“Okay. I’ll see you in a bit.” Romi turned and walked silently down the
 
 hall towards the back door.
 
 Kiera didn’t relax until she heard the quiet click the back door made, then
 
 she slumped against her desk. It was funny how almost everyone slammed
 
 the thing, but not Romi. After a few minutes to collect herself and calm
 
 down, Kiera grabbed her keys, shut off the lights in the store, and rushed
 
 through the rest of the closing procedures. She made sure the back door was
 
 fully closed when she let herself out. Her car was parked off to the left.
 
 She didn’t so much slide into it as collapse into the driver seat. Oddly
 
 enough, when she finally pulled out of the parking lot and started driving,
 
 she felt much calmer. More purposeful. Put together.
 
 There was a Vietnamese restaurant not far from the store that she
 
 happened to love. She wasn’t sure what Romi liked, even though she’d said
 
 everything, so she ordered a few different things. She only had to wait
 
 fifteen minutes before a brown bag smelling like heaven was passed over.
 
 It took about half an hour to reach Romi’s place. The parking lot was
 
 overflowing, and so was the street, but Kiera managed to fit her car into a
 
 tight spot between a massive truck and an SUV. She used to dread parallel
 
 parking. She’d failed her first driver’s test because she’d driven right up
 
 onto the sidewalk and nearly taken off the car’s bumper in front of her
 
 getting out, but now, after years and years of practice, she was quite good at
 
 it.
 
 Kiera fired off a quick text and grabbed the bag of food. Her whole body
 
 trembled, her palms were slick and damp, and her stomach felt so rocky that
 
 she doubted she’d be able to eat a thing, but she walked towards the glass
 
 door anyway.
 
 Romi appeared behind it as she neared the top of the crumbling sidewalk.
 
 She pushed open the door, then grinned when she noted the bag. “Oh wow!
 
 That smells amazing!”
 
 “It’s my favorite.”