"Are you going to stare at that apron until it can talk back?"
Julian’s deep voice pulled Claire out of her daydream. She jumped, nearly dropping the phone she had been clutching tightly on the bed. She turned toward the slightly open bedroom door, seeing Julian standing there in a black shirt with the sleeves neatly rolled up.
Claire let out a long breath, her eyes returning to the brown apron with the Central Café logo hanging behind the door. "I was just thinking. Should I wash it and return it, or keep it as a memento of my own foolishness?"
"A memento of what? Of how you were humiliated?" Julian walked in, leaning against Claire’s vanity with a calmness that felt out of place for their current situation.
"Of how I tried to stand on my own two feet, but there was still someone who
