I took my girlfriend to a fancy dinner for our anniversary.

it.”

Ava touched my arm under the podium. “It’s okay.”

It wasn’t okay, but I didn’t want the night to start with a fight.

They seated us near the service corridor, where waiters pushed through a swinging door every few minutes. Ava smiled anyway. That was her gift and her curse. She could turn disappointment into gentleness so quickly that people mistook continue reading …