the right to ask.”
People were still moving through the lobby. A toddler dragged a toy dinosaur, and someone laughed near the bar, but the space around us seemed to contract. Rachel folded her arms.
“He doesn’t want you back.”
Daniel intervened. “Rachel, stop.”
“He chose me.”
I recognized the line she had probably rehearsed for months.
“I know.”
My calm confused her. She had anticipated competition.
“So why are you acting like—”
“Like what?”
“Like this doesn’t bother you.”
“It bothered me tremendously.”
Daniel’s attention fixed on me. Rachel
