of ordering it for me along with her lunch, and she stood there until I took my first bite.
“Yum,” I said, swallowing down a whole hunk of fibrous greens and trying to keep a straight face.
Without another thought, I reach for my purse hanging on the back of my chair and wave for Dan to lead the way. “Let’s go quick. Here, shove that salad in your pants so there’s no evidence of it left behind.”
He laughs and tucks the closed container under his arm, and then we make a run for it toward the elevators.
“How long do you have left on your lunch break?” he asks.
“Thirty minutes, and then Elise wants me to sit in on a meeting with her, so we have to be fast.”
I’m hustling as if I’m on the lam. I can’t help it. I know I’ll be putting real food in my mouth soon, and my salivary glands are already rearing into action.
“Do you like Philly cheesesteaks?” I ask Dan as we hop onto the elevator.
“Can’t say I’ve ever had one.”
I slap a hand over my chest like I’m deeply offended. “Today, we fix that. Prepare to have your mind blown.”
Way South Philly Deli is where Aiden and I eat when we want comfort food. It’s one of our favorite spots, and I’m not surprised to see there’s a line out the door when Dan and I arrive.
“It moves fast,” I assure him as we take our place at the end.
Up ahead, a head of black hair catches my attention, and I sidestep out of line to confirm it’s who I think it is. With a laugh, I shake my head. Of course he’d come on the same day as me. Like girls with synced periods, Aiden and I have matching food cravings.
I’m about to shout his name when I see him turn to talk to a petite blonde. He holds up his phone to show her something, and my stomach sinks like it’s filled with a hundred stones. I watch in what feels like slow motion as she tilts her face up to look at him. The midday sun radiates through her hair, sprinkling light through the strands.
“Do you know someone up ahead?” Dan asks, having caught on to the fact that I’m staring straight at Aiden and the girl.
“Oh.” I shake my head and step back into line beside him. “I’m not sure. I thought they looked familiar.”
I want to bolt and run back to Zilker Creative, but instead, I begrudgingly shuffle forward. A dark cloud has settled over me as I peer up at Aiden and the girl again. They’re only a few people ahead of us. I can hear his laugh, and though his words aren’t clear, I’d know his voice anywhere.
“So how are you enjoying your new digs?”
“Digs?” I ask, confused.
“Your new desk—I saw that Elise forced you to move.”
Dan is doing all the heavy lifting in our conversation. I try to block out Aiden and force my attention back to Dan, but it’s like trying to ignore the blare of a bullet train barreling right for you.
The way the line at the deli works, it winds back on itself once you get inside. I know Aiden and I will cross paths. I know I will have to put on a brave face and get introduced to yet another girl. I’ve done it before, lots of times, so I don’t know why today it feels like too great a burden.
Thinking fast, I grab a menu from the wall and hold it up a few inches away from my face at an unnatural angle. No one reads a menu like this. It’s like I have the eyesight of a bat.
“Line’s moving,” Dan tells me because I can’t see for myself.
I hold out my hand to feel blindly ahead of me, not wanting to lower the menu, and I end up accidentally colliding with the person in front of us. My attempt at anonymity is wrecked instantly because my manners insist that I apologize.
“Oh, I’m sorry! Did I get you there?”
At the sound of my voice, Aiden’s head whips in my direction.
I’ve been found out. We’re diagonal from one another, only a few feet apart.
“Maddie,” he says with a little laugh, as if not quite believing his luck.
“Aiden?! What are you doing here?!” I am so shocked, so flabbergasted that he could be here out of all the restaurants in the city that he immediately knows I’m acting.