“What are you doing here?”
“Shopping.”
“We’re closed.”
“Terrible business model.”
She stared at me.
“Alex.”
“Daniel came over.”
Her face changed.
“What happened?”
“He told me about Michael.”
She nodded.
“He also told me something else.”
“What?”
“That your bookstore is cool.”
Karen blinked.
Then laughed.
It was the same laugh I had heard in the diner on the night everything began.
Only lighter now.
She looked stronger.
Happier.
More herself.
“What are you really doing here?” she asked.
I stepped inside.
She locked the door behind me.
“I came to see your store.”
“After ten months?”
“I was busy.”
“Doing what?”
“Respecting boundaries.”
Her smile faded.
“Daniel?”
“He’s trying.”
She looked down.
“I never wanted to hurt him.”
“I know.”
“And I never wanted to become the reason you lost him.”
“You didn’t.”
I walked farther into the store.
It was exactly as she had imagined.
