Chapter 63
Blaze
She shouldn’t invite me in.
I can see the moment the thought crosses her mind—the hesitation, the calculation.
Then the café door swings open behind her, a couple walking out, eyes already drifting our way.
Attention.
She doesn’t want it.
“Do you want coffee?” she asks.
The words come out quick, like she didn’t mean to say them.
I blink.
Didn’t see that coming.
“Are you asking me out?” I ask.
She stares at me. “No.”
A beat.
Then—“Maybe.”
Yeah… I’ll take that.
“Coffee sounds good.”
She gestures toward the door. “Try not to interrogate me in public.”
“No promises.”
That earns me a look.
And I like that look.
We step inside.
Warm air, low chatter, the smell of coffee hitting immediately.
She leads us to a corner table—quiet, tucked away from everyone else.
Smart.
She sits first.
I follow.
I watch her while I take a sip of the coffee she hands me.
Black.
Of course.
“Okay,” she says, folding her hands lightly on the table. “Let’s start over.”
“Good plan.”
“You think you know me.”
“I do.”
“I don’t remember you.”
“Working on that.”
She shakes her head, a small breath leaving her. “This isn’t normal.”
“No,” I agree. “It’s not.”
I study her again.
Same expressions.
Same micro-reactions.
Same way she watches everything before she responds.
It’s her.
It has to be.
“Did anything happen after high school?” I ask.
Her brows pull together. “Like what?”
“Anything that could’ve… changed things.”
“That’s vague.”
“Yeah. I know.”
She leans back slightly, crossing one leg over the other, studying me now.
“You’re not guessing,” she says. “You’re looking for something specific.”
“Yeah.”
“Then stop dancing around it.”
Her tone sharpens just a little.
“Tell me what you think happened.”
I lean forward slightly, lowering my voice.
Because this part?
This is where it stops sounding crazy and starts sounding impossible.
“Right now,” I say, watching her carefully, “it feels like you forgot me.”
Her breath catches.
Subtle.
But I see it.
“People don’t just forget someone like that,” she says.
Her voice is steady—but there’s something under it now.
Something unsettled.
I hold her gaze.
“Exactly.”
And that’s when it really hits me.
This isn’t just a mistake.
This isn’t just coincidence.
Something’s wrong.
And whatever it is—
She’s right in the middle of it.
Whether she knows it or not.
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