Having lunch at Geoff's favorite Italian restaurant there in Malibu after our morning's driving, Teddy Bear asked me what my schedule was going to look like for the next few months.

"When can we get to gather to work on, what we talked about?" he asked.

"That doesn't sound mysterious at all!" Jimmy laughed.

"Teddy Bear asked me to help him with developing his character for an upcoming film he'll be doing," I said with a shrug.

"Developing your character?" Geoff asked, curious. "You mean, like an acting coach or something like that?"

"No, not exactly," Teddy Bear hedged.

"He's gonna be playing the bad guy- a real heavy," I broke in. "He wants me to work through the scenes with him so he can see how I'd do it. I guess I'm going to be his role model for an action-movie bad guy," I said with a little laugh.

"That tracks," Jimmy said.

"For sure," Geoff agreed, nodding.

"Have you guys seen her- No, forget I said anything," Stephen said, clamming up.

"Well, now there's no way we're gonna forget it," Jimmy said. "What were you gonna say, Zeke? C'mon, out with it, dude bro."

Nobody else in the somewhat dark and mostly empty restaurant was paying us any attention in our large corner booth, so I leaned in to the middle of the table and everybody else did, too, wanting to hear what I had to say.

"O.K., you guys have all seen the videos, right? It is completely undeniable that, well, I have a history of violence, right?" I asked, looking around.

They all nodded and made affirming noises, so I said, "Teddy Bear seems to think I have a certain… persona, let's say. He thinks I'm the sort of person who scares ninjas, or something like that," I added, making Teddy Bear cough.

"You do," he said. "You literally scare the shit out of ninjas."

"Well, he wants to model his scary bad guy character on me, so he wants me to train him, and to help choreograph his moves."

"Wait- what's this about ninjas?" Jimmy demanded, but I ignored him.

"It isn't just action sequences, though," Teddy Bear chimed in. "I need to learn that look she has, and her attitude."

"Good luck with that, my friend," Stephen said. "That's a tall order."

"Well, that's the thing," Teddy Bear said, leaning back into a less conspiratorial position in his seat. "Leah is intense and intimidating, but not in any sort of aggressive way, right? I don't want a caricature. I want quiet intensity, not overt menace."

"Let's get back to the part about ninjas," Jimmy insisted.

Looking at me for permission, I gave a little 'what can you do?' look, so Teddy Bear explained.

"So, you know I went with Leah to Japan on a business trip she had, right? Well, it turns out that her business was with a freaking ninja clan over there. They were super respectful of her to start with, but when we went to one of their dojos and she straight-up wiped the floor with their champion guy, they all got their world-view completely readjusted. In fact, their old master guy- she bullied him into coming to the US to help instruct her, um, death squad, I guess, in their ways."

"If you don't want to tell me, just say so," Jimmy said dismissively. "No need to make shit up."

It was in the middle of our Wednesday night dinner party with about a dozen friends when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. We'd already eaten and were just relaxing on the deck, enjoying the reprieve from the gloomy weather typical for late spring. Lainey was busy telling Geoff and Linda all about Madison's first professional race weekend, filling in a lot of the human-interest aspect that Reggie's emails had left out, so I was listening just as intently as were Linda and Geoff.

Checking to see who'd texted me, I saw that it was Katrina Suarez.

"I've thought a lot about what you said." she'd sent. "I think I we need to talk."

I was thinking about what to reply when the little dots appeared, indicating that she was typing. "Call me when you have time" was all she added.

"Can you talk now?" I replied.

"10 mins" was the quick reply.

"Hey, Lainey, I'm going to want to hear all this, but I've got to make a phone call," I apologized as I stood up to go.

"Are you going to be able to come to Sebring in a couple of weeks?" Lainey asked. "Mads was disappointed you couldn't come to Birmingham."

"I was, too," I admitted. "I think that Sebring be the same weekend as my friend Ashley's graduation at Stanford," I hedged. "I'll check the calendar. If it works, I'd love to come down to watch."

I found Emmy talking to Solange and my mom in the living room. I leaned down and gave her a kiss and whispered, "Katrina wants to talk."

"Tell me all about it tonight," Emmy replied back, her voice as quiet as mine.

I wandered up to my office for some privacy, but Tiffany was playing on the racing sim rig while Madison coached her, sitting on a chair just outside of the cockpit, but where she could watch the screens.

Since the office wasn't going to work, I had to find somewhere else. I'd mentally rejected the idea of having the conversation in the bedroom that I shared with Emmy, so the garage it was.

I settled on parking myself in the passenger seat of the M6, as much for its comfortable seating as the sound insulation it would offer.

"Can you talk now?" I texted, and almost immediately my phone rang.

"Hey, Leah," Katrina said when I answered. "Um," she said, then stopped.

"Kat,' I said. "I'm glad you reached out. I was really worried that I'd fucked up our friendship."

Katrina laughed nervously. "I'm sorry it took me so long," she said. "It was just so much to think about, you know?"

"You know, the morning after we talked I really wished that I hadn't said anything," I admitted. "I really regretted it, to tell you the truth."

"You mean you don't want to- to…"

"Oh, no, I do," I confirmed. "But not at the risk of our friendship."

Katrina sighed, then took a breath to talk, but didn't say anything. I just waited, sipping my Negroni. Eventually she said, "You didn't ruin our friendship. This might actually, like, make things closer."

"So is that a 'yes'?"

"Yes, it's a yes," Katrina said, almost more of a sigh than anything. "I still think it's kinda weird, but yeah, I'll take you out for a test drive."

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I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. I was just about to tell her that I was glad, but she spoke before I could get anything out.

"You're absolutely one hundred per cent positive this is all O.K. with Emmy?"

"It was her idea," I answered truthfully.

"That's another thing we're gonna have to talk about," Katrina said. "So, um, the reason it took me so long to get back to you was that… well, I don't know how to say it, but, like, if it was just a 'hey, why don't you spend the night?' sort of thing, I would have said yes immediately, no question. Like, the night we played strip pool? I would have stayed. I mean, for sure would have stayed if you'd asked me to. "But what you asked, that isn't just a quick hookup situation you have in mind, is it? You're talking about something else entirely."

"I've been thinking about it a lot the last few days, too," I confessed. "No, I don't want just some hookup with a walk of shame in the morning. I've been having a hard time wrapping my brain around how we could have a real long-term relationship, what with us living a continent apart and all, but that's what I want. Not just a booty call every now and then, but something… well, more meaningful, I guess."

"A week is a lot of time to talk and figure things out," Katrina said.

"Or even figure out if we're compatible," I said. "We might come to the conclusion that we aren't right for each other."

"I guess that's true," Katrina agreed. "At least there won't be any surprises when we take our clothes off," she laughed, but it sounded a little strained.

"Kat," I said, softening my voice. "If you want, we can pretend that I never said anything and just go back to the way things were before."

"No, I think I want to give this a try. But can we go someplace cooler than Montreal?"

"Montreal is an amazing city!" I protested, but Katrina just laughed.

"Paris is an amazing city. How about we go there?" she suggested.

"Yeah, no. Not for this," I said. "Emmy's parents live there and I am not ready for that conversation yet. At least, not until we decide this is a real thing and we're gonna make it work," I added quickly, realizing that I'd stepped in it.

"London, then? You have a penthouse there, right?"

"Yeah, we do," I admitted. I was starting to formulate objections to why we couldn't go to London that had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the apartment reminded me of Angela, but Katrina spoke first.

"You said no to Miami and Los Angeles because you thought we should be on, um, neutral ground or something, right? Would that make it weird if we were going to stay in your place in London? Is that why you don't like that idea?"

I let out a breath, deciding on honesty. "No, that's not really it. London has two things going against it, but they're more my hangups than anything else. One is that Emmy's parents will probably hear about it if I'm in London for a week with another woman-"

"You said they liked Angela, right?"

"They really liked her a lot," I agreed. "And that's why it'd be an uncomfortable conversation. Honestly, they'd probably roll with it- the uncomfortableness will probably all be in my head, you know? The second thing, and again, this is my hangup, is that I bought that apartment for Angela, and she was the one who did all the interior decoration and stuff like that. I'd feel weird about being there with somebody else, but like I said, that's just me. If you really want to go to London, we can do that."

"I've never been there," Katrina said wistfully. "But if it'll make you feel uncomfortable, we can skip it. I've never really been anywhere else, either, so…"

"What does your timetable look like? When are your classes done?" I asked.

Katrina groaned. "I told you that my schedule this term is all fucked up, didn't I? I literally only need two of my requirements of my major to graduate. I have enough credits and everything. Just two terms of International Commerce Law. That's all I need, and the only professor who teaches it had a stroke and can't even talk, from what they've told us. What that means is that until the university finds another instructor, me and the rest of us who neediest those two terms are SOL. So, the TL;DR version is that I don't actually have any classes at all this term, and might not next, either. My graduation might be put on hold for a whole extra year because of this."

"Sucks for you, but sucks even more for your professor," I commiserated.

"Yeah, and I feel bad for him- I had him before and he's a good teacher and a nice guy, but he was older than dirt," Katrina said.

"Dirt is pretty old," I commented.

"Older than," Katrina emphasized.

"So, what you're saying is that you can go anytime?" I asked for clarification.

"I've been working at the office, but not really doing anything. Nobody would even notice if I clocked out for a week," Katrina admitted.

I thought about my schedule for the next few weeks and realized that it would be just too much of a stretch to try to take that time off. "Speaking of graduation, a friend of mine is graduating from Stanford in two weeks, and then the following weekend I'll be in your neck of the woods to watch my team race-"

"The Porsche race team you told me about? They're going to race at Homestead?" Katrina asked, getting excited.

"No, Sebring."

"I don't know where that is," Katrina replied, deflating.

"Just southeast of Tampa," I told her. "About centered in between the coasts. I actually looked it up. It's something like a three hour drive to Miami from the track."

"I could totally drive up to met you there," Katrina said, enthusiastic.

"Or I could drive down to Miami. I don't know how into car racing you are, and that's all there is in that town, from what I understand," I said.

"I thought you didn't want to come to see me in Miami to keep it, well, neutral."

"I'm talking for just one night," I said. "I need to fly to New York for a few days right afterwards."

"I could go to New York with you," Katrina suggested, hopeful.

"In general I'd say yes, but in this case, it wouldn't be a great idea. I'll be hip deep in work stuff all day. We're setting up a new office and it's going to be long days. I want to take you somewhere we can just focus on each other- me spending all day sorting out org charts and assigning territories to my managers isn't ideal for that."

"No, that makes sense," Katrina admitted. "I do want to see New York, though. We went when I was a kid, but I don't remember much except that the subway was scary and smelly and the streets were really loud. And the Empire State Building- I remember that," she added.

"If things work out with us, you can expect to spend some time in New York," I assured her. "I do find myself there more than I expected."

"You told me you have a house there- how many do you actually have?"

"Just the four," I said. "Well, five if you count the condo in San Jose."

"Can't forget the condo in San Jose," Katrina laughed.

"Have you ever been to San Francisco?" I asked.

"I've never been to the West Coast at all," Katrina replied.

"Let's do that," I said, an idea forming. "Let's spend a few days in The City, then maybe do some Sonoma wine tasting. Maybe we can drive up to the redwoods, or down Big Sur."

"I'd love that," Katrina said. "Can we do that after you're done in New York?"

"I'll need at least a week in Los Angeles and San Jose before I can take a week off, but yeah. I guess that means the early part of July- will that work for you?" I asked.

"I'll make it work," Katrina said. "Just let me know the dates."

"Think about what you'd like to do or see in San Fran and Northern California," I told her. "There are some things I'd love to show you, but if there's anything you really want to check out, let me know and we can plan it."

There was a long pause before Katrina asked, "Um, Leah, is this really us making plans for… well, for trying each other out, like you said? Seeing if we have what it takes for a real relationship? It just seems so strange…"

"It still does for me, too," I confessed. "And that's one of the- well, maybe the big issue we're gonna have to figure out. I'm going to be perfectly honest with you, Kat. I like you. I think you're fun to spend time with, I like your sense of humor, and I like that fact that you're doing something practical with your life. Everything else aside, I am attracted to you."

"What, you don't like my boobs?" Katrina demanded.

"No, I do like those quite a bit," I agreed. "And that grippable ass of yours, and your gorgeous face. I'm not too shallow to admit that I'm just shallow enough in those ways."

"In the interest of fairness, I have to say that I'm not gay. I don't look at other women in a sexual way," Katrina said. "You're, like, the first. Yeah, you have the body of some sort of goddess of war or something, but what, um, caught my attention first was your intensity. When Dad introduced us there at the hotel, you seemed… I don't know how to say it, but it seemed like nothing else mattered when you were talking to me. Like I was the only thing that mattered. You weren't, like, checking your phone or anything like that. It didn't seem like you were thinking about work or whatever, either. I guess I sort of interpreted that to mean that you were into me, and I started to think about what it would be like, to, you know, be with another woman. God, I'm making a mess of this," she groaned.

I made some sort of encouraging noise, so Katrina continued. "Then we went swimming out by the reefs, and I got to see you naked. I'd seen you in your swimsuit at the hotel, but it was different seeing you out in the ocean, completely naked. That's what really got me thinking about, um, you know…"

"What sex with me would be like?" I teased.

"Yeah," she agreed, her voice quiet.

"So when I asked you the other night if you wanted to explore the possibility of us taking things farther…" I prompted.

"All this whole time you'd been telling me that you were happily married and not gonna cheat, then all of a sudden, it was like, 'Hey, let's go to Montreal for a week of hot girl on girl sex,' and I had no idea how to process it. Still kinda don't."

"Emmy straight-up told me that she would like it if I explored my extracurricular options, to put it plainly. She knows I find you attractive, and she has the impression that you're into me, too. She is concerned that she can't meet all my emotional needs and would rather I had another lover that she knew of and approved of instead of being frustrated and all that. She told me that when we were in London, but she'd been hinting about it for a while now." I took a breath, and continued. "The thing is, when you called, I'd been drinking maybe more than I should have, you know? Hearing your voice- it all just kinda came out. I didn't plan on it, but I'm not sorry I said everything I did. Well, I was sorry the last few days when I thought I'd scared you off, but now I'm not sorry at all."

Katrina laughed. "Well, I really need to get to bed- it's almost one in the morning here, and I have work, such as it is, in the morning. Good night, Leah."

"Good night, Kat," I said. "Thank you for calling me back."

"I'm glad I did," she replied.

"So am I."

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