Page 108 of Plays Well With Others

“I’m glad it’s going so well for you,” I say.

“It really is. And I think it could go even better. For both of us. I have a few ideas,” she says, setting down her purse and gearing up for a big ask.

“Oh?” I ask offhand as I scan the doorway just over there for Maddox. I need my buffer, stat.

“Yes. Let me tell you more about what I envision,” she says, not even giving a fuck that my agent isn’t here yet, but when the door swings open and he’s right on time, I’m infinitely relieved. She has the diplomacy of a snowplow. Maddox strides up to us and claps me on the shoulder. “Good to see you again.”

“You too,” I say.

Once he says hello to Zena, we all head to a table. After we order, Maddox guides the conversation through small talk and then Zena clears her throat, ready to do business.

She locks eyes with me. “So I wanted to tell you under NDA about a new feature we’re rolling out,” she begins, her chunky gold bracelet adding to her Wonder Woman vibe. “We’re launching a new section of the app calledThe Friend Zone. We want to help people connect on all sorts of levels, including a friend level, and since you and Rachel are such good friends, we would love for you to host the kickoff event for us in a few weeks. It’ll be a fun warehouse-type of party with music, games, photo booths, pool, board games—all sorts of friend-centric activities,” she says.

Great. Just great. I’ll forever be known asthe friend.

But just because I want more with Rachel doesn’t mean that more is on the menu. Besides, I’m trying to detox from girlfriends. I stay too long in toxic relationships because I like women too much, dating too much, romance too much.

I need to change my own habits. This expiration date with Rachel is healthy for me. It really,reallyis.

“And we’ll invite influencers and some of our regular users in the area, and the media of course,” Zena continues as I do my best to focus on the business side of her request.

Fortunately, Maddox jumps in and says, “What do you have in mind exactly? An extension of the deal? Will there be additional compensation?”

I love this guy. He does the hard stuff.

Zena smiles. “Of course. We’ll pay you an appearance fee. And Rachel as well,” she says, then shares a figure. “You’d both get it, of course.”

Wow. I don’t think Rachel’s ever nabbed an appearance fee before, but I bet she’ll be stoked.

“But I also had a special idea,” Zena says, her tone suggesting she has an ace up her sleeve. “At the kickoff party, we’ll have goodie bags for all the guests, and I thought perhaps we could have the bags branded with the name of Rachel’s store. Would that work, too, for compensation?”

Zena looks to Maddox expectantly, but I’ve got this covered. “I’ll check with her tonight,” I say, and I can’t wait to tell Rachel.

* * *

After dinner, I walk home, calling Rachel along the way and updating her.

“Are you kidding me?” Her voice pitches up in obvious shock.

“Pretty cool, huh?”

“That’s an understatement. An appearance fee? I’m…just a store owner. You’re a star.”

I laugh. “Guess you’re a dating star now too.”

“This is just beyond anything,” she says. “I can use it to market the store more. And of course for savings. And I need to visit the Venice store soon, and maybe make some new hires because of the manager taking all these personal days, but I’ll figure it all out. Still, I can’t believe that this whole Date Night thing is turning my business around. It’s still early days, but I’m so hopeful I can keep growing things,” she says, obviously touched, and her emotions tug on my heart. “Carter, when I first came here and business was slow, I was beginning to doubt my decision. I thought I’d made a mistake fleeing to San Francisco and trying to open a second store while still running the Venice one. But then these last few weeks happened, and it makes me feel like I wasn’t so crazy to escape.”

I wince from the reminder. But hell, with the way I’ve been feeling lately, I need it.

Her escape from her ex was mere months ago.

That is all.

She came to San Francisco to get away from a five-year-lie. Not to find a new dude. Not to fall for her friend.

She has one goal here—to recover.

There is no way I could say to herI’m falling for youand have that be okay.

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