Sometimes yes.
Sometimes no.
We started having dinner occasionally.
Without Mia at first.
Then with her.
I refused to call them dates for three months.
He called that denial.
I called it caution.
Eventually I admitted it.
A date.
Then another.
Slow.
Public.
Normal.
No employment dependency by then.
I reported through a different corporate structure.
My compensation was set by committee.
Before we became serious, I insisted on a conflict-of-interest agreement reviewed by my attorney.
Alessandro looked offended.
Then signed it.
“I’m adjusting.”
“Still?”
“Apparently for life.”
Good answer.
Victoria approved of me far too quickly.
That made me suspicious.
“You like making him uncomfortable,” she said.
“So do you.”
“Exactly.”
We became friends in the careful way people do after beginning with a terrible secret.
Not best friends.
Not sisters immediately.
Something more believable.
Calls.
Advice.
Occasional arguments.
She told me stories about Alessandro as a child.
He
