On a normal day, Ashley would have already been there. Oftentimes by nine, Ashley had gone next door to the Brew Ha Ha and been back with coffees and breakfast, which Theo was more than happy to eat even though she usually ate with Indigo before school. It was hard to say no to Vivienne’s banana nut bread, or her pain au chocolat. No matter how much Theo enjoyed cooking, there was no arguing the fact that food cooked by someone else always tasted better.

“Ash?” Theo called as she unlocked the back door and stepped into the kitchen. She hadn’t expected an answer, but she tried one more time. “Ashley?”

Theo took her bag into her office and booted up her computer, then went into the lobby and turned that computer on, too. She left the building, locking the door behind her and went off in search of caffeine and fattening pastries.

Back in her own office again, Theo munched on her chocolate chip brownie while she did some research. She discovered that online dating began as a class project at Stanford back in 1959. Two students launched the Happy Families Planning Service using a questionnaire and an IBM 650 to match forty-nine men and women.

Operation Match launched in 1965 in Harvard. This time, a three-dollar fee was charged for submitting a questionnaire, and six months after the project began, more than 90,000 of them had been received bringing in $270,000 in profits.

Mr. John Broussard took things a step further in 1974 when he launched Cherry Blossoms, a mail-order bride catalog. Chat rooms became popular in the 1980’s, and Kiss.com, the first modern dating website kicked off in 1994. In 1995, a man by the name of Gary Kremen started Match.com. In all of her research so far, that last one was the only app Theo recognized.

“I can’t believe online dating has been in business for sixty-five years,” she said to herself as she took the last bite of her brownie.

Theo heard the sound of keys in the front door, and she glanced at the time readout on her computer screen. She’d been researching for less than half an hour. While the information she’d gleaned was somewhat interesting, she didn’t feel any smarter about the plethora of dating apps that were available.

“Hey, Theodora,” Ashley said, her heels clicking on the hardwood as she made her way toward Theo’s office. She appeared in the doorway. “I’m sorry I’m late. Your first appointment is at ten o’clock, and I’ve got everything ready for that client.”

“You look nice,” Theo said with a smile.

Ashley had her thick, dark hair pulled back into a high ponytail, and her eyeliner was perfectly applied. Her eyes weren’t as bright or as clear as they normally were, and her face was puffy from crying.

“I’ll stay late, or work through my lunch hour to make up the time.”

“There’s no need,” Theo told her. “We’re set for our first client. I’m guessing you’ve got everything in order for the rest of our appointments today, right?”

“I do.”

“Then everything is good. You might need to go and apologize to Vivienne, though.”

Ashley looked worried. “Why?”

“Well, she tried to play it off, but she was expecting you this morning instead of me, and I obviously fell short.”

A small smile lifted the corners of Ashley’s mouth. “Stop it,” she said. “I didn’t mean to be late. I took something for a headache this morning at about two o’clock. It had a sleep aid in it, but those things usually don’t do a damn thing for me, so I wasn’t worried about it. It didn’t get rid of my headache, but I did have a hard time dragging myself out of bed. I’m sorry.”

“Why don’t you go and get yourself a coffee. Maybe some caffeine will help with your headache and feeling sleepy. Oh, could you grab a brownie for me while you’re over there? I already had one this morning, but I swear Vivienne puts something addictive in her food because I can’t stop thinking about devouring at least four or five more.”

“Maybe I’ll just order a bunch of them then and stash them in the kitchen.”

“You’re brilliant. I knew I hired you for a reason.” She gave Ashley another smile. “Did you talk to Trix?”

Ashley nodded. “I did. I would’ve been annoyed with you if I’d have known you were gonna call her.”

“That’s why I didn’t tell you.”

“Yeah, well, I’m glad you did. We talked for a long time. She mentioned flying in for Christmas. Jude’s parents are spending the holiday in Vermont with his sister, and she said it would have been a perfect year to come out, but I told her not to mess with that now. It’s three weeks away. Tickets would be astronomical.”

“My question is, why didn’t she think of this sooner? I would have loved having her here for Christmas.”

Ashley shrugged. “I don’t know, boss. It would have been nice. Speaking of Christmas, were you serious when you said you were going to decorate upstairs?”

“Totally.”

“Do you think I could help?”

Theo took a drink from her coffee, her eyes watching Ashley over the white, plastic lid. “It’s definitely not a requirement,” she said after swallowing. “I mean, you’re not obligated in any way, but yes, absolutely. I would love it if you helped.”

“Wyatt’s just not big into Christmas. I told him I was gonna go get a tree and he said there was no place to put it.”

“Is that true?”

“Our place is really small, but I could figure it out. What he really means when he says there’s no place for a tree is that he’d have to move the TV and the computer desk to accommodate it. He’s not interested in that, and he’d get pissed if I did it. He’d just accuse me of messing something up. He’s a huge gamer. If he’s not working, he’s gaming, and if he had to move any of that stuff, it would take away from his gaming time. I’d never hear the end of it.”

Ashley had a lot of hard edges. She hadn’t grown up in a house that catered much to feelings. It was easier to throw an insult than it was to pay a compliment, and the kind of attention she was used to getting was being called names and told she didn’t quite add up. It didn’t surprise Theo that the relationship she and Ashley’s boyfriend shared wasn’t all hearts and flowers. She’d only met Wyatt a handful of times. He’d been quiet, a bit surly, but more standoffish than rude. She guessed that most of Ashley’s romantic entanglements had been much the same, and that if she were to find someone who treated her better, she’d wind up unintentionally doing something to poison it. She’d been taught to believe that wasn’t the kind of thing she deserved, and, unfortunately, she believed it.

“Do you have plans for tonight?”

Ashley shook her head. “Not unless you consider bingeing Ripley on Netflix as plans.”

“That can be put off for another day, right?”

“Depends. I mean, Johnny Flynn isn’t exactly hard to look at, you know?”

“I don’t, but okay, I get it. I think maybe it’s time to start decorating, so let me see about getting a Christmas tree delivered. We could order Mountain Man and make this place sparkle like the North Pole tonight.”

Ashley gave Theo a grin. “I still haven’t figured out how you can be so cool and such a dork all at the same time.”

Theo laughed. “Loads and loads of talent, my friend.”

The front door opened, and Ashley reached up, straightening the collar of the white button down with dark blue pinstripes she chose to wear that morning. “I’ll send Mr. Beckett in, then I’ll do a brownie run.” She moved to the hall but looked back through the door before walking to her desk. “Thank you again for Saturday night,” she said, struggling to make eye contact. “And for the Christmas stuff.”

Theo opened her mouth to respond, but Ashley disappeared before she was able.

Jordan hauled the six-and-a-half-foot Balsam fir up the stairs while Theo and Ashley gathered the boxes of lights and ornaments from the back of the Jeep. Indigo surveyed the upper meeting room deciding where she thought the best spot for the tree would be, while Jupiter ran up and down the stairs trying to keep track of all the humans.

“He’s not used to having the gate open,” Theo remarked, trying to see over the boxes she carried in her arms.

“I can smell the pizza from here,” Ashley said, navigating the stairs. “I’m starving.”

“There are only a couple more boxes. One more trip ought to do it.”

“This is kinda like fairytale stuff, you know?”

“What is?” Theo asked.

“Jordan owning a Christmas tree farm. It doesn’t sound real. I mean, of course there are Christmas tree farms, right? But how many people actually live near one? A lot of people get their trees from the grocery store, or maybe from a lot somewhere. The trees come from a farm, but the people buying them probably don’t really think about that.”