Chapter 118 The Space Between Memory

• The bell over the café door chimed softly as Zara stepped in.
• The air inside smelled of roasted coffee beans and rain-soaked pavement, a scent she couldn’t remember loving yet somehow, her chest ached as though she had. The soft hum of conversation, the faint jazz floating from the speakers, the low chatter of people who didn’t know the weight of her silence it all pressed gently around her.
• And then she saw him.