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Guilt twisted my insides into painful knots.

Every step towards her table felt like trudging through waist-deep mud. I hadn’t even noticed the man sitting with her until he beamed at me and gave a small wave.

“You must be Mia. She never shuts up about you.”

His gentle chuckle should have eased my nerves.

I spared him a glance—dark hair, wide, welcoming smile, warm brown eyes—and a little nod, before I glanced at Pri, holding my breath, hand hovering near the back of a chair as if asking permission.

“Morning,” she said, with a too-tight smile that tried to be friendly.

Shit.

I shifted on my feet, the urge to bolt kicking up my shins.

“Come on, sit. We don’t bite—at least not when there’s plenty of food.”

He winked at me and gestured to the seat I was white-knuckling.

My gaze sought Pri’s, but she was busy fixing her coffee, so I slid into the chair across from them, feeling like I’d sat down at my own execution.

A waiter in a tailored navy uniform materialised beside me, and I took a much-needed moment to order my usual.

Too soon, shuffling footsteps announced his departure, and my eyes did a double-take to Mark, who was murmuring something to her and grinning from ear to ear. A pang of regret I didn’t get to meet him or spend time with them last night had my already-sensitive stomach do a slow, painful roll.

Running out of excuses, I turned, heart flapping madly against my ribs, and our gazes locked.

The silence was more foreboding than if she’d shouted.

Tiny needles of anxiety stabbed my spine as I shifted in my seat.

“We didn’t see you much last night. Where’d you disappear off to?”

The question was matter-of-fact, but her eyes narrowed on mine as she took a bite of a waffle, the crunch louder than it should have been.

I watched my hands wring in my lap and said nothing.

The air at our table thickened, pressing down on my lungs, and for a flash, I wasn’t here anymore, but in a half-shadowed alcove.

“Mia?”

The flicker of concern in her voice sliced through the memory. I blinked fast and lifted my head to find her eyes narrowed on me, but not in accusation this time.

“Something happened last night?”

Understatement.

A barely perceptible dip and rise of my chin.

“You mean except the legendary kiss?” Mark chimed in with light, bubbly energy, draping an arm around the back of Pri’s chair and tilting his head a touch at me.

Though the shape of his smile was different, it felt familiar, and the same warmth seared through my chest.

But she wasn’t smiling now. She folded her arms over her oversized red sweater and chewed on the inside of her cheek.

The pause hung thick between us, yanking my stomach to the floor.

I wasn’t sure I was breathing—or blinking.