Chapter 8 Breaking news

I arrived at the café we had chosen before Leah did. I secured a table by the window, ready for some casual people-watching, and ordered a chai tea while I waited. Although the weather hadn't fully shifted into the autumnal season I loved, the rich aroma of the milky chai tea evoked a homey, almost Christmassy sensation.

Secretly, I was panicking. I had left my home to move in with a man I knew only by reputation and was about to M him for the next five years. I craved the security that the feeling of home provided, and the memories that the smell of chai tea stirred were the closest I would ever get to feeling my mother's comforting embrace again.

I was acutely aware of the glances from other café patrons, which made me slightly uncomfortable. Just then, I spotted Leah jumping out of a taxi through the window, hurrying inside.

She stood in the doorway, squinting as her striking golden eyes scanned the faces rapidly until they found mine. Her face broke into a huge grin, and she wave