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the simple yet elegant style that she had seen for $50 at Payless Shoes, but also at upmarket boutique stores for $300. His step was too quick, and Sarah was too busy trying not to trip and face-plant the steps, to notice if it were leather or a synthetic material.
    She joined him at the top of the stairs, seeing him still amongst people rushing to find their train tickets to swipe, busy with phones and tapping away, or running to get out. He had his hands dug in his pockets. There was a cool air about him.
    “I’m lucky I forgot my cardigan today, and not yesterday.” Sarah looked to the sky as she continued, “It’s surprisingly balmy for …” She pulled out her phone to check the time. “… six o’clock.”
    The man pursed his lips, lowering his eyes. He seemed to take in the air around him, assessing her judgment. He cocked his head. “Either a shame or a lucky day, depending on which way you see it.”
    Sarah couldn’t talk away this hint. The man left the space between them full, full of varied answers that each made her chest tighten for different reasons. She didn’t say a word to betray her coolness, but he was beginning to frighten her as much as his aloofness allured her.
    She hated to end this game, but tonight was a balmy summer night of her first day at her first proper full-time job, and it was six o’clock, a time when everyone ducked their heads, didn’t say a word to the people who’d sat next to them for an hour or more, and went their separate ways.
    That was how today, and the next day, would work. And on every day, Sarah had to be on alert. Watching for loud, drunken, strange people on the train, or on her way to work, or near her car. She was a young woman—barely a woman, in her mind—and she’d seen far too many devastating news stories of women abused, mistreated and frightened.
    Just because he looked alluring, didn’t mean she had to play the role of the fool, and lead herself into trouble.
    The man turned his head to look at her, and she covered her fright with a little cough. How did he notice? He’d noticed . That change in her? It couldn’t have been a coincidence.
    Sarah’s teeth bit at the inside of her lips. She had to think of a way to let this man off. It’s not that she wanted to, but after her sudden influx of thoughts, she’d scared herself into believing the silliness of this situation. That she had to go to wait for her dad to pick her up in the car park after all, order some Chinese takeout and pick up her noodles on the way home.
    “I need to duck in to the centre,” the man said.
    Sarah stopped walking, standing off to the side of the path as others crossed the road when the green walker man told them to. He stepped off the side, too, and they were alone again in their own space as the world went on without them.
    “Oh, okay,” Sarah said. She hadn’t meant to sound so disappointed, but it was blatantly obvious in her tone.
    “Well, it’s—” the man started.
    Sarah looked past him, making him stop mid-sentence. She was glad. She hadn’t been the one to say those cliché words, but she hadn’t wanted to hear him say them, either.
    The car ahead looked like her dad’s. He was so busy these days she hadn’t believed he’d turn up even though her car was being repaired and she didn’t have a ride home, but maybe he’d actually been attentive when she spoke to him.
    Pulling out her mobile, she checked and saw a text message from him saying, “Here, a few cars down from the entrance.” She excused Him as quick as she could. Luckily, her dad had turned up at the perfect time.
    The man waited on the edge of the sidewalk behind the line of trees in the strip separating the parking lot. She headed for the entrance a good distance away then walked around to the other side of the car as the driver’s side window lowered.
    “Dad, hey,” she said, resting on the open car door window. “Thanks for coming.”
    “Oh, you’re going to hate me