Sara Ikari Rodriguez
The bell above the bakery door rang mid-morning.
I was behind the counter, humming to myself, covered in flour, trying not to think about anything too hard.
So when I looked up and saw him, the breath I'd just taken stuck somewhere between my chest and throat.
Matio.
In Akika.
Wearing a dark coat over a black turtleneck, sunglasses tucked into the collar, jaw tight, eyes on me like I was both the reason he
came and the one thing he wasn't ready to face.
He didn't speak right away.
He just stood there.
Like he wasn't sure he had the right to.
I wiped my hands slowly, heart thudding.
"Matio," I said, voice even.
He nodded once. "Sara."
That was it. That was the whole greeting.
The air around us stretched so tight it could've snapped.
I didn't ask why he
