Bedtime story for your girlfriend

The Teashop After Closing

By the time Mara reached the teashop, the chairs were already upside down on the tables. She was about to turn away when a hand wiped a circle in the fogged-up window. Jules waved her inside.

There was one chair still on the floor, the green one by the radiator. Jules set two cups on the little table and opened a tin of biscuits. They were broken, which made them easier to share.

Outside, the bakery switched off its sign. A bus took the corner slowly, and the light from its windows traveled once across the ceiling. Mara had been about to tell Jules everything that had gone wrong that day. Instead, she told him about the dog she had seen waiting for a tram, and the way its ears went up every time the doors opened.

He laughed quietly. He poured a little more tea into both cups. When it was time to go, he held out her coat and tucked the scarf she always forgot into the pocket. They walked home in the soft yellow light, taking the longer street because neither of them had anywhere else to be.