Their second coffee date happened two weeks later.
Not because either of them was avoiding it. Just because Sienna needed time to process the first one. To talk it through with Dr. Amara. To make sure she was doing this for herself and not out of habit or loneliness or the dangerous pull of unfinished business.
Then a third meeting happened a week after that. This time at a different coffee shop. Neutral territory. Somewhere without the weight of shared history.
By the fourth date, they'd graduated to dinner. Alessandro's suggestion, Sienna's choice of restaurant. A small Italian place in the West Village where tourists didn't usually venture. Quiet. Intimate without being romantic. The kind of place where they could actually hear each other speak.
