The backpack cutting into her shoulders was stuffed with a laptop, case files, and notebooks. She’d return to her apartment later to get her bike. It was Wednesday, early evening, three days after meeting Eric for coffee in Uptown. Another beautiful example of Minnesota weather. The air was dry, the sky was clear, temperature about seventy-five. It was the kind of day that almost made up for winter. Eric had offered to pick her up. Begged, actually, but she’d wanted to arrive by herself, on her own. And for some reason not fully understood, she hadn’t wanted him in her apartment. Not that she was embarrassed. She wasn’t ashamed of the place. It was more like she wanted to keep it separate from this house and the man inside. Maybe that should have been a warning. He answered her knock with a smile, and she thought about how different it was from the last time she’d stood on the same porch. That moment was probably forever etched in her memory.
