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Something shifted in his face. It was gone almost immediately, replaced by the same easy smile.

"Right. Yes. The fall. Awful." He nodded quickly, as if the right amount of concern could tidy the subject away. "I'm sure she's fine, though. They said she was stable."

I didn't like the way he said it, or the fact that he seemed more interested in moving past Marion than talking about her.

Still, I stayed. If he knew anything, I wanted to get it out of him.

Daniel bought me a latte I hadn't asked for and settled back into his chair as if we were meeting under perfectly ordinary circumstances. He talked at length, but somehow never about Marion. Instead, he told me about his new job and the promotion he'd recently gotten. He told me about the flat he and Chloe were buying in a nice part of town and the wedding they were planning for next summer, complete with a string quartet. He showed me photographs on his phone and explained details I hadn't asked about.

Eventually, with studied casualness, he asked where I had been all this time. Somewhere up north, wasn't it? Some kind of course?

Then he mentioned that a man had come around asking about me. The man had been very polite, Daniel said, and claimed to be from an insurance company. Apparently, he wanted Daniel to speak to me and, if possible, keep me there until around four because there were papers I needed to sign.

I glanced at the clock on the café wall.

It was twenty past three.

Daniel looked at me for a moment, his gaze moving slowly from my face downward.

"You look..." He paused, wearing that patient, faintly regretful expression I remembered so well. It was the same look that used to make me conscious of every inch of myself. "Well. Bigger. It suits you, I suppose."

For an instant, my body remembered what to do.

My shoulders started to draw inward, and my arms began to move toward my stomach. I could feel the familiar apologetic smile trying to form before I had even decided whether I was embarrassed.

Then I realized I had stopped.

My shoulders remained where they were. My arms stayed on the sticky tabletop. My face didn't arrange itself into anything for his benefit.

I looked across at the man who had taught me that reflex so thoroughly, and for the first time, I found that I had no desire to perform it for him. Somewhere along the way, the habit had worn out. Maybe it had happened on the cliff stairs, or in the river, or on the sand of the Pit. Wherever it had happened, I hadn't noticed until now.

Daniel was still talking. He had moved on to something about Chloe's gym.

I wasn't listening anymore.

Beyond his shoulder, through the rain-streaked café window, the parking lot stretched out beside the shopping center. A dark-haired man in a leather jacket was crossing it toward the entrance with his hands in his pockets and a grin already on his face.

My heart gave one sharp, involuntary jump.

The bell above the café door rang.

Jax Rivera came in out of the rain, brushing water from his leather jacket as he glanced around the room with an expression of mild curiosity, as though he'd wandered in without any particular destination in mind. Then he spotted me.

His face brightened immediately.

He came straight over, pulled out the chair beside mine, and sat down. Before I could say anything, he leaned in and kissed the side of my neck just below my ear, taking his time despite the fact that half the café could see him.

"Reina," he said warmly against my skin. "There you are."

Across the table, Daniel's mouth fell open.

Jax straightened and regarded him with polite interest. Then he reached across the table, picked up the biscotti from Daniel's saucer, and took a large bite.

"Sorry," he said as he chewed. "Starving. Long drive."

The bell rang again.

Silas filled the doorway for a moment before ducking under the frame and stepping inside, rain dripping from his shoulders. He crossed the café in a few long strides, drawing the attention of nearly everyone in the room, then pulled out the chair on my other side. It gave an ominous creak when he lowered himself into it.