One night after hours, as they wiped down tables, she told him about her dream of opening a small café.
“A place where people feel like they belong,” she said softly. “But that’s for someone richer than me.”
Ethan smiled. “You’d make it work. You already make this place feel like home.”
When others broke under pressure, Mia endured. Her resilience humbled him. One evening, he found her sketching menu ideas on the back of an old receipt.
“You’re really going to do it, aren’t you?” he asked.
She smiled faintly. “Someday.”
