The word bounced around in her skull as they made their way to Steve’s apartment. Sara caught herself fidgeting and stole a peek at him from the corner of her eye. The man standing beside her in the tiny elevator car had been her best friend for over eight years, but at the moment he seemed a stranger. The whole evening had been...disconcerting. One minute, they’d be laughing and lobbing the banter they’d perfected over nearly a decade of friendship across the table with practiced ease. The next, his eyes would lock on hers and suddenly she’d be stripped bare. She had never been the focus of that intense stare before. It had always been someone else. Now, she knew what a threat to Christendom her buddy had actually been. The elevator chimed to signal their arrival, and he moved aside, holding the door back while she stepped into the corridor. The swish of his dark wool overcoat seemed unbearably loud. Her nerves jangled like the keys he pulled from his pocket. The scent of his aftershave, musky and familiar, soothed her senses.
