Carrie's POV

I spend the rest of the weekend basically recovering from my time spent with Tyler. I catch myself daydreaming about our upcoming dinner. I'm even making a mental list of possible outfits to wear for Tuesday evening. Memories of our time spent together at Embarcadero, the conversations we shared, and the little intimate moments, dominate my thoughts all through Sunday. I smile to myself, Tuesday can't come soon enough.

Monday at work is busy as usual, but I'm wearing a carefree smile on my face. Nothing can disrupt my cheerful mood. After all, it's only one more day, and then it's time for the dinner at Tyler's house. At his house. Yes, it's definitely not just a dinner, it's the dinner. If I can get through it without dissolving into a blubbering mess, then I know our friendship stands a chance.

Samuel comes by my cubicle and gives me a couple of new projects. I happily get to work on writing some copy, and creating a storyboard.

My phone buzzes with a text message from Jonah.

*LA was fun. See you Wed! xo*

I stare at the text from my boyfriend, and feel....nothing. I can't even honestly say that I missed him. This is terrible. He's coming over on Wednesday for our usual weeknight date, and I am not even excited about it. The opposite, actually. The last few times I've hung out with Jonah, I've been feeling like he brings me down. He often makes unkind sarcastic remarks, criticises me, or is just too engrossed in his own needs to attend to mine. I can't even remember the last time we laughed together. An image of Tyler and me laughing over lunch flashes before me...

"Hey Carrie," I hear Leona's timid voice, and my head snaps up.

"Oh, hey," I say nervously.

"Do you have lunch plans today?" she asks.

"Um, I haven't really thought about it yet," I tell her, and fidget with the pencil in my hand.

"There's this new Mexican food truck everyone has been raving about. It's just off of Market street. Wanna check it out with me?"

"Sure," I say.

"I'll meet you in the lobby at noon," she says, and walks away.

What could Leona possibly want to talk to me about...other than her affair with our boss, that is. This is going to be awkward, and I'm already dreading it. Hopefully she's not going to divulge any more information about her and Kenneth. I'd much rather forget about the whole thing, and never be reminded of walking in on them. Even though I've never met her fiance, I can't help but feel bad for the guy. He probably has no idea. Just like Jonah, my subconscious is mocking me.

My phone rings and I see Alex's name light up on the screen.

I pick up.

"I'm at work," I tell him, trying to keep it down. I really don't like taking personal calls while I'm working.

"I know. Sorry. I just wanted to see how your Saturday went," he says, and I roll my eyes at him even though I know he can't see me.

"Fine," I say, and then I hear him chuckle. "What?"

"Did you and Tyler have a nice time?" he asks me, and that's when it clicks for me.

"You and Tiffany didn't come on purpose. Was this your attempt to set me up with Tyler?" I whisper, covering my mouth.

"I thought you'd be thanking me," he tells me.

"I don't need you to get involved in this," I chide him.

"Okay, okay. I'll stay out of it. But just so you know, Tiffany tells me that she thinks Tyler might really like you."

My heart skips a beat. "What? Did he tell her that? How does she know? What did she say exactly?"

"Whoa there. I thought you didn't want me to get involved," Alex teases me.

"Spill it!"

"She didn't say exactly. She said she just has a feeling," he tells me.

"Oh," I say, reminding myself to get a grip. "Well, you better not be sharing any of the things I tell you with Tiffany," I warn.

"Don't worry, okay. I got you," he reassures me.

"I have to get back. I'll talk to you later."

"Okay. Have fun tomorrow night," he snickers, and my breath catches.

"What? How do you know about..." but the line goes dead. Damn it. Tyler must have shared our upcoming dinner plans with Tiffany, and she of course, passed it along to Alex. I don't know why it makes me this uncomfortable knowing that other people are in on our plans. After all, Tyler and I are just friends. There's nothing extraordinary about friends sharing their friendly plans with other friends. I rub my temples with my fingers. I'm really working overtime trying to convince myself of this whole 'friend' thing.

I decide to return my attention to work, and try to block out any thoughts of tomorrow's activities, or the fact that my best friend is trying to get me together with someone other than my boyfriend.

Before long, it's noon, and I go downstairs to meet Leona. She's already waiting for me, looking elegant and stylish as usual. She's a petite blonde woman, who dresses exclusively in designer brand clothing. Her makeup is always flawless, and her hair looks like she just stepped out of a salon. Every day. Her high heels click on the marble floor, as she approaches me with a smile, and slings her Chanel purse over her arm.

"Carrie, you ready?"

"Yeah, I'm hungry," I tell her.

We walk out, and make our way down through the busy street.

"Their tacos are supposed to be really good," Leona says, and I can tell she's slightly nervous, as she keeps readjusting her Gucci sunglasses.

"I'm glad you invited me out, Leona," I tell her, trying to ease her nerves. "I know I've only been at Ruby World for a couple of months, but there are only a handful of people that I really know at work."

"I'm sorry if I've been a little distant lately," she tells me without looking at me. "But you probably can guess why."

When I don't say anything, Leona continues. "I'm embarrassed, Carrie. Really mortified, in fact. And I wish I could take it back."

We're still walking, and avoiding looking at each other, but I sense that this is what's making it easier for us to have this candid conversation.

"Leona, you really don't have to explain," I begin. "It's none of my business."

"I just don't want you to think I'm a bad person. It was just a momentary lapse in judgement. A mistake."

"Leona, please," I plead with her. "You don't have to worry about me saying anything, or judging you."

"I love Derek--my fiance. He's everything to me," she says, and I can hear the sincerity in her voice.

"I believe you," I tell her. "It was a mistake, I get it. Believe me, I understand more than you think," I say, and I can't help but see the parallel of Leona's and my own life. Only I don't feel nearly as guilty about what I've done. That's probably a problem, I note to myself.

"I just don't want you to have the wrong impression about this...situation," says Leona, as we finally reach the food truck. "I guess I just got the case of cold feet, you know? The idea of just being with one guy for the rest of my life...it's a lot to take in."

We stand in line, and peruse the menu written on the side of the truck.

"I think I'll take your advice and order the tacos," I inform her.

"So, we're good?" she asks.

"Yup," I smile at her.

She fidgets with her large diamond ring, and smiles back at me. "Thanks, Carrie."

We take our lunch back to the office, and she surprises me by giving me a hug before we get into the elevator. I guess our little heart to heart was really cathartic for Leona.

When I get back to my desk, Samuel is there, checking out my work. He's holding the sketch of the storyboard in his hand, and chuckling.

"Hey, I wasn't finished with that," I say, wishing he'd waited until I had completed my drawings.

"This is really good, Carrie," he compliments me. "It's original. And funny!"

"Well, don't look so surprised," I say, feeling a little embarrassed by his high praise.

"I always suspected you had a good eye, but this is really top notch stuff. I think you should pitch it to the client," he suggests, and I stare at him.

"What? Seriously? You think it's good enough?"

"I do," he tells me confidently. "Let's clean up the art, and bring Tom and Joe in on this."

Tom and Joe are senior copywriters, so I am thrilled to have them even consider my work, let alone find it acceptable.

"Thank you, Samuel. Thanks for giving me the chance."

"Keep up doing this kind of work, and Ruby World will be thanking you," he says, and walks away.

I sit back down at my desk, look over my work again, and can't help but feel sort of proud of myself. Samuel's positive feedback really means a lot to me. And just when I thought this day couldn't get any better, my phone buzzes with a text message. It's from Tyler. My very first from him. Just seeing his name light up on my phone makes my stomach do a flip.

*Hope you're ready for my throwdown tomorrow night ;-)*

I smile at the winking emoji, and blush a little at my dirty interpretation of his text. Food, he's talking about cooking food, I have to remind myself.

*See you then :-)* I reply.

I keep it short and choose a plain old smiley face, which he'll probably think is lame, but the pathetic truth is that when it comes to Tyler I can't even bring myself to have my emoji wink back at him without blushing.