lieved

s a d

trick o

as t

't a seco

s a r

e allowed herself - it all carried a new kind of gravity. S

her suddenly - sharp and insistent. There was something she n

d back, her heels tapping against the pa

still

of satin dresses, his hand resting casually in his pocket. It was stran

simply watched him, ques

e really d

aged to her stand there

he want t

avy with perfume and pretense. This wasn't a memory she was trapped inside - it

retend she didn't se

eyes. She didn't walk aw

calm and steady, she spoke

g here," she said quietly, "then I h

ring in his eyes. "What am I doing here?" he re

ss, disarming smile that had o

thing," he said.

aid n

chuckled softly, brushing imaginary dust from his cuff. "Told her I didn't know a thing about it

ound charming. Ha

heard what

se, my

hed him, and with each passing second, pieces of t

- she rem

t for a

or some nam

for S

elebration - it was the night Se

home, waiting for Julian to c

ted her: Work ran

d what kind of "w

neatly before her. They hadn't started after Parsons. Or after the engagement. They h

she was stupid. She had been

r mother said he was "too charming for his own good." How she'd brushed off

nce childhood," she used to

e lights, surrounded by laughter that didn

dn't l

piece, each time she chose to bel

"It's not much," he said. "Just a little gesture. She

didn'

said "she," the faint twitch of his fingers against his wa

he didn't need to. Maybe, somewhere

Evelyn felt somethi

f her. You just love the freedom she gives you - the chance to

said n

behind the counter, a customer laughing softly by

conti

lyn stoo

eartbreak. But from the sh

r become a liar. He

ving Evelyn - had spent years try

time, she didn

n't fee

st fel

venge anymore. It wa

t she deserved to be seen - not as the woman who was betrayed,

dows, spilling gold across the floor. The lig

e, convinced he was the good ma

e knew