“It all worked out okay,” she added into his silence. “After bouncing around in a bunch of different classes, mostly art and math, I settled on math, but then I went to work for Teach for America after graduating. Now I teach middle-school math, and I love it.”

“And you’re feeding the part of you who wanted to be a vet with this stuff, I take it?”

Olivia nodded thoughtfully. “I guess so. I grew up on my grandparents’ farm.” She shot a look back at Samson, who was dozing again, lulled to sleep by the movement of the car. “There were always dogs and cats around. One of my favorites looked a lot like him. She passed away last year. Where I live now, there’s a no-pets policy.”

“Sounds to me like maybe you should consider finding somewhere else to live. Where’re you from?”

“Originally, a half hour south of New Madrid. I live in Illinois now, but I teach in St. Louis.”

“Oh yeah? Whereabouts?”

“A magnet school in the city.”

“Huh. It’s a small world, and a small city. Smaller than I care for sometimes. I’ve lived in St. Louis my whole life aside from when I was away at school. Originally, I didn’t plan on returning, but I did. Family and all. And now I’m taking over a practice in Rock Hill, so it seems I’m staying.”

Gabe guessed her to be about twenty-five or twenty-six, a few years younger than him, and he couldn’t help but notice there was no ring on her finger. He wondered if the call she’d made had been to a boyfriend. He couldn’t imagine her not having her pick of them. Not only was she something to look at, but she seemed nice, the kind of nice you didn’t easily forget.

“That’s perspective for you,” she said. “My hometown’s smaller than Sikeston even. Growing up, I drove into New Madrid with my parents and grandparents on weekends to shop ‘in town,’” she said, making air quotes at the last two words. “St. Louis was intimidating the first few months. Especially driving downtown. But I like being immersed in so much culture. Back home, it was cotton and corn and the county fair. You also won’t see me complaining about such a big variety of places to eat within a few square miles of where I work.”

It was on the tip of Gabe’s tongue to ask if she had a favorite restaurant when he realized how easy it was to talk to her. Almost as easy as it was to talk to Yun. Ever since they’d met, for whatever reason, he’d thought of Yun like one of those friends he’d had back in elementary school before he started taking notice of things like boobs and thighs and supple neck lines.