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I adjusted my bag. “Anything else?”

“No.”

“Great.”

I turned back around and continued walking.

“How are you?”

My feet stopped. I looked over my shoulder. “Seriously?”

“What?”

“You don’t get to ask me that.”

He looked genuinely confused. “Why?”

“Because that’s how conversation starts.”

I closed my eyes. “Goodbye, Caleb.”

“Goodbye, Blair.”

I walked out and I didn’t look back. The problem with boundaries was that no one warned you how boring they could be. Caleb respected mine.

For another three weeks, I heard nothing from him, and my life went back to normal. Then one Friday afternoon, a package arrived at my office. I assumed it was samples. But inside was a plaque with my name and underneath it:

Design Excellence Award

I stared at it.

“What the hell?” Janelle asked over my shoulder.

I turned the plaque around.

Her scream almost burst my eardrum.

“BITCH!”

“Why are you yelling?”

“You won!”

“I see that.”

“You didn’t know?”

“No!”

She grabbed my shoulders. “We won!”

“We did.”

Within ten minutes, everyone in my town knew. Within twenty, I had friends come by the office and one had opened champagne. My phone started buzzing with congratulations after the organization posted the winners online.

Then another notification appeared.

Caleb: Congratulations.