Like it wasn’t something that would end.
I push the thought down before it can settle.
“Morning. Starting early, Tinker?” I say, forcing my voice into something easy as I walk over to her.
She looks up and smiles, and there’s nothing careful about it, nothing guarded, and for a second it hits harder than it should.
“Morning, Pan. Thought I’d restock and get ahead of things.”
“I’m expecting a full house today,” I say, clearing my throat as I move behind the bar, reaching for a stack of glasses just to give my hands something to do. “Everyone’s been locked inside too long.”
She shrugs, folding another napkin, but there’s something softer in her voice when she answers. “Yeah… but I kind of liked it.”
That lands deeper than it should.
I nod, keeping my eyes on the counter. “Yeah. It was good for a few days.”
Good doesn’t even come close.
Being stuck with her, no noise, no distractions, just the two of us sharing space, sharing silence, learning each other without trying…
Yeah.
I miss that.
The realization comes too fast, too honest, and I shut it down just as quickly.
“Feels weird,” she says after a second. “Like everything just… started again.”
I glance at her.
Yeah.
It does.
Like whatever we had upstairs got paused and shoved back into something we’re not supposed to name.
“You good?” I ask instead.
She looks up, and for a second something flickers there, something real enough that it almost pulls me in, like she’s about to say something that matters. Her hands fumble with the napkin, the paper crinkling between her fingers before she looks down and shakes her head.
“Yeah,” she says too quickly. “Just… glad to be back.”
I don’t believe her.
But I don’t push.
Not with her.
I’ve learned enough to know she won’t give me anything if she feels cornered, and something in my gut tells me whatever she’s holding onto isn’t small.
So I let it go.
For now.
The door opens a few minutes later, voices spilling in with the cold air, boots hitting the floor as people start coming back to life, and within minutes the bar fills the way it always does…laughter rising, conversation overlapping, that steady hum of people letting go of whatever they’ve been carrying outside.
Half the town walks in, and I find myself smiling at their energy. Exactly what this place was built for.
