(Clara)
Whatever confidence I thought I had brought into the coffee shop disappeared the moment Ethan looked at me.
Not because he did anything.
That was the problem.
Ethan had always possessed an unfair ability to make difficult conversations harder simply by being himself.
If he had been angry, I would’ve known how to respond.
If he had blamed me, I would’ve known what to say.
If he had accused me of something, I could have defended myself.
Instead, he sat across from me looking exactly like the person who had spent years becoming one of the most important parts of my life.
And suddenly every word felt wrong.
Every explanation felt inadequate.
Every answer felt incomplete.
The silence stretched between us while conversations continued throughout the café around us.
People la
