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“Well, this has been fun,” Violet said. “All this talk of murder and death for no reason.”

“Oneof us has to try to keep things interesting around here. Allyouwant to talk about is work.”

“Because we’rehereto work.”

“Yeah. Yeah,” Courtney replied and set her phone on the table next to the sofa in Violet’s office. “We’re done, though, right? Nothing new?”

“Nothing new, no.”

“Can I maybe sneak out of here a little early, then? I have a date tonight that I’d like to have some extra time to get ready for.”

“What do you needextratime for?”

“Shaving my legs. Do lesbians not do that before a date in case it goes really well?”

“We have an inappropriate relationship,” Violet replied flatly.

Courtney laughed and said, “It’s a fourth date. He’s been a total gentleman. I just want to be prepared in case it gets that far.”

“Get out of here. Wait… On one condition.”

“What?”

“Never talk to me about your possible sex dates again,” Violet told her.

Her assistant laughed and replied, “Deal.” She stood, grabbed her phone, and then added, “But you’ll tell me aboutyours, right? You never have, but I’ve also never seen you with anyone, so I’m not sure if you even–”

“Oh, my God.Leavebefore I change my mind.”

Courtney laughed again and left the office. Violet tilted her head back against the sofa and thought about how much work she had to do and how it must be nice to be able to take off early and go on a date. She hadn’t been on a date since before she’d moved to this town and had taken this job. Violet loved it on most days, and she’d never had an assistant before or this high of a salary that also came with a company car and a ton of nice benefits, but it also kept her really busy, and that was the reason she hadn’t been on a date in about five years.

Well, that, and the fact that she’d gotten her heart broken when her ex had just dumped her out of the blue, saying she was no longer in love after four years together, living in the same house, raising a dog together, and then finally, getting engaged.

Violet wasn’t sure how someone could take all of those steps with another person only to turn right around and take them all back. She’d been the one to move out, and her ex had gotten the dog and the house, but at least Violet had gotten her ring back and had been able to sell it to a pawn shop and make back almost as much as she’d paid for it. She now missed the dog more than the woman who’d hurt her, but that hadn’t been the case initially.

Planning her whole life to be with someone and having that someone tell her that they were no longer in love with Violet had done things to her. It had frozen her in time. She hadn’t wanted to date at all for two years after that, and when she’d tried the online thing, she hadn’t found anyone she was interested in meeting in person, so she’d stopped, and then, she’d gotten this job.

Now, she was in a new town, had a new house, and was starting over. The move and the job change had taken place about a year ago, though, and she was settled enough now. Yes, work was busy for her, but as she sat on her sofa and really thought about it, it was an excuse. She was putting off trying to meet someone because she was still hurting from the last time. It had come so completely out of nowhere, and Violet didn’t like surprises. Good or bad. She liked to plan things.

She had her five-year plan, a ten-year plan, a retirement plan, and backups for all of those. She’d live in this house, which she’d bought because she could see herself living there for the next five to ten years, but if she got another job away from this city, she could also go to plan B and move. It wasn’t like these plans were written down on a wall somewhere, with a red string connecting certain points. She just knew what she wanted.

At thirty-six, Violet felt it was important not to beat around the bush with herself or with people in her life. She’d wanted to own her own home again, so she’d bought one. She wanted a better job, so she’d earned one. She wanted a wife one day and, hopefully, soon because she also wanted kids, and she didn’t want to have them herself. That meant that she needed to find someone who would want to have the kids for them or that they would adopt or use a surrogate. That kind of plan took time to come to fruition, but while she had the house and the job, she still hadn’t gone on a single date since her ex had sat down across from Violet at the dinner table one night and told her that she was moving out.

Violet arrived home at around eight at night a lot of the time, choosing to work in the office to avoid traffic, but it was mainly to delay the loneliness she felt returning home and finding no one there waiting for her. Even though it had been five years now, she still hadn’t quite adjusted to coming home to an empty house.

She hefted her bag onto the counter and looked around the kitchen, sighing loudly to herself.

“I should get a new dog or something,” she stated out loud. “Maybe a cat. No, a dog. Yeah, a dog. That will force me to come home from work at a normal time, and maybe I’ll meet a beautiful woman at a dog park, and we’ll fall madly in love.” She laughed at herself.

Then, she poured herself a glass of white wine and sat down at the table, looking out at the backyard and the pool she never used.

Ten Weeks Later

“Hi, little guy. Are you ready to go home?” she asked her brand-new puppy.

The German Shepherd didn’t answer her, but his giant ears, which were too big for his head, flopped as he tilted his head to the side.

“Yeah? Come on,” Violet said and picked him up.