"I shouldn't be too long at the office today," Josh announces from where he stands brushing his teeth at the bathroom sink. "I just have a few meetings and we are reading over some comments from State on a speech and then briefing the President. 4 or 5 hours, maybe?"

I'm sitting cross legged in his unmade bed, clad in an oversized T-shirt I stole from his dresser this morning, holding a warm mug of coffee.

He's been telling me about this idea he's working on with Toby to enroll an additional 1.3 million children into early childhood education programs. He's bouncing the idea off of me as he goes about his morning routine, stopping in the middle of shaving to squint and murmur to himself as he does some quick math.

He asks me what I think and I give him my honest feedback.

"You're brilliant," he tells me. "I'm taking that to the President."

And while I'm sure it's hyperbole, it still feels nice to be valued.

"Okay. I think I'm going to do a little bit of shopping." It is my day off, afterall, and there are quite a few sales going on right now.

"Did Joanie say you were going to meet her for brunch last night?" He's moved over to his closet where he's rifling through to find a clean shirt.

"She said she'd call me this morning. I'll run home and change. We will probably go to that little French place on the end of your block."

"You're going all the way home?" He furrows his brow.

"Well… yeah. Typically, Josh, people like to take showers and put on clean clothes before meeting their friends."

"It's so far though. You've still got a key for my front door, right?"

"I do."

"Well, when you go home, why don't you grab a few things to leave here so you don't have to be going back and forth?"

"Bring some things over?" I restate slowly, just wanting to confirm.

"Yeah. We're closer to both of our jobs here anyway. Why do we spend so much time at your place?"

"My bed is more comfortable?" I offer.

"Well that's true." He laughs.

"Seriously, why is this thing so lumpy?" I bounce a bit on the bed where I'm sitting. "How you've ever had a decent night's sleep is a mystery to me."

"I sleep at my desk most nights. Well, at least I did before I met you. So I've never gotten around to buying a new one."

"You've got to stop sleeping at your desk and running off of Redbull and coffee," I tell him for at least the 10th time. "It's bad for you, babe."

He turns around and holds up the last two acceptable shirts in his closet.

"Your left." I select the one that I prefer and he takes it off the hanger to get dressed. "I'll drop off your dry cleaning on my way home. I have a few things to have cleaned as well."

"Thanks. Stick them in with mine. I'll pick it up at the end of the week."

"Josh, can I ask you something?" I lean over and place my mug on the nightstand.

"Of course." He glances over to me and pulls an undershirt on with his boxers. "What's up?"

"Well, if I'm going to the state dinner with you, and for that matter bringing some clothes to leave here and combining our dry cleaning, I guess that means Joan will know about what's going on between us?"

Josh shrugged casually. "Yeah."

"Well… are you ok with that?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" He's completely oblivious to what I'm saying as he sits down next to me and takes a sip of my coffee.

"Well I know we've been keeping it quiet, but I didn't want her to be blindsided when I showed up as your date."

"Keeping it quiet?" He furrowed his brow. "I haven't been keeping it quiet. Have you been keeping it quiet."

"Well… yes," I admit.

"Okay. May I ask why?" He's trying to remain calm but I can see the uneasiness on his face.

"Because I thought you weren't that interested in me. That this was just a fling. And I wasn't sure when it changed from us casually hooking up to something more."

He sighs gently. "I think this is my fault. I should have made my intentions more clear. I should have taken you out for fancy dinners and dancing instead of quiet nights in with Chinese carry out. It's just that everything was going so well. I didn't want to disturb this little cocoon we're in right now."

"I don't need fancy dinners," I assure him. And I don't. "I just thought that since you hadn't mentioned anything to Joan that I shouldn't either because it was just a fling."

"Donna, let me ask you something."

"Okay."

"Have you called your brother to update him on how things are going between the two of us?"

"No. Why would I?"

"Exactly." Josh looks at me expectantly and I am beginning to see his point.

"But don't you think this is different?" It feels different to me.

"No. I don't." He stands up and heads back to the closet, stepping into a pair of dress pants. "Honestly, before she lived here and married Sam, I only saw Joanie maybe twice a year. It's not like we're exceptionally close. Besides, she's your best friend. If you want to tell her, that's fine with me. I assumed you'd be the one to say something anyway."

"You did?" My mind is trying to process the fact that this is all a misunderstanding.

"Yeah. So tell her at brunch."

He's very calm about this, so I raise an eyebrow at him. "And you don't think she's going to be rather…"

"Nosy?" Josh supplies with a laugh. "Yeah. I think she'll be nosy. But you haven't seen meddling until you've had this conversation with my Mom. Think of it as a warmup round."

My eyes widen as I stare at him, but Josh gives me a smirk and a chuckle.

"I'm kidding, sweetheart. It's going to be fine. They already love you. But not nearly as much as I do."

I grin unrepentantly at him. "I love you too."

He smiles and leans in to kiss me goodbye as he finishes buttoning his shirt, as though this was the most natural conversation in the world. And in many ways, it is. He tells me that he'll call me when he's done at the office and that he'd like to take me out for dinner tonight. When I ask him what the occasion is he just shrugs and tells me that he's beginning to realize that he enjoys having a life.