Emma didn't reply to Lily's message for three more days. She drafted responses, deleted them, and finally, without overthinking, she sent one word:
"Coffee?"
Lily answered within minutes.
"Name the place."
They met at the small bookstore café near the university, the one where all three of them had once spent weekends browsing paperbacks and debating the merits of poetry versus prose. It was familiar ground, but today it felt different. Quieter. More delicate.
Lily was already there, sipping something warm, a hopeful smile twitching at the corner of her lips.
"Hi," Emma said, sitting down.
"Hi." Lily tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Thanks for coming."
They sat in silence for a moment, the weight of everything between them unspoken but palpable.
Emma spoke first. "I needed time. To be angry, to be confused, to miss you."
Lily nodded. "I get it. I was scared I lost you for good."
Emma looked down at her coffee. "I was scared too. Of how much I cared about what you thought. Of what it meant that it hurt more losing you than… than almost losing Ethan."
Lily's eyes widened. "Emma…"
"I'm not saying I'm in love with you," Emma said quickly. "I'm not even sure I know what I'm saying. I just… there's something between us. Isn't there?"
Lily was quiet, then slowly nodded. "There always has been. But I never let myself think it could be more. You were with Ethan."
Emma's voice was soft. "I still am."
"And do you still want to be?"
The question hovered like a fragile thread in the air. Emma didn't answer. Not yet.
Instead, she reached across the table, her fingers brushing Lily's.
"I don't know where this goes. But I want to figure it out. With honesty this time."
Lily smiled, her eyes glassy. "That's all I've ever wanted."
Across town, Ethan stood in the kitchen, staring at the space where Emma's coffee mug usually sat. He had noticed its absence that morning. It wasn't a sign, not on its own—but he felt the distance growing again.
He didn't know about the coffee date. Or the conversation that would begin to rewrite everything.
But he knew the truth was coming. And he wasn't sure he was ready for it.