The love I Never Saw

s on the verge of a

ssed into my phone, pacing the narrow strip of floor

heduled was just a minor inconvenience and not the complete derailme

in love with contemporary fiction again. I had fought tooth and nail-pitched articles, sat through endless edi

off, exhaling sharply. I knew better than

'll try to reschedule. But don't bank on it, Simi. Hale's the type wh

f-hearted apology. I stood there

ort, the pl

r in frustration. I needed this

phone buzzed wit

ook like you

ything online. I hadn't calle

you need to stop

econd del

t Ashwood. I have

f the city-warm lighting, old leather booths, the kind of place where secrets felt safe. Da

'motivational spee

o speeche

at l

t says "I'm still a badass eve

screen, fighting

iatin

t in my chest loos

pen an hour later, the scent of old wood, smoke,

ed in a booth near the back, a whiskey glass i

for a moment, something unspoken p

, raising his glass in mo

g into the booth across from

the table and pulled out a brown

peered insid

bottle of whiskey, and a notebook with Write You

ying not to smil

asual. "Emergency survi

ared at him. Because th

my buttons or throwi

ghtful. Qui

too aware of the heat crawling

his glass. "You're too hard on yourself, Simi. One inter

the edge of the noteboo

dropping. "Then maybe you're aimin

gaze-and for one dizzying second, I

not abou

ing ab

, leaned back, and

lly, "what's next for

ike it didn't feel like the g

ing painfully around a tru

aid lightly. "Maybe eat

sound that curled around me.

ed by the soft hum of an ordinary Thursda

ust surviv

rting to

might be part of