He didn’t look away.
Didn’t smirk.
Didn’t challenge.
Just… studied me.
It was weird enough that I felt it between my shoulder blades.
Before I could figure out why, Beth grabbed Sage’s hand.
“Bathroom,” she shouted over the music.
Sage nodded and went with her.
The second she disappeared down the hallway, the guy moved.
Straight toward me.
Calm. Direct. Like we’d already agreed to talk.
Up close, he looked mid-forties maybe. Clean-cut. Not drunk. Not messy like the rest of us.
“You’re here with Sage, right?” he said.
Not a question.
“Yeah,” I said slowly. “She’s my girlfriend. Are you her old boss?”
He shook his head.
“We were engaged,” he said.
I blinked. “What?”
My heart thudded once, hard.
“Engaged?” I repeated.
“Long time ago,” he said. “Different city. Same Sage.”
I opened my mouth to ask more—to ask why, when, what happened?—
But his gaze slid past me.
I turned, instinctively, and saw the top of Sage’s blonde head disappear down the hallway toward the restrooms.
When I looked back, the man was already stepping away.
“Be careful,” he said over his shoulder. “That’s all I’m saying.”
Then he was gone—absorbed by the crowd like he’d never been there at all.
I stood there longer than I meant to.
Engaged.
She’d told me she was engaged once. Said it ended because they wanted different things. No details. No bitterness. Just a clean break. I didn’t press for more because everyone has a past.
