Let’s Keep It Real
The coffee Valerie ordered at the train station kiosk was lukewarm and tasted faintly of burnt beans. It wasn’t the artisan roast she was used to, but it was caffeinated and sugary, which was exactly what she needed right now.
Cupping the paper cup to warm her hands, she let out a dry chuckle. Life had a twisted sense of humor. For years, she had avoided this city, avoided even thinking about the streets that held so many memories.
Yet here she was. On Valentine’s Day, of all days. She had come back for a business meeting near the city center, and as fate would have it, she had run right into Oliver, her ex-husband.
It had been exactly seven years since the day her world imploded. Seven years of rebuilding, of teaching herself how to breathe again without the man who had once been her entire universe.
“Valerie. Hi.” Oliver’s voice was almost too casual for the gravity of the moment. He stood before her, a little grayer at the temples, but still painfully familiar, right down to the way he held his shoulders.
“Hello, Oliver,” she replied, willing her voice to remain steady. Her heart was hammering against her ribs, but she forced herself to maintain eye contact. She wasn't the same woman she was seven years ago.
“You’re here on business?” he asked, his fingers nervously toying with a button on his wool coat.
“Something like that,” she said, checking her watch. She just wanted this excruciating pleasantry to end.
He pressed on, asking where she was living now and how life was treating her. She answered mechanically, surprised at how composed she sounded.
The words came out like she was reading a resume. But then, in a moment of distraction, she slipped up.
She mentioned the name of the town where she lived—a quiet suburb two states over. She mentally kicked herself; she had worked so hard to keep her sanctuary off his radar.
Oliver suggested they grab a table at a nearby pizzeria to catch up properly, but Val shook her head, citing a tight schedule. The idea of sitting across from him, smelling his cologne, and pretending the past didn't exist was impossible.
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