Anna took one last look over her shoulder at the reason she was there. She rolled her lips together, noting the cut of his suit over his shoulders and the way he leaned over the table like he owned it. She checked that one white patch on the left side of his chin, less of a blemish and more of a beauty mark, punctuating the best beard she'd ever seen or felt, and marked the way his hair bounced just the right amount as he turned his head. She weighed all of the best things about Hans, and it wasn't even a question.

The wooden gavel sounded so final as it echoed in the chamber, and the silence after that rang like eternity. Until her heels clicked light and easy, as though she weighed no more than a cat stepping into its next life, but they cut through the institutional tiles like claws through red tape the closer she got to the glass doors.

She paused for a deep breath and squinted at the bright light refracting against the glass. Then she shook her hair out of her claw clip and exchanged it for a pair of sunglasses. She'd wasted a quarter of her life on that asshole and she was ready for a future as bright as the day. She took another deep breath and walked outside. Just as she lifted her face to take in the mid-day sun–

Achoo!

"Gesundheit!" a man said.

She sneezed four more times and lost her sunglasses, along with control of her hair. It was more free than she intended, and there was more of it than she remembered.

She wiped her nose on the sleeve of her dress, then paused while her nostrils filled with itch. She might be free from her husband, but she'd be plagued by sun sneezes the rest of her life.

She didn't notice the man approach until he handed her a dirty red bandanna, and she scoffed at it as she held her nose.

"You sure? The always come in-"

"Threes!" she sneezed out, along with one more for good measure.

"By my count, you still have one more," the man said in an annoyingly self-assured way.

Anna did everything she could for him to be wrong, but sucking it back finally did her in, and she instinctively lifted the bandanna to her nose. No longer shy about using a stranger's bandanna, she blew the entire contents just like she'd gotten rid of her husband. Ex-husband.

"It's a sunny day. You're gonna need these," the man said, perching her rescued sunglasses on top of her head awkwardly.

A little woozy from histamines, she shifted her glasses to hold her hair back and balled the surprisingly soft bandanna up. She squinted at the man, unsure what to say. She didn't want him to get the wrong idea, so she felt for her ring to flash at him, and all she found was a sunken in groove that left her without any excuses to turn him down nicely.

She put her hand flat in front of her and rolled her eyes arrogantly, "Look-"

"You can keep it," he said. "Congrats on your recent weight loss, by the way."

She got distracted by his t-shirt, "KB's Auto Shop." She opened her mouth in an "o," and he saluted her causally before strutting away.

"Wait, what weight loss?" she shouted to his back.

He paused and slowly turned his head before turning his body back to her, then he tipped his head to the side, where Hans walked in a quickened pace. He was snapping his fingers at his hips the way he only did when he was upset.

Anna slid her glasses to her face and grinned.

She took one more glance at KB, and he looked back at her as if to say, "Your welcome," and he winked.

For a split second, Anna felt guilty for enjoying that wink. But then she stroked the groove on her finger and noticed how worn his jeans were, perfectly fitted to his very shapely ass, and she allowed her eyes to linger.