One Good Thing by Lily Maxton Page A

so I settled back in my seat and let Leonard’s crooning take up the silence.
    *
    “I just passed a really nice-looking guy in the parking lot,” Alyssa said, flinging her purse on the dining room table. “I wonder if he lives here.”
    “What did he look like?” I asked, instantly suspicious. Evan had walked me to my apartment door, even though I’d told him it wasn’t necessary. He could have easily gone by Alyssa.
    “Brown hair, gorgeous blue eyes.”
    My fingers tightened around my open bottle, sending water cascading over the lip. “That’s Evan.” My voice sounded wrong. Tight. Brittle.
    “Evan? You mean the guy you almost had drunken sex with?”
    “Yeah, he’s the one.”
    She lifted her perfectly plucked eyebrows. “What was he doing here?”
    “He gave me a ride home. That’s it.”
    “That’s it?” she echoed.
    “Yes.” I wished I didn’t sound so defensive. But I couldn’t keep my voice from straining.
    “Well, if that’s it, can I have his number?”
    I nearly dropped the water bottle. “No!”
    Alyssa started to laugh. “I’m kidding. Geez, it looked like you wanted to rip my head off.”
    I was relieved when I heard the generic ring tone of my cell phone. My relief took a sharp dive when I saw Drew’s name. We hadn’t spoken since we’d broken up—I had no idea what he wanted to say to me, or what I might say to him.
    I stepped just outside of the apartment so Alyssa wouldn’t overhear every word.
    “Hi.”
    “Hi,” he said.
    Silence.
    “What do you want?” My voice came out sharp.
    “We haven’t talked,” he said. “I wanted to make sure you’re doing okay.”
    “Doing okay?” What, was I supposed to be lounging around the apartment in a bathrobe, crying and devouring a pint of ice cream? Okay, I
had
done that. But only the first couple of nights after our breakup. I’d pulled myself together since then.
    “I didn’t want us to end like that.”
    “I’m fine,” I said. And I thought I actually believed it. Amazing, considering we’d dated for a year and been broken up less than two weeks. It was strange how you assumed that certain events would really lay you low, and then they happened and life just kept marching on, dragging you in its wake.
    “I saw you talking to a guy in the lobby at SLQ.”
    “When?” I asked, like I didn’t have any clue what he was going on about.
    “Last week. It was Friday I think.”
    I paused, pretending I was really thinking it over. “Oh, I remember. That’s just a guy who works in Analytics.”
    And who’d nearly felt me up in the break room earlier today. Heat pooled low as I remembered his touch, skilled and persuasive and …
    “You’re not dating him?”
    Broken from my reverie, I pulled the phone away from my ear and frowned at it for a second. “No,” I finally said, “but I don’t see why that matters to you.”
    Another pause. “It would be kind of soon wouldn’t it?”
    A huff of incredulous laughter escaped me. “I don’t know … have you gone on a date?”
    The answer was in his silence.
    “I’m glad to see the same standards apply to both of us,” I said sarcastically.
    “Look, Dani. I’m not trying to be a jerk. I care about you.”
    Not enough.
    I shook my head. “That’s nice, but I’m kind of busy at the moment. Can we talk some other time?”
    “Yeah, sure.”
    I snapped the phone shut with a loud click, and stood alone in the hallway for a minute, wondering what the hell that had been about.

Chapter Eight
    “Do you want to do something tonight?” Evan asked, catching me on my way out of the office.
    I glanced around to see if he was talking to somebody else. Like Natalie.
    The woman had stood in the doorway to Evan’s office for nearly ten minutes, chatting with him about an old rock band I’d never heard of. I doubted Natalie had ever heard of them either—she’d probably seen him wearing one of their t-shirts on casual Friday and done a Google search.
    I’d felt