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But no. She couldn’t afford to think like that. She had to keep her eye on the prize.

She had to get back to work.

That evening, she tried not to notice that Jonathan had never texted her. She hadn’t wanted to text him first, interrupting his family time. She remembered the way he had grimaced, the noncommittal way he had agreed to text her.

She tried to remember exactly what she had said. Why had he seemed displeased? She’d told him she was itching to get back to work.

Oh. Of course. That had been the almost moment. The moment full of promise, when she might have kissed him. But that was probably all in Phoebe’s head, right? Surely, he hadn’t felt it, too?

No; in all likelihood, Jonathan hadn’t noticed at all. He wouldn’t allow himself to feel that way about Phoebe again, not after the way things ended last time.

She decided to put all of this out of her head. If she’d been at home, she would have gone to the movies with her family last night. She searched for the closest movie theater and found one in Gainesville. There was a new romantic comedy playing in an hour. Phoebe decided to treat herself.

After the movie, Phoebe hugged her half-empty popcorn bucket as she strolled into the warm night. The theater was in an open-air mall, and the balmy night air felt incredible after the AC of the movie theater. It was so pleasant here, with Christmas lights everywhere and families milling around, enjoying the evening. She sat on a low concrete wall and checked her phone. She had a few messages from her mom and Kayla, one from Sam, and two from Jonathan.

She took a deep breath and opened Sam’s first, determined not to feel any urgency toward Jonathan.

Sam: Remember I said a gentleman never tells? Here I am, not telling you a thing.

Phoebe: Sam?!?

Sam responded with three heart-eye emojis.

Phoebe felt her brow furrow in confusion. She wanted to feel delighted for Sam—her brother deserved some romance in his life—but it seemed like Arden had hinted that she had a guy back home. She’d said he was not an ex, which led Phoebe to believe he was a significant other. She couldn’t bring it up to Sam and risk ruining whatever he had going on. And she couldn’t ask Arden and risk her thinking that Sam was blabbing about her to Phoebe. He sort of was, but he wasn’t saying anything that would embarrass Arden, though Arden had no way of knowing that.

Phoebe settled on sending Arden a simple check-in: Hey, how are things going?

She skimmed her mom’s and Kayla’s messages—mostly gossip and wondering when Phoebe would be home—and then opened Jonathan’s.

Jonathan: Family stuff took over the rest of my day. Sorry about that. Did you get any work done?

Ten minutes later, he had sent the second message: What else did you do today?

Phoebe deliberated. Of course, she was supposed to remain as professional as possible, but it wasn’t like they couldn’t be friends.

Phoebe: I got some work done, but not as much as I would have liked. I was distracted. I took myself out to see an excellent movie, though.

She watched as Jonathan’s typing bubbles appeared, disappeared, then reappeared.

Jonathan: What movie did you see?

Phoebe: Kiss Me Before Midnight

Jonathan: Very romantic

Phoebe didn’t know how to respond to this. But then he started typing again.

Jonathan: Why were you distracted?

Phoebe sucked in her breath. She could be honest with him, be friendly, without crossing the line.

Phoebe: I’m trying to figure out how to be friends with this guy. He’s really important to me, but I wasn’t super nice to him in the past. But now we’re working together, so we have to build this new relationship. As partners and friends.

Phoebe stared at the conversation for so long that she had to blink and look away. After gazing at a glowing Christmas tree in the courtyard, she looked back. Still no typing bubbles. Great. She had tried to be clever, and it had come off as stupid. Jonathan didn’t want to play games. He didn’t want to talk about their past. He was probably second-guessing his choice to work with her at all.

Arden texted back, and Phoebe opened it at once, grateful for the distraction.

Arden: Things are going great! I’ve been hanging out with Sam. Such a sweet guy.