CARMEN
The bell above the door chimed the second we stepped inside, and the world shifted again.
There was warmth, noise, and above all, there was life.
The diner was alive in a way that made my senses stutter—plates clinking, laughter bouncing off the walls, the low hum of conversations overlapping like a song I didn’t quite know how to follow anymore. The smell hit next. Grease, coffee, something sweet, something salty—real food, real people, real life.
And then—everything paused.
Not fully or dramatically, just enough for me to realize I was being noticed.
Heads turned. Conversations dipped, and curious eyes flicked toward us, toward Tim and me.
My shoulders instinctively curled inward, my grip tightening on the strap of my bag. I wasn’t used to being seen like this—not out in th
