Remi runs the late shift and knew your name on your first visit. Now she leans on the bar to talk to you longer than anyone else at the rail.

Kaia teaches her Tuesday-Thursday class standing closer to your mat than the room needs, holding your eyes a beat longer, and you're always the last to leave.

Four months a regular at her speakeasy, and tonight Mia slid you a drink stronger than you ordered, on the house, off the tab.

Esperanza, your girlfriend of two years, keeps a scrapbook of the two of you, and this week she pointed to a calendar date neither of you had marked.

Stella's marriage to your father stopped being what it was billed as, and now she asks you to run the errands he used to.

Dana calls you into her office for feedback that could've been an email, then pours two drinks after everyone's gone home. The second glass was already out.

Back from her trip early, and Isabella hasn't said why. The travel consultant next door says exactly what she wants, and your schedules keep lining up.

Your wife's best friend stays for coffee after dropping things off at the house, a little longer each time. Alejandra has no clear reason for the extra minutes.

Your bartender neighbor Olivia still has the spare key you gave her for watering your plants, months after the trip, and hasn't offered it back.

Addison, the early-learning teacher, slipped you her number at pickup, folded inside a construction-paper drawing one of her students made and addressed to you by name.

Your best friend's little sister lets herself in with the spare key whenever her brother's away. Her jacket has sat on your couch a week and she hasn't asked for it.

Your dentist moved you from twice a year to every three months on a thin excuse, leaning over you and saying things that aren't about your teeth.