Then she paused.
“Not yet.”
She opened the office door.
Captain Pancake stood on the other side.
Ellie stepped around him and walked toward the back exit.
He watched her go.
Then he looked at me.
There are few things less helpful during an emotional crisis than a golden retriever who appears disappointed in your choices.
“I know,” I told him.
Captain Pancake sat on my foot.
Outside, Ellie opened the door to the alley.
Bright afternoon light filled the shop.
My phone started ringing again.
Rachel.
One hour had apparently become twenty-three minutes in management time.
I looked toward the back door.
Then at the screen.
For the first time since Jen had said my name, I did not know which version of me was supposed to answer.
Ten
Ellie
Three years earlier
The meeting that changed my life was about blue.
Not grief.
Not death.
Not the fact that I had stopped sleeping properly and had worn the same black trousers three days in a row because choosing clothes required a level of commitment I no longer possessed.
Blue.
Specifically, whether a new insurance company should useOcean Confidence,Reliable Horizon, orModern Trustin its advertising campaign.
All three colors looked exactly the same.
I had been staring at them for seventeen minutes.
“The research group responded most positively to Modern Trust,” Martin said.
