She looked at me like you look at something you weren’t expecting to see, but it didn’t scare you. She was just taking it in, trying to figure out what it was. Her eyes moved from my face to Lio’s, and then back to mine. In the moment before she spoke, smiled, or did anything, I noticed her face was open. No fear, no pretending. Just a person seeing what was there and reacting honestly.Then she smiled.It wasn’t a smile that tried too hard, the kind that shows all the right things because someone learned that’s what a smile should do. This was simpler. It just appeared, moving across her face like something that had been waiting for the right moment to show itself. And when it did, it was so real that something inside my chest did a little jump. I decided not to think too hard about it right then.I looked back at Lio, who was standing next to me, holding our bags in both hands. His face was set in that way it gets when he’s decided to act like
Read more