Even the Score(44)

“Ew. No, it’s not Ethan.” She shook her head, mirroring my disgusted face. “But Thursday he had a bunch of friends come to the office to pick him up for lunch. One of them, named Kevin, kinda caught my eye.”

“That’s exciting, Ellie. So obviously you talked to him over the weekend?” I shoveled a bite of kale, blueberries, and cashews into my mouth.

“Well, he came back Friday, only Ethan wasn’t in. I told him that, and he said he hadn’t come there for Ethan.” She set her fork down and rested her chin on her hand. “Ugh, he’s so cute. Anyway, we exchanged numbers and texted all weekend. Then Sunday we met for lunch, which turned into dinner, which turned into breakfast before work Monday morning.”

“Ellie! You little slut!” I whispered loudly, leaning in close. “Is he good in bed?”

“Oh my God . . . amazing. My poor cat was running around my apartment with her hair on end because she’s never heard me scream like that before.”

I covered my mouth with my hand, trying to stifle my laugh.

“What about you?” She nodded at me. “When was the last time you had sex so good it scared the hell out of your cat?”

“First of all, I have a dog. Her name is Roxy. Second, it’s been . . . a while. Back to you.”

Ellie wasn’t having it. “No way. You’re not getting out of this. Come on, give me something.”

“There’s nothing to tell.” I wadded up my napkin and dropped it on my plate. “I’m not dating anyone and haven’t for a while.”

“Why not?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. The last guy I dated seemed super into me until Christmastime came. He basically gave me a list of all the autographed things he wanted. Came to find out he was selling the shit on eBay and making a ton of money, too. Needless to say, that ended real quick.”

“What a jerk!”

“Big-time. Ever since that ended, about a year ago, I don’t know . . . life’s just been busy and no one has really piqued my interest, ya know?” Ellie raised one eyebrow and stared at me like she wanted to say something but wasn’t sure if she should. “What?” I asked defensively.

“No one has caught your interest? Are you sure?” she challenged.

“Uh . . . yeah, pretty sure.”

“No one?”

“No one.”

“Not even a certain man whose name rhymes with—” Ellie closed one eye and looked up toward the ceiling with the other. “Randy Thaw?”

“Randy Thaw?” I repeated slowly, trying to decode her mystery guy. “Andy?” I exclaimed so loud the few people sitting near us looked over. Once they turned back to their tables, I leaned forward again. “Andy? Are you out of your goddamn mind?”

Ellie lifted her chin in the air. “No, I’m not out of my mind. And I think I’m right.”

“What the hell would ever have given you that idea in the first place?”

“Oh, please.” She sighed, swatting the air. “You guys think that little Ellie just sits at the desk and does what she’s told. No one realizes that she pays attention . . . to everything. I’ve seen the way you two look at each other and steal glances when you think the other one isn’t looking. Not to mention before you came to work there, he hardly ever left his office. Now he’s running past my desk so many times a day he’s probably wearing out the bottoms of his shoes.”

I threw my head back and laughed hard. “Ellie, my poor, sweet Ellie. You’re insane.”

She turned her head to the side, looking at me skeptically. “Am I?”

“Yes. You are.”

“You know you haven’t denied it yet?” The corner of her red lips curled up in a smirk.

“I’m pretty sure the fact that I find it laughable is my way of denying it, El.”

“Really?” She pouted. “Crap. I really wanted to be right. I didn’t know about your asshole ex, but boy, do I know about his. He deserves to be happy again. After Blaire, he deserves to win the girlfriend lottery.”

I tried not to sound too interested, especially since Ellie already suspected that I liked Andy, but I was dying to hear about his ex. “You’ve met her?”

“Met her? Pfft! She came into the office screaming about this or that so many times that for a while I swear I flinched every time the elevator doors opened.” She shook her head in disgust.

“No way!” I looked down at my watch. We were going to be late heading back from lunch, but who cared? No way was I stopping Ellie now.

“Yes way. And she wasn’t quiet about it, either. They were newly separated when I started working there, but she still marched in like she owned the place and let him have it whenever she felt like it.”