Saturday

B y , Violet had cleaned the whole house from top to bottom, even though she wasn't a messy person to begin with. Apollo, whom she'd also bathed on Friday night, was still getting used to his name, looking at her with that cute, confused expression whenever she said it in the same tone that she used to call him ‘Little Guy' in. She'd put an adorable little green tie around his neck this morning, and he'd been trying to get it off ever since.

"You're going to be dressed like a gentleman to meet a lady," she instructed and handed him a bacon-flavored treat.

He devoured it and had no idea that it was good for his tiny puppy teeth, too. Proud of herself, Violet finished getting dressed, trying to go for casual--morning-alone-in-her-house but also look like she cared that company was coming over at the same time. She turned the coffee maker on and was glad that she'd bought the expensive one, but she also had the electric kettle ready in case Rachel wanted tea instead. There was also a platter of pastries on her kitchen table that she'd bought from a good bakery that morning, making an early trip to get them fresh. She'd chosen a variety because she didn't know what Rachel liked. After pulling her hair back into a ponytail that clearly said casual , she heard the doorbell ring and took a deep breath.

"Here we go."

"Hi," Rachel said when Violet opened the front door. "Oh, you look…"

"I look?"

"I mean that you look nice."

"I do?" She pretended that she hadn't spent an hour picking out what to wear to literally let someone come over for coffee and to play with her dog.

"Yeah. Like, casual. I haven't seen you in casual yet; just in business attire."

"You too. You look nice, too," Violet replied and gave her a smile.

It was true that she hadn't seen Rachel in casual wear, either. Technically, the older Rachel had been wearing a pair of jeans and a sweater, but Violet didn't think that counted.

"Come in," she said, remembering one second too late to invite the woman in, making things a little awkward.

"Where's Apollo?" Rachel asked.

"Oh, I see. You're just here to hang out with my dog, and I'm the only one here who has opposable thumbs to work the doorknob and let you in," she teased, and Rachel laughed as she walked in. "You should know that he has a doggy door, so if you really just want to see him, go around to the side gate and into the backyard. Then, just call him literally any name, and he'll come running."

"I'm here to see you, too," Rachel said. "But I assumed a dog would be jumping all over me by now."

"He's waiting in the kitchen. I didn't want him to give you the impression that he has no manners."

"He's just waiting?"

"We haven't gone to obedience school yet, but surprisingly, he's a very good dog." Violet motioned for Rachel to follow her through the foyer and into the kitchen, where Apollo was chewing on a giant bone that the vet also recommended for the health of his teeth. "And he chooses bone over visitor every time."

Apollo looked up when he heard her voice, and his tail started wagging.

"He's so cute. Look at those ears." Rachel laughed a little.

Apollo moved from lying on the bed she had for him in the kitchen to a sitting position and tilted his head.

"He's wearing a tie." Rachel pointed at him.

"He's a gentleman," Violet shared. "Come on, Apollo. No jumping," she told him.

But he quickly bounded over to Rachel and instantly jumped up.

"Well, we're clearly still working on some things." She shook her head at him.

Rachel knelt down to rub the puppy's ears, letting him sniff around her and jump back on her legs again, knocking her back a little. Violet worried he'd bowl the woman over and cause her to smack her head against the kitchen floor or something, but Apollo was gentle enough, and Rachel was laughing as he continued to move around her, sniffing and licking. Then, the dog started running around the open living room, which connected to the kitchen, and back to Rachel before he took off again. Rachel sat up and laughed at the antics .

"Coffee? Tea?" Violet asked then.

"Puppies are the cure for everything, aren't they?" Rachel said, not answering the question.

"They are pretty great, yeah. I think I got the jackpot with him. He's such a well-behaved dog, and now that he can run whenever he wants, the massive amount of energy he used to have when I got home from work has tempered a bit, which is nice. So, coffee?" she repeated.

"Sure," Rachel replied. "Can I come over and play with him and help with any excess energy? I'm still in an apartment, and it's on the sixth floor and is a small one-bedroom. I don't want to get a dog because I work late, but also because it's a tiny place, so they wouldn't have any space to run. Plus, I know I'd be too tired to take them up and down six floors to go outside."

"You can come over here whenever you want," Violet offered and smiled as she poured two cups of coffee. "Just go through the back gate. He'll probably be out there, or you can call him, and he'll run out."

"I wouldn't come over without you being here," Rachel replied. "You're half the draw of this clearly nice house."

Violet turned and saw Apollo was nowhere to be found.

"Did he run outside?"

"Yeah," Rachel said. "Just booked it." She laughed. "It was cute, like you said it would be."

Violet turned to look out the window and found him running toward a toy, tossing it into the air and then chasing it down and doing it again.

"He's a classic only child, isn't he? He can play by himself and probably make up whatever game that is," she suggested.

"What are the rules?" Rachel asked.

"No idea." Violet laughed. "Your coffee." She handed Rachel a mug. "And I'm only half the draw of this place?"

" At least half. And that's pretty good. I mean, he is an adorable puppy," Rachel teased.

Violet smiled at the woman and motioned for her to sit at the table.

"You can watch the adorable puppy from here, and he'll be back inside soon," Violet said and sat down.

"You did a whole thing." Rachel pointed to the pastries.

"I'm generally a pretty early riser, even on the weekends. Usually, I do a little extra work over coffee, but sometimes, I go to the café not far from here and get myself a coffee instead of making one. And their pastries are pretty good. I went this morning."

"So, this is your second cup of coffee?"

"Third, technically. I had one here, and I did do a little work before I went. Then, I ordered a double espresso there, and now, this one. Cream? Sugar?" She pushed the two containers she'd also placed on the table toward Rachel.

"Thank you for this," Rachel said.

"For what?"

"I don't have much to do besides work, and I don't think I've had breakfast with anyone in a long time. Maybe since college. And that was in the dorm cafeteria, where I usually ate alone."

"Why?"

"I was really young," Rachel reminded her and went to add cream to her coffee.

"Oh, right."

"I was just really good at math. That's why."

"Why what?" Violet asked and added sugar to her own coffee.

"Why I graduated high school so early. I thought you asked."

"Asked what? Why you graduated early?"

"Yeah."

"No, I asked how old you were, but that was it."

"Oh, weird." Rachel shrugged. "Déjà vu, maybe. Everyone always asks that after I tell them. I guess I just assumed you did."

"No. But if you want to tell me, I'm all ears."

"It's just that when I do, it usually becomes all people want to talk about. I put on a brave face that day at the elevators because I was still angry with you for taking my job, but I really am horribly awkward sometimes, so sorry for making this morning about me."

"You haven't," she replied and took a sip of the still-too-hot coffee, slightly burning her tongue. "If you want to talk about something else, we can, but I don't mind learning more about you."

In fact, Violet preferred it because so far, she thought Rachel was adorable and sweet and clearly brilliant. She was also beautiful, and it was taking everything in Violet not to get ahead of herself here. She kept having to silently remind herself that this was a work colleague and that they'd just met. While they hadn't had time for lunch all week, they'd shared a few glances in meetings, and those glances had come with soft smiles. They'd run into one another in the breakroom once and chatted for a few minutes before Violet had to run, and then, there had been the drinks that first night.

They'd finished the bottle that night, and Violet hadn't laughed that hard in a very long time, maybe ever. She always handled her wine well, and they'd ordered an appetizer, so she'd felt fine driving, but Rachel hadn't and she also hadn't wanted to leave her car in the garage overnight, so they'd remained in the bar for another hour, with Rachel ordering coffee and another appetizer to help her sober up, giving them more time to talk and get to know each other. Everything Violet had learned about Rachel so far only made her want to learn more, so even if they did make this morning all about her, Violet really had no problem with that.

"You don't want to know if I'm like the guy from Good Will Hunting ? That's usually what everyone wants to know."

" Are you?"

"No," Rachel told her.

"Then, no," Violet replied quickly. "I think intelligence is helpful in life. It can certainly take you far where work is concerned, and clearly, it's done that for you: you're twenty-seven and already a VP at a huge company. But I also don't think that intelligence can be defined by one thing, nor does it define a whole person."

"Not defined by one thing?" Rachel smiled a little.

"There are different types of intelligence," Violet said in response.

"Yeah, there are," Rachel agreed. "And I only have the one kind."

Violet laughed a little and took one of the small plates she'd stacked next to her and set it in front of Rachel, who helped herself to a pastry.

"So, tell me about you," Rachel changed the subject.

"What about me?"

Rachel looked around and asked, "When did you get this place?"

"When I moved for the job. The previous owner was looking to offload it because she was relocating for a relationship, I think. I got it for a great price, which is nice because I had to use a little of my savings recently to fix the pool."

Why had she brought up the pool? The story about the pool could easily lead to the story about the device, and she didn't want anyone to know about that thing. At least, not yet.

"What was wrong with the pool?"

"The lining was leaking, and they found something wrong with the foundation, too," she answered, keeping it simple. "Took them days and thousands of dollars to fix, but it's done now. "

"Do you use it often?"

"I've never used it, technically."

"What? You have a pool, and you don't use it? I'm in the shared-apartment-building one every morning unless I need to sleep in for some reason."

"This morning?"

"Yeah, I'm an early riser, too," Rachel told her with a smile before she took a sip of her coffee. "I wanted to be on the swim team, but I was too young and too small at every turn. I just swim laps, but it's my workout of choice, and it helps me relax at the same time. I can't believe you have your own pool, and you don't even use it."

"It wasn't why I bought the place, but it is something I planned on using one day. I haven't gotten around to it yet. Why are you in that apartment, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Oh, I moved here for this job, too," Rachel replied. "I only lived about an hour and a half away, but I was in a condo there, and after making the drives for all the interviews both times, I knew I didn't want to make the commute every day. It's tough when I already swim in the mornings to calm my mind before work, and then I'd have to sit in traffic for close to two hours two times a day."

"That sounds awful, actually."

"It would've been, so I rented the apartment. I'm month-to-month, which is nice. It costs a little more to not have a lease tying me to the place, but it's worth it to be able to move when I want. A lot of my stuff is still in the condo, but I've moved some of it here. I rented furniture for the time being."

"Will you keep the condo?"

"I might rent it out and take the supplemental income. I like to have money for a rainy-day fund."

"Rainy day?"

"Trips that I want to take; silly bucket list items; stuff like that. I'm usually just saving my money. I'm pretty frugal because I never know what's going to happen, but I plan to have fun one day."

" Plan to have fun?" Violet laughed a little and took another drink.

"More fun than it sounds," Rachel said with a shy smile. "I mean, right now, I'm in that focusing-on-my-career phase. This is my first VP role, so I plan to focus on that for the next couple of years. Then, I'll maybe start thinking about settling down. I'd like to get married one day, and that's where the trips come in. I can take one on my own, obviously, but I feel like I'd have more fun with someone else, and I think it would be the most fun if it's with someone I'm in love with. Not like I have a ton of friends to volunteer to go with me, but I'd love to see Paris with the woman I love, or maybe Rio. I'd like to see Alaska too, but maybe a cruise for that trip."

Violet had certainly heard the woman part, confirming what she'd already known, but the piece she was most focused on was that Rachel wanted to concentrate on work for the next couple of years and would then think about settling down. That part hurt a little because Violet had thought they were progressing toward something here. She knew it would be complicated to broach the topic because they worked together, so she needed to be careful, but she'd been sure that Rachel was feeling something and wouldn't mind if Violet at least asked if she'd be interested in having dinner sometime. It made sense, though: Rachel was still young and was career-focused right now. Violet took another drink of her coffee in an attempt to hide her disappointment.

"I'm thinking kids would come later, but that depends on the woman I marry," Rachel continued.

"Why's that?"

"Well, I want them, but she has to want them as well, right?"

"You'd marry someone who doesn't want kids when you want them?"

"I don't know." Rachel squinted in thought. "I just want one person for the rest of my life. I've always been a bit of a romantic in that way. And if she's not interested in having kids, or – well, this is maybe too much information since we're colleagues and possibly new friends – but I've… I've always been attracted to older women."

"Older?"

"Yeah, older than me. I think it's because I grew up so quickly and spent time around people who were usually five to ten years older than me. Anyway… If I want kids, but she's not interested because she's past that part in her life or something, I need to be open to that."

"What if she's older than you and does want kids?"

"That would be amazing," Rachel replied.

"How many do you want?"

"Well, I was thinking I'd start with one and see how that goes."

Violet picked up a pastry to occupy her mouth with, trying so hard not to ask Rachel how she'd feel about twins.

"And I want to have at least one myself. This is in a few years, at least – maybe four or five or something – but I'd like to be pregnant."

"God, not me," she blurted out.

"No kids for you?"

Violet met Rachel's eyes and felt the need to correct immediately.

"No, I want kids. I just don't want to be pregnant. I was kind of hoping my future wife would want to have them."

"Them? How many?"

"Honestly, I've pictured myself having two kids from the time I was in high school. I don't know why, but I felt like two would be kind of perfect."

Rachel smiled and said, "Two would be nice."

"What about starting with one for you?" she tossed back.

"God, what if I had twins?" Rachel said.

Violet promptly choked on the bite of pastry she'd just taken.