"And?"
"And I got in line behind this woman waiting for a hot dog, and we started talking." He shook his head a little, as if still unable to believe it. "Man, did we hit it off."
Jessica's eyes were round. He was Donna's Eric.
"I'm so sorry, Jessica," he said. "I love you, but—"
"But?"
"I've never felt anything like that. It was electric. We weren't flirting or anything, nothing like that. I was just so drawn to her. I found myself laughing out loud and talking with her so freely. You know I'm not usually like that." He was relieved to have gotten through his little speech, she could tell.
Clearly, it wasn't electric with me. Jessica nodded, taking it all in. "That was my new editor you saw me with," she said. "He was at the party. briefly. He thought he'd behaved badly and felt terrible about it. Plus, he wanted to talk shop."
Eric's eyes flickered. "He said something out of line?"
"No, he didn't say much of anything at all, Eric," she answered honestly. "It just wasn't what he meant to have happen, and he apologized. Profusely. He hadn't known I was there with you, anyway. I think he'll keep me at more than arm's length from now on," she said, quickly correcting a slight wistfulness that crept into her tone. "He wants me to write a column for the magazine."
"I'm glad he didn't offend you," Eric said. It was like he hadn't even heard the mention of the column. She wasn't surprised—he'd never understood what writing meant to her.
When the doorbell rang, Eric grabbed a shirt from the back of the couch and slipped into it. Eric never walked around the apartment without a shirt on. He must really be rattled, Jessica thought as he opened the door. A millennial, maybe five years their junior, stood in the doorway with a man-bun and a steaming cardboard box. Eric took the pizza box from the guy with one hand and pulled out a tip from his back pocket with the other. "Thanks, dude," the delivery guy said.
Sitting at the little kitchen table, between slices of pizza and sips of wine and tea, Eric and Jessica parted company. It wasn't right to continue relating to her as a girlfriend, Eric said, when he'd had such a sudden, overwhelming attraction to a complete stranger. "I feel like such a dope, Jess. I didn't even ask for her number. Or her last name!" He blushed. "I'm sorry. That was insensitive. You don't need to hear all that."
Jessica was inclined to agree. But he was so sincere, so concerned about hurting her, she couldn't keep quiet any longer. "Donna Jones. She works with me. And she told me a similar story today about meeting a—a wonderful guy named Eric."
The look on Eric's face made Jessica feel like smiling and crying at the same time. Eric may never be as passionate as Bathroom Guy, but it seemed he was perfectly suited for Donna. And maybe he could be passionate. He just didn't feel that way about her. Or maybe both of them were just wired the same way. Wired differently than she was, anyway.
Eric and Jessica decided to wait a few days before talking by phone again, but he said he hoped that she'd be okay. She hoped he'd be okay, too, she said, and gave him Donna's extension at the office to reach her directly. "I wish I had her cell number to give you, but we've never spoken by phone."
"No, this is great. Thank you," Eric said, kissing her lightly on the cheek as she got into her car. "Thank you for everything. I was afraid this would be harder than it was. I didn't want to hurt you."
There had been so many times over the years when he had hurt her, terribly, with his lack of interest, his thoughtlessness. Jessica was suddenly and miserably aware that she had come perilously close to settling for that kind of genial relationship.
Worth had aroused incredible passion within her, but that, too, was gone forever, she guessed. He regretted his behavior, and yes, he had been completely presumptuous. He had been out of line. Way out of line. But oh, good Lord, it had felt so right.
She drove away from Eric's apartment and out of his life. "Maybe," she mumbled aloud, "I should get a cat."
Chapter 6
The Editor
On the way to the office after another restless night, Jessica resolved to meet the Donna-Eric crisis head-on. Not a crisis, exactly, she told herself. A wrinkle? The new normal? Whatever. She would deal with it, as well as with the scheduled Meet and Greet with the new editor, this very morning. She wondered what kind of tone Worth would set with the employees. Warm and friendly? Stern and boundary setting? He had come across more the former, but then again, he was so embarrassed by his behavior at the party, maybe he was more the latter, down deep where it counted.
At any rate, she desperately wanted to keep Donna as a friend. She wanted to keep Eric as a friend, too. Whether or not that would be possible remained to be seen, but she would do whatever she could on her end. She spotted Donna at the copy machine.
"Hey, Donna!" she said in her perkiest voice.
Instead of a bubbly response, however, Donna didn't look up. "Thanks for giving Eric my number," she said coolly. "I'm sure you had lots to talk about last night."
Oh dear. This is not going to happen, Jessica thought. She physically got into Donna's space, forcing her to look at her. "I
