Except this woman wasn’t playing.
She was guarded.
Too guarded.
She’s not faking it.
That was the problem.
If she were lying, I’d see it. I’d spent too many years reading faces in bad places not to know when someone was hiding the obvious.
But this wasn’t obvious.
This was something else.
Either she truly didn’t remember me…
Or she had a damn good reason to pretend she didn’t.
“You drink your coffee black,” I said.
She blinked. “What?”
“No sugar. No cream. You used to say anything else was a waste.”
Silence stretched between us.
Then, slowly, she lifted the cup in her hand.
Black coffee.
Her eyes sharpened now.
“How did you know that?”
Good question.
One I didn’t have an answer for anymore.
I should’ve walked away.
That would’ve been the smart move.
Instead, I stayed.
Mistake number two.
She turned toward the parking lot like we were done.
Like she hadn’t just flipped my past upside down and left me standing in the pieces.
“Wait.”
She paused, then looked back.
More cautious now.
Good.
