She'll drive them to lunch at The Aquarium

"You know the Aquarium has a café," Rashida said. "This time of a weekday it's pretty quiet. Let's go have a talk."

"I'd be pleased to take you," Hank said. "Though it'd be a taxi."

"I'll drive," Rashida said. "I got a new car."

"Lead on," Hank said. "What kind is it?"

Rashida led Hank toward the front of the office.

"Electric convertible, just came out last year. You know the one?"

"I do," Hank said. "My friend Jim test-drove one, but didn't bite. What do you think?"

"Love it," she said. "The leg room was really good, that's what I was most worried about."

She opened the door to the elevator lobby and pushed the DOWN button.

"How does it drive?" Hank asked.

Rashida stood eye to eye with Hank in her white sandal flats, making her a little taller than Jordan. Hank mused that Rashida's leggy proportions would make her just about perfect for a stand-up quickie, face-to-face, if things developed that way. Rashida's curves, back and front, would be as big as Veevee's in his hands, but they didn't stand out quite so much on her tall frame.

"The ride, the pick-up, the steering, everything else, love love love," Rashida said, beaming.

Hank laughed. "That puts a nice smile on your face," he said.

"She's my baby," Rashida said. "Jordan doesn't even like riding in her, much."

"Except to be with you?" Hank said.

Rashida dipped her head. "Well, now," she said. "My man likes what it does to me when I drive my car."

The elevator doors slid open.

"You still doing banking?" Hank asked.

Rashida laughed. "That was Jordan's biggest regret about getting with me," she said. "Lost his best business banker. I'm a securities analyst now. Drive a stack of big honkin' spreadsheets I inherited from the man I took over from. Man was a wizard, but his stuff's a mess."

They got into the elevator. Standing close, eye to eye in the windowless room in the warmth of the old building on a summer day, they breathed in each other's breath. Rashida's long-lashed eyes, big and brown, blinked behind her large round glasses. She took a deep breath.

"Hank," she began.