The smell of fresh bread and roasted coffee beans wafted through the café, a comforting haze that usually put Ava at ease.
Today, though was different. The comfort felt thin, like a blanket with holes.
She shifted in her chair, adjusting the sleeves of her silk blouse as she watched Harper lower herself gingerly into the seat across from her.
“God, it feels good to be out,” Harper sighed, smoothing the hem of her sundress.
She looked radiant, even with the faint pallor of someone who hadn’t long been confined to hospital walls.
Harper had always been that way, able to draw light to herself no matter the shadows she stood in.
Still, next to Ava, the contrast was hard to miss.
Life had favored Ava with stability, a good job, and a husband who adored her, while Harper’s path seemed
