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“I wasn’t until I quit my job. God, I quit my job!”

“Still can’t believe it?” Bryce asked.

“No. I’ve never done anything like that before. I even told the president that he would have to direct-deposit my check,and when he said that he wouldn’t, I told him I knew things he wouldn’t want people to know.”

“Damn. What do you know?”

“Nothing. I know nothing. I just made it up. He went for it, though.”

“Which tells you he has things to hide, so you made a good decision.”

“Except, I’ve been living paycheck to paycheck. I’ve got maybe enough for next month’s rent and bills, but beyond that, I’m screwed. I might have to move back in with my parents or see if Monica and Bridgette will let me crash at their place.”

“Hey, it’s going to be fine,” Bryce told her, squeezing her hand. “You said you worked at Arnette before and in the same job. I’m sure you’ll get it. And if not, there’s Atlanta.”

“But I’ll be reeking of desperation now, when before, I had a job, and it would’ve been okay if I didn’t get it.”

“You won’t reek of desperation.” Bryce chuckled at her. “You’ll smell like grapefruit, or whatever the shampoo smells like in my hotel, I guess. It’s kind of like a cucumber-mint combo. I bet that’s going to smell great on you. Will you take a shower tonight, just so I can test that theory?”

Sophie leaned more into Bryce, feeling instantly better. How this woman had the ability to do that to her, she had no idea. The logical part of Sophie’s brain usually ruled her decisions and even her feelings. It had always been that way for her. But for the past year, even though everything with Bryce had seemed completely illogical and impossible, her heart had ruled, and it was unfamiliar territory for her, but she discovered that it was welcome territory, too.

“Oh, I need to tell you something,” Bryce said.

“O-k-a-y.”

“I got asked to do an interview for this lesbian online magazine thing.”

“An interview?”

“Yeah, it’s a video interview. I scheduled it for tomorrow, but I told them that I wanted to talk to you about it in person, and if you said no, I’d cancel.”

“Interview? Why would you need to talk to me about–” Sophie stopped. “Wait. It’s not about your food blog, is it?”

“No, they don’t really care about the food part. I guess they got ahold of my blogs about you, and they think it makes a cute story.”

“I can’t disagree with them there. You areverycute.”

Bryce smiled and shook her head.

“They liked the part about me trying to find you and actually doing it. The editor wanted to talk to both of us, but I told her I had to check with you first.”

“They want to interviewus? As in, youandme?”

“Yeah.”

“And you want to do it?”

“Selfishly, it’s good for my business, but even without that, I also kind of like the idea of people reading our story in their magazine. It would maybe give them hope.”

“Hope?”

“Yeah, that they might have a Sophie out there.”

“Bryce, this is going really well, and don’t get me wrong, I am so glad that we were right about how we felt when we met, but tomorrow is the day after today. That’s, like, really soon, and we’re still on our first date.”

“I know. She suggested we update people on where we are now, and if things keep going with us, she would do a follow-up interview and story.”

“Oh, wow. I don’t know,” Sophie said.