“Hey, Brian, everything okay?” Lily asked, practically gulping.
“Yeah, yeah.” He waved his hand and Lily sighed in relief. Then Lily realized Brian wasn’t alone. Standing beside him was a Black guy with dark brown skin, about medium height. He wore a white button-up and plaid pants. And tortoiseshell glasses.
Lily blinked. Her mouth slightly fell open.
“Lily, Dani, I want to introduce you to Oliver. He’ll be the production manager for Edith’s books moving forward.”
“Hello,” Oliver said, extending his hand. He had a rich, deep voice and a British accent. “Great to meet you.”
Lily stared at Oliver and his outstretched hand.
Was this a joke? Was she being messed with? Had someone at M&M hacked her personal email?
Because there was no way this new guy looked exactly how she’d pictured Strick.
“Hey, I’m Dani,” Dani said, moving to shake Oliver’s hand, discreetly nudging Lily. “I work in Marketing. And this is Lily, Edith’s assistant.”
“Um, hi. Um, I’m Lily. Yeah.”
Oliver smiled and shook Lily’s hand. If he noticed that she was being the most awkward person on the planet, he was kind enough not to let on.
“Oliver just moved here from London,” Brian said, and Lily managed to tear her gaze away from Oliver’s face to look at Brian. “He was a production manager with M&M UK, so he knows the ins and outs.”
Lily suddenly remembered Edith’s frantic texts from a few weeks ago. She’d mentioned that their new production manager would be transferring from the UK office.
“It’s possible we did things completely different across the pond,” Oliver said, grinning. “But it’s too late to send me back now.”
Brian and Dani laughed. Lily gave a delayed chuckle. Her mind was busy trying to comprehend how a cardboard cutout from her imagination was standing right in front of her. Oliver’s gaze lingered on her for a beat and she felt her face get hot.
“Some of us in Production are going out for drinks after work to give Oliver a proper welcome,” Brian said. “You two should join us.”
“That sounds fun,” Dani said.
They all looked at Lily, who was still too busy staring at Oliver. He smiled at her, relaxed and friendly. Her brain filled with a buzzing static.
Dani cleared her throat. “Lily, you want to come too?”
“Oh, um, sure. Yeah.”
“Great.” Brian nodded. “We’re going to finish the rounds and introduce Oliver to some other folks. We’ll see you at the Three Flamingos at, say, six?”
“Sounds good,” Dani said, answering for both her and Lily, because apparently Lily had lost the ability to speak for herself.
“Looking forward to drinks,” Oliver said, waving goodbye as he and Brian walked away.
Lily and Dani stood in silence for a second. Then they turned to each other.
At the same time that Dani said, “He’s cute!” Lily said, “He looks just like Strick.”
“Wait, what?” Dani said. “Who’s Strick?”
“No one,” Lily muttered. She was losing it.
“Okay, so should we meet in the lobby at five fifty?”
“Oh, I don’t think I’m going to go out for drinks, actually,” Lily said, shaking her head.
“Come on, it’s summer! Happy hour! I’ll finish telling you the story about Christian’s assistant and you can tell me about how much you hate Edith and we can do it all while getting drunk and eating mozzarella sticks.”
Lily bit her lip, undecided. Oliver looking so much like her imaginary version of Strick did freak her out, but what was she going to do tonight after work anyway? Go home and pine for Nick while he sat across the hall in his stubborn bubble of solitude?
“Yeah, okay,” she finally said. “I’ll go.”
* * *
? ? ?
After work, Lily and Dani walked a couple blocks from the office to meet up with Oliver, Brian and a few others from the Production team at the Three Flamingos. As soon as they walked inside, Lily spotted Oliver standing by the bar, laughing with Brian and another colleague. She tried her hardest not to gawk at him. She really needed to shake the memory of Strick from her brain if she wanted to survive this evening.
She and Dani grabbed stools at a bar-top table by the door, then Dani’s phone rang, and she quickly excused herself to take the call outside, and Lily offered to get their drinks. She approached the bar and tried to get the bartender’s attention, which was difficult to do during happy hour. There were two people standing in between Lily and Oliver, and she fought the urge to shoot glances at him every few seconds.
The bartender finally came over to Lily and she ordered two glasses of rosé for herself and Dani. She idly tapped her fingers against the bar and glanced over again, this time catching Oliver’s eye. The two men standing in between them walked away, and Oliver smiled at Lily, sliding down the bar closer to her.
“Hey. It’s Lily, right?” he asked.
“Yes, hi.”
“Thanks for coming. It’s nice to know that people in the US office are so friendly.”
“Oh, just give it a couple weeks. You’ll see how hostile and annoying we can be.”
Oliver laughed, easy and light, and Lily felt herself smile. “I was born in the US, actually. San Francisco. I still have some family there. We moved to London when I was five for my mum’s work.” He took a sip of his drink. “I take it we’ll be doing a lot of work together.”
She nodded. “Yeah. Well, with me and Edith.”
“Any pieces of advice for me?”
You mean other than the fact that Edith is downright evil sometimes and you should avoid getting on her bad side at all costs?
“Advice?” she repeated. “I’m not sure.”
“You can be honest. I’ve already been warned about Edith.”
“Oh.” Lily laughed. “Yeah, she can be a handful sometimes.” That was putting it mildly. “Make sure you show up on time to status meetings. She hates when people are late. She’ll hold it against you forever.”
“How long have you been working for her?”
“A little over two years.”
“You must know her better than anyone then.”
Unfortunately. “I guess you could say that.”
The bartender returned with Lily’s wine, and she glanced around for Dani. She spotted her outside, holding her phone to her ear and throwing her head back in laughter.
Oliver took another swig of his drink. “I shouldn’t be drinking whiskey,” he said. “I’m supposed to run a 5K next month. I should probably give up alcohol altogether.”
“Wow,” Lily said, impressed. “A 5K, really?”