It was the best kind of November day. Cold and crisp, but not quite freezing, not icy. Just cold enough that she could justifiably wear all her favorite clothes—cardigans and tights and leg warmers. She thought about going to the Union to study but decided to walk around downtown Lincoln instead. Cath almost never left campus; there wasn’t much reason to. Leaving campus felt like crossing the border. What would she do if she lost her wallet or got lost? She’d have to call the embassy.… Lincoln felt a lot more like a small town than Omaha. There were still movie theaters downtown and little shops. Cath walked by a Thai restaurant and the famous Chipotle. She stopped to walk through a gift shop and smell all the essential oils. There was a Starbucks across the street. She wondered if it was Levi’s Starbucks, and a minute later, she was crossing over. Inside it was exactly like every other Starbucks Cath had ever been to. Maybe with a few more professorial types … And with Levi briskly moving behind the espresso machine, smiling at something somebody was saying in his headset.
