Clio knew that the kittens, whom she decided to let Finn name, were from Archie. No one else in her life would presume to give her such a gift. She knew she had to thank him, but she was afraid of what she might do if she opened up lines of communication between them.

The truth was that she missed Archie desperately, to the point that she dreamed about him nearly every night, which only made her miss him even more. To wake up with memories of him in her head, with tactile impressions of him embedded in her mind, made her want to leave the house while still in her pajamas and run to him that moment. Francie, and to a certain degree the rest of her family, tried to distract her, but their efforts could only go so far.

Clio thought about simply texting Archie, and thanking him that way, but she believed that sincere thanks should be given by card and in person, if not with an actual gift. Texting was fine for casual communication, but not for the expression of gratitude; she hadn't been raised that way. Regrets, such as being unable to attend a party or rejecting an invitation for whatever reason, could be given by phone if one didn't know the person very well or if it were a formal occasion, but these should also be followed by a card or possibly flowers if necessary. Clio had no idea if these rules of etiquette were actually written in a book somewhere, or followed by people in high society or the royal family or whatever, they were just what Daisy believed were proper and polite, and were what she'd taught her children.

No, she would not thank him by text.

So she approached him before class the next day, with Zeke hovering for moral support.

"Archie?" Her voice was too soft in the rustling of students settling into the classroom and unzipping their backpacks, and she had to clear her throat and try again.

Zeke smiled at her encouragingly and she tapped Archie on the back where he stood next to his desk. "Archie?"

He turned to look at her.

Clio was wearing her favorite winter scarf, made of course by Lottie and Brina, in vivid scarlet, to help her confidence, and wore jeans with her favorite white sweater. She had her hair in a messy bun and looked absolutely stunning to Archie. He had to fight the urge to reach for her and scoop her up in a hug, but he couldn't help the smile that spread across his face.

Clio gave a small, measured smile back, which broke Archie's heart a little.

"I wanted--I wanted to thank you for the beautiful little kittens you gave me yesterday?" She twisted her hands together nervously.

"Oh, you got them already?" Archie's voice was pleased. "The animal shelter said they couldn't get them to you until tonight because they'd just been spayed and neutered and needed a few days to heal."

Clio shook her head, bringing a faint smell of her perfume and shampoo to Archie. "They're all healed, they're full of beans, running all over, I wish you could see them--" she broke off, taking a step back into Zeke's chest, leaning into him slightly.

Zeke put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Archie saw this, and gave a small sigh, swallowing and blinking rapidly after.

"I wish I could too, darling," he responded with a slight smile and nod.

"What have you decided to call them?" he asked briskly, in an obvious effort to change the subject.

"Well, I told Finn he could name them, so who knows?" Clio answered with a laugh. "Though this morning it seemed like he was leaning toward Lilo and Stitch."

"Well, that's fine, then," Archie said with a laugh.

His face grew serious.

"I'm so very sorry about Cina, Clio," he said. He reached out as though he were going to rub her arm, but lowered his hand almost immediately. "I know how much--how much you loved her."

Clio nodded. "Yeah, she was a good girl, and she had a good life," she responded. "I'm okay. She went peacefully, just sleeping in her favorite place."

"That's good." Archie's voice was soft.

The TA entered at that moment, and the rest of their conversation never happened. Zeke squeezed Clio's shoulder reassuringly.

See? That wasn't so bad, he seemed to be saying.

Archie sighed again.

As he turned to his seat, he saw bouncy, bubbly Joyce, quiet for once, watching Zeke and Clio, and saw that she, too, had seen Zeke's hand squeeze Clio's shoulder. The yearning on her face was perhaps more than she intended to show.

Poor Joyce.

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"So I heard something, but I'm not sure you want to know." Willow sounded unsure as she looked over at Archie over her laptop screen.

They were sitting across from each other at his kitchen table, containers of Chinese food sitting all around them. They were listening to Mozart while they worked on an essay about him, talking back and forth while they edited the same document.

It had been a sad and uneasy couple of weeks since Archie had given Clio the kittens. He had broken down after her painful and touching in-person thank you before class and begun to text her, on nearly a nightly basis. Sometimes his texts were funny, little anecdotes about something that had happened to him that day, and sometimes they were serious, as he tried to convince her to at least text him back or meet him so they could talk, but she had yet to answer him.

"What?" Archie started to feel nervous. He stopped typing and stared at his pretty friend.

Willow blinked her long-lashed eyes, looking all around the room. "Okay, I heard that Clio and Zeke are out together at Masa's having dinner, and that it's an official date."

Archie continued to stare at Willow as she bit her full, dark red lip and finally looked back at Archie's face with sympathy.

"Who told you that?" he asked, feeling like his stomach was full of rocks. He picked up the vegetable chow mein and took a bite, just for something to do.

Willow sighed. "Someone who would know," she assured her friend.

"Clio and Zeke have been friends for fifteen years," Archie retorted as he chewed. "I can't believe she'd just suddenly want to date him out of nowhere. Her feelings wouldn't change, just like that, because she broke up with me--" he broke off, unsure what else to say.

Willow reached across the table to pat Archie's arm. "They're on a date, Arch," she said, her voice soft. "Trust me. Apparently Clio said she really wants to get over you and move on, and she thinks Zeke is a good person to do that with. She's determined to put you in her past because of what you did to her, and she wants to make sure the next person she's with never hurts her. So she's going on a date with Zeke."

"Whatever." Now his voice was dismissive. "It can be called anything. They've been out to dinner together hundreds of times, their feelings, their behavior, isn't going to change because of the label that's hung on it."

"Okay. Okay, Archie." Willow looked back down at her screen. "And they're going dancing at the Rainbow room after."

Again, Archie stared at Willow, his breath catching in his throat.

Clio loved to go dancing.

Archie could picture his girl in Zeke's arms, relaxed and happy after a couple of bottles of Masa's excellent saké, wearing one of the beautiful dresses that accentuated her slim figure, twirling around the iconic dance floor on the 65th floor of Rockefller Center. They would probably continue to imbibe, having some more drinks from the Rainbow Room's very well-stocked and glamorous bar, maybe some Manhattans or Champagne Cocktails.

Who knew what would happen when the date ended, when Clio was good and tipsy?

Not that Zeke would ever take advantage of a drunken date. He was a gentleman, through and through, Archie knew that.

But he was in love with Clio, and had been for nearly all his life.

But Clio would never get sloppy drunk, she was a lady.

But she was "determined" to get over him, Archie, it sounded like, no matter what it took.

What better way to do that than to sleep with someone else, especially someone as kind as Zeke Steiner?

But Clio wouldn't just run off and sleep with someone, no matter what she was trying to do.

Would she?

"You must be a terrible poker player," Willow said, shaking her head. "I can see every single thought you're having, almost as you're having it."

She shut her laptop, then pushed Archie's shut as well. "Okay, it's obvious we're not going to get any more work done tonight. Good thing this paper isn't due tomorrow." She clapped her hands together. "So, what do you have around here to drink?"

"What?" Archie stared at her. "Why?"

"You need to get good and drunk, my friend." Willow's eyes were merry. "That's the only way to get your mind off of your ex." She gestured toward the kitchen. "Come on, point the way. I'm a fantastic bartender, I can make any drink. What's your poison?"

Archie considered. Getting good and pissed sounded really good, actually. He gestured toward the cabinet that stood against the wall. "All the hard stuff's in there. Beer's in the fridge."

Willow headed toward the cabinet and opened it. "Wow, nice stuff, Arch. You have everything. So, what would you like?"

Archie started with a dirty martini, and Willow was right, she was very good at making drinks. A couple of drinks definitely took the edge off thinking about his Clio dancing the night away with kind, handsome Zeke Steiner at the romantic Rainbow Room.

He wondered which dress she was wearing?

She had a red dress that showed off her long, beautiful legs that Archie really liked.

She also had a black dress with narrow white stripes that he thought suited her really well. It was sleeveless, and displayed her fine shoulders, her white skin, which Archie found so stunning.

But she'd also gotten a dark blue satin dress with sparkles for Christmas that Archie thought was very pretty also.

"Archie!" Willow's voice broke into his reverie about Clio's dresses. "Stop. Thinking. About. Clio. Right. Now." She handed him another drink, a whiskey drink that was so dark it looked like a glass of iced tea. "Drink this and turn your brain off."

Archie took the drink and downed most of it in one go, grimacing at the strong taste.

He would try.

He was really going to try.