“Now stay away from my house.”

She turned toward the door with her coat swinging open, leaving her steaming mug untouched on the table.

I pushed through the diner’s glass door into the late morning chill before she reached the sidewalk.

Wet fallen leaves stuck to the rubber soles of my shoes as I followed her across the cracked blacktop.

“You didn’t answer me about the date on that paper,” I said.

Rebecca reached the driver’s side of her gray sedan and turned around with her keys pinched between her knuckles.