Page 65 of Semantics

“Arlowe, why do you do this?” Sarai asked.

“Do what?”

“Act like we’re still twenty-two,” Sarai replied. “Go out to pick up women and–”

“Have sex sometimes?” Arlowe interrupted. “Because I want to. It’s not like I’ve met the woman of my dreams. If and when that finally happens, this all stops. Well, I hope she and I still go to a bar and make out in a dark corner because that’s just a good way to keep the passion in the relationship.”

“How are we all still so single?” Enya asked. “I mean, we’re smart, accomplished women, and I’d argue we’re all at least moderately attractive. Why can’t we find anyone?”

“Arlowe did, it sounds like,” Violet replied.

“For sex. She was looking for one night,” Arlowe said.

“She told you that?” Enya asked.

“She’d gone there to meet someone on some app, and they never showed. They’d planned on hooking up, so that was what she was looking for. I appreciate when they’re upfront. I try to be, too.”

“At least, Violet’s getting some,” Sarai noted as she sat down.

Violet followed and took Arlowe’s coffee cup, stealing a sip from it before handing it back.

“I’m surprised you didn’t go out again last night,” Arlowe said.

“Needed a break?” Enya asked.

“You could say that, yeah,” she said with a little smile.

“Going to see her tonight?” Arlowe asked.

“I don’t know. I was thinking about maybe going out tonight.”

“With Stella?”

“No, with you all. To celebrate the new software we just bought with cheap drinks and happy-hour appetizers.”

“What if we go to the club instead?” Arlowe suggested. “Dancing, good music, and they have food, too.”

“A club?” Violet asked, thinking about the cover, the expensive drinks and food, and the fact that the music wasn’t her style.

“Why not? More fun than some bar. And we’re celebrating, right?”

“Maybe. I don’t know,” Violet said.

She heard her phone ping from where she’d left it inside the garage and stood to retrieve it.

“I bet it’s Stella sexting her,” Sarai teased.

“Yeah, that’s why she’s jumping out of her chair to go check,” Arlowe added.

“You’re all assholes,” Violet said as she walked.

When she got to her phone, she checked the screen, but there wasn’t a notification there, which meant it wasn’t a text or a social media account. She unlocked the phone and opened her email app after seeing a notification there.

“What the hell?” she asked after reading it.

“Was I right? Was it Stella?” Sarai asked.

Violet looked up and saw all three of them walking to their respective desks in the garage.