Nera arrived for the conversation with a new lead. Tijana brought a photograph of her garden. Both wanted the same old dog, a brown male with a white patch on his chest, who continued sleeping as they arrived. The volunteer asked them to wait on a bench. They sat far enough apart to leave space for the dog, although he showed no intention of joining the selection of his own future.
Nera worked two shifts and was already imagining how to ask her neighbour for help. Tijana had a garden but shared the house with a sister who had not agreed to an animal. Initially they discussed these difficulties cautiously, like candidates unwilling to reveal a weakness. Then the dog rose, passed them, and lay beside the woman cleaning his space. Tijana laughed. She said they had evidently brought the wrong references.
Speaking with the volunteer, Nera did not claim the neighbour had already agreed. Tijana did not conceal her sister. Neither received a promise of taking the dog home that day. They left together, both slightly embarrassed at having treated a wish as a completed plan. Nera held the lead wound around her hand. Tijana asked whether she wanted coffee before going home to explain the purchase to herself.
At the café they properly introduced themselves for the first time. Nera learned that Tijana restored wooden windows. Tijana learned that Nera read crime novels at night because after a shift she needed someone else's problem that would be solved by the end. They talked long enough for the lead to slip from the chair. When both bent to retrieve it, their heads collided. It was not particularly gentle, but it made them laugh more than politeness required.
The dog later went to a couple able to provide what he needed then. The volunteer informed them because both had asked. Nera forwarded the message to Tijana, adding that at least their first shared failure had ended well. Tijana replied by asking whether that had been their first date. Nera studied the screen for a long time, then wrote that a second could be arranged without an application process.
They arrived for the next coffee without a lead or photographs. Before leaving, Tijana asked whether she could kiss Nera. The answer required nobody's garden or approval. The lead remained in Nera's drawer for later, when a plan contained more than good intentions. For this Saturday she lacked nothing.