She laughed, eyes brightening when our server came to get our drink order.
“Do you have any mocktails?” I asked.
The server rattled off a few options and I chose something with cucumber in it.
“I’ll have the same,” Violet said.
I shrugged. “You can get a drink. You had a long week. I just have early practice.”
Vi waved a hand. “No, the mocktail sounds good.”
The server left us and we hit a slightly awkward patch.Violet seemed unaffected. “Owen was nice, by the way. When he brought the keys.”
My jaw set and I had to fight a scowl. “How nice?”
Violet’s lips curled into a smirk. “Feeling jealous, Jones?”
I forced myself to take a deep breath. “Do you really want me to answer that?”
She leaned in conspiratorially. “Between us, he’s not quite my type. You know. Eighteen. Undeveloped brain.”
“Actually, I think he’s twenty,” I said. “I could put in a good word for you if that changes things.”
“Ooh, don’t tempt me. Twenty’s a whole different ballgame.”
Our drinks arrived and we placed our dinner order. I lifted my glass to toast Vi, then froze.
“To old friends,” I said, right when she said, “To new beginnings.”
Her chest flushed when we clinked glasses and she looked down into her drink. What did she mean? She was the one drawing the “just friends” line. And I wasn’t mad about it.
Well, not mad. Disappointed? Yeah. I was disappointed. Eleven years, with the last three being almost torturous.
I shifted my focus to her and notus.
“So, I guess . . . how’s life?” I asked.
She released a pleased sigh. “Good overall, I think. New job is challenging. Love my supervisor, but we’ve been working together since Boston. My apartment is, well, you saw it. It’s fine. I hate how much I have to drive here, but it’s nice enough. I miss Boston a little.”
“Surprised you left,” I said. “It was always your happy place.”
She sniffed in a breath. “It was time. I was ready. I’ve been,” she trailed off, then focused on my eyes. “I’ve been trying to figure out the purpose of everything, right? Thething I study at work, it seemingly happens for no reason. Or at least, it’s not fair that some people have to deal with stuff like that, and the rest of us get off scot-free.”
A pang shot through my belly. She’d had plenty to deal with, so much that she delayed facing it. But I just nodded, encouraging her to go on.
“And then, a lot of my friends in Boston were settling down. My sister. Guy and Kitty, though not in Boston. I guess I just want more than me in my apartment, at my job, and going to the gym sometimes. I’ve considered getting a dog.”
I chuckled. “This, from a not-a-dog person. What kind?”
“I am a dog person.” She glared at me and pulled out her phone. “You know what a Min Pin is?”
She brought up a picture of a tiny black dog with brown markings on its face and chest. “That’s cute as hell.”
“Right? Who could resist those little faces?”
I ran my fingers down the chilled glass in front of me and narrowed my eyes. “I maintain that you’re not a dog person. You were scared of the border collies on the farm.”
She planted me with a look. “AndImaintain that those dogs were insane. That’s why.”
