CHLOE BAKER'S LOST DATE

Chapter Seventeen: We Went for Punny Bagels, Too

When I get into work on Monday, I find Jameela crying quietly at her desk. Her dark braids are twisted around her head, and I'm not sure if it's an ode to Leia Organa or Kate Bridgerton.

"What's going on?"

She doesn't look up from her screens, one open to her Twitter feed and the other to Instagram. Twitter is on her curated feed of Bridgerton fans, which is a long list of WHERE ARE THEY? posts, and people using crying-on-desk emojis. "They didn't go together."

"Who?" I ask though I know the answer.

"Jonny and Simone. They didn't go to Wimbledon together."

"So?"

"I thought they would. We all thought they would." She wipes at her eyes, which are red, and rimmed with tears.

"He's gay, isn't he?"

"So?"

"And isn't she dating someone?"

"What's your point?"

"Why would they go together?"

Her shoulders slump. "To promote the show."

"But their season was over a long time ago."

"They're still Lord and Lady Bridgerton."

I sigh as I sit down at my desk, pushing the day's accumulation of new titles off to the left. I've often wondered if I should start pitching book titles with Kit to the editors I know. All the romance, but with a porny title. Like Back-dooring Mr. Bridgerton. Or the Viscount who Went Down on Me. I've never tried these titles out on Jameela, and now certainly isn't the right time.

"I think it's time you let them go," I say as gently as I can.

She finally turns away from her screens. "What do you mean?"

"I mean they're going to do other projects. They are doing other projects. And they don't have to hang out all the time."

Her mouth opens in shock. "But they're best friends."

"Are they?"

"They said so during promotion for the show. I mean, what little promotion they were given, but still."

"Well, then, it must be true."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Jameela says.

"I'm just saying, if you build up all this stuff in your mind—"

"It's not in my mind. It's a fact."

"Okay, Jameela, whatever you say. But you're crying over two people you don't know not going to a tennis match together, so..."

She crosses her arms over her chest. "And you constructed some whole fantasy in your mind that you'd end up with the creeper that pretended to be some other guy."

Ouch. "At least I'd met him."

"That makes it worse, actually. Besides, everyone says Jonny's the nicest guy they ever met. Like everyone. A ray of actual light. Pure sunshine."

"Okay."

"That Jack or Ben or whatever his name is, is a jerk."

My stomach turns. Maybe because I know on some level she's right.

"You don't know him."

"I know he blew you off, didn't he?"

I clench my fists under the desk. "His mom is dying, and I spent the day with him and his nephew yesterday..."