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“Yeah, I noticed this place has an art supply store and I thought maybe I’d wander around in it. You know, see if I can find anything worth buying. But I was worried it might be a little boring for you and so I was going to suggest we kind of do our own thing for a while and meet up afterwards.”

Excellent!

“Love it!” Amy said. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that.”

Sally laughed.

“Well, I think they meant that for when lovers are a zillion miles apart and not away from each other for only an hour or so.”

“Whatever. I know you start missing me every time I get up to go pee.”

“Desperately,” Sally said, smirking. “And when you’re gone for the length of a shower, I actually start pulling my hair out.”

Amy now had the means to execute her plan and she was suddenly super excited to start acting on it. The bisque was amazing and the bread bowl was divine but she could barely enjoy it because of how anxious she was to get this meal over with. But she forced herself to outwardly display calm. She didn’t want Sally getting suspicious. After all, Sally was a clever woman and “shopping for lingerie” was hardly a reason for a person to wolf down food as if she was running late to catch an airplane.

Finally, though, they were done.

“Okay, then,” Amy began, as they stood outside the restaurant. “Have fun shopping for whatever.”

“You too,” Sally said. “Keep in mind, I like white.”

Amy frowned.

“Huh?”

“The lingerie,” Sally supplied. “You know how I love white. Every time I see you in that white bralette you have we always end up having sex.”

“Right! The lingerie!” Amy nodded. “And you hate red,” she added, remembering Sally mentioning that to her sometime soon after they started dating.

“Can’t stand it!”

Amy tapped the side of her head.

“Got it,” she said. “So…meet up again in an hour?”

Sally seemed to consider that for a moment.

“Yeah, an hour sounds right,” she answered. “I’ll, uh, text you and find out where you are.”

“Perfect!”

They kissed before parting.

“See you!” Amy said, as Sally started walking in the opposite direction.

“See you!” Sally called back.

Once she was certain that Sally wasn’t going to turn around again, Amy started power-walking to the nearest down escalator while simultaneously opening the Lyft app on her phone. Once on the escalator, she walked rather than rode down it.

“Excuse me,” she said, zipping past some other passengers who apparently did not have secret missions to accomplish and were just sedately riding the escalator down like morons. Even as she sped down the conveyance, Amy was still tapping away in the Lyft app and by the time she reached the first floor of the mall again she had her ride confirmed. Someone named Shirley driving a blue Sentra was going to meet her in three minutes. Amy hoped Shirley wouldn’t be late.

But Shirley was there as promised.

“Short trip,” the driver commented once Amy was inside.

“Yeah, well…I’m in rush,” Amy told her.

“Nice day for a stroll, though,” Shirley went on, and Amy rolled her eyes. A chatty driver she could do without. And was Shirley delusional? Nice day? Amy supposed. For Seattle, which wasn’t setting the bar very high. Give her Carlsbad weather any day.