It was still strange to see him-probably because they hadn’t filled in all the blanks yet and the questions still rubbed uncomfortably, like shoes that haven’t been broken in, and that was fine with her.

He had stopped by briefly on Sunday afternoon during a break from organizing his place, and again on Monday evening, after she was finished at the store. Tuesday he had come by the store and picked up a few things-a lamp, some dishes, and a lifeless print in a garish frame which Natalie had initially thrown away and Dorrie had then rescued.

He seemed to have no problem with the idea of just jumping back into her life, but she was a little more cautious-always one toe to test the waters first. She was trying to be intentional about forcing things to roll out slowly. Instead of spending a full day with him and going over everything that had happened in the interim, she preferred short visits here and there. Otherwise, once the past was ironed out, they’d be sitting there all caught up on each other, with the question hanging between them: what now? And she wasn’t sure how to answer that yet.