Your choice changes what happens next
A jacket for leaving
At thirty-two, Mira had developed a professional smile for people who wanted "the blue book". The man beneath the station bookshop's arched window required a new expression. His mustard sweater matched the yellow paper stacked beside her till; his short dark hair stood up where headphones had been. "Your guide to leaving begins with gussets," he said. "Is that metaphorical?" Mira pushed her dark curls out of her eyes and caught her green jacket on a drawer handle. An authoritative entrance was now impossible.
The book wore a bright pink jacket reading A Brief History of Leaving. Mira recognised it as a sample for Departures, the pocket-book imprint she hoped to edit alongside her shop work. She had been testing its folds beside the sale stock. "Please tell me you haven't reached the elastic waistband." "I thought it was asking me to grow." He introduced himself as Dev. There was still time to inspect the book, or explain the suspicious jacket first.