“Friends?” Mary cut in, horrified that he thought he’d ruined the chance to become her buddy. Maybe she’d been mad at him at the beginning. But those days were long gone and John had proved himself to be a kind enough person. A little rough around the edges, but he was looking out for her, she knew that. She’d never withhold friendship from someone as worthy as John on the basis of one stupid comment. No matter how much it had hurt her feelings. No matter how alone she’d felt in the wake of it. “Of course you didn’t ruin it! I think we’re actually becoming pretty good friends. Don’t you?”

“Ah. Yeah.” She watched his profile as his eyes dropped from the middle beyond to the ground. He watched his own wingtips as they walked another half block in silence. She tried to get a bead on his mood, but he was so mercurial, she gave it up as a lost cause.

“Look, don’t beat yourself up, John. You could have been a lot nicer to me that night, sure. But, truly, when I look back on it, you did both of us a favor.”

“I crossed us off each other’s lists?” he asked, lifting his eyes to hers. She was relieved to see a self-deprecating humor flash there for a moment. Even if it gave way to his usual cold expression directly after.

“Exactly. Because sometimes you date someone for a while before you realize that you’re not what they’re looking for or they’re not what you’re looking for. With you, we got that part out of the way immediately. So, we’re not meant for each other. No big deal. We’re friends now. Even better.”

“Even better,” he repeated dimly.

“Well, this is me,” she said, wishing they had a few more blocks to walk, feeling like she was leaving in the middle of a conversation.

John blinked up at her front door. “Oh. You live above your shop?”

Mary caught Sandra’s eye through the big window of the store and gave her a friendly wave. Sandra waved back, sneaking her phone back in her pocket, obviously hoping that her boss hadn’t seen her Tweeting when she should have been manning the register.

“Yup.” She turned back to John in time to see that judgmental expression on his face. She hadn’t seen it since the first time she’d met him, not in full force like this, and she’d forgotten how much it could sting.

“Wow,” he said tonelessly. “You have an apartment on Court Street. Fancy.”

She leaned forward and, with her two pointer fingers, forcibly drew his eyebrows up out of their judgy V. He jolted at her touch, his expression quirking into humor for just a flash. “What was that for?”

“I didn’t want you to pull a muscle while you judged me.”