When she did finally arrive, at the exact time Mia had known she would on a Tuesday—Lou and Amber were like clockwork—Mia couldn’t stifle a smile. She didn’t think twice about how her smile could be interpreted. Whether Lou would take it as a sneer that wasn’t one, or it would throw her back to when she was seventeen. Mia was too fired up by her plans to pay attention to any of that, and was ready to shed the cloak of extreme prudence she had donned around Lou for the past few weeks.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” she asked, after having poured Lou a strong cup of coffee—she knew how she liked it by now, strong and black, just as Mia did. “It’s about Annie’s.”

Lou responded almost like any other person would. Not like Mia’s former victim, always something flighty about her, an invisible shield of caution drawn up around her. At the mention of Annie’s name, Lou’s face actually lit up a fraction.

They sat down and, for the shortest of instances, Mia’s eyes were glued to the glossy skin of Lou’s upper arm.

“The Pink Bean wants a Newtown location. Annie needs something to inject new life into her business,” Mia heard herself say, although it felt entirely different to be explaining this to Lou than to her bosses or even to Jo. To talk to Lou in this manner, without their past standing between them, was liberating—perhaps even a touch exhilarating. Having to cower under Lou’s glance every single day, having to express through her body language how sorry she was—because she wasn’t allowed to say it in words—had been exhausting.

This conversation with Lou was the most relaxed interaction they’d had since Lou had confronted her. Therefore, Mia allowed her glance to drift to Lou’s shoulder line a few times more, allowed herself to be astounded by the magic hue of her skin, by the sheer aliveness in her eyes that grew bolder as Mia reached the end of her pitch.

“You know Annie well. Do you think she would be interested?”

“It definitely beats having to sell, which she is seriously considering, even though it would break her heart.” Lou’s demeanor was much more at ease as well. As if the common goal that had sprouted between them had taken away most of the tension, at least as long as this conversation lasted—which was why Mia didn’t want it to end. She hoped the Pink Bean wouldn’t suddenly be flooded with customers and she would have to rush behind the counter to help out Jo. Sitting here with Lou, their minds churning over the same bits of information and working toward a common aim, made her feel better than she had in long, nervy, self-effacing weeks.