The love we couldn't keep

ipes across the polished concrete floor. Amara Bennett stood barefoot in the center of the space,

l the gallery with art, how to host a perfect wine-and-cheese event, how to be poised and polished in

t painted

om the front door, b

e called out gentl

you'd make a

eeze her. It shattered s

the floor beneath her mig

here

el R

was tailored to his success-felt like a dream she never asked to relive. His face was the same in all the important ways: the thoughtfu

?" she managed, the word

for a case. I looked you up.

you

to se

s of silence. Ten years of unfinished sentences

er fingers trembled, and she fold

od," Daniel

cooler than she inte

lves they left behind in New York. She had been twenty-two, angry at the world, painting emotions she didn't know ho

ever

e added, gesturing at the art-c

" she asked. "DC

d. "It did.

rri

ld stop it. His mouth opened slightl

finally said. "I

urse

itter than amused-and wal

using, "you came all the way across the country to walk int

to apo

turned

hout a goodbye? For ignoring my messages? For m

"I was young. Sc

hasn't chan

him. The distance between them was enough to ignite ever

"To someone who doesn't dis

wly, as if th

Woman. Ethan Cross, right? Tech billi

already knew it was a lie-s

aniel," she a

e y

ad the power to ask her t

h down. "I think

nd walked to the door, pausi

ng about you," he said.

d as the door s

walked back into her life-uninvit