Midmorning on Monday, Izzy and Jane entered the elevator and headed to the Traveling Bean coffee truck. They were supposed to meet Audie, who was probably already there, and Hector was just a few minutes behind them. They needed the caffeine, since neither of them had gotten much sleep over the weekend. They were the only ones on the elevator, and Izzy stole a quick kiss before she thought about Cliff watching the video feed at the front desk. She had no regrets and waved at the camera.
Jane looked over her shoulder. “What are you waving at?”
“Cliff in security. I forgot about the camera when I kissed you.”
“Oops! We said we’d be discreet.” Jane put her fingers over her mouth. She looked like a kid caught stealing a cookie.
“You mean like you were when you attacked me in the breakroom last week?” Izzy teased. Flares of anxiety occasionally hit her when she thought too hard about what was happening between them, but the newness and excitement were keeping her on an endorphin high, and she felt better than she had in years. It could be mania, but blaming it on endorphins kept her anxiety from tipping into the red zone.
Jane swatted her arm as the elevator doors opened. Cliff was nowhere to be seen, and the receptionist was just walking up with a replenished candy bowl.
“Do you think we should tell Hector and Audie?” Jane whispered as they headed out the main doors.
Izzy thought about it. “What do you think? I have no experience with this kind of thing.”
Jane shrugged. “You know them way better than I do.”
“An official announcement would be weird, but we shouldn’t hide it from them. Let’s just act normal around them and let them figure it out.” Izzy bumped against Jane as they walked and grinned.
Jane gave Izzy a playful push. “Well, they won’t figure it out at work, then. Because it’s not like we’re going to be pawing all over each other here.”
Izzy pretended to straighten an invisible tie. “That would be unforgiveably unprofessional.”
They both looked over at the parking garage, then at each other, and laughed.
“I’ll never go into a parking garage and not remember your mouth on my—”
“Shut up!” Jane said, and the push wasn’t as playful this time, even though she still smiled.
“You two are far too chipper for a Monday morning,” Audie said as they approached the food truck.
“It’s a beautiful day. What’s not to be chipper about?” Izzy asked.
Audie pointed a wooden stirrer at her. “See what I mean? It’s Monday. You need to ease into it. How can you sustain the same kind of energy through the rest of the week if you start like that on Monday? There are rules.”
“I forgot the rules,” said Izzy, pretending to frown. “I meant to say ‘meh.’”
“Better.” Audie put the stirrer into her mouth and leaned against the truck.
“What’s better?” Hector came up beside Izzy.
Izzy put a hand on Hector’s shoulder. “Our broken spirits and utter despair.”
“Huh?”
“Audie is not having any good moods today. She says they’re reserved for later in the week.”
“Did someone not get laid this weekend?” Hector asked. His eyes were on Audie.
Audie rolled her eyes, and she accepted the coffee the barista handed her. It was a barista Izzy had never seen, a young man who looked as if he was playing hooky from high school.
“I think she’s just being cranky because Tarin isn’t working today,” Izzy said.
“No one makes a vanilla latte like Tarin.” Audie didn’t deny Izzy’s statement.
They spent the rest of the break teasing Audie about her crush on Tarin. Izzy stole a few glances at Jane, but no one seemed to sense anything had changed between them, which was a relief. Seeing Hector bait Audie gave her a little trepidation about giving either one of them fuel to do the same to her.
* * *
A few hours later, Audie appeared next to Izzy’s desk.
“Hey, do you know where the design-review meeting is supposed to be? I forgot my laptop, but I’m pretty sure it’s on this floor.” Audie tapped her fingers on the top of the cubicle wall; her bad mood from the morning seemed to have left.
Izzy consulted her online calendar. “Yep. It’s in the corner conference room. We’ll be a little early, but I’ll go with you.”
The conference room was empty when they arrived. They took seats across the table from one another.
“You look all sorts of happy today. What’s up?” Audie asked.
“I had a good weekend,” Izzy said.
“What was so good about it? Did you meet a new woman online or something?”
Izzy snorted. She’d told Audie the whole story about Anaya when she’d dropped by last Thursday. “I think I’m done with online dating. I spent most of it with Jane, actually.” She knew Audie would be curious, but she just realized she wanted someone to know.
She was right. Audie squinted. “I see. What did you two do?”
She decided to be casual about it, not make it seem like a big deal. It was probably a futile attempt since Audie always seemed to pick up on things, but it was worth a shot. “Let’s see. We went to dinner and saw some live music. Oh, and we watched a movie.”
Audie pointed at her. “You slept with her, didn’t you? I knew I noticed something different. And it wasn’t just you. Jane is all giddy with sex energy, too. You two are totally getting it on!”
Izzy looked behind her at the open conference-room door. “Yes. We slept together,” she whispered.
Audie got her phone out and typed something into it.
“What are you doing? You’re not posting this on social media, are you?”
Audie kept her eyes on the phone. “Of course not. I’m texting Hector to tell him I owe him twenty bucks.”
“What?”
“About a month ago he bet me you’d be dating Jane by the end of the month. I said it wouldn’t happen until at least the end of next month. I was banking on your inability to pick up on when a beautiful woman is throwing herself at you.”
Audie finished texting and put her phone on the conference table.
Izzy was speechless. “You were betting on this? How did you know? I didn’t even know.”
“Of course you didn’t. You never do.”
“What do you mean never? This is the first time—”
“Tricia in human resources.”
Izzy looked over her shoulder at the door. “Where?”
Audie looked confused. “What do you mean where?”
Izzy was confused. “You said Tricia was here.”
“No. I said Tricia has been hitting on you for nearly three years.”
“She has not!”
Audie grabbed her head in frustration. “Okay, you just made my point.”
“What point?”
“Tarin,” Audie said after a pause.
Izzy snorted. “Now you’re just smoking crack. You have a thing for Tarin, not me.”
“I didn’t say you had a thing for her. I’m saying she has a thing for you, or at least she did.”
Izzy flapped her hand in dismissal. “Ridiculous.”
“Girl, she told me herself.” Audie leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest.
“I don’t believe it.”
Audie smiled and looked away. “Ganesh.”
“Ganesh? Now I know you’re crazy. I’m certain Ganesh isn’t into me. Number one, he’s married. Number two—”
The chair to her right was pulled out, and Ganesh sat next to her. “My wife would be pleased with your honor toward our marriage, Izzy.” The deep lines around his eyes were creased, and his sixty-seven-year-old eyes glistened with amusement.
“I meant Ganesh was behind you.” Audie snorted into her closed fist.
“Oh, Ganesh.” Izzy reached to touch his arm and thought better of it, dropping her hand to the table. “You walked in at an awkward moment. Audie was—” Ugh! She didn’t want to explain. “She was just pulling my leg.” She turned back to Audie, who had her head on her arms, and her shoulders were shaking. “I hate you,” Izzy said to her as others began to enter the room.
“We haven’t even started talking about action items yet, Izzy,” Hector said, sitting at the end of the table.
Audie just laughed harder, and Izzy sat back in her chair with her arms crossed and glared at her.
* * *
Ah, the age-old question: What is love?
Poets and songwriters have been asking this question for centuries.
How do you know when you fall in love? For some, it’s a gradual thing. They’re going along feeling good about being with a certain someone, and then one day it just dawns on them they don’t want to spend another day without that specific person in their life. That’s when they know they’re in love. For others, it’s a whack-you-in-the-face kind of thing. They’re minding their own business, doing their own thing, and then they meet someone and, bam, they’re in love. No warning, no buildup, it’s just there.
What about love at first sight? Is there such a thing? Some people don’t believe in it, but others swear by it. Who are we to judge?
Whether it’s the gradual dawning, the smack-you-upside-the-head kind, or the tentative journey toward a golden ring, all anyone knows is it’s different for everybody, and you know it when it happens to you. If you have to ask, you probably haven’t experienced it.