The Ice is Getting Thinner

She hated it when he called her Juliet. She also hated it when he made a scene, or an obscure eighties reference that he and Gus thought was hilarious but she didn't get.

She hated a lot of things Shawn did, now that she thought about it.

It was his usefulness that had drawn her to him in the first place (God, she called it 'youthfulness'. Now she knew what it was: immaturity.), but now it was that that pushed her away.

Juliet found herself wishing more and more often that Shawn could be more serious. More mature. More like... well, more like Lassiter.

And, yes, she knew that sounded strange. Which is why she never said it out loud. But she couldn't help admire the way he took command of a situation, the way he plowed right through Shawn's fluff and silliness and got to the important stuff.

Juliet was unable to pinpoint the moment she had gotten tired of her boyfriend, but she was tired of him all the time, now.

And then she would contrast Carlton and Shawn, and Shawn always seemed to come up short.

It was a lost cause. She knew it, she knew it, she knew it. Carlton was going through a separation, and he was prickly, they were partners, and he definitely wasn't her type.

But the again, she had thought Shawn was her type, and look at them now.

But nobody else saw. Not Gus (who the other day had had a conversation with her about how happy he was for them), not Chief Vick (who told her that she was a 'calming influence' on Shawn), not Shawn (who seemed to think that watching TV together was the key to lifelong bliss), and not Carlton.

Certainly not Carlton.

No, certainly not him. She can see the way his eyes get narrower when Shawn is around, how Lassiter doesn't smile as much.

She tired to talk to him once, tried to make him see that this isn't what she wanted, that if Carlton could get her out of this...! But he just sucked it up and said "I'm happy for you." He had sounded curt, upset, but Juliet knew she was reading too much into it. He just didn't like Shawn.

And neither did she.

But she didn't know how to break up with him.

And he was all she had.