Tessa

The city looked different early in the morning.
Softer somehow. Sleepy and golden, with sunlight pooling in the cracks of the sidewalks.

Tessa adjusted Moose’s leash and bounced slightly on her toes outside The Nook, glancing around.

She wasn’t nervous.
Not exactly.
Just…anticipating.

When Graham appeared — hands stuffed in his jacket pockets, dark jeans, the same no-nonsense boots he always wore — her stomach did a weird little somersault.

“Morning,” she said brightly.

He nodded once, that small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth — the one he probably didn’t know he even had.

“You ready?” he asked.

Moose answered by lunging forward, sniffing excitedly at Graham’s boots.

Graham sighed, but bent down anyway to give the dog a brief, reluctant pat on the head.

“Traitor,” he muttered, not unkindly.

Tessa laughed and fell into step beside him as they made their way down the block toward the market.

The air smelled like fresh bread and rain-soaked pavement.
Vendors were setting up booths: flowers, homemade candles, pastries, stacks of bright produce under striped tents.

It was chaos.

It was beautiful.

It was exactly the kind of place Tessa loved.

And — to her surprise — Graham didn’t seem miserable about it.

He kept pace with her easily, his eyes scanning the crowd, always subtly checking that she and Moose were close.

Protective, she realised.

Not because he thought she needed it — but because it was just who he was.

Tessa stopped at a booth overflowing with sunflowers, leaning in to snap a photo with her phone.

When she looked up, Graham was watching her.

Not with impatience.
Not with annoyance.

Just…watching.

Like maybe, for once, he wasn’t in a rush to be anywhere else.

---

Graham

He didn’t know what he expected.

Awkward conversation? Silence? Regret?

But with Tessa, there was none of that.

She moved through the world with this easy, contagious energy — pulling Moose along, stopping to admire everything, talking to vendors like old friends.

And Graham…found he didn’t mind.

At all.

He bought her a lemonade from a food truck without thinking, handing it over gruffly like it wasn’t a big deal.

Tessa beamed like he’d handed her a treasure chest.

“You’re dangerous, Carter,” she said, sipping through a straw.

He raised an eyebrow. “For buying you a drink?”

“For being secretly adorable,” she teased.

He flushed and muttered something unintelligible under his breath, pretending to be fascinated by a booth selling wooden spoons.

Tessa only laughed and bumped her shoulder lightly against his.

Graham stared straight ahead, but he didn’t move away.

---

Later

They sat on a low stone wall at the edge of the park, Moose sprawled between them.

Tessa flipped through her camera, showing Graham a few photos she’d taken that morning — sunflowers, a kid chasing bubbles, the faded red of a vintage bicycle.

He watched her, not the pictures.

Noticed the way her eyes lit up.
The way her hands moved when she talked.

The way she made everything feel…lighter.

Easier.

Different.

Graham didn’t say much.

But when Moose thudded his head onto Graham’s knee and Tessa leaned slightly into his side without thinking, he didn’t move.

He stayed.

And for the first time in a long time, he didn’t feel like he was bracing for disappointment.

He just felt…
Here.

With her.