The One He Never Held novel · Chapter 24 of 24

Chapter 24: Crossing the Street

At five minutes to six, I took the corner table at Kettle & Page.

Rain ran down the big front window.

The lamps were lit, and the regulars sat with their cups and laptops.

Tim set a pot of tea in front of me without a word.

I had brought a paperback from the shelf by the door. I opened it and read the same line four times.

Across the street, under the pharmacy awning, a man in a long dark coat was standing in the rain.

He had stood there before. I knew the shape of his shoulders better than my own handwriting.

I put the book down.

He looked at me through the glass. He didn't wave, and he didn't smile.

He stepped off the curb.

He crossed the wet street with no umbrella, past a bus and a delivery bike.

A car honked, and he didn't turn his head.

The bell over the door rang.

The café went quiet in a patch.

Damian stood on the mat with rain running off his collar, and everyone in Kettle & Page looked at him.

He looked only at me.

He walked the length of the room between the tables, and he did not stop at the chair across from mine.

He stopped at the bench beside me.

"Is this seat taken?"

"It's been empty for four years," I said. "Sit down before you drip on the book."

He sat.

The bench was narrow. His shoulder touched mine, and his knee, and his thigh.

There was no hand's width.

Somewhere behind the counter, Tim dropped a spoon.

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