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pick or had a meeting with someone after work. She thought about calling

the store and leaving a message, or just sending Kiera a text, since she was

sure she hadn’t changed her number, but as great as the temptation was, she

knew that wasn’t the right thing to do.

Even if the thought of seeing Kiera sent Romi into a major tailspin.

Maybe tailspin wasn’t the right word. It made her feel excited. Crushed.

Heartsick. She imagined all the feelings she’d have the second Kiera

opened her door. There would be a thousand of them, as many good as there

were painful.

As uncomfortable as it might be, Romi knew it was the right thing to do.

She didn’t want to force Kiera into seeing her in person at the store. It

would be hard, with other people around to witness what they were saying,

and the other employees, especially Wynn, would want to know why she’d

just up and quit, and she was never a very good liar.

It seemed like going to Kiera’s house was the best option.

It took Romi nearly an hour and a half to get across the city. It was just

her luck that she’d left the bank to the last possible moment, even though

she had nothing else to do all day, so she hit the worst of rush hour traffic.

She used the time to gather her scattered thoughts and shore up her courage.

She even gave herself a not so brief pep talk about not saying anything

stupid when she went to Kiera’s house.

That list was long and included things like: “You look amazing. Wow.

But then again, you always do. Not just amazing. Spectacular. Breathtaking

actually. I wish I could look this good while I’m trying and seriously failing

to move on.” And, “I really miss you. You have no idea.”

Romi pulled up in front of the massive old character house. She’d pulled

up there so many times before with so much more hope than she did now.

Now, all that curdled in her belly was dread. Maybe a small amount of

hope, if she was honest with herself, but it was the bad kind of hope. The

shitty kind that just made everything so much worse because it was kind of