The moment Bethany stepped out of the elevator bank, she saw a group huddling around what must be her cubicle. The low ceiling and tube lighting on this floor of neat cubicle farms felt stifling compared to the executive level. The rows and lows of low partition walls made it easy to see all the comings and goings. She steeled herself for what she knew would be an inquisition. When she approached, they all turned to watch her. It wasn't hard to guess why they were there.

As she drew closer, she heard a chorus of "Hey Bit-Bit!" called out in sing-song voices.

Her cheeks burned with embarrassment. But there was no choice but to face what was to come, so she went to join them.

"Yes, it's a dumb nickname," she said with an embarrassed half-smile.

"Let me guess, you couldn't pronounce Bethany when you were little?"

"You guessed it." She eased past the gathered group to her cubicle. She smoothed down her skirt as she sat down, then rolled her chair to hide her trembling knees under her desk.

"You were with Gabe for a while," Christine noted, peering down at Bethany. There was a sly look of suspicion there. "You must have had a lot to say to each other."

If there was one thing Bethany could change about herself was how easily she blushed. It didn't matter how stoic she presented herself; her blushes always betrayed her. As she thought of a reasonable way to escape this group, she reached down to grab her purse by her feet. "Oh, you know. The usual."

An unfamiliar woman leaned over the top of the cubicle partition in front of her desk. "So Gabe's your brother's best friend, huh? How did they meet? Did he used to come over to your house all the time?"

Christine wasted no time filling everyone in it seemed. As Bethany fumbled inside her tote bag, she noticed a long-stemmed pink tulip across her keyboard. She picked it up and set it aside "They knew each other all their lives."

"Then your parents must be friends. So are you parents' loaded, too?"

She winced at the inelegant question, even as she saw the skepticism in several pairs of eyes looking over her shabby, second-hand clothing. She suddenly felt self-conscious about her ill-fitting jacket with noticeable pilling. "Loaded with debt, sure. My dad worked for Trey a long time ago."

Before those words were out of her mouth Bethany's searching hand still inside her bag was growing more urgent. Her keys were there. There was a compact and a tube of lipstick. But where was her wallet? Meanwhile, questions were fired at her from all sides, adding to her irritation.

"What was he like when he was young? Gabe, I mean."

"Did you ever go on the Blake family vacations? I hear they're spectacular. You must have been there if your families were close. Which of their houses is the biggest?"

"Screw that! I want to know if he's still dating Trisha Earhart! How serious were they?"

"I heard he financed her new movie. They must be serious. You know I thought she looked pregnant during her last interview, and I'm always right about these things."

Bethany sank further and further into her seat with each question. Her mind was trying to recall the last time she had her wallet. Was it that morning when she stopped for coffee on her way to work? She muttered, "I don't know" several times, but that didn't seem to discourage this group.

"We haven't been in touch in the last few years," she finally told them, growing more irritated.

"But you can still pick up the phone and get him to give you a job. In this economy!"

"You look a little like Trisha Earhart, Bethany. Did you and Gabe ever date?"

"God, no!" Her cheeks couldn't burn any hotter. "He was my brother's friend!"

"And? Are you not into men?" someone sneered over her left shoulder. Bethany ignored it. She was retracing her steps in her mind from the moment she left her house. Maybe she left her wallet on her kitchen counter. Perhaps she dropped it in her bedroom when her bag toppled over.

"God, he's so damn sexy!" another voice was now intoning.

"Every time I see him I feel like he's moving in slow motion," added another. "If I ever decide to quit this job, the first thing I'm going to do is throw myself at his face! Watch me."

More snickering. A few fist-bumped each other in agreement.

That same woman added, "You expect a guy like him to be a snotty rich guy. But I talked to him at the holiday gala last year and he was really nice. He actually asked about my kids. You just don't expect that from somebody like him. His direct reports say he can be tough to work for, though."

"He is the boss," Bethany mumbled. She must have had her wallet that morning as she paid for coffee instead of waiting to take advantage of the free barista at B&B.

As the others went on, Christine was watching Bethany closely. She leaned forward now to ask. "I hear Tim's applying to grad school. Will Gabe be moving you upstairs to replace him?"

"No!" Bethany exclaimed just as someone else laughed, "Over Brooke's dead body!"

"So, he used to come over to your house to see your brother, huh?" a woman old enough to be Gabriel's mother asked with a suggestive bite of her lower lip. "Did he ever get dirty the way boys do? Did he ever have to rinse off at your house?"

"He used to use our pool whenever he could in the summers."

"Gabriel Blake in swim trunks? Jesus!" Several of them fanned themselves. "Now do tell! And don't be afraid to go into detail."

"My memory sucks."

"When's the next pool party? Can I come?" someone else asked.

Bethany smiled. "You'll have to ask the new owners."

"Are you close with the rest of his family?"

"I haven't seen them in years."

"What does your brother do now? Does he work for B&B, too?"

There it was.

For a moment Bethany forgot about her missing wallet. "My brother passed away some time ago."

When people hear of a death, especially an untimely one, it's like a pin pricking a balloon. All of a sudden, the air was let out. Suddenly, no one knew what to do or say. Some offered an overabundance of platitudes, followed by question after awkward question. Others would extricate themselves as quickly as possible. The polite ones did, at least.

"Such an awful thing for your parents. How are they coping?"

"My — my parents are gone too."

"No! What?"

There were mutters of condolences, followed by another awkward silence. Bethany looked around at the grim faces around her and wondered if any of them recognized her. Or would they be like most people with short memories...

"What happened? Were they all in an accident together?"

No. They didn't remember. The glare of the national spotlight that turned her life into hell, had faded with barely a whimper. She was just someone who seemed vaguely familiar now. A face they couldn't quite place after a cheap haircut and dye job.

Bethany was about to give her standard response when Keith, who she met in the elevator earlier, joined them. She groaned inwardly and braced herself for more of his snide remarks. To her surprise, he gave the gathered group a disapproving look. "Alright, everyone! Enough of this now. You're making Bethany uncomfortable." He pointed to a woman. "They need access to your computer now."

As a few of the group left, a tiny woman, with a pair of wire-framed glasses perched on her nose, stared in Bethany's direction but seemed to look past her. "Honestly, Gabe didn't do you any favors. I mean, with all his money, he could have done better than giving you this shitty, thankless job. Even if you work really hard, everyone's going to assume that any advancement you make is because of nepotism."

Bethany was careful to appear placid. "I don't have much experience so this is about as good as it gets for me. I'm very grateful to him. I don't know what more I should expect from any friend."

"Ignore them," Keith said once the rest dispersed. His expression seemed kinder, and his smile appeared more genuine compared to earlier. "They're all intimidated by the pretty new girl. If they ever give you a hard time, come to me and I'll tell them to fuck off into oblivion."

"It's fine," she muttered, cautiously.

"What's this I hear that you're a close family friend of Gabe's?"

That explained Keith's change in attitude, Bethany thought. Hackles up, she gave a one-shoulder shrug. "Gabriel has lots of friends."

"But I'm sure you're the prettiest by far." Keith gave her another friendly smile before heading back to his own cubicle two rows over.

All alone, Bethany sat at her desk, spine straight, hands poised over her keyboard. But she sat there without moving or blinking. She could hear a faint buzzing from the overhead light, and she imagined that sound was the sound of the whole office buzzing about her connection to the Blakes. But if they asked more questions if anyone dug deeper? She squared her shoulders and tried to focus on reading her emails. So much introductory information, full of indecipherable jargon and acronyms that made her eyes glaze over... After a few minutes, she gave up.

She grabbed her tote bag before she bolted for the nearest restroom. She locked herself into a toilet stall. But even dumping all the content out didn't turn up her missing wallet. She dropped her forehead against her raised fists. In the safety of the small confined space, she let the jitters overtake her.

Behind her closed eyes, she returned to that moment she came face to face with Gabriel Blake again...

All that time she spent preparing to face him, was for nothing. That first moment she saw him again she felt a jolt that made her forget every well-thought-out word and action she had prepared. No doubt, her new colleagues would say it's due to his good looks. He was beautiful enough to be on billboards, after all. But seeing his familiar eyes and smile brought her back to her parents' kitchen sharing a glass of juice before they raced back out to the pool. He couldn't have known how much that relentless yearning for a past that will never be again felt like being struck by lightning. Luckily he couldn't put off his busy schedule much longer, and she fled his office.

"I could have worked at some coffee shop and found a room somewhere less expensive!" she raged at herself. "But I had to call one of his friends, knowing he'd hear about it. Now I have to face him every day. What am I going to do? What am I going to do?"