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“I was asleep when you called. If I’d known, I might have…”

Kira surveys the apartment. I take another bite of toast, her attention moving from the laundry basket beside my bedroom to the coffee mug by the sink and the blouse I still haven’t finished buttoning.

She handles concern the way she handles accounts at work, collecting enough information to identify the problem before anyone else can dispute it.

“You and I are going to the Lantern Café.” She grips the handle of her suitcase and starts toward the bedroom. “I cannot have a serious chat with you in this chaos.”

I crouch beside the couch and retrieve my shoe, then follow Kira and her suitcase into my room.

“You’re staying here?” I ask as I follow her.

“For four days.”

“You decided that without checking whether I had plans?”

Kira sets the suitcase beside my dresser and faces me. “You’ve ignored enough calls that I assumed your schedule could accommodate an intervention.”

“This is an intervention?”

“This is breakfast with luggage.”

She takes a toiletry bag into the bathroom, ending the discussion before I can object. By the time I finish buttoning my blouse and pull on my second shoe, her toothbrush is already beside mine, which makes the length of her visit considerably less negotiable than she pretends.

Twenty minutes later, we head toward the Lantern Café. Kira keeps an efficient pace beside me as I cycle through questions about everything going on with her. Then I ask about our parents to try and keep us on safer topics.

“They’re fine,” she says as we reach the intersection. “You can stop trying to move the conversation toward Connecticut. Every time I ask how you’re doing, you talk about work until the conversation ends.”

“My job is interesting.”

“Then you can tell me about it over coffee before we discuss the man I really want to hear about.”

I glance at her as we reach the opposite sidewalk. “I talk about Theo too.”

“You complain about Theo because he enjoys irritating you.” She adjusts the strap of her purse and keeps walking. “You explain Bane before anyone asks.”

The Lantern Café sits between a bookstore and a florist, its front windows open to the warm May morning. Fresh coffee drifts onto the sidewalk before we step inside, and the barista smiles as soon as she spots me.

We order then head to a table near the back. Kira slips off her jacket, wraps her hands around her cup, and studies me. I peel the paper from my muffin. “Tell me about work.”

I feel a rush of relief because work is easy.

“I love it. The projects keep me busy, people trust my decisions, and every success feels like something I earned instead of borrowed.”

“You sound happier.”

“I am.”

“You’ve always been capable, Emma. It’s good hearing you believe it.”

For years, every accomplishment came with Spencer standing beside it, and I’d almost forgotten what it felt like to own one on my own.

Kira takes a sip of coffee before setting the cup down. “So tell me about Bane.”

I laugh because I should’ve known work was only the route she’d chosen to get there. “He’s my boss.”

“Also the man who once worked for Spencer. Is that not… weird?”

Oh, she has no idea.