I froze mid-step, my hand still resting on the door frame. A few people moved behind me, jostling slightly, and I quickly let go of the door as Gianni tugged me forward.
"I want butterscotch ice cream" Gianni said but I was barely paying attention, all of which i was paying to... Tobias.
He was seated at a small corner table wearing a white golf polo and a cap, talking to someone, calm, composed, utterly unaware of my presence. My pulse spiked. My mind scrambled to process what I was seeing. A tightness coiled in my chest, strange and immediate.
His posture, the ease in his voice, the quiet authority in his gestures—it all pulled at something deep in my memory. Something I didn’t even realize I had been holding onto.
Gianni tugged at my hand, oblivious to my distraction. “Mom, let’s
