The autumn rains certainly brought a chill. Claudia suddenly felt a craving pot roast so Bennett called to have the ingredients sent over.

By afternoon, Marcia had prepped the ingredients, and come evening, Claudia and Bennett dug into a homemade pot roast.

Another downpour drove temperatures lower, making Monday feel even chillier.

Claudia checked the forecast-it was dipping below five degrees Celsius, even touching zero at night.

Winter was creeping into Linmarsh.

Monday night, Aurora hit her up for lunch the next day out of the blue.

Claudia was taken aback and pressed Aurora for a reason. But Aurora did not elaborate.

With no answers forthcoming, Claudia bid her goodnight, puzzled.

Coincidentally, Bennett jetted off on a business trip around five in the morning Tuesday.

When Claudia woke, it was just her and Marcia holding down the fort.

After breakfast, Claudia told Marcia to skip prepping Lunch. But since Marcia was already there for her usual cleaning gig, Claudia didn't give her the day off.

Once dressed, Claudia hit the road.

Aurora had been waiting at the restaurant a while.

Since it was a weekday noon, the place was practically empty.

“Aren't you supposed to be working?" Claudia asked.

“I got transferred to Fordsburg so I'm taking a couple days off."

Claudia raised a brow. "Wasn't this gig just offered? Why is it so sudden?"

"They're short-staffed on this project. I'll be there a couple years, then back here."

"Aha."

No wonder Aurora was so insistent on meeting; this was big news.

Janet grinned ear to ear when she found out her friend had a job at that cool company and got a promotion to another city. Even if they wouldn't be hanging out much, it was still awesome.

Claudia felt more happy than bummed out. They headed back to Aurora's place after grub, plopped on the bed, and chatted about what was to come, just like they used to back in school.

The future looked bright, but the parting stung a bit.

When Claudia got home, she spotted Aurora's text. “I didn't want to get all teary, so I didn't mention I'm leaving tonight."