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"You buy the exact same things every time."

"What if," I say, "I come because I want to make sure you're okay, and you can tell me to leave and I will, but I'm not going to pretend I don't see what I see?"

"There's nothing to see," she whispers.

"Okay."

"Gabriel…"

"I believe you," I lie. "But I'm still going to keep buying overpriced coffee twice a week. That okay?"

She opens her mouth. Closes it. Looks at me like I'm a puzzle she hasn't figured out how to solve yet.

"Coffee isn't overpriced," she finally says.

I pick up my bag. "Then I'll see you next week, Paige."

I walk away before she can tell me not to.

Chapter 2 - Paige

I watch Gabriel walk away. Calm, unhurried, like he didn't just do the most reckless thing anyone's done for me in years, and my hands won't stop shaking.

The next customer approaches my register. An older woman with a cart full of frozen dinners. She smiles at me sympathetically, like she witnessed something touching instead of something that's going to cost me later.

I scan her items. Smile. Make change. Say all the right things in all the right tones.

My phone buzzes in my pocket.

Once. Twice. Three times in rapid succession.

I don't need to check it to know who it is.

By the time my shift ends at ten, I have thirty-seven texts from Cole.

I don't read them in order. Don't need to. They follow the same pattern they always do: confusion bleeding into anger bleeding into accusations bleeding into threats thinly veiled as concern.

*Who the fuck was that?*

*Why didn't you say anything?*

*You just let some random asshole disrespect me in front of everyone*

*Do you know how that made me look?*

*Call me. Now.*

*Paige I'm serious*

*You're really going to ignore me?*

*Fine. But we're talking about this whether you like it or not*

I sit in my car in the empty parking lot, engine running, heat blasting against the November cold, and stare at the messages until the words stop meaning anything.

I should've defended him. Should've told Gabriel to mind his business, told Cole I'd meet him after my shift, smoothed everything over before it became this.

Except I didn't want to.