June 2025 #2
They had spent the past three months at neighboring desks in Google’s open-air floor plan.
Each time Thomas swiveled his chair around and leaned over Carly’s desk, she had to physically stop herself from inhaling his scent: something clean and spicy and indefinably masculine.
Then there were the after-work outings organized by Google’s HR team: A Giants game where Thomas had sat next to her, his knee periodically brushing hers.
An escape room styled as a WWII submarine, where Thomas and Carly had hummed the theme song from Pirates of the Caribbean, making eye contact and stifling laughs as they waited for a coworker to notice (no one ever had).
Occasionally, Carly thought, or rather hoped, that she caught him looking at her with something like interest, but he never crossed the line into flirtation—not once.
No matter how desperately Carly wished he would.
She couldn’t remember ever being this infatuated.
Every time she saw Thomas’s name in her inbox, her heart skipped, even if it was just a work email about PowerPoint formatting.
Normally, she was the one with romantic power: the one who flirted with a guy, hooked up with him, grew bored, and walked away.
Things felt different with Thomas. He was dizzying, intoxicating, and all she could think about was getting to be near him, and when she would see him next.
“You look cold,” Thomas observed, coming to stand next to her. He chivalrously slipped out of his jacket and handed it to her. “No one ever remembers that it’s twenty degrees colder out on the water.”
“Thanks.” Carly gratefully shrugged into the jacket, which was still warm from Thomas’s body heat.
Thomas drummed his fingers restlessly over the boat’s railing. “What are you doing for the rest of the summer? You have a few weeks before school starts again, right?”
“I’m heading home. I haven’t seen my family since Christmas.”
“Two older brothers, right?” Thomas asked, and Carly nodded.
“They both live within a quarter mile of my parents. Which is great, but…” But not for her.
Her brothers were content to never leave Bellville, to work at her father’s construction firm, grappling with lumber prices and permits.
They were baffled by Carly’s drive to apply to Stanford, to work at Google, to see and do more.
“I get it,” Thomas said earnestly. “My sister in Atlanta keeps calling me, begging me to come meet my new nephew. But it’s not like a cross-country flight is easy with work these days, you know? And he’s too young to even remember.”
Carly nodded. She tucked her hands nervously into the pockets of Thomas’s jacket and felt something soft wadded up inside. A wool beanie, she realized, marked with the Google logo.
“Oh, you should wear that, too.” Thomas leaned over to tuck the beanie over Carly’s head. He paused for a moment, letting his fingers linger a beat too long as they tucked a stray hair behind her ear.
Carly couldn’t stand the tension anymore. She rose on tiptoe, ever so slightly, lifting her mouth toward his—
Thomas took an abrupt step back.
“Carly,” he said hoarsely. “No.”
She went hot with embarrassment and quickly looked away, blinking back tears. “I’m sorry, I obviously misread things.”
“You didn’t misread anything.” Thomas’s words were quiet. “But we can’t. You work for me. If anyone caught us together, I’d be fired.”
“Right,” Carly muttered, still staring furiously out at the horizon. What had she been thinking, trying to kiss her boss on a work outing?
Their boat was pulling up to the dock, the air full of drunken laughter as interns spilled out into the waiting party bus. Carly was barely aware of any of it. All she could think about was Thomas, leaning close to her, whispering in her ear so quickly that no one would see.
“My place is nearby. Get off the boat, then meet me at the Starbucks on the corner. I’ll follow once the Google bus leaves for the after-party.”
That was the first night they spent together.
May 2025
“Nate!” Carly ran forward, throwing her arms eagerly around her friend. “Congratulations! I knew you’d get funding!”
Nate stood there for a moment before detaching Carly’s arms from his shoulders. “It’s only a seed round, but thanks.” Nate’s start-up, which was building a new mobile linking platform for app developers, had just won the Stanford Venture Lab Contest.
“I’m so proud of you.” Carly withdrew to one side of their patio, trying not to shout over the noise of the party.
Along with six friends, she and Nate lived in Tree Fort, one of the “pass-down houses” that rising seniors inherited from the previous class.
They all had quirky unofficial names (Hacienda, Xanadu, Lighthouse), and were all full of IKEA furniture that previous generations of seniors had spilled beers on.
Nate met her gaze questioningly. “You know, Carl, we still need a COO, if you want to make things official. You’ve spent so much time helping me, you’re practically a cofounder already.”
Carly felt a pang of guilt at Nate’s words. She’d helped him so much at the beginning, yes, but over the past year…things had been strained between her and Nate ever since she took the job at Google.
Ever since she started dating Thomas.
“What will you do with your Venture Labs grant money?” she asked, evading his offer. “Let me guess: entice someone to come code with you and feed them endless Red Bull?”
Nate shuddered. “Red Bull is disgusting.”
“The engineers at Google disagree. They could barely keep the fridge stocked with it.” Immediately, Carly regretted her words; it felt like every time she mentioned Google, she and Nate drew further apart. But to her relief, he only smiled.
“I already hired Lucas to help with the coding. I used the grant money to pay first and last month’s rent on a house in Redwood City. It’s not much,” he added hastily. “Just one of those old bungalows with two bedrooms and a dining room, but we can use it as a home base until we get real offices.”
“That’s amazing, Nate.”
“I was thinking that it’s been way too long since one of our road trips,” he suggested after a beat.
They both knew why it had been so long since the last road trip—because for the past year, Carly had spent every free minute with Thomas, or obsessing over Thomas, or wondering where he was.
“Maybe it’s time we went down to Santa Barbara? ” Nate added.
Carly glanced up and saw that his liquid brown eyes were on hers—bright, watchful. Full of some emotion she didn’t dare acknowledge.
“Santa Barbara sounds expensive. Isn’t it where Oprah lives?” she replied, hardly knowing what she was saying. Why was her heart racing like this?
“My cousin Patrick is at UCSB. He says we can crash in the free room in his house.” Nate’s face reddened. “I mean, you’ll take the room, obviously. I’ll be on the couch. But Patrick says the beaches are fantastic. And there are wineries.”
Carly nodded. She should say something, break the tension that was building between them—
“There you two are!” Their housemate Anna barreled forward like a tropical storm. “Come help me stop Rob. He’s trying to play sports anthems as the soundtrack for the beer pong game.”
Carly stole a glance at Nate, but he was nodding along with Anna as if nothing had happened. Maybe nothing had happened, Carly told herself. Just two old friends making plans that would never materialize because they were both too busy to follow through.
Because Carly had a boyfriend now.
Anna slung an arm drunkenly over each of their shoulders. “We have so much to celebrate,” she singsonged. “Nate’s Venture Labs award and Carly signing her offer letter!”
Carly felt rather than saw Nate stiffen.
“You signed your offer letter? I hadn’t realized.” He bent around Anna to look at Carly. All the joy that had been on his face mere minutes ago seemed to have been wiped away.
“Yes, I signed,” Carly said quietly. Anna shifted awkwardly, seeming to sense her mistake, and stepped away from the two of them.
“And you’ll be in the Global Strategy group?” Nate asked.
“I made another pitcher of margaritas! Who wants some?” Anna exclaimed, but they both ignored her.
“Actually…I talked to HR today, and they said I could start in User Experience,” Carly admitted.
“User Experience,” Nate repeated flatly. He craned his neck as if he saw someone near the house. “I’ll go deal with Rob and the playlist. See you guys later.”
Carly knew why Nate was disappointed in her.
Unlike Global Strategy, which was competitive and highly sought-after, User Experience was notoriously boring, filled with consumer surveys and focus groups.
But it would put Carly in an entirely different position in Google’s org chart. Nowhere near Thomas.
Which meant she could keep dating him without compromising his job.
Thomas and Carly had now been dating for almost nine months.
Not that Carly saw him all that often; his work schedule was erratic, and he traveled constantly, so they often went several weeks without spending time together.
Then he would text that he was back and offer to take Carly to dinner.
They would meet at Mountain Mike’s for pizza or pick up ramen before heading to her room at the pass-down house.
Thomas usually slept over, because it made no sense for him to go all the way back to San Francisco when the Google offices were so close.
Carly knew how important his job was, so she tried not to complain.
Like that time he’d taken her on a romantic weekend to Sonoma, only to announce at breakfast on Saturday that he needed to abruptly head back—leaving Carly to cancel all the wine-tasting reservations she’d made.
Or when he’d canceled on her birthday dinner at the last minute.
Via text. Sorry, I would call but I’m currently on with Annissa, he’d replied, naming the head of Global Strategy.
Going to be pulling an all-nighter, have to cancel dinner. Have a great birthday!