When she showed up the next morning, there was a fresh bruise on her arm. I noticed it when she brought her coffee cup to her lips, causing her sleeve to slip down her arm. Not wanting to draw attention to it, I averted my eyes.

Millie was a lot like I remembered her. Magnetic, but guarded. Careful with her words. Our conversation was shallow. The weather. Old friends of ours. The past. Anytime I tried to press her about her present, about Mitch or being a mom, she found a way to divert, redirect, distract. She had it down to a science.

Not that she needed to spell it out. It was clear to me how she was. I could see it in the paleness of her cheeks, the greasiness of her hair and the blue rings around her eyes. I saw it in the way she pulled at her sleeves. In the way her hands perpetually trembled. The continuous licking of her dry lips. And in how jumpy she was every time a grinder went off behind the coffee bar, or a person laughed or talked too loud.

Finally, I couldn’t help myself.

“You don’t have to stay with him, you know?”

“God, you haven’t changed at all.” She let out a bitter, raspy laugh. “Why can’t you ever mind your own business?”

“I’m just trying to help.” I caught her gaze with mine. “Then and now.” She frowned. “Millie, I’m so sorry about everything that happened back then.”

She shook her head, waved away my words. “That was a long time ago, Whit.”

“Are things different now? Better...with Mitch?”

She glanced out the window, her eyes sad. “Yes and no, I guess. I mean, he still has a temper, but most of the time things are good.” She shifted in her chair, hugged herself.

I knew it was all I’d get out of her. She wouldn’t admit anything more. Not to me.

As we sat there in that coffee shop, I tried to imagine if our lives had turned out differently. If I had never tried to trick Mitch into hurting me or taken all those pills, would we have remained friends? Would her relationship with Mitch have fizzled out all on its own? Would I have won and Mitch lost?

I’ll never know.

Either way, that night back then seemed to seal her fate.

I didn’t see Millie again until after Dan and I were married. It was right around the time I got pregnant. We were visiting my parents for a few days before Christmas when we ran into both Millie and Mitch at the mall. It was so awkward.

We made painful small talk: How old was their little girl? Did they still live around here? What had they been up to?

And on their end: When had we gotten married? How was that going? Were we finished with school? Working?