Marissa chose the same coffee shop as before, which felt less like a habit this time and more like a deliberate return to the scene of an earlier, gentler warning, one she apparently intended to build on rather than repeat.
"You look different than you did the last time we sat here," she said, once I'd settled across from her, studying me with the same unhurried assessment I remembered from weeks earlier. "Steadier. I'll admit that surprises me a little, given everything that's happened since."
"A lot's happened since." I wrapped my hands around the coffee cup she'd once again already ordered for me, some instinct telling me this conversation would require something to hold onto. "You said it was time-sensitive. And that you didn't want Julian here."
"Because what I need to say isn't re
