Derek obediently followed Savannah through the animal shelter, albeit distractedly. He was only half listening to her, too busy mentally running through the break up speech he'd spent the better part of the day preparing. (This was one of the reasons he didn't have serious relationships: if you kept things casual, you didn't have to do the whole break up thing.)

"So, what do you think?" Savannah asked, raising her voice in the way that let him know she'd already asked him at least once and he hadn't heard.

He gaped for a moment, searching for the threads of conversation he'd last paid attention to, unable to find any. "About what?" he asked, laughing off his lack of focus as if it were simply a charming tic of his.

She rolled her eyes, clearly finding it more irritating than charming. "I didn't realize I was being so subtle," she said pointedly. "We were talking about getting a dog."

Blinking in dumbfounded silence for a few moments, he struggled to form a coherent thought. "Together?" he asked. When Savannah had texted him earlier asking him to meet her at the animal shelter, he'd been afraid of this, yet hoped he was wrong in his assumption. Apparently, though, he was right on the money.

Savannah fixed him with a raised brow, the duh implied in the expression.

"Look, Savannah," he tried to reason with her. "I've had dogs in the past – they're a lot of work to take care of. And they're not like goldfish, they're a long-term commitment... And with your job, well..." He trailed off, shrugged.

"Well, you'll just have to be home more," she said simply, turning to kneel down before one of the kennels and sticking her fingers through the bars to pet the puppy inside.

He held up his hands in supplication. "I've got kind of a lot on my plate, work-wise," he said. "I don't really think I can..."

She interrupted, "You work at a bar, Derek."

"Run a bar," he corrected.

She waved away his correction dismissively. "You spend all night drinking with your buddies and flirting with attractive women, then stumble home around two AM and sleep until noon. I hardly call that work."

Trying not to take the matter personally, he tried to shift the conversation back to the matter at hand. "Why are we adopting a dog, though?" he asked. "Shouldn't we wait until we get a little more serious?"

She shrugged. "It feels like the right time," she insisted. "I didn't realize you didn't consider us serious – I thought we were on the same page. You know, a house, a ring, a baby..."

"Wh-what?" he stammered, feeling like someone had punched him square in the gut and he couldn't get a breath in. "Are you... I mean... You're not... Umm, you're not pregnant, are you?" he managed to choke out, certain his expression was one of pure horror.

Apparently missing his expression altogether, she replied, "Well, not yet anyway. But we can always work on that..." She flashed him a wink over her shoulder.

Taking a deep breath and attempting to wrest back control of the conversation, Derek said, "Savannah, we need to talk. This isn't how I wanted to do this, but I can't wait any longer."

Chloe tapped her to-go coffee cup against Lily's in a lame facsimile of a toast in silent cheers to their newfound sisterly bond. And, monkey see, monkey do, Celeste immediately wanted to emulate them, holding out her sippy cup to toast with them.

"I've missed this," Chloe confessed after a moment of silence in which she watched her sister interact with her daughter. "You know, you and me. Hanging out. Girl time. Just being friends." She gestured vaguely at the mall's food court surrounding them in indication of spending time together.

"If I remember correctly, the last time we came here together was when we were buying maternity clothes. And here we are getting you dressed up for a date with your baby daddy," Lily said with an all-knowing smirk. "Are you excited?"

"I don't know," she said nonchalantly, "I mean, it's just a date."

From behind them a familiar voice spoke up, "I'm glad you didn't forget! I wasn't sure, considering the fact that I hadn't heard back from you..."

The two women whirled around to see who was speaking. "Jack!" Chloe exclaimed. She stood suddenly, bumping into the table in the process, spilling both her and Lily's coffee. "Hey... How... How are you?" she stammered.

"Good," he said, nodding. "Better now that I know you didn't forget about our date."

"Date?" she repeated, confused.

He laughed a little at her befuddled expression. "Remember when we talked about seeing that new band you liked if they ever came out here on tour? Well, they've got a concert in two days. I texted you about it..."

"Jack, listen..." Chloe said on a sigh, wishing she didn't have to do this (and certainly not in front of her sister and daughter), but knowing she had to all the same. "I've got to be honest – I think we should break up. Whatever this is, I think it's run it's course. It was fun, but I think we both knew it wasn't going to last."

He seemed almost surprised to hear her say that. "Really? I thought there was something more between us..."

She shrugged. "Maybe there was, but I need to think about my daughter and I think I owe to her to give her father a chance." She smiled apologetically, trying not to feel guilty because she knew inside that this was the right thing to do."

"You're dumping me for her, aren't you?" Savannah accused when Derek stopped talking.

"Her?" he repeated and it wasn't entirely clear whether he was playing dumb or whether he genuinely didn't know to whom she was referring.

Savannah just glared. "You know who I mean..."

He sighed wearily. "Yes," he admitted reluctantly. "It's because of Emily, but it's not what you think..."

She cut him off with a scoff. "Of course," she said with a hollow laugh. She was blinking too often as she felt the sting of tears behind her eyes. She refused to cry in front of him, though. "It's always been her, huh?"

"Savannah, I..."

She cut him off a second time. "Don't fucking bother, Derek! Don't give some platitudes about how you're sorry because you're not." She shook her head furiously. "What do you want me to say now?"

"Nothing," he insisted. "You don't have to say anything. I get it – really, I do..."

"No, you don't." She huffed. "You know what? Just go. Go be with Emily – you two deserve each other..."