RA

ook te

n behind her ear and a stack of intake forms in front of her and the particular expr

you,"

you s

om

k scan that people who knew you well did, top t

n a litt

he powder. And someone's been in the side corridor for about ten minutes. I was going to say somet

ped wa

say an

tanding. Should

"It's fine. I'

h an expression that had a lot of questions in it. She kept

ated memos and a row of coat hooks on the other and a window at the far end that looked out onto the car park. Fluorescent light overhead, one of them slightly off, flicke

and looked at the back

fore I said anythin

id, like this was a completely normal thing

know I'd use

tried the f

fees. I did not know what to do with that information so I fi

wanted to ask you

reet, the good one. I took it and lifted it to my mouth be

. No

kept my face the way I needed it t

ow he was standing here with a coffee that was wrong in every way that mattered and he had no idea it was wrong and that was somehow the

k it a

ok their coffee. The side of the bed they slept on. The specific sound they made when they were reading something that surprised them. Five years of

ou want to

ck. Northmere. Wh

was a position ope

take a healer's assistant

es

n't usuall

not a usu

rly. He looked down at his cup for a beat and then back at me and whe

ould have been logged and wasn't?" he asked. "A

N

think I shoul

thi

where in the main centre a door opened and then closed and then the corridor was quiet aga

you somethi

went tigh

ctual answer. No

ait

bout a foot and I had to physically tell myself not to step back because stepping b

said, "like you're waiting

dor went

that wa

know what

inty was almost the worst part. "Every time I look at you there's something in your face that's w

al person," I said.

ir

lways been, first syllable first, and I felt it the way I always felt

you want

tru

telling you

ts o

ng I needed it to do. Neutral. Open. A person with

respect you but there is nothing between us to remember. Whatev

argue and his expression didn't change at all. He just

. No rush. Just wrapped his fingers around the cup and lifted it a

toward the door at th

r park, that wet morning cold that sat in y

ed in th

turn

ks you're lyi

or swu

ht with the noticeboard full of old memos and the coat

gone. He'd taken t

rain and burnt coffee and I stood there and star

thing, the same flicker I'd felt when his hand closed around my wrist yesterday. His wolf was talking to him about me

didn't ask anything, down the hall to my shared office with the filing cabine

thinks yo

tood that what was happening was coming from somewhere below his own reasoning. He was smart enough to name the thing

about th

in the smallest, most

was the thing I