Lucy had just made it before closing time to the little coffee shoppe down the road, having finished seeing her last patient of the day in her office a few blocks away, when she took notice of the despair of the woman in hospital scrubs. Looking down at the second cup of coffee in her hand which she had planned on taking to Oliver as a nice surprise amidst the long hours of grading he’d undertaken, she then approached the woman. “Unless you’re one of those ‘I only take soy’ types, this might ease your pain,” Lucy spoke, offering one of the coffees to the brunette with a slight smile.

Lucy was poring over her most recent read, The Turn of the Screw, a novel that was leaving her quite on edge as she nibbled at a macaron. The sudden interruption of an unfamiliar voice during this particularly thrilling part of the story caused her to jolt and look up, heart hammering in her chest. “Oh- oh, goodness, no, I don’t mind at all.” She glanced around, taking in how busy the little street cafe was now. “It wasn’t hardly this busy when I arrived.”

Lucy grew worried by the slightly blank expression that she’d overdone it with her musings, which was always thoroughly embarrassing. A subtle blush spread across her cheeks but she ignored the prickling heat as the blonde spoke again. “Would you prefer it to be anything, or nothing?” she couldn’t help but ask, figuring this was an analogy equal to the “glass half full, glass half empty” philosophy. “I would consider it one, personally,” she grinned. “I have so many, I’m not sure I could pick just one. But I often find myself rereading Dracula, The Picture of Dorian Gray, or… The Scarlet Letter.” Her pause would have perhaps been an easy hint to anyone who knew her history with Oliver, and she was suddenly very glad the woman was a stranger.

“You’re certainly right about that,” Lucy conceded with a beaming smile. “I enjoy painting and sketching on occasion for fun, but I don’t know if I’d want anyone else to view my mediocre artwork. But I’m sure your sketches are superb, being a designer!”