Page 36 of No Place Like You

“Better,” she answers, actually sounding convincing. “I’m going to go into work in a little bit. Make some calls and help with contacting some local artists to fill the gallery.”

“You up for it?”

“Yeah.” I can almost picture her nodding her head, though she doesn’t sound too sure. “I’m not meeting with anyone. And if I get too overwhelmed, I can call it an early day. I just want to try to do something so I don’t feel so…”

“Stircrazy?”

“Useless.”

“Janet, your body is fighting its biggest battle yet. I think you need to give yourself a little more credit.”

A small, optimistic laugh cuts through the defeated tone of her voice, and it makes me smile.

“Fine then,” she says, that smile still lingering in her softly spoken words. “I guess I’m just bored.”

“Then maybe a little fresh air won’t hurt. Just make sure you take it easy. Don’t tire yourself out too much.”

“I won’t.”

I pick up the coffee, the drops of condensation dripping on my desk and landing on the papers in front of me in fat blobs. “Have you ever had Starbucks?”

“You mean that large coffee conglomerate that’s literally on every street corner of Manhattan? Why, no, Dexter. I haven’t. Why do you ask?”

“Someone got me some, and it’s not half bad.” I tilt the cup back, taking a long sip as the hints of caramel mixing perfectly with the deep, bitter tones of espresso hit my taste buds.

“Please don’t tell me this is the first time you’ve ever had Starbucks.”

“No, I’ve had, like, coffee but never anything like this…iced caramel macchiato stuff.”

“Who is she?”

“Who’s who?”

“The girl that got you the coffee?”

My mouth hangs open in shock.How did she know?“Why do you assume it’s a girl?”

“As if you had this sudden epiphany to try a caramel-infused espresso drink after having lived your twenty-nine years of life never trying one. Which, I might add, is basically sipping sugar straight through a straw.”

“And what if I did?”

If I were to look up deadpanned in the dictionary, it would be very likely that I’d find Janet’s face as it is right now alongside it. “We’re doing this?”

“Doing what?” I ask, continuing this game of ignorance.

“Okay, fine. Don’t tell me who she is. I’ll have to do my own digging. Maybe pull me out of my useless boredom.”

“Janet, really—” My denial, as false as it may be, is interrupted by a sharp knock at my door.

“Dexter,” Jacob, my assistant, calls. “Margaret’s holding a staff meeting with all of the department heads in fifteen minutes.”

I click over to mute on my phone. “Is this about the quarterly reports you just sent me?”

He nods while eyeing the scattered mess on my desk. “I can brief you if you haven’t had a chance to go over everything.”

“Yeah.” I look down at my phone screen, glancing at the twenty-three minutes and eight seconds—and counting—timer on the screen under Janet’s contact info and number pad. I unmute the call. “Jan, I gotta go. Text me your appointment time, and I’ll make sure to clear my day during your next…session.” I look up and quickly glance at a waiting Jacob.

“Great, you can tell me more about this mystery Starbucks girl.”

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