Page 6 of Mr. February

“Is it five, yet? Today has dragged on forever.”

Wade glanced up from this keyboard as Kyle dragged out his last word.

“I don’t know about you, but I haven’t gotten anything done,” he admitted.

“You’ve been weird since you got back from your meeting with Elizabeth. Everything okay?”

“It’s fine. She wanted my opinion on who to replace you with for the conference.”

“It sucks my root canal got rescheduled for next week.”

“Is the pain bad?”

“Nah, I just meant because now I can’t go with you. I was looking forward to talking shop all day and then hanging out all evening.”

“We do that already.”

“But not in a hotel bar while trying to see if we can find a conference hookup.”

Wade rolled his eyes and laughed at his friend.

“As if. What’s with everybody and hookups today? I swear, there’s something in the air.”

“Yeah, duh. Valentine’s Day is next week. Valentine’s Day and a conference? I bet there will be a lot of one-night stands next week.”

“You think so?”

“Eh, I don’t know.” Kyle shrugged. “It sounds like some movie romance shit, though. Who else is talking about hookups?”

“Just something I overheard when I was getting coffee.”

“Office drama, and you didn’t tell me?”

“Not office drama. Besides, I’m not a gossip.”

“Because I tell you all the good stuff, so you don’t have to ask. Now it’s your turn. Gimme! What did you hear?”

“Nothing. I overheard part of a conversation I’m not going to repeat”—Wade laughed at Kyle’s exaggerated sulk—“and thengot pulled into a different part of the conversation, which was about hookup apps.”

“No offense, man, but you’re not a casual sex guy. Why would someone ask you about that?”

“They wanted a guy’s perspective.”

“Oh, I get it. You overheard something between Jenny and Gloria. Wait, which of them was talking about hookups?”

“How did you—?”

“Seriously? It would have to be two women talking to need a guy’s perspective. They’re the only two women who hang out together at work often enough to talk about sex on their break.” Kyle rolled his eyes. “I’ve already guessed the major parts, so you might as well tell me the rest. You know I’ll bug you until you do.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Oh, I see.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means Gloria suggested Jenny find a hookup. You wouldn’t be so distracted if it was Gloria. Wait, I thought Jenny had a boyfriend.”

“That loser bailed.”

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