nick a sideways glance and he was lookingstraight ahead, totally unaffected by this interloper’s presence.

The car started moving and I watched the illuminated display above the doors dutifully report each and every floor we passed. I cleared my throat and bit down on my lip as the silence very nearly killed me.

When we finally hit thirty-six and the elevator dinged, the tall security guard gave me another polite smile. As the doors opened, I said, “Have a good day.”

He gave me a head nod. “You too.”

Once the doors closed behind him, I glanced at Nick. He was looking at me with an unreadable expression on his face, and I was begging my brain not to overthink whatever was happening between us. The elevator dinged when we reached the thirty-ninth floor—of course—and he just said, “Ready to do this again?”

I smiled and muttered something in answer, but the truth was that I wasn’t capable of actual conversation. I needed a minute to calm my freaking-the-freak-out nerves.

The doors opened, and this floor had a foyer area with a reception desk. It was deathly quiet, and the stern-looking woman sitting behind the desk already looked irritated by our existence.

“Can I help you?”

Nick said, “Can you point us toward the stairwell? The guy in the orientation said we could take them down if we wanted the exercise, but then we got on the elevator and almost forgot. Is it over there?” He pointed toward the other end of the building, and I was in awe of his composure.

She nodded. “I’ll show you.”

My breath caught in my throat as she stood and came around the desk. Nick smiled at her and they started walking, so I followed.

“What orientation were you here for?” she asked.

“An internship orientation with HR. It’s for their new summer program.”

“Oh?” She looked at him with her eyebrows down. “I didn’t know they had something like that.”

“Trust me, we were a surprise to everyone today.”

The woman laughed and Nick added, “I’m excited to work in this building, though. Have you worked here long?”

She nodded. “Fifteen years.”

“Wow—that is a long time.”

“Only to you because you’re young.” She smiled and glanced back at me. “Trust me, fifteen years flies by.”

“So were you here when people used to do proposals upstairs?” He said it so casually, like it was common knowledge to everyone in the world. “Or had that already stopped when you started?”

“Oh, they still did it, but it was usually on evenings and weekends so it didn’t really affect those of us who worked here.”

“Do you know why it stopped?” Nick asked, sounding so super chill that I was extra impressed by him. “Why the balcony kind of went offline?”

“No idea. I heard a really uptight exec moved into the big office and shut it down, but that was just a rumor.” She stopped walking then, and gestured toward the door at the end of the hall. “There is the stairwell, but I warn you. Even though you’re going down, it’s still alotof steps. Be careful.”

“We will.” I cleared my throat and said, “Thank you so much.”

“Of course.”

Nick opened the stairwell door and I walked through; he followed. For a second, when the door slammed behind us, I wondered if he was going to kiss me, but then he said, “We’re almost there—let’s do this, Hornby.”

We walked up the final flight of stairs, and I had no idea what to say. My hands were still a little trembly, and my head was full of a million questions.

When we got to the top, without a word, Nick opened the door. We stepped out and it was another very quiet floor. It seemed to be comprised of ultra-swanky offices—probably the executives—and apparently no one up there made noise.

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