She squeals into her hands and bounces on the spot. Actually bounces. Like a teenager.
“Stop. Stop it. Let me finish. Let me tell you all of it, or I know I’ll never hear the end of it. Then I never want to speak about it again. Are we clear?”
“Okay, okay.” She’s beaming. “I’m listening. Tell me. I want to know everything.”
“This is bad, Carla. It’s really bad.”
“Why is it bad? It’s the opposite of bad. It’s the best news I’ve had since…I can’t even remember. Why is it bad? I think it’s great. You haven’t had sex since you and your ex broke it off.”
“Actually, we stopped having sex a good couple of months before we broke it off.”
“No. You went years without sex?”
“I have a vibrator.”
“Not the same thing, and you know it. This is wonderful.”
“It really isn’t.” I push my hand back through my hair. “We didn’t just sleep together last night. I mean, we did, but that wasn’t our first time.”
Her eyes go round. “You naughty?—”
“Ridge was Flint’s friend.”
She blinks. “Flint?”
“From The Wing and Claw. Flint. The guy you slept with, remember?”
“Yes, I know who Flint is.” And then her mouth goes wide and round all over again as it lands. “Oh. Oh. IknewI recognized him. I knew it.” Her voice drops to a hush. “He’s White Shirt. I didn’t even really look at him much that night, I was too?—”
“You were too busy sucking face with Flint, and then you left.”
She doesn’t even pretend to deny it. She just nods, slowly. “Oh, my gosh. It’s him. He looks different in a suit and tie. What happened that night? Did you take him home and have wild monkey sex?”
I nod.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” She drops her hands. Her tone shifts, just a little. Hurt around the edges. “I thought we were friends.”
“Wearefriends. I was a little embarrassed about it. I don’t hook up with guys, Carla. I have never hooked up with a guy in my life. It was so out of character that I couldn’t even bring myself to say it out loud the next day. I told myself I’d processed it and I’d moved on, and then six months later he walks into my office in a suit and?—”
“And you nearly died.”
“I nearly died. Yes.”
She laughs. “Did you freak out when you saw him?”
“Completely. I accused him of stalking me.”
She’s grinning so wide her cheeks must hurt. “That’s why there’s the vibe. It’s because you’ve seen each other naked.”
“Yep.”
She laughs softly, then claps her hand over her mouth again to muffle it. “This is so awesome. This is the best thing that has ever happened in this office. So you slept with him last night. After the function.”
I nod. “I really don’t want to get into it with you.”
“Just give me one thing. He’s good, isn’t he? That’s all I need. One word.”
“Of course he is.”
