“I just don’t understand how you could put that much time and effort into something and walk away from it so easily,” she’d said once. Even though it had been more than a decade, she still found ways to weave it into conversations.

Lately, she’d switched gears to focus on why Claire hadn’t found anyone to settle down with yet.

“It’s because you’re too picky,” her mother had said. “You have to stop judging men so harshly. Like how you judged being a lawyer before you even had a chance to get settled in the field.”

Two hours after she and Bill had sat down, Claire was down to the final bites of her asparagus, and she put her fork down. It was a little after ten o’clock. He’d ordered slowly and ate even slower, and the restaurant had started to clear out. She didn’t want to finish first; she wouldn’t know what to do with her hands. But Bill had been talking almost nonstop, and he’d barely made a dent in his brick chicken.

“Can I just say that you’re really pretty, and I really like this whole ‘natural’ look you have going on?” he asked, leaning forward, rolling a tightly coiled tendril of hair near her temple between his fingers. Claire jerked back in her seat, but he didn’t seem to notice. “I’ll be honest, that’s really how I prefer my women. Looks like you just rolled out of bed. It’s kind of hot…”

Strike three.

If she were honest with herself, Claire had known from the minute he had walked in that he probably wasn’t “the one.” She had met a lot of men in her life, and she’d become fairly skilled at determining which ones had potential and which ones were more likely to have major life regrets.

Now, as she sat across from him, she was ready to go, tired of having to try so hard, and tired of feeling less confident than she was in almost every other part of her life. There was too much to prove on these dates.

She didn’t have anything to prove at work.

In fact, she had solved every single case she’d taken on in the last ten years.

It wasn’t something she bragged about, at least not often. It was worth noting, however, that there were very few detectives who held the same record on her team, and she was the only woman in that position. It took focus, dedication, and, above all, a complete commitment to seeing every case through from start to finish.

When Claire Puhl took aim, she didn’t miss.

She wished the same were true for her dating life.

But right now, she just wished she could go home.