“I’m not hiding anything.”
AJ points his spoon at me. “Youaredoing that thing where you go very factual when you’re avoiding emotion.”
“I do not do that.”
“You absolutely do.”
Chloe leans forward. “Did you like him?”
“I liked interviewing him.”
“That was not the question.”
“He was easy to talk to,” I admit.
Chloe notices the wording immediately. Of course she does.
“Easy how?”
I shrug. “He just… listens properly. Doesn’t interrupt. Doesn’t try to impress you every five seconds.”
AJ nods. “So emotionally functional. Again, the bar is subterranean.”
“I mean it,” I say. “He seems very… steady.”
“Steady is sexy,” Chloe says.
“I did not say sexy.”
“You didn’t have to.”
I take a long sip of tea to buy myself thinking time.
“Nothing happened,” I say.
Chloe tilts her head. “I didn’t say something happened.”
I blink. “What?”
“So if you’re sayingnothinghappened,” she continues calmly, “that means something definitely happened.”
AJ frowns. “I cannot follow that logic.”
Chloe doesn’t even look at him. “Female logic.”
“That is not logic.”
“It is pattern recognition.”
“It is word traps.”
“Something happened,” Chloe concludes.
AJ looks between us. “Did you shag him?”
I nearly inhale my tea.
“No!”
