I thought I had misheard.
The elderly woman who said it was sitting in the seat I'd just given up for her on the crosstown bus.
She wore a grey trench coat and a green beret, and she smelled faintly of lavender.
"Excuse me?" I asked.
She looked up, her gaze piercing. "Listen to me, child. A glass of water. All night."
A chill ran through me as she added, "And don't tell your husband."
Before I could ask how she even knew I was married, the bus called my stop near Lindenhill.
I stepped off almost on instinct.
When I turned back, she was staring straight ahead, as if we'd never spoken.
My name is Morgan, and at thirty-six I had built a quiet, predictable life.
I was an assistant accountant at a small construction firm in Harwick. I commuted nearly an hour each way. I paid almost every bill in my household from my own salary.