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His eyes shot upward, widening--a little tootheirl behind the counter Had she seen it? Did she notice the sliver of nail polish he’d forgotten to scrub away?

It was then that she looked up at him, and for aat each other His heart was racing as his ht have witnessed And then her lips parted, her brown eyes fastened on his, sparkling as she smiled at him Fully Without inhibition

It was the loveliest of sly Boldly Telling her that he, too, was ready, even as his heart hammered recklessly

She involuntarily licked her lips, reaching up to tuck that invisible strand again, before turning back to the next custo, but he couldn’t help himself It was soon--too soon after his breakup--but there was no accounting for love, after all, was there?

When he was sure he’d scraped away every last trace of the shi purple lacquer, he carefully folded his newspaper and tucked it beneath his arm He was done here for now He would have to coirl’s shift was over Maybe he could even have a chat with her Maybe they’d hit it off

Maybe it was tiirlfriend

Chapter 3

VIOLET GLANCED AT THE ASSORTMENT OF SCIENCE journals and National Geographics on the table in front of her She alondered why doctors and dentists didn’t fill their waiting rooazines or entertainment news Even tabloids would be better than the assortment in front of her It looked like schoolon steroids She reached for a copy of Scientific American with a cover article about dark es, not really noticing them

A faint headache pulsed at her temples and she knehat it wasit had been there all day, taunting her Just enough discomfort to remind her that she wasn’t entirely in control of her ability Which hy, of course, she was sitting here now, at the appointment Sara had scheduled for her for this afternoon Violet knew Sara only had her best interests in mind That she wanted Violet to be safe And safeto curb her i her, especially in the days after finding a body

Dr Lee opened the door to his office and poked his head out "Ready?"

Violet tried not to sound too morose as she azine back on the coffee table as she got up to follow him

Inside his office, she went to her usual spot, a chair across from the couch and adjacent to Dr Lee’s Funny how they’d already established a routine after only a few sessions Funny, too, how Violet refused to sit on the worn leather couch, noit looked Somehow the couch ave Violet an easy s her the i up on her case "How are you today, Violet?"

There was no pointwords--wasn’t it kind of his job to know if she wasn’t being co exercises and CDs have helped, but I’uneasy"