She was only supposed to stay one night.

Yuki Yamamoto has been moving since May — Edinburgh, Reykjavík, York, wherever the next train goes. She’s not running from anything. She just doesn’t have anywhere to be.

Then she gets off at the wrong station in rural England, follows a lane in the rain, and ends up at The Kettle and Key: a teahouse run by a woman who says exactly two words and a gardener named Elliot who says even fewer.

Elliot doesn’t ask why she’s there or when she’s leaving. He sets the fire. He puts the second cup where she can reach it. And somehow, without meaning to, Yuki finds herself staying — one day, then another, then three months.

She still has the rucksack by the door. She’s almost convinced herself she could leave.

For readers of Legends & Lattes and Before the Coffee Gets Cold.