Chapter 11: Chapter Eleven: Misalignment

Rowan didn’t notice the shift at first.

Because nothing actually changed.

The expo floor was still loud, voices overlapping, carts rolling across the concrete, the constant hum of too many conversations happening at once. Booths were half built, half polished, people moving in practiced chaos as they prepared for the day ahead.

Jess was still fighting with the banner stand.

“Okay, if this falls later, I’m blaming you,” she said, stepping back and eyeing it like it might collapse out of spite.

Rowan huffed out a quiet laugh, adjusting the last row of samples on the table.

“Fair.”

She shifted one piece slightly to the left, then another to balance it. Everything looked right. Clean. Even. Exactly how she wanted it. Her eyes moved over the display again, scanning for anything out of place.

She reached out and moved one piece again.

Then stopped.

Her hand hovered in the air for a second before she pulled it back slowly.

“…Why did I do that?” she muttered.

Jess glanced over, distracted but curious. “Do what?”

Rowan frowned at the display, her brow pulling together slightly.

“I already fixed this.”

Jess shrugged, not seeing the issue. “You fix everything twice. It’s your brand.”

Rowan let out a small breath, almost a laugh, but it didn’t fully land. Something about it didn’t sit right.

Not wrong.

Just… unnecessary.

She straightened slowly, rolling her shoulders back as if that would shake the feeling loose.

“Okay. Inventory check.”

Routine.

That always helped.

She grabbed her clipboard, flipping through the pages until she found the list. Her pen tapped lightly against the paper as she started moving through it.

Item by item.

Display stands.

Samples.

Back stock.

Everything accounted for.

Her eyes moved down the page with practiced precision, each line checked and confirmed without hesitation.

Then they paused.

There was a blank space.

Not on the paper.

In her head.

Like she had skipped a line without realizing it.

Rowan blinked, her eyes moving back up the page, scanning again more carefully this time.

Nothing missing.

Everything was there.

Every item in place.

Every count correct.

“…Okay,” she said quietly.

Jess looked up from where she was adjusting something on the side of the booth.

“We good?”

“Yeah,” Rowan said. “We’re good.”

But she didn’t sound convinced.

She set the clipboard down a little slower than usual and reached for her coffee, bringing it up for a quick sip.

It tasted wrong.

Not bad.

Just… off.

Rowan pulled the cup away, frowning slightly as she looked at it.

“What?”

Jess leaned closer, immediately picking up on the shift.

“What’s wrong with it?”

Rowan hesitated, her eyes still on the lid like it might explain itself.

Then she shook her head.

“Nothing. Just… not what I expected.”

It was the same drink she always got.

Same place.

Same order.

She knew that.

And yet.

She set it down anyway.

Her fingers tapped lightly against the table, restless now, a steady rhythm she didn’t consciously start.

That was new.

Rowan wasn’t restless.

She glanced out across the expo floor again, trying to reset.

People moved, laughed, talked, the same constant motion she had tuned into a hundred times before.

Normal.

But her focus didn’t settle the way it usually did.

It kept slipping.

Like trying to tune something that would not quite lock in.

Her gaze moved from one booth to another, but nothing held.

Nothing anchored.

“…Jess,” she said slowly.

Jess looked up immediately this time, her attention sharpening.

“Yeah?”

Rowan hesitated, her fingers going still against the table.

“I feel like I’m forgetting something.”

Jess didn’t even blink.

“You say that every time before an event.”

“I know, but this is different.”

Jess studied her for a second longer this time, her expression shifting as she actually considered it.

Then she softened slightly.

“Okay,” she said. “Walk me through it.”

Rowan exhaled, pushing a hand back through her hair.

“I don’t know what it is,” she admitted. “That’s the problem.”

Jess leaned against the table, arms crossed, grounding in a way that was familiar.

“Alright. Then we go simple. Booth’s done. Inventory’s done. You’re not missing anything here.”

Rowan nodded slowly.

Logically, that made sense.

Jess bumped her shoulder lightly.

“You’re just in your head.”

“Yeah,” Rowan said.

But she didn’t feel convinced.

Because this wasn’t her usual overthinking.

This felt… interrupted.

Like something had been there.

Clear.

Defined.

And then gone.

Not faded.

Removed.

Rowan shook her head slightly, forcing herself to step back from the table, physically creating space like that might help.

“Food?” Jess asked.

Rowan nodded.

“Yeah. Food.”

Jess grabbed her bag, already moving.

“Good. Because if I don’t eat soon, I’m going to become a problem.”

Rowan smiled faintly, the expression easier than the feeling underneath it.

They turned away from the booth together, blending into the movement of the crowd.

As they walked, Rowan reached for her phone out of habit.

Then paused.

Her hand hovered mid air, fingers just short of her pocket.

“…What was I doing?” she murmured.

Jess glanced over, walking in step beside her.

“Texting? Checking something?”

“Yeah,” Rowan said slowly.

But the thought didn’t come back.

Nothing followed it.

Just that same empty space where something should have been.

Rowan lowered her hand.

“Okay,” she said under her breath. “That’s new.”

Jess frowned slightly.

“What is?”

“Nothing,” Rowan said quickly.

Too quickly.

But her pulse had picked up now, a quiet, steady increase that she could feel in her chest.

Not panic.

Not stress.

Something else.

Something she could not explain away.

They kept walking through the noise and movement of the expo floor.

And for the first time, Rowan didn’t try to dismiss it.

Didn’t try to rationalize it.

She let the feeling sit there.

Unanswered.

Uncomfortable.

Real.

And that was worse.