Chapter Four
It started with rain.
Not the soft kind that you could ignore, but the heavy, wild kind that soaked through jackets and ruined plans. Mia had just locked the shop for the night when she saw Jason standing under the awning across the street, looking completely lost in thought.
She hesitated. Then opened the door.
"You'll catch a cold like that," she called out.
Jason looked up, surprised. "Didn't realize I was being watched."
"You're hard to miss," she said, stepping aside. "Come in. Just for a bit."
He didn't argue.
Inside, the bookstore felt warmer than usual, filled with the scent of rain on pavement and something deeper—unspoken tension.
Jason shook off his jacket and ran a hand through his damp hair. "Didn't plan on staying out this long."
"Didn't plan on letting anyone in after closing," Mia replied softly.
They both smiled, but it faded quickly. The silence between them wasn't awkward anymore—it was charged.
He sat down in the old reading chair near the window. "Ever feel like you're not sure what you're doing, but you do it anyway because something about it feels right?"
Mia blinked, caught off guard. "Every day."
Jason stared out the window for a beat. "I lost someone a few years ago. My fiancée."
Her breath caught. "I'm sorry."
He shrugged. "It was sudden. Car accident. One moment we were planning a wedding, the next—I didn't even get to say goodbye."
Mia didn't speak. Her own chest ached with memories she kept buried.
"You don't have to say anything," he added quickly. "I didn't bring it up to make things heavy. It's just… I've spent so long trying to feel normal again. And lately, I come here, and somehow… I forget to hurt as much."
Mia walked over slowly and sat across from him.
"I know what it's like," she said. "To lose someone. To pretend you're okay long after you've stopped being okay."
Jason looked at her, really looked. "You too?"
She nodded. "Different kind of loss. Still hurt the same."
There were no tears. Just quiet understanding. Two people carrying stories they didn't want to tell—but finally feeling seen.
The rain softened against the glass, and for the first time, neither of them felt the need to fill the silence.
Sometimes, the crack in the armor is the first sign of healing.
And Mia knew, deep down, that something had changed.
Not everything. Not yet.
But enough.