Mindy was glued to her phone as she walked into the elevator to head up to the office of Shulman & Associates.

"Four, please," she mumbled to the person standing beside her. She watched a red bird hurdle across the screen into a precariously stacked tower of wood and stone. "Die, you stupid green pig."

"You know, if you released the slingshot at a forty-five degree angle, it would give you more velocity," a calm, smooth voice said.

"Thanks," she said absently. Another red bird hopped into the slingshot. She fired and the entire structure came crumbling down. "Yes! Serves you right for stealing my eggs, you pieces of pork."

"Thanks again-" she looked up. "Brendan?"

"Mindy," the midwife nodded. The elevator doors closed.

She sighed. "Great."

"I've been meaning to speak with you," he said. "The last time I saw you, you were at Danny's art show. How are things with you and Jason?"

"It was Danny's ex-wife's show, if you could even call it art. Jason and I broke up shortly after, not that it's any of your business."

"There's no need to be hostile," Brendan said. He looked over at her. "I thought you weren't angry with me anymore, that's why you invited Duncan and I to your Bon Voyage party."

"I invited you because I wanted to prove to you that I had moved on," she said. "You're still the jerk that went out with another girl while you were using me."

"We had established that there wasn't going to be any romantic feelings attached to our arrangement-"

"I don't want to hear it, Deslaurier," Mindy held up a hand. "I just want to finish this elevator ride in silence."

Brendan raised his eyebrows but said nothing.

They had almost reached the fourth floor when the elevator jerked and came to a halt.

"You have got to be kidding me," Mindy groaned.

Mindy and Brendan were sitting against the back wall of the elevator, legs sprawled out in front of them.

"-And so when you said that you could never own a poisonous pet, you probably should have said 'venomous.' Poison would affect you if you consumed it; venom if the animal bit you."

Mindy blinked. "When did you say the maintenance guy was going to get here?"

Brendan checked his watch. "It'll be another hour."

"I can't believe this, I am literally half a floor away from the office. It's a good thing I texted Betsy to get Danny to look after my patients. I thought we'd be out sooner than this."

Mindy's phone chimed. It was a text from Danny.

Just finished with a patient. Betsy told me you were stuck in the elevator.

We should be out of this metal box in about an hour. Can you look after my 10 a.m.?

Sure... We?

Mindy hesitated.

Brendan Deslaurier's stuck here too.

The typing icon appeared and disappeared several times. Finally, the message appeared.

Sounds awful. Are you ok?

I'm fine. He's unbearable as always but I'll make it. Thanks for covering for me.

No problem.

"Texting Danny?" Brendan asked.

Mindy slid her phone into her pocket. "Yeah, just reminding him when my patient was coming in."

"So how are things with you and Danny?"

"Good, great even," she said. "He's beginning to let me convince him to buy things out of the lookbook I made for him. He still refuses to get a vest, even though I think it would-"

"I mean, are you two-"

"No, we're just friends," Mindy was puzzled. "Why do you ask?"

Brendan shifted on the floor so he was facing her, legs crossed, shoulders square. "Back when we had our arrangement, I never thought that what we had was going to be anything more. You weren't my type at all. You consume aspartame every day, you rarely go to the gym, you perpetuate the worst kind of childbirth practices known to man."

Mindy wasn't impressed. "Are you going somewhere with this?"

"So when I started getting feelings for you, I panicked," he said. "I started asking out other girls. I texted you less. I took Za to the movies and that's when you saw me.

"After your birthday, I hadn't seen you in awhile so I went to talk to you at the triathlon, but then you and Casey got back together and I never really got a chance..." he trailed off.

"A chance to what?" she asked.

"A chance to tell you I care about you, Mindy. A lot."

Mindy was stunned. "You care about me?"

"I would completely understand if you said no, but I was hoping you could give me a second chance? Could we try again?"

Mindy looked at him. He was sincere. He had dropped that usual superior-than-thou attitude and was looking right back at her. Mindy could see a glimpse of that nervous boy in the commercial all those years ago.

"What do you mean you're with Brendan Deslaurier again?" Danny couldn't hide the contempt in his voice. "You were in that elevator for a total of ninety minutes."

Danny was sitting at his desk, paperwork spread across the surface. The pen in his hand twitched. He glared at his co-worker sitting across from him.

"It's different this time, Danny," Mindy answered defensively. "And we're dating, I'm not with him."

"Right, because not being treated properly once by this guy just wasn't good enough."

Mindy crossed her arms. "He's not such a bad guy. You even said you liked him at that triathlon last year."

"That was when he finally revealed he isn't always so high and mighty and it's all an act. Since then he's been even more diligent on finding stuff to throw in our faces, like some stupid article to about 'how western medicine is poisoning us' or some other crap like that."

"He saved Morgan's life," she said.

"Morgan's life is saved on a daily basis. Deslaurier is a quack that tried to take down our practice."

Mindy sighed. "Look, I wanted to tell you that I'm seeing him because you and I are friends, Danny," she got up from the chair. "I talk to my friends about what's going on in my life. I'm sorry I said anything."

She left his office. A few moments later, Danny heard another door close.

He sighed.

When Mindy looked up from her own paperwork, she found Danny leaning in her doorway.

"If you're going out with Deslaurier, then fine," he said. "Do what you think is going to make you happy. Just remember that there's nothing that's going to make me like the guy."

"But if I ever need someone to talk to, I can go to you?" Mindy asked.

"Of course you can talk to me," he said.

Mindy smiled. "Thanks, Danny.

"It's not like I have much of a choice the way you barge into my office," Danny ducked out of the room as a highlighter flew past him.