Liam stepped out of the car and looked back through the window at Clara in the driver's seat.
"Later," he said.
She smiled at him, warm and easy, her blonde hair falling across her shoulder in the afternoon light. "Later."
He closed the door.
He turned toward his building and stopped.
The Phantom was parked directly in front of the entrance, black and completely still, sitting on the street the way it always sat, like the street had been arranged around it rather than the other way around.
He had taken two steps toward the building when the door opened and Elena stepped out.
Dark fitted blazer over a silk blouse, the neckline sitting low, her hair down around her shoulders, gold earrings catching the last of the afternoon light.
She looked the way she always looked, put together in a way that suggested the alternative had never been an option.
She was already moving toward him before he reached her.
"I'm shocked to see you," Liam said.
