Matched

MARINA: You got a second meeting? That's great!

INDIA: Yeah, so maybe we should focus on that instead of our love lives.

MARINA: Okay, but I have some good candidates for you. Let me look through them and get back to you. When you get back from Washington, we can do another meet and greet. Maybe this coming Saturday?

INDIA: Okay, if you insist…

Of course, I have no interest in another one of Marina's matches. Zero for two is not a good track record. Her match for Jon wasn't much better.

MARINA: When are you and Jon going to DC?

INDIA: Wednesday. We'll be back on Friday.

MARINA: Okay. Saturday night, you'll both have a new date. I'll pick someone out for each of you, and maybe this match will work out better.

INDIA: If you think so.

MARINA: I know so. I've been working on the questionnaire and I think it’s working even better now. Give it a chance. You'll see. I have an instinct for this.

INDIA: Uh huh…

MARINA: Don’t you uh huh me, sug. I got this.

INDIA: Later.

MARINA:

I shut off my brain and turned back to the latest episode of OITNB, trying to lose my own troubles by focusing on the troubles of the girls in jail.

Their problems make mine look like successes.

Monday comes and I spend an awkward morning at the office, avoiding Jon as much as I can, ducking into my office when I see him coming down the hall, hiding in the bathroom when he’s out by the water cooler talking to staff. But I can’t avoid him during our weekly meeting to set the agenda for the week. We always do the meeting together, sharing the duties.

I go into his office a half hour before the meeting to make sure we have the agenda down.

"Hey," I say and plop down on the chair across from his desk.

"Hey," he replies. "How are you? Recovered from yesterday?"

"I'm fine." I quickly change the subject. "What's on the agenda for this week, besides our trip to DC?"

We discuss the big project and the various tasks we have to get done this month, and who will be lead on each one. I draw up an agenda on my laptop while we speak, print it off quickly, and we discuss it. After a final revision, I leave his office, glad he didn’t say anything else about what happened on Sunday.

I pass the staff room and see Grant there, sitting on a sofa, talking to a couple of our staff. He sees me and stops talking, then nods to me. I hope he isn't gossiping about Jon and me getting undressed in his office or I won’t be able to face the rest of the staff.

I spend the rest of the day hiding from Jon. I try my best to avoid doing what we would usually do together – coffee, lunch, more coffee, an after-work drink at the local watering hole, maybe a late supper after another couple of hours of work.

In other words, things are not back to normal between us. In fact, they have never been so estranged.

Tuesday comes, and we are scheduled to fly to Washington on separate flights because I cancelled my seat and quickly arranged a meeting with staff that prevented me from travelling with Jon. When Liz tells Jon that we're taking separate flights, I see a muscle in his jaw pulse.

He turns to me, his eyes narrowed. "I thought we could use the time to talk about the meeting, but I guess not."

"You can always text me."

"Yeah, right."

He grabs my arm and pulls me down the hall and into the stockroom, closing the door behind him.