Rian was in the middle of doing exactly what Bette was predicting. “… it doesn’t need to mean anything more than thanking her, right? Start with a text or a call. She’s really a warm person, underneath that cool vibe she gives off, and I really don’t think she’ll brush you off, like you seem to think.” She paused as Jia sighed. “Or do you not feel comfortable about being around her?”

Jia jerked back instantly. “What? No! No, of course not. I do .. I did feel comfortable about being around, erm, near her. I was just, um, not feeling all that confident that she’d want to hear from me …”

Rian shook her head, chuckling softly. “What are you? In middle school or something?”   Her tone changed from the mildly teasing one. “I know that you’re feeling a little brittle right now. And if it had been someone else, I wouldn’t have tried to convince you. But, I hope you saw earlier that Tiler’s one of the good ones, right? She’s got a gentleness to her, a warmth, beneath that cool exterior. I’m sure you could sense that from her, earlier, when she caught you? She looked like she was really careful with you …”

Jia smiled back, and Rian could see her demeanor was lightening from the tight one earlier. She even rolled her eyes as if in self-mockery.   “I know. And you’re right.   This awkwardness is so juvenile.” She shook her head, rolling her eyes again as she accepted the phone from Rachel.

“So, any suggestions on the timing for this bar thing?”

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In the end, by the time Jia had left them, there’d been no decision made about when they would go out to the bar with Tiler. But Bette had promised her that she would be in touch about the barbecue being planned at Logan’s place, and would also check in later in the week, in case she and Bette would be able to meet.

In a spur of the moment decision, Jia thought about walking the twenty-plus blocks to return to her new flat in Chelsea, instead of summoning a ride-share car. Jia had composed twenty different messages to Tiler as she walked, but kept changing her mind and deleting each one every time she was about to hit “send.”

Let’s see. From the little I got, she seems to be the analytical type. She mentioned Fibonacci, Carletti, and a host of other obscure references. So obviously, I won’t catch her attention with trite, meaningless phrases. And she probably gets flirty texts from females all the time, so I can’t go that route either. Hmmmm….

When she was a couple of blocks from her building, she settled on something. She blew a breath out after she sent it.

“22,000.”

“This is Jia, by the way.”

She bit her lip as she waited for a response.

She didn’t need to wait long.

“Ok I’ll bite. WTF is 22,000?”

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