The message came from a man she used to work with: a simple reply to a story, nothing she could not explain if someone saw it. "You look like trouble in that photo," he wrote, which was corny enough that she should have rolled her eyes and deleted it.

Instead, she left it unread for nine minutes after the preview appeared. Then she opened it, read it twice, and placed the phone face down like it had become warm. She did not answer until morning. That was the part she admitted she liked most: knowing he was waiting, and knowing she was the reason.