Harley seemed to have caught it, too, and she smiled bemusedly into her wine, eyeing me over the rim of her glass. In the quick, knowing look we exchanged I felt an inexplicable surge of happiness over the fact that, even without speaking, she had understood the reality of encounters like this one just starting with Rachel, in my life, yet felt secure enough in this one-of-a-kind feeling that Harley and I shared to not feel threatened.

“No, nothing like that,” I said, shaking my head. “I do forecasting, trend analysis. I used to work for a specialist firm that did “futurecasting” for clients.”

“A brainiac, huh?” Annie asked, looking at me with new interest. “Just like Harley.”

“Well, you look like you could be in fashion,” Katy added, gushing slightly. “No wonder you and Harley met. The universe has a way of putting beautiful, stylish people like you two together, I think.”

“The way you and Michael were put together?” Harley’s sweet, musical voice cut in, as she drew her arms around both of them, seeing as they’d been sitting on either side of her. She gave each of them a friendly squeeze by the shoulders.

Katy blushed when Michael guffawed, “Oh, but Katy’s the beautiful one! Not this shmuck!”

“You got that right, bro,” Jim said with a laugh, raising his glass at them. It looked like Katy and Michael were a favorite couple in this group.

Someone piped in, “so how do you and Harley know each other?”

“Aerin’s the owner of the house I’m renting,” Harley explained quickly.

“But I thought Sheryl was your landlady?” Rachel asked, flicking a confused glance at Harley.

Harley shook her head, and I interrupted, “I inherited the house, actually. A long story … and Sheryl’s been kind enough to manage things. But the property should really be Harley’s, now, given the amazing job she’s done in helping transform it into a beautiful home.”

I couldn’t help it, as I smiled fondly at Harley, who was blushing prettily, again, on hearing me praise her in front of her friends.

Her friends were all expressing their agreements with me, and I overheard someone say the house had been everyone’s first choice to get together in when the majority of the friends around the table was in the area, for a barbecue or “even just to crash in. Harley’s always got great food and drink stocked, you know.”