**Shawn's POV** Abigail's scent hits me first. I don't place it immediately — just register it, the way you register something familiar in an unfamiliar context, I know I have encountered it before, recently, and my brain is already turning it over, running it back, before she's even crossed the room to Stella's father. Then she wraps her arms around Victor and laughs, and it clicks. We met at the bar when I was too drunk to drive myself back home a month ago. I keep my face where it is. She doesn't look at me right away — she's holding Victor's face in her hands, asking him how he is, and there's nothing performed about it, no audience awareness, just genuine relief at seeing someone she loves. It is, objectively, a difficult thing to look away from. I look away from it. When she does turn to me, Victor is already speaking. "This is Shawn Black." A pause that he leaves just long enough to become intentional. "The single guy I mentioned." The single what? My heart
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