I let out a long sigh. I’d been replaying the entire date with Serena in my head since I’d left her apartment last night. “Okay, first of all, I did not call it ‘panicking,’” I said, giving her The Look. “It was really nice. I just realized last night that she’s not who I wanted to be with. And once that hit me, I knew I couldn’t stay. So when she invited me into her bedroom, I told her I had to go home.”

I didn’t mention to Perrine that Franny had also been in my thoughts the entire time, and that I’d been comparing every move Serena made to her. I couldn’t stop thinking about the way Franny had made me laugh the other night at my office—at myself, and the world. And how then, later, our conversation had shifted to things that were deeply personal. I was never bored when I was with her. In fact, I couldn’t think of anything else when she was around. And also, apparently, when she wasn’t.

“Because you said you had a doctor’s appointment.”

I nodded.

“On a Sunday morning.”

“It’s not impossible!” I protested.

“Hayes, I’m a freakin’ doctor. Most of us stay home on Sundays, unless we’re on call.”

I tilted my head back. Maybe staring at the ceiling would save me. I wasn’t sure how to explain this to Perrine, who rarely pushed me on dating but still had a hard time hiding her eagerness for me to “find someone.” The date had been good. Great, even. It’s just that the feeling I’d expected—some uptick in pulse, a quiver of excitement, a deluge of nerves—never happened.

Even just the sight of Franny working on the floor with her earbuds on clawed at something animalistic and raw inside me: the urge to confess all my feelings, to feel the weight of her on top of me, right there on those wood floors. And when that feeling never materialized with Serena, it didn’t feel right to stay.

“So you would have rather I’d slept with someone I’m not entirely into?”

“No! No, I’m definitely not saying that. And I’m not trying to criticize you. Just getting to the bottom of what was going on.”

Freakin’ doctors. Always trying to solve things.

“I guess I just kept thinking about how much I enjoyed having dinner with Franny the other night. And how dinner with Serena wasn’t that.”

Perrine’s eyes morphed into laser beams, narrowed at my head. “You didn’t tell me you had dinner with Franny.”

Wait, hadn’t I?

“Yeah, I did.” I crossed my arms in front of my chest.

Perrine shook her head, clearly pleased that she’d gotten this information out of me.