Chapter 1. The message
The morning
Elena was already late.
Not running-five-minutes-late late.
Late enough that if she left the house in the next five minutes, she would still have to pretend she hadn’t spent the last twenty arguing with herself about what to wear.
She stood in front of her wardrobe, holding up a black dress.
“No.”
She threw it onto the bed.
She picked up a blue one.
“Absolutely not.”
That one joined the black dress.
Her phone buzzed on the dressing table.
Daniel: Are you alive?
Elena looked at the message and smiled.
She typed back.
Elena: Unfortunately.
His reply came almost immediately.
Daniel: Good. I was about to come and check.
Elena: Don’t.
Daniel: Why?
Elena: Because I’m not dressed.
Three dots appeared.
Then:
Daniel: Now I definitely want to come.
Elena rolled her eyes.
“Men.”
Her phone rang.
She answered.
“You’re annoying.”
Daniel laughed.
“Good morning to you too.”
“You’re the reason I’m late.”
“How?”
“You told me we were leaving at two.”
“We are leaving at two.”
She glanced at the clock.
“It is two twenty.”
“Exactly. You’re late.”
Elena stared at the phone.
“You’re unbelievable.”
“I’ve been waiting downstairs for twenty minutes.”
“You’re lying.”
“Come and find out.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“Are you actually downstairs?”
“Yes.”
“Daniel.”
“Yes, baby?”
She hated when he said it like that.
Not because she disliked it.
Because she liked it too much.
“Give me ten minutes.”
“You said that ten minutes ago.”
“I mean it this time.”
“I’ll believe you when I see you.”
She hung up.
Then smiled at herself.
“Idiot.”
She grabbed the blue dress again.
This time, she put it on.
The Drive
Daniel was leaning against his car when she finally stepped outside.
He looked at his watch.
Elena stopped in front of him.
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were about to.”
He smiled.
“You look beautiful.”
Her annoyance weakened.
“That’s better.”
He opened the passenger door for her.
She got in.
“You know,” she said as he walked around the car, “you could have just said that instead of letting me think you were going to complain.”
“I wasn’t going to complain.”
“You were going to.”
“I was going to ask why it took you forty minutes to put on one dress.”
“It was two dresses.”
“That makes it worse.”
She laughed.
Daniel got into the driver’s seat.
For a while, they simply drove.
Music played quietly.
Elena rested her elbow against the window, watching the city move past.
Daniel reached over and took her hand.
She looked down at their fingers.
“You’re clingy today.”
“Maybe I missed you.”
“You saw me yesterday.”
“That was yesterday.”
She smiled.
“That’s not how time works.”
“It is for me.”
She looked at him.
There were things Elena liked about Daniel that she rarely admitted aloud.
He remembered tiny things.
Her favorite drink.
The song she always skipped.
The fact that she hated when people touched her hair without asking.
He knew when she was hungry because she became unnecessarily argumentative.
He knew when she was upset because she became unusually quiet.
And, annoyingly, he knew when she was pretending not to care.
Sometimes she wondered how someone could become so familiar without her noticing it happen.
Dinner
The restaurant was quieter than Elena expected.
Daniel had chosen a corner table.
Candles flickered between them.
“You planned this?” she asked.
He shrugged.
“Maybe.”
“You’re trying to impress me.”
“I don’t have to.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Confidence.”
“Facts.”
She laughed.
Dinner arrived.
They talked about everything and nothing.
Her friend who had recently broken up with her boyfriend.
Daniel’s irritating colleague.
Her plans for the next few months.
His work.
Money.
Family.
At one point, Elena was laughing so hard she had to put her glass down.
Daniel watched her.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Why are you looking at me?”
“Because I like your laugh.”
Her smile softened.
“You’re being sweet tonight.”
“Tonight?”
“Don’t push it.”
He reached across the table.
She placed her hand in his.
For a moment, the restaurant seemed to disappear.
Then Daniel’s phone vibrated.
He glanced down.
His smile disappeared.
It was subtle.
So subtle that Elena almost missed it.
Almost.
He picked up the phone.
The screen lit up again.
A message.
Elena couldn’t see everything.
But she saw enough.
Vicky: You need to tell her before—
Daniel locked the screen.
Elena’s eyes stayed on him.
“Who is Vicky?”
His gaze returned to hers.
There was a pause.
Not long.
Just long enough.
“A colleague.”
Elena tilted her head.
“Since when do your colleagues text you during dinner?”
“She needed something.”
“Couldn’t it wait?”
Daniel placed the phone beside him, face down.
“Yes.”
“Then why did you read it?”
He smiled faintly.
“I didn’t know what it was.”
Elena studied him.
Something about his answer didn’t sit right.
But she wasn’t going to turn dinner into an interrogation over one message.
Not yet.
She picked up her glass.
“Fine.”
Daniel reached across the table again.
“Elena.”
“What?”
“You’re thinking.”
“I always think.”
“Too much.”
She smiled.
“Maybe.”
He squeezed her hand.
And the moment passed.
At least, he made it look that way.
On the Way Home
They stopped outside her apartment.
Daniel turned off the engine.
“You’re quiet.”
“I’m tired.”
“That’s not why.”
Elena looked at him.
“Do you know everything about me?”
He frowned.
“What kind of question is that?”
“A normal one.”
“No, it isn’t.”
She smiled slightly.
“I was just asking.”
Daniel leaned closer.
“You know everything that matters.”
Her eyes stayed on his.
“And you?”
“What about me?”
“Do I know everything that matters about you?”
For the first time that evening, Daniel didn’t answer immediately.
Then he smiled.
“Of course.”
Elena nodded.
“Okay.”
He kissed her forehead.
“Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
She opened the door.
Before she stepped out, Daniel caught her wrist.
She turned.
“What?”
He kissed her.
Not hurried.
Not playful.
The kind of kiss that made her forget whatever question had been sitting in the back of her mind.
When they pulled apart, she smiled.
“Now I’m definitely not going to sleep.”
“Good.”
“Why?”
“So you can think about me.”
She laughed.
“Goodnight, Daniel.”
“Goodnight, trouble.”
She walked toward her building.
Halfway there, she looked back.
Daniel was still watching her.
He smiled.
She smiled back.
Then he drove away.
The Phone
The next morning, Elena was at Daniel’s apartment.
He was in the shower.
She was sitting on the edge of his bed, scrolling through her phone while waiting for him.
His phone was on the bedside table.
It vibrated.
Once.
Elena glanced at it.
She wasn’t trying to look.
She really wasn’t.
Then the screen lit up.
**Vicky: You can’t keep hiding this from her.
**
Elena’s smile disappeared.
Her eyes stayed on the screen.
Another message came.
Vicky: She has a right to know what happened three years ago.
Elena stopped breathing.
Three years ago?
Her father’s death had been three years ago.
She stared at the phone.
Daniel walked out of the bathroom.
His eyes went immediately to her face.
Then to his phone.
Something changed in his expression.
“Elena.”
She looked up.
“Who is Vicky?”
Daniel stopped.
Neither of them moved.
For the first time since she’d met him, Elena couldn’t read his face.
And that frightened her more than the message itself.
“Why is she talking about my father?”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Elena, give me the phone.”
She slowly stood.
“No.”
His eyes met hers.
“Please.”
She shook her head.
“Tell me the truth first.”
Silence filled the room.
And in that silence, Elena realized something she hadn’t been prepared to realize.
There was a part of Daniel’s life she had never been invited into.
And apparently, that part had something to do with her father.
