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“And you found him?” Addison pressed. “You actually met up with this guy?”

I used the plastic tongs to put a spring roll on my plate, then passed them to my friend. But Addison’s plate was already full. She could barely fit another piece of food on it, so right now she was merely following me around the buffet.

“I found him,” I said finally. “I met him.”

“Byyourself?”

I licked my finger and nodded.

“Damn, Juliana,” she admonished. “That’s dangerous.”

“Why?”

“Because that address I gave you was in the middle of nowhere!” my friend cried. “You could’ve been killed. You could’ve been stuffed in the trunk of a car, or buried there out in the desert!”

“Turns out it’s not so easy to bury someone out in the desert,” I told her. “It’s solid calcium carbonate.”

“Depends on the desert,” Addison shot back. “And it’scarbonite, not carbonate.”

I sighed and rolled my eyes simultaneously.

“And you should be onJeopardywith all the fun facts you’ve got stuffed in that pretty blonde head,” I countered. “And thanks for always correcting me. I fucking love it.”

My friend grunted dismissively. It felt like the usual grunt of a someone trying to move on from something.

“Anyway, I’m just looking out for you,” she finally said. “I didn’t mean—”

“No, it’s me who’s being the asshole,” I admitted. “Sorry. I’m just a little… on edge.”

We continued down the line of delicacies and hot dishes, where I added even more to my second plate. Because yes, I was juggling two plates at once. What the hell else were you supposed to do at the best Chinese buffet in the City?

“So what happened?” Addison was asking. “You know, with Bishop.”

“Devyn.”

“Whatever.”

We reached the end, and I grabbed another pair of napkins just because. After making our way back to our table, we sat down across from each other and began to pick.

“Basically I found him right where you said he’d be,” I told her, “and so I knocked on his door. He looked just like he did in the photos, Addison. Maybe a little more mature, but the years suited him nicely.”

I felt bad, telling her all this over a month after it happened. She’d been asking for weeks, but we’d both been too busy to get together. I could’ve pinned it all on my end, because minutes after leaving Devyn that next morning I’d driven straight back into work. But Addison had been working crazy amounts of overtime, too. The streets of New York had never been so restless.

“And you justaskedhim?” my friend demanded incredulously. “Did you hand him a specimen cup or—”

“No, no,” I shook my head. “Nothing like that.”

“Well did you have to convince him?”

Thinking back, I shrugged. “I did and I didn’t. I mean, he was more than happy to provide another sample. But there was this… I don’t know…”

Addison’s eyebrows knitted together. “Don’t know what?”

“There was thisconnectionbetween us, too. I know it sounds silly, but I could feel it, Addison. And I knew he felt it too.”

My friend paused, still unraveling the wrapper from her chopsticks. She was taking it off in a long paper ribbon, while staring back at me confused.

“Are you saying—”