For the first time that she could remember, Remy was at work and deliberately avoiding working. From the time she woke up until the time she was on her way to the parking lot at the end of the day, her thoughts were typically of nothing outside of what needed to be done and what was the most efficient means of doing it all. It was generally accepted by everyone familiar with her that she was incapable of relaxing, something that wasn’t entirely inaccurate. Remy knew how to relax—or, at the very least, she was familiar with the concept—but she knew better than to allow herself to do so. Suffering was only unpleasant until she could get used to it. After that point, it was simply a new normal, a natural state of being that could be tolerated as long as there was a clearly defined end to it. As long as everything she did along the way was a means to eventual rest as an end, relaxing was a matter that would resolve itself. Getting comfortable before that point was nothing more than a distraction from that goal.

As she sat in her office and watched the sky continue to lighten as the sun continued its ascent, she wondered for the first time if she’d made a mistake in not learning more about what to do with herself other than work when she had the chance. It was maddening to sit there with nothing to do with her hands as time dragged on so slowly that, on more than one occasion that morning, she’d done a double take when looking at the clock as she was almost convinced that it was running backward. She’d expected to return to work after her long weekend away to find a backlog of paperwork that would keep her busy, but there was absolutely nothing left from the weekend or the week leading up to it. Even the bulk of the work for the day ahead of her had been done already, leaving her waiting for a problem to come up just so she would have something to solve. For what felt like the hundredth time that morning, she simultaneously thanked and cursed Kate for whatever it was that she’d done to get Jason to do anything more over the weekend than form unrealistic expectations.

On a normal day, Remy would busy herself with walking the store and finding something in need of attention, both to keep herself busy and to keep anyone else from getting overwhelmed. After seeing the orderly state of her office and her nearly empty inbox, however, she wasn’t surprised to find that nobody seemed to need anything. The store was running like clockwork, with everyone’s seemingly having everything they needed before she’d even arrived. The enthusiasm with which everyone had been proclaiming that they needed nothing from her made it immediately apparent that she had Kate to thank for that turn of events, as well. She wanted to be more appreciative and, while she was certainly grateful, she was also reminded of just how much she’d been counting on coming back to a mountain of paperwork.

Remy had been largely avoiding people since she arrived and, as she’d expected, found only limited success. Not needing anything of Remy had proved itself to be a double edged sword; having no grave concerns to be addressed seemed to give everyone opportunities to find excuses to make minor requests and ask simple questions. None of it was troubling in the sense that it required any significant effort on her part, but all of it was nothing more than excuses to start conversations that always found a way to steer themselves in a single direction. On Friday, Remy had been theorizing as to just how deep the conspiracy to get her together with Allison ran. By the time she’d returned on Monday morning, it was apparent that even her wildest speculation had been a gross underestimation. So far, nobody that she’d spoken with all morning had missed an opportunity to ask how her weekend went. Most were wary enough of her to be conveniently vague and pose the question as being general in nature, but everyone who knew her well enough to know there was nothing to fear from her had been nothing short of relentless in their interrogations. It wasn’t quite time for lunch yet and Remy was already exhausted.

As if on cue, a knock at her office door served less as a request for attention and more as a precursor to having the door fly open so quickly that Remy briefly feared for the hinges. Turning to the door, Remy’s heart sank as she saw Kate’s smiling face, her eyes wide with excitement as she slammed the door shut while crossing the office, heading directly for Remy’s desk. Pushing down the feeling of being a gazelle that had been unfortunate enough to catch the attention of a lioness, Remy sighed and resigned herself to the inevitable.

It’s not like I don’t owe it to her. “It went fine.”

Kate looked slightly surprised by the feeble attempt to temper her excitement, but she didn’t stay distracted for long. Her almost wildly cheerful expression didn’t falter as she took a seat in front of Remy’s desk. “Details. Now.”

Suppressing a laugh for fear of encouraging her, Remy struggled for only a moment to think of any words that would satisfy before giving up on it. “I’m not sure what to tell you. It…it went fine.”

Kate huffed as she crossed her legs, her gaze burning into Remy as she leaned forward. “Good to know. Now what happened?”

Already knowing that it was pointless, Remy tried to recall the events of the weekend and report them in chronological order. It was all such a blur, however, that it was difficult to pull any single significant event from the jumbled pile of memories. In her mind, it was an incomprehensible web of interconnected moments too blissful to consider logically. She could only feel them all at once.

“We…we met in the park, we ate, we went to her apartment—”

“You what?”

Jumping at the sudden shouting, Remy tried to calm her racing heart at the same time she was trying to make sense of Kate’s shift in expression, her smile somehow widening even more and her excitement now bordering on manic. “It…it’s not what you think! Well, not exactly what you…think…”

Just as Remy was realizing that she’d already painted herself into a corner and was trying to figure out how to continue, Kate’s expression suddenly softened. “Okay…okay, maybe this is all a bit much to process all at one time. Why don’t you start with the most important part?”

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“What’s that?”

“Are you happy?”

Remy was taken aback by the question. In all of her attempts to find the right words to satisfy Kate, she hadn’t considered even once why she was asking in the first place. Satisfying curiosity was surely at least part of the motivation, but Remy had never thought that Kate would be considering her happiness at all, much less as a priority. Before she could finish processing the thought, however, she was interrupted by another soft knocking on the door.

“It went fine!”

Kate briefly looked startled by Remy’s shouting before quickly standing and rushing to the door. Remy felt a pang of guilt hit her heart as the door opened and she heard someone quietly shuffling away across the concrete floor, and another hit as she heard Kate’s voice suddenly take on its familiar soothing tone.

“Serenity? No…no, she’s not angry, sweetie. Come on in. No, it’s fine, I promise. She won’t mind.”

Guilt hit Remy’s heart again as she saw Serenity, as white as a sheet and nervously looking down at the floor as Kate all but dragged her into the office. “Serenity…I’m sorry, I…”

Hearing Remy’s voice trail off, Kate took it as a cue to step in. “It’s just a stressful morning, that’s all. I’m sure everyone’s been hounding her for details since she got here…actually, my hands aren’t clean, either.” Kate pulled a chair next to hers and directed Serenity to it before returning to her own.

Remy nodded, feeling ashamed of herself. “That’s true, but…that still doesn’t excuse shouting at you.”

Serenity shook her head so quickly, it seemed to be a reflex. “No, don’t…I mean, I did come to ask how it went. You just looked so nervous before you left, and when I saw you this morning you looked…happy.”

Kate’s eyes went wide again as she studied Serenity for a moment before quickly turning to Remy for confirmation. Seeing how much effort she was putting into restraining herself, Remy felt obligated to say something. Surprisingly, the exchange had made it easier to speak about the matter.

“I…I am happy. Thank you. We…we ended up spending the entire weekend together. We had dinner Friday night and then ended up going to her apartment and talking for most of the evening. The whole time, I just…didn’t want it to end. Every time it seemed like I was supposed to be taking the hint and going home, she would find another reason to stay together a little longer and I couldn’t resist. I ended up sleeping there Friday night, then we kept talking the next morning. That turned into breakfast, then lunch, then dinner again…it just kept going and I never wanted it to stop.”

Remy looked up to see both Kate and Serenity staring at her, their eyes wide and lips slightly parted. Kate looked as if she was fighting herself to not speak, and Serenity’s eyes were already becoming misty. Thinking about it, it was exactly what Remy expected of both of them. It took some time for the silence to be broken when Serenity’s curiosity seemed to finally get the better of her.

“I…I know that feeling. You just can’t let them go, right? Every time you try, it…it hurts.”

Remy smiled as she nodded. “This morning was the first time I woke up and she wasn’t there. I thought I was going to be sick.”

Serenity smiled as well, her excitement slowly beginning to show. “You thought you dreamed the whole thing, didn’t you?”

At first, Remy could only nod as she looked down at her lap and tried to ignore the heat rushing to her face. “It took me a minute to calm down enough to remember everything that happened.”

“You just want to go back, don’t you?”

“I have work to do, and so does she.” Remy heard her words, the tone familiar as she spoke of responsibility and setting aside personal feelings in the interest of one’s duties. Still, it sounded as if someone else was speaking them. “But…yeah. I just don’t feel like myself anymore when I’m not holding her.”

Kate looked as if she had finally lost the battle with herself and was about to let her excitement take control when they were all interrupted by the store’s intercom. The soft music faded out and was replaced by Jade’s voice, something that immediately filled Remy with a sense of dread. She was the only one who hadn’t found her way to the office yet that morning, and the silence was deafening. Remy was sure she was up to something and, as the entire store was filled with the sound of her voice, it finally became clear what that was.

“Remy Dauphine? General Manager Remy Dauphine, please report to the customer service desk. Your incredibly cute girlfriend Allison is here, and she’s cooked a very special lunch and brought it to you. Again, Remy Dauphine, you have a lunch date with your adorable girlfriend Allison. Please report to the customer service desk immediately. For your lunch date. With your gorgeous girlfriend who has made you lunch.”

Both Serenity’s and Kate’s expressions turned toward abject horror as Remy slowly stood, her eyes fixed on the office door. She took a deep breath before storming toward it, the floor seeming to quake with every step.

“They’ll never find her body.”

Looking amused and concerned in equal measure, Kate quickly stood and walked backward, staying between Remy and the door. “Now Remy, sweetheart, you know she’s just teasing you…”

Remy glared at the door as she continued to march toward it, growling her response. “Actions have consequences, and Jade just moved on to the ‘finding out’ stage.”

Both Kate and Serenity followed Remy through the store, attempting to reason with her while trying and only partially succeeding at keeping their laughter at bay. Remy never broke stride as she stormed toward the front of the store, hoping against hope that she was doing a better job of concealing her emotions than anyone else was. No matter how many times she swore retribution or openly questioned the legality of what she was about to do, the truth was that there was only one reason she was so determined to reach her destination. By the time she saw Allison across the store in front of the customer service desk, holding a picnic basket and blushing furiously, Remy had completely forgotten that Jade was there.