{"product_id":"the-sight-of-you-isbn-9780593085592","title":"The Sight of You","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Light We Lost\u003c\/i\u003e meets \u003ci\u003eHow to Walk Away\u003c\/i\u003e in this romantic and page-turning debut that poses a heartbreaking question: \u003ci\u003eWould you choose love, if you knew how it would end?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Unique and breathtaking and painful and broken and perfect . . . just like love. I'm still crying, yet all I want to do is settle down and read it again.\" --Jodi Picoult\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJoel is afraid of the future.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSince he was a child he's been haunted by dreams about the people he loves. Visions of what's going to happen--the good and the bad. And the only way to prevent them is to never let anyone close to him again.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCallie can't let go of the past.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSince her best friend died, Callie's been lost. She knows she needs to be more spontaneous and live a bigger life. She just doesn't know how to find a way back to the person who used to have those dreams.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJoel and Callie both need a reason to start living for today. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd though they're not looking for each other, from the moment they meet it feels like the start of something life-changing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eUntil Joel has a vision of how it's going to end...\u003c\/b\u003e\"Some books rip you apart, even as you are marveling at how beautifully put together they are — \u003ci\u003eThe Sight of You\u003c\/i\u003e is one of these.  Holly Miller — with her startling metaphors and finely-etched portrait of a star-crossed relationship — has created a novel that is unique and breathtaking and painful and broken and perfect…just like love. I’m still crying, yet all I want to do is settle down and read it again.\" \u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eJodi Picoult\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eA Spark of Light\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eSmall Great Things\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This book had me in tears. I can’t stop thinking about Callie and Joel and what my choices would be in their circumstances. Beautiful and heartbreaking.” \u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eJill Santopolo,\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Light We Lost\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eMore Than Words\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"With stunningly evocative prose, Holly Miller crafts an enthralling tale that picks up speed as it churns toward its inevitable conclusion. I'm not usually an emotional reader, but this book proved me wrong. The ending is simply perfect. Readers are going to love it.” \u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eTracey Garvis Graves,\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Girl He Used to Know \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A stunning and gracefully written tearjerker about destiny, dreams, and selfless love…Heart-breaking and life-affirming. Readers should be prepared to cry.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Fans of \u003ci\u003eThe Light We Lost\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Time Traveler’s Wife\u003c\/i\u003e will fall hard for this heart-breaking but ultimately life-affirming novel.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e“The perfect book to kick off your summer reading, \u003ci\u003eThe Sight of You \u003c\/i\u003eby Holly Miller, is full of love and heartbreak, and will have you thinking about your relationships and what you would do if you were to know how they would end.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eBooktrib\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I've just finished it and I'm in BITS. There are literally tears still dripping from my chin. What an extraordinary book. It's exquisitely written, incredibly moving and impossible to put down. It made me want to go and give everyone I love a very, very big hug. Who could fail to fall in love with Callie and Joel?” \u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eBeth O’Leary,\u003c\/b\u003e author of \u003ci\u003eThe Flatshare\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A wonderful high-concept love story. I adored it.”\u003cb\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e—\u003cb\u003eRichard Roper,\u003c\/b\u003e author of \u003ci\u003eHow Not to Die Alone\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “This book stole my heart. It reminds me of how I felt when I first read \u003ci\u003eThe Time Traveler's Wife\u003c\/i\u003e. Special, inventive, heart breaking and empathetic, it's a book about whether it's better to have loved and lost, or never to have loved at all. Women's fiction as its finest.” \u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eGillian McAllister\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Good Sister\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Heartbreaking, hopeful, and completely original - \u003ci\u003eThe Sight of You\u003c\/i\u003e is a love story that stays with you long after the final page.” \u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eDani Atkins\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Story of Us\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Heartbreaking and compulsive in equal measure, I read \u003ci\u003eThe Sight of You\u003c\/i\u003e in a single day.” \u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eKate Riordan\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eFiercombe Manor\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe Sight of You\u003c\/i\u003e is one of those rare books that stays in your heart long after the final page and I'm utterly bereft now it's finished. Beautiful, lyrical and yet packs an emotional punch that will leave you reeling.” \u003cb\u003e—Penny Parkes\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eOut of Practice\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“What an astonishing book. I just loved it. One of those rare books that is beautifully written and utterly life affirming.” —\u003cb\u003eKate Thompson\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eSecrets of the Homefront Girls\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Amazing concept, a beautiful love story.” —\u003cb\u003eEva Woods\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eSomething Like Happy\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “I. Am. Broken. It's exquisite, beautiful and tender and has left me utterly bereft!” —\u003cb\u003eEmma Cooper,\u003c\/b\u003e author of \u003ci\u003eThe First Time I Saw You\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eHolly Miller \u003c\/b\u003eworks as a copywriter and lives in Norfolk, England. \u003ci\u003eThe Sight of You\u003c\/i\u003e is her American debut.1. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Callie\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJoel, I'm so sorry. To see you again like that . . . Why did I get on the train? I should have waited for the next one. It wouldn't have mattered. I missed my stop anyway, and we were late for the wedding.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBecause the whole way to London, I could only think of you, about what you might have written in the note you gave me. Then when I finally opened it, I stared at it for so long that by the time I next looked up, Blackfriars had come and gone.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere was an ocean of things I wanted-needed-to say to you too. But my mind just misfired when I saw you. Maybe I was scared of saying too much.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat if today was it, though, Joel? What if today was the last time I'll see your face, hear your voice?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTime's rushing by, and I know what's coming.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI wish I'd stayed. Just a few minutes more. I'm sorry.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePart One\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e2.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJoel\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt's one in the morning and I'm standing bare-chested at my living room window. The sky is still and blistered with stars, the moon a marble.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAny minute now, my neighbor Steve will leave the flat above mine. He'll head down to his car, the baby squirming furiously in her carrier. He takes Poppy for drives in the middle of the night, tries to soothe her to sleep with the rumble of tires and his playlist of farmyard-animal sounds.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHere it comes. The sleep-slackened tread of his feet on the stairs, Poppy whimpering. His trademark mishandling of our fractious front door. I watch as he approaches the car, flicks the lock, hesitates. He's confused, knows something's not right. But his brain's still catching up.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEventually it clicks. He swears, puts a hand to his head. Makes two disbelieving laps of the vehicle.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSorry, Steve-it's all four tires. Someone's definitely let them down. You're not going anywhere tonight.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor a moment he's a statue, lit up by the laboratory glow of the streetlight. Then something makes him stare straight into the window I'm looking out of.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI hold my nerve. As long as I stay still, it must be nearly impossible for him to see me. My blinds are shut, the flat silent and dark as a reptile resting. He can't know I have my eye pressed against a single slat. That I'm watching everything.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor a moment our gazes are soldered together before he looks away, shaking his head as Poppy treats the street to a timely scream.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA light springs on in the house opposite. Brightness strikes the darkened street, exasperation drifting down from the window. \"Come on, mate!\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSteve lifts a hand, then turns to come back inside. I hear the two of them trail upstairs, Poppy wailing determinedly as they go. Steve's used to keeping strange hours, but Hayley will be trying to sleep. She's recently returned to her job at a prestigious London law firm, which means it matters if she nods off in meetings.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStill. My tasks for tonight are complete. I cross them off in my notebook, then sit down on the sofa, parting the blinds so I can look at the stars.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI reward myself with a shot of whisky, because that's what I do on special occasions. Then I make it a double and down it, fast.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTwenty minutes later, I'm ready to crash. I'm after a very specific kind of sleep, and everything I've done tonight should help me achieve it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eÒHeÕs ever so hot,Ó says my eighty-something near-neighbor Iris, when I pitch up at her house a few hours later to walk her yellow Labrador, Rufus.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt's not yet eight in the morning, which might account for why I haven't got a clue who she's talking about. Her neighbor Bill, who pops round most mornings with a nugget of gossip or a weird little leaflet? The postman, who's just waved jauntily at us through the living room window?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePostmen. They're always either inanely cheerful or miserable as sin. Never a middle ground.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"He's been sleeping on the kitchen tiles to stay cool.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOf course. She's talking about the dog. This happens more often than I'd like: being too exhausted to make simple conversation with someone at least twice my age. \"Good idea.\" I smile. \"Might try it myself.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe shoots me a look. \"That will hardly endear you to the ladies now, will it?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAh, the Ladies. Who are they, again? Iris seems convinced there's a queue of them somewhere, keen to put their lives on hold to hang out with a guy like me.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Do you think he can cope?\" she asks, gesturing at Rufus. \"Out there, in this heat?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI used to be a vet. I'm not anymore. But I think Iris takes comfort from my onetime credentials.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"It's cooler today,\" I assure her. She's right that it has been warm lately, since we're only just in September. \"We'll go down to the boating lake, have a paddle.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe smiles. \"You too?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI shake my head. \"Prefer to commit my public-order offenses after hours. More exciting that way.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe lights up like my lame jokes are the highlight of her day. \"We're so fortunate to have you, aren't we, Rufus?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTo be fair, Iris is pretty awesome herself. She wears earrings shaped like fruit and has a Premium subscription to Spotify.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI bend down to clip on Rufus's lead as he eases to his feet. \"He is still a touch on the heavy side, Iris. That won't be helping his heat tolerance. How's his diet going?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe shrugs. \"He can smell cheese from fifty paces, Joel. What can I say?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI sigh. I've been lecturing Iris about Rufus's food for nearly eight years now. \"What was our deal? I'd walk him, you'd take care of the rest.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I know, I know.\" She starts to shoo us from the living room with her walking stick. \"But I just can't resist the look on his face.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI've got three dogs in tow by the time I make it to the park. (I walk two others along with Rufus, for ex-clients who aren't too mobile. There's a fourth as well, a Great Dane called Bruno. But he's socially unhinged and formidably strong, so I take him out after dark.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThough the air's freshened up overnight, I keep my promise to Iris about the boating lake. Unclipping the dogs' leads, I feel myself brighten as they canter like horses into the water.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI take a breath. Attempt to persuade myself again that what I did last night was right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt had to be. Because here's the thing: almost my whole life, I've been having prophetic dreams. The kind of lucid, lifelike visions that startle me from sleep. They show me what's going to happen, days, weeks, years down the line. And the subjects, always, are the people I love.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe dreams come every week or so, the ratio of good to bad to neutral fairly even. But it's the dark premonitions I fear most: the accidents and illnesses, pain and misfortune. They're why I'm constantly edgy, always on high alert. Wondering when I might next have to reroute the course of fate, race to intervene in someone's best-laid plans.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOr, worse, save a life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI track my canine charges from the bank of the lake, giving a group of fellow dog walkers a smile and a necessarily wide berth. They gather most mornings by the bridge, beckoning me over if I make the mistake of eye contact. I've kept my distance ever since the time they started swapping tips on sleeping well, their talk turning to home remedies and therapies, pills and routines. (I made my excuses and vanished. Haven't hung out with them since.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe whole thing just cut a little deep. Because, in pursuit of a dreamless night, I've tried the lot. Diets, meditation, affirmations. Lavender and white noise. Milky drinks. Sleeping tablets with added side effects, essential oils. Exercise so punishing I'd have to stop to spew. Sporadic periods of hard boozing in my twenties, under the misguided notion I could alter my sleep cycles. But years of experimenting proved my cycles to be untouchable. And nothing I do has ever been able to change that.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStill, simple mathematics dictates that less sleep must equal fewer dreams. So, these days, I stay up till the small hours, aided by screen time and a pretty hard-core caffeine habit. Then I allow myself a short, sharp spell of rest. I've trained my mind to expect it: snapping out of slumber after just a few hours.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhich is why, now, I'm in urgent need of coffee. Whistling the dogs from the water, I head back toward the path along the river. On the road to my right, real life is grinding into gear. Rush-hour traffic, cyclists, commuters on foot, delivery vans. A discordant orchestra, tuning up for a standard weekday morning.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt makes me oddly nostalgic for normality. I've not got too much headspace at the moment for gainful employment, friendships, or health. The worry and lack of sleep leave me constantly knackered, distracted, jittery.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf only to prevent the whole thing from burying me, I live by some loose-ish rules: exercise daily, not too much booze, steer clear of love.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI've confessed the truth to just two people in my life. And the second time, I swore it would be the last. Which is why I can't tell Steve that last night, I was acting on a fevered premonition about Poppy. My goddaughter, whom I love like I do my own nieces. I saw the whole thing: Steve exhausted, forgetting to brake at the crossroads with Poppy in the back. I watched his car barrel into a lamppost at thirty miles an hour. In the aftermath of the accident, she had to be cut from the car.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo I took the necessary action. Which was worthy of that double whisky, if I do say so myself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI put the dogs back on their leads and make for home. I'll need to avoid Steve, for a while at least. The longer I can keep my head down, the less likely he'll be to connect me to what happened last night.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOnce I've dropped the dogs off, I'll seek out a cafŽ to hole up in, I think. A place where I can drink coffee quietly in a corner, anonymous and unobserved.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e3.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCallie\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou can't tell me it's never happened to you before.\" Dot and I are wiping tables in the coffee shop after closing, exchanging theories on the customer who walked out without paying earlier. This is always my favorite time of day-winding down and trading stories, restoring the shine to the room. Beyond the window, the early-September air is warm and delicate as peach skin.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Maybe it was an honest mistake,\" I say.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDot pushes a hand through her crop of bleach-blond hair. \"Seriously. How long have you worked here?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Eighteen months.\" It sounds more incredible every time I say it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Eighteen months, and you've not yet had a walkout.\" Dot shakes her head. \"You must have the right kind of face.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I'm sure he just forgot. I think Murphy distracted him.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMurphy's my dog, a black-and-tan crossbreed. Well, he's sort of mine. Anyway, he's living the dream being pet-in-residence at the coffee shop, because there's no end of people here willing to fuss him and sneak him illicit titbits.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDot snorts. \"The only thing that guy forgot was his wallet.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI'd never seen him before. Then again, I'd never seen a lot of today's customers before. The rival cafŽ at the top of the hill usually absorbs the commuter footfall of Eversford, the market town where I've lived my whole life. But it closed this morning without warning, and its regulars began drifting mutely in as soon as we opened, all pinstripes and aftershave and well-polished shoes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut this customer was different. In fact, I'd be slightly embarrassed to admit just how much he stood out to me. He couldn't have been en route to any office-his dark hair was solely bedworthy, and he seemed saddled by exhaustion, like he'd had a rough night. At first he appeared distracted as I came to take his order, but when he finally turned his eyes to me, they gripped tight and didn't let go.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe exchanged no more than a couple of words, but I do recall that before he walked out without paying-and between bouts of scribbling in a notebook-he formed something of a silent bond with Murphy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I think he might have been a writer. He had a notebook with him.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDot disagrees through her nose. \"Of course-starving writer. Trust you to put a romantic spin on theft.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Yes, but if it were up to you, we'd have one of those signs, like you get in petrol stations. If you do not have the means to pay . . .\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Now, that is an excellent idea.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"It wasn't a suggestion.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Maybe next time I'll floor him with my best roundhouse.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI don't doubt it would be good-Dot's recently taken up kickboxing, committing to it with an energy I envy. She's always doing the next thing, running wild through life like a creature uncaged.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBy contrast, she thinks I've shrunk back from the world-that I've slunk into its corners, started blinking into bright light. She's probably right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"No martial arts moves on the customers,\" I tell her. \"CafŽ policy.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Anyway, there won't be a next time. I've memorized his face. If I see him in town, I'm demanding that tenner back.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"He only had a coffee.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDot shrugs. \"Call it our tax on eat-and-run.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI smile and move past her into the back office to print the order for tomorrow's delivery. I've been gone only a minute when I hear her calling out, \"We're closed! Come back tomorrow!\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs I stick my head around the office doorway, I recognize the figure at the door. And so, it seems, does Murphy-he's sniffing the hinges expectantly, tail wagging.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"It's him,\" I say, feeling my stomach skitter slightly. Tall and lean, gray T-shirt, dark jeans. Skin that hints at a summer spent outside. \"The guy who forgot to pay.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Oh.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Nice detective skills, Sherlock.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith a huff Dot unlocks the deadbolt and turns the key, cranking the door just a notch. I don't hear what he says but assume he's come to settle up as she's unhooking the chain now, opening the door to let him in. Murphy scoots backward as he enters, tail wagging, paws dancing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I walked out without paying earlier,\" he says gruffly, with disarming remorse. \"Completely unintentional. Here.\" He passes Dot a twenty, rubs a hand through his hair, glances at me. His eyes are wide, dark as damp earth.","brand":"G.P. Putnam's Sons","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46302891573477,"sku":"NP9780593085592","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780593085592.jpg?v=1767741513","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-sight-of-you-isbn-9780593085592","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}