However awkward in its delivery, the attempt at joke rendered the barest trace of a laugh from Lily - who was still unsure where she should look at that moment. It was almost embarrassing, in a way, to have given so much thought to a thing only to have it happen and have those thoughts fly out of the window. She had wondered after him through the lenses of so many different emotions over the course of years, and there, confronted with it Lily had no idea where to look first. She was almost grateful for the pang of surprise he conjured when he mentioned her move to London, so much so that in lieu of all the questions she might ask she nodded.

“I am, I moved not too long ago, for work.” Later. She would ask him about how he knew that later, provided there was a later of course.

“You? Cokeworth, or,” Pausing her eyes finally rest on him, taking in his profile for a moment that drew out to the point where it could have bordered on intentional. Maybe it was, but most of the time Lily wasn’t the sort to be shrewd instead of gentle.

“Moved on to better things?” This wasn’t most times, though the conclusion to that question surprised even her. No matter how many times she had looked back, no matter how many different lights she held things under, trying to glean some understanding of where she could have helped, where it all went wrong - her feelings never stopped being hurt.