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“O kay. I have good news,” Monica said as she sat down.

“You do?” Sophie asked.

“She does,” Brigette added as she sat down next to her girlfriend.

“Okay. Well, what is it?”

“Your old role at Arnette isn’t open, but the one right below it is. I know it’s not ideal, but if you get this one, it’s a way back in, and you could work your way back up.”

“Really?” Sophie asked, hopeful.

“Yes. And they’re also willing to open it remotely for the right person.”

“Considering you did that job and the one above it, I think that might be you,” Bridgette said.

“I checked online. It’s not posted.”

“They’re looking inside first, but when I talked to my replacement, he mentioned that there weren’t any great candidates, so they’re going to post it externally at the end of the week. I told him about you, and he was really interested. You’d still have to apply when it posts, but I have his email for you, and if you send him your resume and a really good cover letter about why you want to come back, he’ll put you first in line for the recruiter to talk to,” Monica said.

“You’re serious?”

“Yes,” Monica said with a smile.

“Oh, my God. Monica, thank you. That’s amazing. I really appreciate this.”

“It’s just an interview. I can’t promise you that you’ll get it, but if they don’t have any internal candidates standing out to them, and like Bridge said – you’ve done the job before, and you did it well – you’re high on their list of people to talk to.”

Sophie let out a deep sigh and finally felt like she was making job progress for the first time in a long time.

“I have an interview lined up for a company in Atlanta,” she shared. “It’s a phone interview, but if they like me after a few video interviews, I’d fly there for a final in-person one.”

“Would you have to move?” Bridgette asked.

Their conversation was interrupted when their waiter arrived, and Monica told him, “We’re still waiting on a couple of people. Can we maybe have some waters for now?”

“We’re not supposed to seat incomplete parties. Did the hostess–” The waiter placed the menus on the table but didn’t finish his sentence before walking away.

“We’re here,” Melinda said, rushing over to the table with Kyle in tow. “Sorry. We’re all here now.”

“Melinda, hey,” the manager said as she walked out.

“Hey. Sorry to steal a table. But I promise, we’ll eat a lot and tip better than the tourists,” Melinda replied.

“You know you’re welcome at any time,” the woman told her. “Hi, Kyle.”

“Hey,” Kyle said with a polite smile that looked a little forced.

“So, I guess I’ll let you two join your group.”

“Thanks,” Melinda replied. “I’ll say goodbye before we go.”

The manager walked off, and Sophie now knew why she’d been told to use Melinda’s name at the podium when she arrived.

“Mel’s ex,” Bridgette explained to Sophie.

“Not really,” Melinda added as she sat down next to Sophie.

“She is,” Bridgette replied.

“It was, like, a month,” Melinda argued.

“It was a lot of…” Bridgette glanced over at Kyle for a second. “Hand-holding and pecks on the cheek for a month.”

“Babe, want to figure out what to eat?” Monica asked, shaking her head at Bridgette.

“Ky’s not jealous. Are you, babe?” Melinda asked her own girlfriend.

“No, not at all. You only told me that you two never stopped touching each other for a week, but I’m fine that you wanted to go to the restaurant she manages today and that we were here two weeks ago and a few times before that. Perfectly fine.”

“I’m glad you’re so secure in our relationship,” Melinda teased her.

“I seem to remember you two didn’t stop touching for like a week too there,” Bridgette added.

“We hardly stop touching each other now ,” Kyle said.

“Trust us; we know.”

“Monica just wrapped her arm around your shoulders,” Melinda countered. “And, if I’m not mistaken, your hand is on her thigh right now.”

“She’s hot,” Bridgette stated in response.

“Bridgette!” Monica laughed.

“What? My girlfriend is smoking,” Bridgette said before she leaned over and kissed Monica on the neck.

“Did you just say, ‘Smoking?’” Monica teased.

Sophie had nearly made it a full hour without thinking about Bryce. Seeing the kiss on the neck, though, brought everything to the forefront. Suddenly, she was right back in that bar with Bryce, holding her from behind as they danced together, away from the crowd. The song with that sexy bass beat had Sophie’s hips moving in time with her partner’s and contemplating what it would be like to have Bryce move with her like this in other ways.

“So, Soph, Monica said she had good news for you,” Melinda began.

“Yeah,” Sophie replied as her mind refocused on her friends. “She got me an interview at Arnette. Well, I have to get it set up, but I’m on a list now, at least.”

“That’s great,” Kyle noted.

“Yeah. And it’s for a job you’d want?” Melinda asked.

“It’s a job I’ve had before. Well, it was the job I had when I first started there before I got promoted, but I loved it, yeah.”

“Then, that is awesome,” Melinda said, smiling at her.

“I just hope I don’t screw up the interview. I’ve had so many, and I haven’t gotten a job.”

“What about this one in Atlanta coming up?” Bridgette asked, bringing their conversation back around to before Kyle and Melinda had arrived. “You’d move?”

“I don’t want to. Honestly, I’d forgotten I’d even applied for this one. I never heard back from them, so I assumed I didn’t get an interview. This morning, though, I had an email from their recruiter. The job sounds good, but I’ve never even been to Atlanta, so I don’t know.”

“You’d really move?” Kyle asked.

“I’m hoping I don’t have to. I don’t want to leave, but I can’t keep doing what I’m doing. I feel like I’m being taken advantage of most days and that I’m actually losing brain cells with the menial tasks they give me. They’ve made me let people go, and we haven’t hired replacements, but it’s not like their work just goes away, so someone has to do it. I miss being part of something bigger; solving problems and helping people on my team,” she explained, leaving out the fact that she didn’t want to leave New Orleans because if she left, Bryce would never know.

“Oh, my God!” Jill exclaimed as she ran over to the table.

And the woman actually ran. She ran past the podium, after practically knocking over people waiting in the lobby to get their table, and past a waiter who was carrying a heavy tray of food. Then, she stopped and placed her hands on the table, leaning over and breathing hard.

“Jill? What’s going on?” Melinda asked. “I left you at work. You have a tour in, like, thirty minutes.”

“I know. That’s… why… I… ran,” Jill managed to get out between breaths. “Sophie.”

“Yeah?” Sophie said as she stared at the sweat forming on Jill’s brow.

“Sophie,” the woman repeated and pointed at Sophie.

“Is here. Are you taking attendance?” Bridgette asked.

“Here. Sit down,” Monica offered as she scooted over, giving Jill space to sit down next to her.

“Jill, are you okay?” Kyle asked.

“Bryce.”

Sophie’s ears perked up at that, and she leaned over the table toward Jill.

“Bryce. I found…”

“Bryce? Sophie’s Bryce? You–” Bridgette started. “How many words? How many syllables?”

“Shut up, Bridgette,” Sophie said then. “Jill, what about her?”

“I found her.” Jill nearly caught her breath. “I found her.” She smiled wide.

“You what?” Melinda asked.

“How?” Monica added.

“You…” Sophie leaned back again. “You found her?”

“She found me ,” Jill said as she pulled out her phone. “Well, technically, a friend of a friend, who had a follower who–” She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter.” Jill scrolled through her phone. “She wrote about you.”

“Wrote?” Kyle asked.

“She’s a blogger,” Jill replied. “But her blog isn’t written by Bryce, or we would’ve found it when we looked. It’s Food with Foster, and the writer is Foster Jane. I wonder if Bryce’s middle name is Jane.” She tilted her head as if contemplating.

“Jill!” Sophie had to lean forward again. “Make it make sense, please.”

She also pulled out her own phone because she couldn’t wait for Jill now.

“She has this blog that is normally food, but she wrote about you. She has three posts about you now.” Jill turned her own phone toward Sophie. “Here. People are trying to help her find you. There have been posts about it on my feed all day.”

“Oh, my God,” Monica said.

Sophie took the phone and looked at the blog. There was no picture of Bryce, but the first words she read were, ‘My name is Bryce.’ The rest of the blog, which she skimmed through, was about her. She couldn’t believe it. She quickly grabbed the link and sent herself a text from Jill’s phone before she handed it back to her and picked up her own, returning to the blog to read through it more fully. Sophie didn’t care that there were five other people at the table with her or that the waiter had arrived with water for everyone and asked them for their orders. She just read.

“I’ve never believed in love at first sight, but Sophie made my heart race, my toes tingle, my brain unable to form thoughts, and my mouth unable to say words at times. Is that love at first sight? It feels wonderful, confusing, terrifying, and exciting, and I miss it. I miss her. I miss my Sophie, who will never know that for one night, I was the happiest human on the planet. I still picture taking her to dinner, holding her hand as we walk the city at night, and I still look for her online almost daily.”

“She called me her Sophie,” she said in disbelief.

“She did?” Monica asked as she leaned over to Bridgette, who must have pulled the blog up on her phone as well. “She sure did. Soph…” Monica smiled wide. “This was posted a few days ago.”

“And there are two more posts about you, too,” Jill added. “She’s looking for you.”

“After a year?” Kyle asked.

“She’s been looking this whole time,” Melinda replied as she stared down at her own phone. “You two must have just been missing each other.”

Kyle leaned over and read from her girlfriend’s phone.

“What does this mean?” Sophie asked no one in particular.

“It means you found her. Or, she found you,” Bridgette answered. “Sophie, this is awesome. You never thought you’d see her again.”

Sophie’s heart raced, and she just stared back down at her phone, trying to take it all in. Bryce had written multiple blogs about her. She’d remembered the scent of Sophie’s shampoo. She hadn’t forgotten about her or their night together. She hadn’t moved on.

“You have to message her,” Jill nudged.

“What?” Sophie asked.

“Message. You have to send her a message. Now. Do it now so that we can help you figure out what to say.”

“Now? I haven’t even read the other blogs yet.”

“I did. They’re good. Trust me. She’s looking for you. Just message her.”

“Soph, what’s wrong?” Monica asked instead, knowing her better than the rest of them combined.

“Nothing. I… I just… I can’t believe it. I was trying to move on.”

“But you haven’t, right?” Jill asked. “Don’t answer that. We all know already.”

“I need to process this. Or, at least, read the others.”

“No, you don’t,” Bridgette insisted. “Just tell her you’re out here; that it’s you.”

“End her pain,” Melinda said. “I’m on the second blog now. She almost flew down here to find you.”

“She what?!” Sophie asked, clicking on the next blog.

“Five times. Damn, Sophie. You must be one hell of a kisser,” Melinda teased.

“Hey!” Kyle joked and laughed.

“I love you, baby.” Melinda kissed her cheek.

“She almost flew here?” Sophie asked.

“And now, she’s crowdsourcing your location. Sophia, you need to message her,” Jill said, calling her by her actual first name.

“I want to. It’s not that I don’t. But the way she writes about me… I’m not this–”

“Yes, you are,” Monica interrupted. “You are exactly who she wrote about. You’re the woman she met that night. Message her. Tell her that you’re here and that you’ve been thinking about her, too.”

“But what happens after that?”

“One of you gets on a plane,” Jill replied. “Duh.”

“We meet? In person?” Sophie asked nervously.

“You don’t have to worry about that yet,” Kyle said.

“Just see where it goes,” Melinda added.

“How do I–” Sophie looked down at her phone again. “There’s a contact form somewhere, right?”

“Just leave a comment. She said she’s been reading all of them,” Jill suggested.

“A comment?”

“Yeah. That way, everyone can see that she’s found you.”

“No, email her,” Monica suggested. “You want this to be private. She can tell them later that she found you.”

“That’s no fun,” Jill argued.

“It’s not supposed to be fun. It’s Sophie meeting the possible love of her life again,” Bridgette replied.

Sophie found the contact page, and a form opened up automatically. She stared down at the few required fields and felt like she’d forgotten every word in the English language.

“What do I type?”

“Hi. This is Sophie. I’m madly in love with you and have been for over a year. Please come kiss me again now,” Jill said.

The group laughed, but Sophie remained serious.

“Hi. It’s me. Your Sophie,” she said as she typed. “You found me, I guess.”

“That’s cute,” Melinda noted, leaning into Sophie a bit.

“Sent,” Sophie said.

“What?!” Jill asked loudly. “You sent that ?”

“Yeah. Shit… Why did I hit send?” she asked herself. “That was awful. Oh, my God! I can’t believe I did that.”

“Send her another message,” Jill told her.

“No, that’ll look weird,” Bridgette added.

Sophie opened up another form and began typing.

“What are you doing?” Kyle asked.

“Telling her I hit send too soon and that I meant to tell her that I looked for her as well.”

“That’s better,” Monica said with a nod.

“What if she doesn’t respond?” she asked after hitting send for the second time.

“She’s looking for you. She’ll respond,” Jill said. “This is the most excitement I’ve had in forever.”

“Food tour,” Melinda reminded.

“Shit! Yeah. I need to go now. Sophie, I expect updates in our group chat the moment she messages you back.”

“Yeah, okay,” Sophie said. “Do you guys mind if I skip dinner? I kind of want to be alone right now.”

“Go. Read and reread blogs about your epic love story,” Bridgette said with a smile.

“Thank you,” she replied.

Sophie constantly checked her phone as she walked home from the restaurant, waiting for a response from Bryce, but by the time she got there, she was disappointed that she didn’t have one. She did exactly what Bridgette had assumed she’d do, though. She read and reread all three blogs, and her heart ached for Bryce to respond to her. It made no sense, but Sophie knew it: she had somehow fallen in love with a woman she’d only known for a few hours.