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Chapter Sixty-Four: Something Real

Author: Alex Dane Lee
last update Huling Na-update: 2025-07-19 08:00:14

The late afternoon sun filtered through the diner windows, casting a warm amber glow across the red vinyl booths and scattering light across the silver napkin holders. A lazy jazz song drifted through the ceiling speakers, muffled by the clink of mugs and the distant hiss of the griddle from the kitchen.

Marcus tilted his head back in the booth, fingers loosely wrapped around a half-empty glass of iced tea. Across from him, Brenda had one hand tucked under her chin, the other idly swirling her spoon through the remnants of a coffee float.

Neither of them had said much since sitting down.

Not because there was nothing to say—but because there was so much to say that neither knew where to begin.

Finally, Marcus exhaled and leaned forward.

“Okay, real talk,” he said. “Can we pretend for five seconds that we’re not orbiting the Eli-Callie black hole of retail drama and just… I don’t know, talk like people?”

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