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Maybe Jackson had been right. Maybe this was the way to move forward. Not quite back to where they were, but on the way to making amends. Cherish ordered another glass of wine despite the fact they had nearly finished eating. Haylee had stared at the prices on the menu and balked. She really hoped that Cherish was going to pay for everything like she’d said, because Haylee didn’t have any spare cash hanging around for this kind of meal. She’d spent what cash she had on Cherish’s coffee that morning.

“Haylee.” Cherish pressed a hand over Haylee’s, curling her fingers around Haylee’s hand.

Haylee kept staring at the touch. The number of times that Cherish’s knee had bumped hers under the table tonight was outrageous, too. If Haylee didn’t know better, she’d say this was a date. And Cherish was more than a little buzzed.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing,” Haylee lied. She didn’t even know where to begin with that one.

The fear of being fired?

Nope.

The worry about what all of this meant?

No.

The growing crush?

Hell to the no on that one.

Haylee valued herself too much to put herself in that situation, but with the way Cherish kept touching her, the lightness in her tone that Haylee had never witnessed before—just what was this?

“I don’t believe you,” Cherish crooned, leaning in slightly. Her breath was warm against Haylee’s cheek.

Haylee tried to bite back the words, but she was awful at making herself shut up on a good day. “To be fair, I firmly believe that women are always thinking about something. It’s harder to turn our brains off than our clits on.”

“What?” Cherish’s brow drew together in a sharp crease. “Did you seriously just say clits on?”

“Uh…yeah.” That had slipped out, hadn’t it? Shit, she shouldn’t have had that second glass of wine.

Cherish’s cheeks turned bright red, but her gaze didn’t waver. She sucked in a breath and blew it out, setting her wine glass onto the table. “I wanted to apologize for yesterday.”

“Like I said before dinner, there’s nothing to apologize for.”

“Don’t patronize me,” Cherish said firmly. “Yesterday was a disaster.”

Haylee grunted her agreement. She tore her hand from Cherish’s and grabbed her nearly empty wine glass. Maybe she should order a third just to get through this apology, or whatever it was Cherish was insisting on. Because the signals Haylee was getting were insane. She wasn’t sure she could keep up.

“I didn’t handle yesterday well.”

“You shouldn’t have had to,” Haylee countered.

“Will you shut up and let me do this?” Cherish’s lips parted, as if she was surprised by her own sharpness. “Sorry.”

“Do you always apologize with an apology for your apology?”

“What?”

“Never mind.” Haylee bit her tongue as amusement swam through her. “You really are just a small-town girl in a city world, aren’t you?”

Cherish lifted a shoulder in a shrug and let it drop. “And you’re a drifter.”

“I suppose.” Was that a compliment? “Can you apologize already so we can be done with this?”

“Haylee,” Cherish sighed her name. “I’m truly sorry about yesterday. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like I did. It’s not your fault, and you weren’t there last year—or the years before that—to fully understand the gravity of the situation.”

“What situation?” Haylee still didn’t know what was going on, that much was clear. But no one in that office wanted to talk about it. It was the invisible elephant in the room, and Haylee was pretty sure she was doomed to never know. This wasn’t just about a gala. This was something much bigger than that. “Your crush on Febe?”