"Upchuck! What is going on, my man?"

Charles looked up from his seat at the bar where he was meeting his two college roommates, Bob and Jay, for drinks. Bob had texted him moments ago, telling him he would be there in 5, and Jay had just walked in. He grimaced internally at the use of his regrettable college nickname.

"Jay. How are you?"

"Good, good. How's life treating you over at Empirical?"

"It's, it's good." He hesitated to be honest, to tell one of his oldest friends that business was struggling, because as much as he loved Jay, he was a notorious gossip. Bob, at least, was obligated by attorney client privilege to keep his mouth shut.

"That's excellent! Gin and tonic." He added to the bartender. He eyed the pretty blonde for a moment – Jay had always had an eye for the younger women. "I actually met a couple of your proteges at the Hamptons Book Fair last month. A, um, Kourtney Peters, I think. And the other one was Liza Miller. She was something. You sure do hire fine stock over there."

Charles swallowed his scotch slowly. He thought he knew where this conversation was headed, and his blood ran cold. "It's Kelsey, not Kourtney. She runs our Millennial imprint. And Liza is an associate editor with Millennial. And Diana's assistant."

"Poor girl. Quick on her feet, and nice to look at."

"She's very talented. I don't think Kelsey could run that imprint without her."

"Do you know if she is seeing anyone? Liza, I mean, not Kelsey. Haven't been able to get her off of my mind since the fair."

She does have that affect on people, Charles thought, wryly. He was thankfully saved from answering by the arrival of Bob.

The three friends threw back a few drinks and commiserated about their lives for an hour or two. Jay departed first, leaving Bob and Charles to make their way out of the bar together.

"So," Bob began cautiously, "Heard anything from Pauline lately?"

"No, and I don't think I will anytime soon."

"Forgive me if I'm being too nosy, but do you think you would take her back if she did come back?

"I don't think so. It's not that simple, anymore. There's someone else."

Bob took a step back, surprised. "Good for you man. Do I know her?"

"No, but I'd love to introduce her to you and Julia."

"Definitely! How about dinner, Saturday night? Rose will be home from college. She's bringing her roommate down for the weekend. I'll see if I can pin her down for dinner with the old folks."

"That sounds good. I'll check with her and call you tomorrow. Good night, Bob."

Liza

"I wish I could have been there, but no one wants a mom on a class trip." Liza sat outside the small café where she and Caitlin had just finished dinner on the sidewalk patio. They sat nibbling on a shared piece of chocolate cake.

"Agreed. Besides you live here, you can go to the Whitney any day of the week. Gosh, I'm beat," Caitlin yawned, "I can't wait to get on the train and sleep."

Liza scrutinized her, pursing her lips. "You do look pale. Are you done with the antibiotics? You took the whole bottle, right?"

Caitlin sighed. "You're totally momming out on me. But yes I did."

"I'm just trying to make sure you're okay. You had your appendix out, that's a major surgery."

"I'm not the walking wounded, Mom, you are. You're just trying to avoid talking about your breakup with Josh. Are you okay?"

"That's not true. And yes, I am very okay Caitlin. I did the right thing by ending it with Josh. We weren't right for each other, in the end. And," Liza paused, "while I'm not ready to tell you the details, I'm actually seeing someone else now. And I'm happy." Caitlin's eyes widened and she started to spout off a million questions at rapid-fire pace.

"What time is your train again?"

"Right, um, let me use the restroom here before I take off. The ones at Grand Central get too much traffic, if you know what I mean. I hate a warm seat."

"You actually sit down?! Oh, god, I failed you as a mother."

Liza nibbled at the remnants of the slice of cake as she waited for Caitlin. It really was a gorgeous night. Warm, but there was a slight breeze that lifted the hair off of her neck and made her pull her denim jacket a little tighter around her.

"Liza? Liza Miller, right? Jay Malick, from McMillian? We met at the Hamptons." Liza groaned inwardly and swallowed her cake. This was unexpected, and Caitlin would be coming back out in seconds.

"Yes, hi! Hi, nice to see you, Jay."

"You never called me back." He said pointedly.

"Oh, yes. Sorry about that, but you know, I'm very happy at Empirical."

He picked up her phone and a second later his phone buzzed. "Well now I have your number. And," he leaned in closer, "you know, we don't have to talk about our jobs."

Liza smiled politely and nodded.

"Mom, I'm all set. Thanks for dinner." Caitlin paused, taking in her mom and the stranger she was talking to.

"Mom?" Jay said, raising his eyebrows.

"Okay, I guess she's not going to introduce me. I'm the daughter. Caitlin Miller."

"Jay Malick. Nice to meet you, Liza's daughter."

Caitlin leaned down and kissed her mom on the cheek, whispering into her ear, "He's cute", before waving a goodbye and heading down the street.

"So," Jay began, looking expectedly at Liza, "I think we need to talk. Walk with me to the subway?"

Liza climbed into bed a couple hours later, completely exhausted. She had told Jay everything, with the exception of her relationship with Charles. He had taken it surprisingly well, and had actually been sympathetic to her situation. She had almost told him the Charles knew, but Jay had started to prattle off and tell her that she shouldn't tell anyone at work, that it would be a huge scandal. So a secret it stayed.

She changed into her pajamas and crawled under the covers before picking up her phone and Facetiming Charles. He picked up, and she got a glimpse of him walking into his bedroom, shirtless and in pajama bottoms.

"Hey, beautiful."

"Hey, handsome. How was your night?" She laid back against the pillow and watched as Charles climbed into bed.

"It was good. It was nice to catch up with Bob and Jay."

"Jay, like, Jay Malick, from McMillan?"

"Yeah, we were roommates. He asked about you tonight. Wanted to ask you out." Charles smirked.

"Yeah, I know. I ran into him tonight. He saw Caitlin and I. He knows, Charles."

Charles blew out a breath and rubbed a hand over his eyes. "Okay. We'll deal with it."

"I mean, he promised me that he wouldn't say anything. He keeps trying to get me to come over and work for him at McMillan." Charles sat up a little at these words. He knew Jay would probably try to get with Liza, but he was honestly surprised that he would try to poach one of Charles's employees.

"We'll figure it out Liza. Jay is a good guy. We'll figure out a way to deal with this. Before I forget, Bob invited us over for dinner on Saturday, if that's okay. He and his wife want to meet you."

"That sounds nice, babe. I'd love to meet some of your friends now that you're meeting mine."

"I'll call him tomorrow and let him know."

Liza smiled and yawned. "Stay on the phone until one of us falls asleep? I want your face to be the last thing I see before I fall asleep."

They both settled back into their beds, watching each other as the made their way into the land of sleep. Charles watched as Liza started to doze off, her hair falling into her face. He reluctantly disconnected the call and reached over to turn off the light. If this is what love was, Charles thought, he didn't think he could ever live without it again.

**The next chapter is going to be a little on the lighter side, and have some Josh-Kelsey-Lauren scenes. And it may find all our favorites at the East River Bar on Friday night, and it may introduce a certain Irish bartender.** As always, reviews/comments/suggestions are appreciated!