Is my (34m) newer friend (30f) is romantically interested in me?

I’m hoping to get a better sense of if a friend of mine is interested in me. I struggle to read signals, especially when I like someone. A friend told me that they thought she was interested in me and now I can’t get it out of my head.

Some context:

I was her boss. When I quit she cried with me and told me her first thought was she wanted to ask me out for drinks. Her second thought was she would struggle without me there. We haven’t made it to drinks yet but it’s on the calendar for a few weeks out. The way she asked was kind of cute and awkward.

She basically said “I wanna go out to get a drink with you and I want to schedule it otherwise I’ll get awkward and not reach out until 6 months go by and then I’ll be worried about if you even remember me…’”.

While working together she frequently compared me to partners.

She caught my eye frequently to make small jokes or write jokes during meetings. She usually sync’d her lunch to correspond with mine. she listened to music I mentioned off hand.

She gives me affirmations, one day she told me I was joyfully contagious, so funny and so silly.

I dropped by work after I quit and she text me after that I turned her entire day around and was excited for me in my new role but also for us going out.

She texts me randomly but is not a very responsive texter.

I’m just very curious how I should be approaching this bar trip. I am very interested in developing my relationship with her in lots of contexts and activities whether it be more romantic or platonic so I’m hoping for advice to not make a “that guy” mistake.

If people don’t have an opinion from the context I put, how do I approach this appropriately? Do I just let her take the lead?