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My mind is already back at the mine.

Hayley.

I saw her for minutes.

That's all.

A few impossible minutes after eighteen years.

I don't know where she's lived.

What she does.

Whether she ever married.

Whether she has someone waiting for her.

I don't even know why she changed her name to Brooks.

I know almost nothing about the woman she became.

And she knows almost nothing about me.

That realization hurts more than I expect.

Eighteen years ago, I knew everything about Hayley Wyman.

Her favorite song.

The way she twisted her hair around one finger when she was nervous.

The little scar on her knee from falling out of a tree when she was nine.

I knew when she was lying.

When she was scared.

When she needed me to hold her without asking.

Today I know none of those things.

Maybe she doesn't twist her hair anymore.

Maybe the woman she became doesn't need anyone holding her.

I glance at Taylor.

“What?”

He keeps his eyes on the road.

“You're thinking too loud.”

“I didn't say anything.”

“You don't have to.”

I look out the window.