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“So tell me something I don’t know about you.” Claude leaned forward. I was toast. “I mean, you follow YouTubers, you’re at least curious about kink, you work in finance, and you bake and donate food to food banks.”

I squealed. It seemed I wasn’t the only one with a good memory. “Do I need more things?”

Unless we started discussing our childhoods? I didn’t know that there was a lot more to talk about when it came to my life. I’d kept things fairly simple—until recently, maybe. That excursion into the munch might’ve been aiming too high.

“Those are all very generic.” Claude shrugged. “And I’m a curious person.”

“Are you?” Yeah, I squealed again. “I mean, yeah, I know that.” They’d had that in their bio, I was sure of it. “But uh, you know more about me than I do you.”

Was that smooth? Not remotely. Did it get me out of the spotlight? That’s what I was hoping for.

“What do you wanna know?”

Or not.

Claude took a swig of water while I tried to look like I wasn’t the mess that I was. I might’ve had a chance if the act wasn’t so distracting.

I really needed a grip. It was only getting worse lately.

Was I going to end up caving and letting Dylan drag me to a club sometime?

Ugh.

The mere thought of clubbing had me shuddering for a different reason altogether, but it would be nice to not be in horny mode twenty-four-seven.

“I…” Yeah, I should’ve thought this one better. The only things that came to mind were definitely too personal. Well, I guessed the deal was that I fed them desserts, and they told me about the viral video that had destroyed their career. The timing didn’t feel right to tackle that one, though. “What do you do, other than working extra hours at a PR firm, and dyeing your hair?”

Claude had begun tilting their head to the side before they were laughing.

“Well played.” They winked. “But I’m really not that interesting. I hang out at Randy’s with a bunch of the regulars there, and I FaceTime with Ben and Julian a lot.”

“There has to be something more than that.”

I wasn’t trying to play games when I said it.

“Sadly, not really. Living vicariously through others is more fun.”

It was safer, too. They didn’t say it, but there was no need. I’d been there, too.

“Sure. So is it true that Ben tried to adopt a fox?”

Claude groaned. “Don’t get me started.”

Their eyes twinkled with mischief, though.

I relaxed against the back of the stool. The tension had left their shoulders right away.

I’d managed that, so maybe I could manage to salvage this whole mess, too.

FOUR

Claude

“These are amazing. What the fuck?”

After we talked—for longer than the twenty minutes she’d first estimated—Arlene had been relaxed enough that she only made a casual comment about how I had to remember it might not look perfect, but it would taste good.

It tasted more than good.